Lay Ritualist

Study of the occult is often pursued by learned societies and wealthy sages who can track down rare tomes and esoteric components. When humbler folk pursue this knowledge, they are often shunned, and poverty can greatly hinder their progress. Nevertheless, their rituals can aid their community in many ways, even if neighbours are reluctant to acknowledge it openly.

Alignment: Any.

Hit Die: d6.

Starting Wealth: 3d6 x 10gp (average 105gp).

Class Skills

The lay ritualist’s class skills are Appraise (Int), Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Heal (Wis), Knowledge (arcana, nature, planes, religion) (Int), Intimidate (Cha), Linguistics (Int), Profession (Wis), Sense Motive (Wis), Spellcraft (Int), and Use Magic Device (Cha).

Skill Ranks per Level: 2 + Int modifier (if using houserules, use the same ranks as a wizard).

Table: Lay Ritualist

Level	Base Attack Bonus	Fort Save	Ref Save	Will Save	Special	Spells per Day
						0th	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th
1st	+0	+0	+0	+2	Ritual expertise +2, spellbook	3	1	—	—	—	—
2nd	+1	+0	+0	+3	Summon familiar	3	1	—	—	—	—
3rd	+1	+1	+1	+3	Meditative rituals	3	2	—	—	—	—
4th	+2	+1	+1	+4	Ritual expertise +3	3	2	0	—	—	—
5th	+2	+1	+1	+4	Occult arcana	3	2	1	—	—	—
6th	+3	+2	+2	+5	—	3	2	1	—	—	—
7th	+3	+2	+2	+5	Ritual expertise +4	3	3	2	—	—	—
8th	+4	+2	+2	+6	Ritualistic reading	3	3	2	0	—	—
9th	+4	+3	+3	+6	Solo ritualist 1	3	3	2	1	—	—
10th	+5	+3	+3	+7	Ritual expertise +5	3	3	2	1	—	—
11th	+5	+3	+3	+7	Substitution	3	3	3	2	—	—
12th	+6/+1	+4	+4	+8	Solo ritualist 2	3	3	3	2	0	—
13th	+6/+1	+4	+4	+8	Ritual expertise +6	3	3	3	2	1	—
14th	+7/+2	+4	+4	+9	—	3	3	3	2	1	—
15th	+7/+2	+5	+5	+9	Solo ritualist 3	3	3	3	3	2	—
16th	+8/+3	+5	+5	+10	Ritual expertise +7	3	3	3	3	2	0
17th	+8/+3	+5	+5	+10	—	3	3	3	3	2	1
18th	+9/+4	+6	+6	+11	Solo ritualist 4	3	3	3	3	2	1
19th	+9/+4	+6	+6	+11	Ritual expertise +8	3	3	3	3	3	2
20th	+10/+5	+6	+6	+12	—	3	3	3	3	3	2

Class Features

All of the following are class features of the lay ritualist archetype.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency

Lay ritualists are skilled with all simple weapons. Lay ritualists are not proficient with any type of armour or shield.

Spells

A lay ritualist casts arcane spells, which are drawn from the lay ritualist spell list. Like a wizard, a lay ritualist must choose and prepare his spells in advance.

To learn, prepare, or cast a spell, the lay ritualist must have an Intelligence score equal to at least 10 + the spell level. The Difficulty Class for a saving throw against a lay ritualist’s spell is 10 + the spell level + the lay ritualist’s Intelligence modifier.

A lay ritualist can cast only a certain number of spells of each spell level per day. His base daily spell allotment is given on Table: Lay Ritualist. In addition, he receives bonus spells per day if he has a high Intelligence score (see Table: Ability Modifiers and Bonus Spells).

A lay ritualist may know any number of spells. He must prepare his spells ahead of time by getting 8 hours of sleep and spending 1 hour studying his spellbook. While studying, the lay ritualist decides which spells to prepare.

Where Table: Lay Ritualist indicates that the lay ritualist gets 0 spells per day of a given spell level, he gains only the bonus spells he would be entitled to based on his Intelligence score for that spell level.

Ritual Expertise (Ex)

At 1st level, a lay ritualist gains a +2 bonus on skill checks to perform occult rituals, and on Intelligence checks to learn the method of casting an occult ritual. At 4th level and every 3 levels thereafter, the bonus increases by 1.

Spellbook (Ex)

A lay ritualist has a spellbook, as the wizard class feature.

Summon Familiar (Su)

At 2nd level, a lay ritualist can call a familiar, just as a wizard can using the arcane bond ability. His familiar always has the occult messenger archetype.

Meditative Rituals (Su)

At 3rd level, when a lay ritualist casts a spell with the meditative descriptor, he can ignore component costs of up to 50gp per class level.

Occult Arcana (Su)

At 5th level, the lay ritualist can sacrifice a prepared spell to gain an additional use of an occult skill unlock that is normally usable once per day. He gains a bonus on the check equal to the level of the sacrificed spell.

Ritualistic Reading (Ex)

At 8th level, when using Use Magic Device to cast from a scroll (including emulating ability scores or alignment), the lay ritualist can increase the time required as though taking 20; this reduces the DC by an amount equal to his class level.

Solo Ritualist (Ex)

At 9th level, when the lay ritualist performs a ritual that has a minimum number of required secondary casters, that number is decreased by 1. At 12th, 15th and 18th level, the number decreases by an additional 1.

Substitution (Su)

At 11th level, a lay ritualist can spend a number of hours equal to a ritual’s level creating an occult proxy. This item protects him by absorbing backlash from a ritual. Regardless of whether the ritual succeeds or fails, the proxy halves any numeric effects from the backlash and the failure consequences. A proxy can only be used once.

Lay Ritualist Spell List

A lay ritualist’s spell list is as follows:

0th level: arcane mark, detect magic, detect psychic significance, guidance, light, mending, read magic, scrivener’s chant, sift, stabilize

1st level: alarm, command, comprehend languages, cure light wounds, detect alignment, ears of the city, endure elements, identify, incendiary runes, memorize page, preserve, protection from alignment, rite of bodily purity, rite of centred mind, secluded grimoire, sentry skull^R, shield companion, shield the banner, starsight.

2nd level: abeyance, ancestral communion, anti-summoning shield, arcane lock, augury, blood biography, book ward, cleromancy, contact entity I, cure moderate wounds, delay poison, healing token, huntmaster’s spear, lay of the land, life pact, locate object, locate portal, make whole, magic mouth, masterwork transformation, protection from natural attacks, protection from outsiders, retrieve item, reveal true shape, riversight, ropeweave, share language, skinsend, soul vault, tattoo potion, visualisation of the body, visualisation of the mind, wartrain mount, web shelter, wicker horse, zone of truth

3rd level: akashic communion, animate dead, bestow curse, business booms, cackling skull, call spirit, campfire wall, catatonia, communal endure elements, contact entity III, continual flame, cure serious wounds, explosive runes, geomessage, glyph of warding, homeward bound, lesser age resistance, neutralize poison, planar enquiry, plant growth, quench, remove curse, remove disease, rune of durability, rune of warding, see beyond, sepia snake sigil, speak with dead, spirit bonds, tongues.

4th level: age resistance, bind sage, bite the hand, bountiful banquet, contact entity IV, contact other plane, cure critical wounds, curse terrain, divination, firewalker’s meditation, legend lore, minor creation, restoration, retrocognition, sacrifice, shadow projection, stone shape, stoneskin, symbol of healing, symbol of revelation.

5th level: break enchantment, commune with texts, enlightened step, greater age resistance, heal, lesser planar binding, major creation, mark of justice, raise dead, sending, symbol of sealing, true seeing.