Rituals

Seal Portal, Ritual 5

[Rare] [Abjuration]

Cast 1 day; Cost A stone circle; Secondary Casters 2

Primary Check Arcana (Expert), Nature (Expert), Occultism (Expert), or Religion (Expert), depending on the plane the portal connects to; Secondary Checks Arcana, Nature, Occultism, or Religion depending on the second plane the portal connects to, and Crafting

Range Touch; Targets One portal to another plane

Duration Permanent

You seal the boundaries between the worlds, making it harder to travel through an existing portal. A stone circle is constructed on one side of the portal, which anchors the ritual and seals the portal. While the circle remains intact, the portal will not open naturally. If the circle is damaged, the ritual is weakened (see below); if the circle is broken, the ritual ends immediately, and the portal generally immediately bursts open.

It is possible to temporarily force the sealed portal open from either side, using Dispel Magic or similar abilities. The ritual counts as one level higher for the purposes of counteracting if the stone circle is intact; if the circle is damaged, the ritual counts as one level lower. The primary caster's DC at the time of casting the ritual is the Counteract DC. If the counteract attempt succeeds, the portals opens for a short period of time, typically an hour or so. This is normally enough time for the stone circle to be destroyed if it is unguarded.

Heightened 7th You may use a stone gateway as an anchor object instead of a stone circle. This allows the portal to be opened from within the gateway if a specific pass phrase or set of actions are conducted (these must be included in the ritual to create the seal). A stone gateway is easier to counteract than a circle, and counts as one level lower for the purposes of counteracting at all times, regardless of its state of repair.

The Planes

The plane the portal connects to determines the skills required to create the seal:

• Arcana The Astral, Elemental, or Shadow Planes

• Nature The Elemental Planes, the First World, the Material Plane

• Occultism The Positive Energy, Negative Energy, Shadow, Astral, or Ethereal Planes

• Religion The Outer Sphere, the Positive or Negative Energy Planes

The primary caster must use a skill associated with the side of the portal that the circle or gateway is constructed on, and one of the secondary casters must use a skill associated with the other side of the portal. If multiple skills apply to a plane, either may be used. If the same skill applies to both sides of the portal, the primary and secondary caster may use the same skill.

Example: A portal between the Shadow and Material Planes requires a primary caster with either Arcana or Occultism (for the Shadow Plane side) or Nature (for the Material Plane side). Assuming the stone circle is constructed on the material plane, the primary caster must use Nature, and one of the secondary casters must use Arcana or Occultism.

Waters of Prediction, Ritual 5

[Rare] [Divination]

Cast 4 hours; Cost rare oils and minerals worth a total value of 300 gp; Secondary Casters 3

Primary Check Arcana or Occultism (master, the check has the secret trait); Secondary Checks Arcana or Occultism

Range Touch; Target The divinatory pool in Jatembe's Gift

You and the secondary casters peer into the still waters of the divinatory pool in Jatembe's Gift to divine your collective future. Over the course of the minute following the ritual’s end, the waters display a scene of one possible future involving the primary caster and as many secondary casters as feasible. This scene is usually, but not necessarily, set within the next few days. The future is unwritten, so the casters would be wise to not read guarantees into the cryptic nature of the visions shown in the water.

Critical Success The scene gives hints as to at least one danger the casters are likely to face, as well as at least one method of effectively addressing the danger (showing the group examining an area of a wall containing a secret hatch to bypass a trap, for example).

Success The scene gives a hint as to at least one danger the casters are likely to face, or some cryptic method to effectively address or bypass a danger (such as a scene of lurking trolls, or a scene of the casters lighting several torches and passing them out, but not both).

Failure The scene consists of so many contradictory details that it’s impossible to identify a single danger or effective course of action from them.

Critical Failure The scene is wrong; it shows the casters facing a danger they’re unlikely to come across, or encourages actions that hinder a likely upcoming encounter (such as encouraging chopping down several trees before meeting an arboreal or a dryad).