About to start playing a warlock, Tome pact, in a game where the DM has decided magic is both new and rare in the game world.
Because of this there will not be spell scrolls available in the game, nor will I often encounter other spell books. So the questions is, how can I acquire new ritual spells for my Tome?
My DM is open to Homebrewing a mechanism for me to get new rituals but we haven't work out the details yet and I'd like to bring some suggestions to the table.
My initial though is that my character will spend gold equivalent to the cost of buying a spell scroll in a "normal" game, in order to conduct experiments during downtime which will lead him to discovering formulas he can then transcribe, at standard cost as described in the Book of Ancient Secrets invocation, into his the Pact Tome. But how much downtime? Should there be a chance the experiments fail? What other mechanisms could I use instead?
New magic? Your patron must be quite amused by the notion considering how ancient they must be. As for finding ways to discover new rituals for your Book of Shadows in such a world, there is always your patron. What with the fact that they did give you the Book of Shadows, there should be no reason for them to not be able to continuously feed you new rituals unless you have decided to flavor your Book of Shadows a different way. But even if the origin of your book does differ, your patron is a fount of knowledge and power to be tapped directly or indirectly. So with that, the question then becomes how exactly do you obtain the rituals from them? Do you perform "favors" and in exchange are rewarded with new rituals among other things you may treasure? Do you achieve character milestones which unlock more power from your patron translating mechanically into gaining more rituals? Or if your patron is unaware of your existence, do you research your benefactor and in doing so uncover new powers i.e. ritual spells?
Of course, you can also go along with your idea since not everything in a warlocks wheelhouse is derived from their patrons. But do consider that in a world where magic is so rare and new, anyone who comes up with any kind of magic should at the very least become a person of interest. If not an outright target by concerned groups. So no matter how you may come up with your rituals, your DM should make a point to address such concerns in regards to the lore of their world.
Also while you have said that your DM has established magic as being new, doesn't mean that is the case. What with there always being ancient civilizations in worlds of magic no matter how "new" magic at the time may be considered. Plus the fact that you can even choose to be a warlock very much shows how ancient magic is in your DM's multiverse, so by all accounts you could still discover rituals the old fashion way via finding spells scrolls and spellbooks. But in this instance, your DM can really flavor up the rareness by changing spell scrolls into ancient stone tablets. With spellbooks becoming not a thing you can carry but a place you visit, where ancient spellcasters having discovered places of power were able to then transcribe the very words of creation into the world around them i.e. think of places like Stonehenge or the Word Walls of Skyrim. And of course, such places would naturally have some sort of defenses in place to overcome leading to many adventures for your party to experience. Plus there still be a measure of research involved from the time spent uncovering such places to the time it would take to translate the ancient runes (or other languages) lining the stone tablets and places of power.
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About to start playing a warlock, Tome pact, in a game where the DM has decided magic is both new and rare in the game world.
Because of this there will not be spell scrolls available in the game, nor will I often encounter other spell books. So the questions is, how can I acquire new ritual spells for my Tome?
My DM is open to Homebrewing a mechanism for me to get new rituals but we haven't work out the details yet and I'd like to bring some suggestions to the table.
My initial though is that my character will spend gold equivalent to the cost of buying a spell scroll in a "normal" game, in order to conduct experiments during downtime which will lead him to discovering formulas he can then transcribe, at standard cost as described in the Book of Ancient Secrets invocation, into his the Pact Tome. But how much downtime? Should there be a chance the experiments fail? What other mechanisms could I use instead?
New magic? Your patron must be quite amused by the notion considering how ancient they must be. As for finding ways to discover new rituals for your Book of Shadows in such a world, there is always your patron. What with the fact that they did give you the Book of Shadows, there should be no reason for them to not be able to continuously feed you new rituals unless you have decided to flavor your Book of Shadows a different way. But even if the origin of your book does differ, your patron is a fount of knowledge and power to be tapped directly or indirectly. So with that, the question then becomes how exactly do you obtain the rituals from them? Do you perform "favors" and in exchange are rewarded with new rituals among other things you may treasure? Do you achieve character milestones which unlock more power from your patron translating mechanically into gaining more rituals? Or if your patron is unaware of your existence, do you research your benefactor and in doing so uncover new powers i.e. ritual spells?
Of course, you can also go along with your idea since not everything in a warlocks wheelhouse is derived from their patrons. But do consider that in a world where magic is so rare and new, anyone who comes up with any kind of magic should at the very least become a person of interest. If not an outright target by concerned groups. So no matter how you may come up with your rituals, your DM should make a point to address such concerns in regards to the lore of their world.
Also while you have said that your DM has established magic as being new, doesn't mean that is the case. What with there always being ancient civilizations in worlds of magic no matter how "new" magic at the time may be considered. Plus the fact that you can even choose to be a warlock very much shows how ancient magic is in your DM's multiverse, so by all accounts you could still discover rituals the old fashion way via finding spells scrolls and spellbooks. But in this instance, your DM can really flavor up the rareness by changing spell scrolls into ancient stone tablets. With spellbooks becoming not a thing you can carry but a place you visit, where ancient spellcasters having discovered places of power were able to then transcribe the very words of creation into the world around them i.e. think of places like Stonehenge or the Word Walls of Skyrim. And of course, such places would naturally have some sort of defenses in place to overcome leading to many adventures for your party to experience. Plus there still be a measure of research involved from the time spent uncovering such places to the time it would take to translate the ancient runes (or other languages) lining the stone tablets and places of power.