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Occult Rituals


Occult Rituals

It’s a common belief that only those initiated in the rites and practices of arcane, divine, or psychic magic can cast spells, but this is not strictly true. Hidden within dusty libraries and amid the ramblings of lunatics lie the mysteries of another form of spellcasting—occult ritual magic. These spells are rare, coveted by both those eager to gain their power and those wishing to hide their existence. Most traditional spellcasters consider these rituals dangerous and uncontrollable, something to be avoided or used as a last resort. They fear the power these ceremonies grant to the uninitiated, as the rituals allow those with only a glimmering of understanding the ability to interact with the underlying fabric of magic.

While anyone can attempt to cast occult rituals, the process is fraught with peril. The strange and intricate incantations are often challenging to perform with precision, and failure can weaken the casters or even unleash horrors upon the world. Even when successfully performed, each occult ritual has a price—a backlash that affects at least the caster leading the ritual, and often those assisting in its performance.
Click here for the full rules on Occult Rituals.

The Viridian Transcendence

Source Pathfinder #136: Temple of the Peacock Spirit pg. 78
School conjuration (teleportation); Level 8
Casting Time 80 minutes
Components V, S, M (a gemstone lens worth at least 10,000 gp), SC (up to 8)
Skill Checks Knowledge (arcana) DC 30, 2 successes; Knowledge (planes) 1 success; Knowledge (religion) DC 30, 1 success; Perform (any) DC 30, 4 successes
Range touch
Target primary and secondary casters
Duration instantaneous
Saving Throw none; SR no
Backlash The primary caster takes 4d6 points of damage and is exhausted. Each secondary caster takes 2d6 points of damage.
Failure The casters are instantly teleported to area C3 of the Glorious Approach to the Temple of the Peacock Spirit and are inflicted with 1 temporary negative level. (At your discretion, if not all the PCs are involved in casting the ritual, you can instead replace this failure effect with every caster being inflicted with 2 temporary negative levels, so that you don’t have to split the party between area C3 and wherever else on Golarion they may have been when they performed the ritual.)

Effect

The primary caster draws the symbol of the Peacock Spirit—a peacock feather with an open eye in the middle—on the floor as the secondary casters stand in a circle around him. The secondary casters join hands around the primary caster, who must perform the praises of the Peacock Spirit (traditionally, hymns and dances that focus on tripartite union of mind, body, and soul). The secondary casters can lend their voices, but they must be in perfect harmony.

As the chants reach their peak, and assuming the casters successfully perform the ritual, a burst of blue-green energy issues forth from the primary caster, engulfing the secondary casters. At this moment, the primary caster must decide whether to use the successful ritual to travel to the Temple of the Peacock Spirit or to infuse the energies into one of the secondary casters to grant them the viridian escape.

Temple Travel: If the primary caster chooses this option, he and all of the secondary casters are teleported, as if via word of recall, to area B1 of the Cloister of Cerulean Languor (see page 13). Characters unable to fit in that area are left behind, as chosen by the primary caster. A creature can benefit from this effect as many times as it participates in a successful ritual.

Viridian Escape: The imbued secondary caster can use word of recall once as a swift action. When she activates this ability, she vanishes in a puff of bright blue-green smoke and reappears at the location at which she was imbued with this effect. A creature can be granted the viridian escape only once in its lifetime.