Ritual Magic (Mage Guild)¶

Blitz Eternal: Adventures Beyond the Mists — v0.3 Draft¶

A new system led by a Character who has joined the Mage Guild (see character-creation, Advancement, and 05-setting/guilds), explicitly distinct from the Witch's Mana and casting. Witch magic is personal, fast, and risky, drawn from the Pool the Witch already rolls in a fight. Ritual magic is communal, slow, and ceremonial: it is what the Mage Guild actually is, institutionally, and it is built to be cast between fights or across a scene, not mid-combat on the Witch's own turn. Other Guild-joined Characters, a Priest foremost, may join the circle as participants; see Guild Participants, below.

A Character does not need to be a Witch, or any particular Class, to lead or join a Ritual. Guild governs this system, not Class. Leading a Ritual currently requires Mage Guild standing; joining one as a participant does not.

The Circle¶

On a grid of 5-foot squares, a Ritual requires one empty center square with every caster occupying a square immediately adjacent to it (orthogonal or diagonal). Minimum 3 casters: a Mage Guild Character as lead, plus at least 2 more casters filling the remaining ring squares. Those two may be Apprentices, Guild Participants (see below), or a mix of both, drawn from the lead's own Company or from any other Guild-joined Character present. Circles may combine casters across multiple Characters. No fixed shape is required beyond "adjacent to the shared center": 3 casters form a rough triangle, 4 might take the cardinal squares, up to a natural cap of 8 (the number of squares surrounding one center square). Larger rituals needing more than 8 casters would require a bigger empty area; not solved now, flagged in open-questions.

Apprentice is the Mage Guild's Retainer type (companies-and-command, Part Five: base stat line Archer, plus the Mage Retainer's existing sense-magic Check perk). Any Apprentice can stand in a circle; the name is the same whether that Apprentice is standing in a Company formation or a Ritual circle.

Guild Participants. A Character who has joined any Guild, not only the Mage Guild, may occupy a ring square as a participant caster. This is the mechanism by which a Priest Guild Character joins a Mage-led Ritual: same ring, same Pool, no separate system built for it. A Guild Participant contributes exactly what an Apprentice contributes (see Casting Pool, below), regardless of that Character's own Wits tier. Leading a Ritual, contributing the 3-die Wits Pool, still requires Mage Guild standing, because only a Mage can anchor a working to the Mists' own currents in the first place. A high-standing Priest eventually leading a Ritual of their own is a real future direction, deliberately not designed yet; see open-questions. What each Guild Participant lends the circle carries its own name: a Mage's own contribution is called Volition, a Priest's is called Verbum, though both resolve through the identical dice. See 05-setting/guilds.

Forming the Ring¶

Reaching a ring square is ordinary movement, not a separate mechanic. A caster walks into an open ring square using their normal Move, on the same turn they intend to declare the Ritual (Move, then Act, per the standard turn economy) or on any earlier turn, then simply stands there until the circle is ready. There is no dedicated "form the circle" action, and no roll to arrive.

If the Ritual is being organized outside a formal turn structure, before or after a fight, at a campsite, in a hall, the GM may simply narrate the casters taking a settled moment to arrange themselves before the casting clock (2 turns, or the extended Casting Time on a Difficulty 4-5 working) begins. No roll, no Move, and no Action are spent getting into position in that case.

A ring square that is contested, blocked, or unreachable simply means the Ritual cannot begin yet. That is a fictional problem to solve at the table, not a mechanic to design.

Starting a Ritual¶

Every participating caster spends their Action this turn to form and declare the Ritual. No roll is required under the base rule; there is no chance of a Blitz occurring during a normal start, since nothing is rolled. The Ritual concludes on the next turn, during which every caster again spends their Action to resolve it. Selecting a Ritual means selecting its Difficulty, using the ladder in core-rules, Part Seventeen (Simple through Legendary).

Casting Pool¶

The lead Character contributes 3 dice at their Wits tier, the same fixed Pool a Check always rolls (core-rules, Part Seventeen). Each surviving Apprentice or Guild Participant in the circle adds 1 die at Untrained (6), regardless of that caster's own competence. The whole Pool is rolled together as a single Check against the Ritual's Difficulty, following the ordinary Check loop (bank Successes, push what missed, a zero-Success push Busts the whole working).

Disruption¶

Anyone, ally or enemy, entering the center square breaks the Ritual outright. No roll, no partial credit; the working is lost regardless of how much Pool remained.
A caster Falling in their own ring square does not break the Ritual. It removes 1 die from the eventual casting Pool (the lead Character's own Falling removes the 3-die base entirely, ending the working, since there is no Ritual without its lead).
The Pool may drop as low as 1 die: the last caster standing alone, hoping to chain Blitzes to reach the Ritual's Difficulty, the same math that governs any single-die Pool elsewhere in the system (the Errant's whole signature mechanic runs on this same principle). If that last caster is an Apprentice or Guild Participant rather than the lead Character themselves, that is a deliberately dramatic possible outcome, not an edge case to prevent.
A Specialty may let a Retainer instantly occupy a vacated ring square without it counting as circle disruption (only the center square triggers that).

Fast Ritual (Specialty, tentative)¶

The base rule for starting a Ritual involves no roll and therefore no possibility of a Blitz. Fast Ritual replaces that guaranteed, uneventful start with a rolled one: the circle rolls Wits together as their starting Action instead. The Ritual starts successfully either way, regardless of the roll's outcome. If that roll happens to Blitz, the bonus Action it grants may be spent concluding the Ritual immediately, on the same turn it began, skipping the wait for turn N+1 entirely. Tentative and untested; see open-questions.

Deferred, by Design¶

Actual spell effects and a Difficulty-to-effect table were deferred in the first design pass; the seven Components below are that content, now written. A rough shape guided the writing: Simple, a standing blessing or ward for the rest of a Combat; Difficult, reshaping a scene, such as weather or warding a camp; Daunting, real narrative consequence, sealing a passage or binding something temporarily; Heroic, rare, campaign-shaping; Legendary, world-altering, once-a-campaign material.

The Standardized Ritual Stat Block¶

Every Ritual below uses this header. Flavor and Effect are kept deliberately separate: Flavor is what the working looks and feels like; Effect is the mechanical result. See style-guide for the documented format.

Field	Meaning
Component	Which of the seven (Circle, Silence, Word, Flame, Root, Blood, Bone)
Difficulty	Simple through Legendary (1-5)
Minimum Casters	Default 3; noted explicitly only when a Ritual demands more
Casting Time	Default is the standard two-turn structure (1 turn to begin, 1 to conclude); Difficulty 4-5 Rituals may specify an extended time instead (hours or a full day), shifting them into Downtime pacing rather than combat
Range/Area	As applicable
Duration	How long the effect persists
Flavor	What the working looks and feels like, kept separate from mechanics
Effect	The mechanical result, kept separate from flavor

A note on two undefined terms used below. Several Rituals reference Total Cover and Safe Conditions. Neither has a formal mechanical definition yet: Cover tiers are confirmed needed but not yet designed (see open-questions), and Safe Conditions is used here as plain-language shorthand for "this location counts as secure for the purposes of rest and recovery," not a named mechanical state. Both are GM-adjudicated for now; treat every Ritual below that uses either term as functionally correct in intent, pending a formal rule.

A note on an open casting-logistics question. A settlement- or season-scale working (Rampart of the First Dawn, below) clearly cannot use the standard two-turn casting structure, and is given an extended Casting Time and more than 3 casters instead. The general question of whether an extended-duration circle must remain physically unbroken for its whole casting time, or whether casters may rotate through in shifts, is deliberately not resolved here; flagged in open-questions for whenever a Ritual actually needs that answered in practice.

Circle — the Component of Boundary and Protection¶

Circle magic is the oldest, most communal face of Ritual work, and the first practice any Mage Guild novice learns, not because it is simple, but because it is the practice the Guild's authority actually rests on. Circle workings do not destroy or transform. They hold: a promise made physical, a line drawn that reality itself agrees to keep. Casters who favor this Component tend to be patient and methodical, thinking in terms of what must be kept out rather than what must be brought to bear.

Fully-Detailed Rituals¶

Flavor: The oldest lesson every Circle Mage learns: before you build anything, you learn to hold your ground.

Effect: Wards the boundary of the casting circle itself. For as long as every caster remains in their ring position, no combatant lacking the Inevitable trait may enter the center square by any means. This does not protect casters from ranged attacks, spells, or a caster Falling in their own ring square (which still reduces the Pool as normal); only physical intrusion into the center is prevented. While the ward holds, the same circle may immediately begin a second Ritual within the protected space, following the standard timeline, without reforming.

Flavor: A small mercy, offered the night before a hard road: salt at the threshold, ash in a circle, and a promise the world agrees to keep.

Effect: Each ally the casters choose at the moment of casting gains one banked negation, functioning exactly as Guard: the next hit against that person is prevented, whenever it comes.

Flavor: Stone where there was none, briar where there was open ground: the earth remembering a shape it never had, because it was asked to.

Effect: Raises an impassable wall providing Total Cover along the chosen line. Persists until the Combat ends or until destroyed by appropriate means, at the GM's judgment.

Flavor: Every shepherd knows the wolves are still out there. This is the working that lets them sleep anyway.

Effect: Any hostile creature attempting to enter the warded area must succeed at a Difficult Check or be turned back that round, able to try again later. Allies within the boundary count as being under Safe Conditions for rest and recovery, regardless of the surrounding territory's actual danger.

Brief List — Remaining Circle Rituals¶

Circle of Quiet Watching. No combat effect; wards a resting circle so its casters are alerted the instant anything approaches within a set distance. Difficulty 1
The Petitioner's Circle. Wards a space of parley; violence cannot be initiated within it without immediately breaking the ward. Difficulty 1
Rite of the Waiting Door. Wards a single threshold so nothing may pass without the caster's leave. Difficulty 2
The Unyielding Door. Seals a specific door or passage; forcing it open requires a Daunting Check, from either side. Difficulty 2
The Binding Ring. Wards a single captured or bound creature so it cannot act or escape while inside the ring. Difficulty 2
Salt Beneath the Threshold. A ward specifically against otherworldly or mist-touched intrusion, not ordinary trespass. Difficulty 2
Warden's Hollow. Creates a small, hidden shelter granting Safe Conditions for rest, even in hostile territory. Difficulty 3
The Deepening Wall. Reinforces an already-standing Weathered Wall or Shepherd's Boundary, extending its duration or toughness. Difficulty 3
Rite of the Broken Seal. Turns warding knowledge outward, unmaking an existing boundary or ward that isn't the caster's own. Difficulty 4
The Last Bastion. A ward strong enough to hold against a single Rend attack from a Legendary-tier threat, once. Difficulty 4
Vigil Unbroken. Circle Unbroken's greater cousin: wards an area for days at a time. Likely needs its own extended Casting Time (several hours, shorter than a full day) rather than the standard two turns; flagged for confirmation when finalized. Difficulty 4
Rampart of the First Dawn. Raises a boundary around an entire settlement or stronghold, lasting a full season. The kind of working that ends sieges or founds cities. Difficulty 5, Casting Time: 1 full day (extended), Minimum Casters: more than 3, exact number not yet set

Silence — the Component of Perception¶

Not divination alone, and not illusion alone: Silence is the single axis both sit on, read in opposite directions. To still yourself enough to hear what's true is the same discipline as stilling the world enough that no one hears you at all. A Silence Mage doesn't force anything into being; they listen, and either share what they've heard or make certain no one else does. The Guild's quietest members are almost always Silence casters, and the Guild's best-kept secrets almost always pass through their hands first.

Fully-Detailed Rituals¶

Flavor: The eye that has learned to be still sees what the hurried eye never does, not more of the world, just more of what's already there.

Effect: Reveals the chosen target's current Card state in full (Hit Points remaining, any active Conditions) to every ally present. The party gains +1d6 on their next Check made specifically regarding that target this scene.

Flavor: The road already knows where it's going. This working only asks it to say so.

Effect: Reveals the safest or fastest route to a stated destination, or the location of the nearest source of a stated need (water, shelter, the nearest Wellspring). A pure utility and exploration working; no combat application.

Flavor: Nothing spoken here can wear a face it doesn't own.

Effect: Anyone knowingly speaking a falsehood within the warded space must succeed at a Wits Check or their falsehood is felt as false, not necessarily revealed in full, only known to be a lie, by everyone present.

Flavor: The world has a way of not noticing what asks it not to. This working is the asking.

Effect: Conceals the warded area and its contents from ordinary search and from ordinary divination alike. Anyone attempting to find what's hidden must exceed a Daunting Check, or a rival caster's own working must overcome this ward's strength directly. This Ritual is the clearest expression of Silence's other half: where the first three Rituals listen, this one makes certain nothing can listen back.

Brief List — Remaining Silence Rituals¶

The Hollow Voice. Projects a false sound or voice at a chosen location, drawing attention away from the caster. Difficulty 1
Rite of the Quiet Sea. Stills a turbulent body of water or storm-touched area enough for safe passage. Difficulty 2
Rite of the Half-Seen. Creates a false trail or decoy image to mislead pursuers. Difficulty 2
The Quiet Face. Disguises a person's identity or appearance from casual observation. Difficulty 2
Silence of the Old Road. Mutes all sound in an area, useful for stealth or to prevent eavesdropping. Difficulty 2
The Long Listening. Communes with the land itself to learn what has passed through it recently, a tracking working, not a memory one. Difficulty 2
Rite of Listening Stones. Allows eavesdropping on a distant conversation through a linked object prepared in advance. Difficulty 3
Rite of the Unseen Path. Conceals an entire group's passage and tracks for the length of a journey. Difficulty 3
The Watcher's Doubt. Sows uncertainty in a target's mind about what they just perceived, an unsettling, illusion-leaning working. Difficulty 3
Rite of the Clouded Glass. Blinds scrying or divination attempts directed against the caster's own circle; counter-magic. Difficulty 3
The Farseeing Circle. True scrying on a distant place or person, regardless of intervening distance. Difficulty 4
The Waking Dream. Grants the caster a vision of a possible near future, GM-narrated, deliberately uncertain. Difficulty 4
Rite of the Final Truth. Forces absolute truth from an unwilling subject. Rare, and morally weighty enough that most Guild halls hold it in real reserve. Difficulty 5

Word — the Component of Binding and Fate¶

Word magic is the practice of making something true by saying so, not lying, but binding reality to match a spoken oath or a spoken name. Word casters tend to be exact and careful with their promises, because a vow sworn under this Component doesn't only carry social weight, it carries real consequence. The Guild's diplomats, its oath-keepers, its record-keepers of binding contracts, are almost always Word practitioners. It is the Component most tied to law and to fate: the belief that some things, once said, cannot be unsaid.

Fully-Detailed Rituals¶

Flavor: A promise sworn under open sky is only as strong as the one who made it. This working makes it stronger than that.

Effect: A target who swears a specific, stated promise under this Rite suffers Weakened if they break it before fulfilling it.

Flavor: To know a thing's true name is to hold the one handle it cannot pull away from you.

Effect: Once a creature's true name is known and bound through this working, the caster's Company gains +1d6 on all future Checks and Rituals directed at that creature specifically.

Flavor: Two words spoken as one. What binds them binds them both, for as long as the binding holds.

Effect: Binds two willing people's fates together for a stated shared purpose. If either breaks the pact's terms, both suffer the consequence together; exact consequence set by the GM to fit the specific vow sworn.

Flavor: Every binding was spoken once. This working only asks that it be spoken undone.

Effect: Unmakes an existing oath-effect, geas, or curse placed on a target, regardless of whether it was placed by Word magic or another source. The Guild's answer to a promise that should never have been made.

Brief List — Remaining Word Rituals¶

Rite of the Bound Tongue. Compels honesty or enforced silence from a target for the rest of a scene. Difficulty 1
The Beacon Working. Creates a signal only specific, chosen allies can sense, regardless of distance. Difficulty 1
Oath of the Bound Blade. Binds a named weapon to a single wielder, weakening it in any other hand. Difficulty 2
Rite of Kindred Voices. Links a group's voices for coordinated communication across distance. Difficulty 2
The Far Calling. Sends a single message across great distance to a named recipient. Difficulty 2
The Long Promise. A binding built to last a full season or longer, exceptionally durable, exceptionally slow to cast. Difficulty 3
The Summoning Bell. Calls a specific, named creature or person to the caster's location, if bound by name or prior oath. Difficulty 3
Rite of the Broken Name. Strips a creature of the protective power of its own true name, a serious working against named, legendary foes. Difficulty 4
The Threshold Working. Opens a new, unstable passage through the Mists to an unknown destination. Dangerous by nature. Difficulty 4
The Mist-Caller's Bridge. Stabilizes and holds open a passage through the Mists to a specific, known location. Difficulty 4
The Final Word. Legendary. A working absolute enough to bind a single outcome to fate itself. Used, if ever, once in a lifetime. Difficulty 5

Flame — the Component of Chaos and Consumption¶

Flame is the wildest of the seven, and Guild elders are often uneasy around those who favor it, not because it is evil, but because it refuses to be entirely tame. Where every other Component holds, listens, grows, or heals, Flame consumes and remakes, and it rarely does so exactly as asked. A Flame working that succeeds well can still produce something larger, stranger, or more dangerous than intended. Casters who favor this Component learn to treat that unpredictability as a tool, not a flaw.

Fully-Detailed Rituals¶

Flavor: Fire has always been willing. It only ever needed asking.

Effect: Ignites a controlled flame at a chosen point, lighting oil, kindling a hazard, or providing simple light and warmth. Combat use requires GM adjudication of the resulting hazard.

Flavor: Small workings in this Component rarely stay small on purpose. This one is honest about it from the start.

Effect: Deals Rend 1 to a single target. On any roll that exceeds the Ritual's Difficulty by 2 or more Successes, the Rend increases to Rend 2 instead, but the extra force is uncontrolled, and the GM may rule it also catches something the casters didn't intend.

Flavor: Wind that answers to nothing, scattering what it touches without asking what it was.

Effect: An Area of Effect casting (core-rules, Part Sixteen: roll once, apply identically to every target present) imposing Weakened on everyone caught within the radius. Loose, unsecured objects in the area are scattered at the GM's discretion.

Flavor: Not a fire that burns. A hunger that was, briefly, given shape.

Effect: An Area of Effect casting dealing Rend 2 to everyone present. Each Success beyond the Ritual's Difficulty adds 1 to the Rend value for this casting only, but the same excess also risks the effect's radius growing beyond what the casters intended, at the GM's judgment.

Brief List — Remaining Flame Rituals¶

Rite of the Guttering Candle. Snuffs out an existing Flame working, mundane or magical. Difficulty 1
Rite of Ash and Ember. Purifies or cleanses a corrupted, cursed, or tainted area. Difficulty 2
Cinder's Reckoning. Marks a target so the next Flame effect against them deals bonus Rend. Difficulty 2
The Unmaking Rite. Destroys or unravels a single object or minor ongoing magical effect. Difficulty 3
The Hungry Flame. Feeds on nearby magic, disrupting or unraveling an enemy's active Ritual or ongoing effect. Difficulty 3
Rite of the Falling Star. Calls down a devastating strike onto a single point from above. Difficulty 4
The Consuming Circle. An area that continues to burn for several rounds after casting, growing or shrinking unpredictably each round. Difficulty 4
The Wrath Unbound. An area effect that grows stronger the more the casters themselves have already been harmed this Combat. Difficulty 4
Rite of the Wildfire. Legendary. Spreads uncontrollably once released; genuinely dangerous even to allies. A last resort. Difficulty 5

Root — the Component of Growth and Endurance¶

Root magic works on the timescale of trees, not people: it does not rush, and it does not force. A wall raised by Circle magic is a boundary imposed by will; a thing grown by Root magic is a boundary that simply is, because the ground agreed to hold it that way. Root casters tend toward patience, almost to a fault, and the Guild's oldest standing works, the ones that have outlasted the Mages who made them, are almost always Root magic.

Fully-Detailed Rituals¶

Flavor: A fire that was already going to be warm. This working only asks it to be kind, too.

Effect: Blesses a hearth or campsite, granting Safe Conditions for rest to everyone gathered there for the night.

Flavor: The oak does not tremble because it has decided, long ago, not to.

Effect: Removes the Weakened Condition from a target, and grants them +1d6 on the next physical Check they attempt this scene.

Flavor: The bramble was always willing to grow here. It only needed somewhere to climb.

Effect: Grows thorned vines around a target, imposing Slowed for the duration. A target may attempt a Might Check each turn to break free.

Flavor: Some things are asked to stand a long time. This working makes certain they can.

Effect: A small group blessed under this Rite does not accrue Fatigue for the duration of an extended watch, vigil, or journey, regardless of how demanding it becomes.

Brief List — Remaining Root Rituals¶

The Untangling. Releases an existing growth-bound working, undoing effects like The Bramble Chain. Difficulty 1
The Grasping Earth. Causes the ground itself to grasp at everyone in an area, imposing Slowed. Difficulty 2
Rite of the Withering. Causes unnatural decay to plants, crops, or a cursed harvest, Root's harmful cousin to growth. Difficulty 2
The Gathering Grace. Blesses a harvest or gathering, ensuring bounty and quality. Difficulty 2
Rite of the Deep Roots. Reinforces structure and ground stability, shoring up damaged walls or unstable terrain. Difficulty 2
The Slow Growing. Accelerates natural growth dramatically, a bridge of vines across a chasm, a blighted field restored in minutes. Difficulty 3
Rite of the Standing Stone. Raises a permanent landmark imbued with minor, lasting protective properties. Difficulty 3
The Long Root. Ties a person's vitality to the land itself; as long as the land endures, so do they. Difficulty 4
Rite of the First Seed. Legendary. Restores a truly blighted or dead land to full fertility. Campaign-altering. Difficulty 5

Blood — the Component of Vitality and Sacrifice¶

Blood is the most immediate of the seven, and the most costly. Where other Components draw on will, memory, or the land itself, Blood draws on the caster's own life, offered freely rather than taken. It is the Component practitioners turn to when someone is dying and there is no time for anything slower, and it is the Component the Guild watches most carefully: what is given in Blood is rarely given back in kind.

Flagged before use at the table. Rite of the Second Wind and The Final Breath, below, touch in-combat and post-Mists resurrection directly. Both need careful reconciliation against the existing Wounds and Fatigue rules and the Mists' own resurrection timeline before they are treated as finalized; this is the same reconciliation debt already logged for 00-design/03_The_Mists.docx and the Coup de Grace/Wellspring interaction. See open-questions.

Fully-Detailed Rituals¶

Flavor: Nothing is healed for free. This working simply makes certain the cost is paid by those willing to pay it.

Effect: Each participating caster takes 1 damage. The target restores Hit Points equal to the number of casters who contributed this way.

Flavor: The heart already knows how to race. This working only asks it to remember, right now, that it can.

Effect: Grants the target one additional personal die at their existing Hit Range for the rest of the Combat, subject to the universal personal-dice cap of 3 (character-creation, Advancement).

Flavor: Word remembers a promise. Blood remembers it in the body, whether the mind wants to or not.

Effect: Two parties swear a pact sealed in blood. Breaking it costs the breaking party 2 damage immediately, rather than a Condition; the consequence of a Bloodoath is always physical, never merely social.

Flavor: The largest debts are the ones the body remembers longest.

Effect: Restores a significant number of Hit Points to a single target (exact value left to GM calibration against the target's Hit Points). Every participating caster is left Weakened until they next rest.

Brief List — Remaining Blood Rituals¶

Rite of the Steadying Draft. Removes a single Condition from a target; a cleansing rather than a restoration. Difficulty 1
Rite of the Blood Ward. A short-term protective ward fueled by the casters' own vitality, functioning as Guard at an ongoing cost to them. Difficulty 2
The Vital Exchange. Transfers Hit Points directly from one willing ally to another. Difficulty 3
The Crimson Bloom. Grants a target a bonus scaling with how wounded they currently are. Difficulty 3
Rite of Vigor Everlasting. Removes fatigue and exhaustion entirely for an extended period, sustaining a group through an ordeal without rest. Difficulty 4
Rite of the Second Wind. Restores a Fallen ally to the fight immediately. Flagged above for reconciliation with Wounds, Fatigue, and the Mists' resurrection timeline before being treated as finalized. Difficulty 4
The Final Breath. A true resurrection working, restoring someone recently slain beyond the Mists' usual timeline, at severe cost. The most setting-sensitive Ritual in the system; needs the same reconciliation as above, likely more. Difficulty 5

Bone — the Component of Memory and Mortality¶

Bone is the quietest of the seven, and to most people outside the Guild, the most unsettling. It does not raise the dead, and any caster who claims otherwise is lying or mistaken. What Bone magic does is listen to what the dead have left behind: memory, judgment, the shape of a life after it has ended. Practitioners of this Component tend to be solemn, comfortable with silence, unafraid of grief. The Guild trusts them with its oldest and most difficult truths.

Fully-Detailed Rituals¶

Flavor: The dead do not need to be summoned. They only need, sometimes, to be listened for.

Effect: Allows brief, gentle communion with a specific known dead person, for comfort, counsel, or a simple answer; not a full conversation, and never coercive.

Flavor: Every family keeps a ledger somewhere. This one just happens to be kept by the dead.

Effect: Communes with a Character's ancestral dead broadly for counsel or judgment on a stated question. The answer is true, but rarely simple; GM-narrated, never a flat yes or no.

Flavor: Bones remember the manner of their ending, even when no one else does.

Effect: Reveals the manner and approximate time of death of the remains examined, and any single secret the dead carried related to it. A forensic, investigative working.

Flavor: Before the Mists finish their work, there is a moment the dead are still, faintly, listening.

Effect: If cast within the same Combat a combatant Fell, allows one brief exchange with them before the Mists fully claim them; a final question answered, a final word given. This is a moment of grace, not a means of resurrection; the target remains Fallen once the exchange ends.

Brief List — Remaining Bone Rituals¶

Rite of the Quiet Grave. Ensures a body is properly laid to rest, preventing it from being disturbed or raised by hostile means. Difficulty 1
The Waning Rite. Saps vitality specifically from the dead or undead, Bone's offensive cousin. Difficulty 2
The Gravekeeper's Ward. Wards a burial site against desecration or the rising of the restless dead. Difficulty 2
Rite of Borrowed Memory. Lets the caster briefly experience a memory tied to bones, a relic, or remains. Difficulty 3
Rite of the Silent Hall. Communes broadly with an entire graveyard or battlefield's dead at once, for area-wide information. Difficulty 3
The Last Word. Allows a dying or very recently dead target one final act or message before departing fully. Renamed from an earlier working-title placeholder ("The Last Working") once Bone's identity was fully drafted; see retired-mechanics. Difficulty 3
The Binding of Old Bones. Compels a specific, named dead ancestor or spirit to lend real, temporary power to the caster. Difficulty 4
Rite of the Final Rest. Permanently and completely lays to rest something that has resisted death; true banishment. Difficulty 4
The Reckoning of Ages. Legendary. Communes with something ancient and vast in death; can reveal deep, world-shaking truths. Difficulty 5