Ritual casting Cantrips in D&D

Worlds with mild or pervasive magic, magic that’s not merely for combat should have more rituals. These rituals would be to represent the fictions around hedge mages, working mages, knacks, folk magic and the like.

But how do we do this in a world that isn’t just low magic, but nearly no trained magic — by Ritual casting Cantrips.

Now, that seems counter intuitive. In D&D and the rest of the 5e ecosystem we’re used to seeing cantrips as a less than six second flash of action. The non-combat ones, especially the four most flavorful ones, aren’t powerful.

That’s exactly why we’re stealing those four and turning them into rituals for the hedge mage, the folk witch, the knacked one.

Converting to Rituals

Currently the casting time is one Magic Action or Action for Druidcraft, Elementalism, Prestidigitation and Thaumaturgy.

1. Make that 10 minutes, 1 hour, or 8 hours.
   1. These tiers are because we’ll also let the trained heroes upcast them.
2. Expand the impact of these spells exponentially.
3. Establish a connected save in case someone wants to disbelieve or counter them.
4. Give them to commoners.
5. Do not let the trained casters cast these as rituals as they are less powerful than constantly casting using an Action.
   1. Do let casters have the higher impacts when their combat cantrips get more powerful.

Druidcraft

From the 5.2 SRD;

Whispering to the spirits of nature, you create one
of the following effects within range.

Weather Sensor. You create a Tiny, harmless sensory effect that predicts what the weather will be at your location for the next 24 hours. The effect might manifest as a golden orb for clear skies, a cloud for rain, falling snowflakes for snow, and so on. This effect persists for 1 round.

Bloom. You instantly make a flower blossom, a seed pod open, or a leaf bud bloom.

Sensory Effect. You create a harmless sensory effect, such as falling leaves, spectral dancing fairies, a gentle breeze, the sound of an animal, or the faint odor of skunk. The effect must fit in a 5-foot Cube.

Fire Play. You light or snuff out a candle, a torch, or a campfire.

Adjustments by effect

• Weather Sensor. 10-minute ritual. The forecast is for the next two days. 1-hour ritual. The forecast is for the next four days. 8-hour ritual. The forecast is for the next eight days.
• Bloom. 10-minute ritual. You can create two blooms. 1-hour ritual. You can create four blooms. 8-hour ritual. You can create eight blooms. These blooms last as long as the ritual.
• Sensory Effect and Fire Play. 10-minute ritual. You may create two of those effects in a 10-foot cube. 1-hour ritual. You may create three of those effects in a 20-foot cube. 8-hour ritual. You may create four effects in a 40-foot cube. Sensory Effect and Fire Play can be combined when part of a ritual.

Elementalism

The various effects are similar to Sensory Effect and Fire Play, but with minor changes.

• 10-minute ritual. You may beckon or sculpt two elements. The effect can be within a 10-foot cube or square. Effects that last a minute last two minutes instead.
• 1-hour ritual. You may beckon or sculpt three elements. The effect can be within a 20-foot cube or square. Effects that last a minute last four minutes instead.
• 8-hour ritual. You may beckon or sculpt up to four elements. The effect can be within a 40-foot cube or square. Effects that last a minute last 10 minutes instead.

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Prestidigitation

This is the most complex of the flavor cantrips.

Sensory Effect and Fire Play. 10-minute ritual. You may create two of those effects in a 10-foot cube. 1-hour ritual. You may create three of those effects in a 20-foot cube. 8-hour ritual. You may create four effects in a 40-foot cube. Sensory Effect and Fire Play can be combined when part of a ritual.

Clean or Soil. 10-minute ritual. The size of impacted area increases to 2-cubic feet. 1-hour ritual. The size of the impacted area increases to 4-cubic feet. 8-hour ritual. The size of the impacted area increases to 10-cubic feet or one Large (or smaller) creature.

Minor Sensation. 10-minute ritual. The size of impacted area increases to 2-cubic feet for two hours. 1-hour ritual. The size of the impacted area increases to 4-cubic feet for four hours. 8-hour ritual. The size of the impacted area increases to 10-cubic feet or one Large (or smaller) creature for eight hours.

Magic Mark. 10-minute ritual. The mark lasts two hours. 1-hour ritual. The mark lasts four hours. 8-hour ritual. The mark lasts a day.

Minor Creation. 10-minute ritual. The item or image lasts for a minute. 1-hour ritual. The item or image lasts for ten minutes. 8-hour ritual. The item or image lasts for 1 hour.

Thaumaturgy

Altered Eyes. Booming Voice. Fire Play. Tremors. 10-minute ritual. The effect lasts for 2 minutes. 1-hour ritual. The item or image lasts for ten minutes. 8-hour ritual. The item or image lasts for 1 hour.

Invisible Hand. 10-minute ritual. You can influence two doors. 1-hour ritual. You can influence four doors. 8-hour ritual. You can influence 16 doors at once.

Phantom Sound. 10-minute ritual. You can create two sounds. 1-hour ritual. You can create four sounds. 8-hour ritual. You can create 16 sounds at once.

This work includes material from the System Reference Document 5.2.1 (“SRD 5.2.1”) by Wizards of the Coast LLC, available at https://www.dndbeyond.com/srd. The SRD 5.2.1 is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, available at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

In the Lands of the Everflow

Before The Born Generation and the return of magic the rare, mild magicks of the world were the Bonding, the clandestine Scholars, and extremely rare ritual casters who could only cast these four Cantrips and Rituals as per Black Flag’s Ritualist Talent (page 81). Even the Scholars could only cast using rituals during the three thousands years without magic, but those rituals were casting normal spells at that length of time and then holding concentration on them until they were needed.