A Beginner’s Guide to Ritual Casting & Spells in D&D 5th Edition

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Which classes in D&D 5e are the best for ritual casting?
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Slinging spells and channeling powerful magic is always a thrill in D&D 5e—but is there a big difference between normal spells and ritual casting? Ritual casting is only available to a select number of character classes, but it can be an incredibly useful tool when used wisely! Ready to get started? Then read on for a handy guide to ritual casting in 5th edition D&D, including what it is, which classes can use it, and tips on making the most of your ritual casting abilities.

Things You Should Know

  • Ritual casting allows players to cast spells as rituals, which increases the spell’s casting time by 10 minutes but doesn’t consume a spell slot.
  • Wizards, bards, druids, clerics, and artificers can all do ritual casting as part of their class abilities, but other classes can do it by taking the Ritual Caster feat.
  • Prepare ritual spells from your character’s spell list and cast them when you have enough time—which usually means casting them outside of combat.
Section 1 of 4:

What is ritual casting in D&D 5e?

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  1. When playing D&D 5e , a select number of spells come with a “ritual” tag, meaning players can choose whether to cast them normally or as rituals. When spells are cast as rituals, the casting time increases by 10 minutes, and they don’t consume any spell slots—making ritual spells super handy when you need to conserve your character’s spell slots. [1]
    • For example, Augury is a 2nd-level divination spell with a normal casting time of 1 minute, meaning it takes a minute to take effect if you use a spell slot to cast it.
    • However, if you cast Augury as a ritual, it takes 11 minutes to cast (1 minute of normal casting plus 10 minutes for the ritual), and it won’t consume a spell slot.
    • Spell slots are a key mechanic in every 5e spellcasting class. For every spell you cast, you expend a spell slot to do so, which limits the number of spells you can cast in a day.
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Section 2 of 4:

How to Use Ritual Spells

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  1. For the most part, characters in D&D 5e cast ritual spells just like they would a normal spell. If your character has spellcasting abilities, check out their spell list for available ritual spells and pick a few for your character to learn. Not every spell can be cast as a ritual; certain spells are tagged with an “R” or “ritual” in the 5e rulebook to indicate their ritual spell status. [2]
    • Remember, there are plenty of other useful spells outside the realm of ritual spells, so be sure to pick a wide variety—don’t just load up on rituals.
    • Spellcasting varies by class; some classes can learn lots of spells and prepare a few of them every day (like wizards and clerics), while others have a set pool of spells prepared all the time (like sorcerers). Keep that in mind when you choose spells!
  2. Because ritual spells take an extra 10 minutes to complete, they’re not ideal for fast-paced situations like combat in D&D 5e. In combat, each round lasts for about 6 seconds, meaning the fight would likely end long before you finished casting a 10-minute ritual spell. Instead, wait for moments outside combat where you have the extra time to do a ritual casting.
    • For example, Water Breathing is a super useful ritual spell—but if you wait to cast it until combat has started and your character’s ship is sinking, you likely won’t finish casting it in time to use it.
    • Since Water Breathing has a 24-hour duration, try casting it when you have time at the start of the day instead. Let your DM know you’re casting it; that way, if a wayward kraken springs a surprise attack, the spell is already in place.
  3. If you’re playing a cleric, druid, or artificer, prepare your character’s spells at the beginning of each in-game day (rather than using a set number of spells they always know). As you choose the spells you want them to have, include any ritual spells you think you may want to cast between then and the next in-game long rest. [3]
    • For example, if your character is planning to break into a nobleman’s mansion to look for a powerful magical artifact, preparing the Detect Magic ritual spell would be a smart choice!
  4. Because ritual spells don’t consume spell slots, there are many instances where it might be a good tactical move to use them outside of combat. As you play, keep an eye out for moments (especially during exploration) where a ritual spell might help you complete a task without expending any spell slots.
    • For example, if you’re exploring a dungeon and find a cool weapon you want to identify, but you don’t want to use up a spell slot in case of an enemy nearby, cast Identify as a ritual instead.
    • On the other hand, if you’ve used up all of your spell slots in a tough fight, but you want the party to rest safely (without getting ambushed by enemies), cast Tiny Hut as a ritual. You’ll have a shelter to sleep for an entire long rest!
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Section 3 of 4:

Who can cast ritual spells in D&D 5e?

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  1. With the exception of warlocks and sorcerers, full spellcasting classes (meaning that their class abilities are based on spellcasting, not physical combat skills) can cast ritual spells. This includes druids, clerics, and bards. Not every spellcasting class has the same ritual spells available, but all of them can naturally use any of the ritual spells included in their class spell lists.
    • Sorcerers don’t have access to ritual casting as a class feature, though they have 4 ritual spells on their class list—which means sorcerers can cast those spells but must do it normally (not as a ritual).
  2. Wizards are a full spellcasting class, but they get a unique perk on top of the ability to cast ritual spells: they don’t have to prepare ritual spells before using them. So long as the ritual spells are already in their spellbook, a wizard character can cast ritual spells anytime! That’s significant because, normally, wizards do need to prepare spells after a long rest—but ritual spells are the exception to this rule. [4]
    • For example, say you prepare your wizard’s spells for the day and decide not to prepare Find Familiar. Even though it’s not prepared, you can still cast the spell as a ritual any time you want to because it’s still in your character’s spellbook!
  3. While artificers do cast spells, they’re technically a “half-caster” class, which means their class abilities are a combination of spellcasting skills and other physical combat skills, and they can only cast spells up to level 5. There are other half-casting classes (rangers and paladins, for example), but artificer is the only one with access to ritual casting as a class skill.
    • Artificers have to prepare their ritual spells daily, just like a cleric or druid would.
  4. Only players who choose the Pact of the Tome subclass for their warlock characters get access to ritual spells. The subclass comes with the Book of Ancient Secrets invocation, which allows the warlock to learn 1st-level ritual spells from any class spell list—and cast warlock spells with the ritual tag as ritual spells.
    • In D&D 5e, every character class (wizard, fighter, rogue, monk, and so on) comes with subclasses, which essentially offer a more specialized set of skills for your character to learn.
    • Warlock characters can choose from several different subclasses, but Pact of the Tome is the only one with different ritual casting options.
    • Pact of the Chain warlocks get Find Familiar (a ritual spell) as part of their class abilities. However, that’s the only spell they can cast as a ritual.
  5. Feats are additional abilities characters can learn as they level up—and anyone who wants to try ritual casting can do it with the Ritual Caster feat. The feat allows your character to learn two 1st-level ritual spells from a class list of your choice and learn new ritual spells in the future if you find scrolls or spellbooks for the class you chose. [5]
    • When you take the Ritual Caster feat, choose spells from 1 of 6 available class lists: wizard, bard, druid, cleric, sorcerer, or warlock.
    • The wizard class list has by far the biggest variety of ritual spells to choose from (22 in total!), while class lists like sorcerer and warlock aren’t all that useful—they only have 4 ritual spells each, and all of them are on the wizard list too.
    • While the wizard class list has the most ritual spells, the cleric and druid class lists offer spells that the wizard list doesn’t; for example, clerics get Augury and Divination, while druids get Beast Sense and Commune with Nature.
    • Keep in mind that your character will need a Wisdom or Intelligence ability score of 13 or higher to take the Ritual Caster feat.
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Section 4 of 4:

Why take the Ritual Caster feat?

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  1. Martial classes are focused heavily on physical combat, so they typically don’t have a lot of magic or spellcasting abilities to fall back on. The Ritual Caster feat is a simple and easy way to buff up a martial character with a bit of magic or make a half-caster character more versatile! [6] For example, consider taking the feat if you’re playing the following classes:
    • Monk: Adding cleric ritual spells to a monk build can support their natural class abilities.
    • Ranger: Have your ranger learn druid ritual spells for flavor—or cleric ritual spells for the most useful range of abilities.
    • Paladin: Bard or cleric ritual spells tend to work best with a paladin’s natural skillset.
    • Arcane Trickster Rogue: Arcane tricksters already use wizard spells, so adding wizard ritual spells can simply broaden your character’s arsenal.
    • Eldritch Knight Fighter: Eldritch knights also use wizard spells, so giving them wizard ritual spells makes them even more effective outside combat.


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      References

      1. ↑ https://roll20.net/compendium/dnd5e/Spells#content
      2. ↑ https://roll20.net/compendium/dnd5e/Spells#content
      3. ↑ https://roll20.net/compendium/dnd5e/Spells#content
      4. ↑ https://5thsrd.org/character/classes/wizard/
      5. ↑ https://blackcitadelrpg.com/ritual-caster-feat-5e/
      6. ↑ https://blackcitadelrpg.com/ritual-caster-feat-5e/

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