Ə - The Ritualist

Rituals are spells that are (almost always) cast outside of an adventure, usually for the purpose of creating something magical. Rituals are expensive -- always in coin, sometimes in Character Points, often in some other commoditable (that which can be made a commodity).

Ritualists specialize in Rituals. Ritualists possess a particular attention to detail, fortitude, and focus that gives them an advantage in casting especially effective Rituals: when performing a Ritual, the Ritualist is considered 2 Ranks higher. However, these traits also make them particularly poor at casting spells outside of Rituals and even worse during combat, receiving a -1 and -2 penalty, respectively. When a member of a chain-cast Ritual and not the Focus, the Ritualist adds 2 to the Caster Rank. (Reminder: the Caster Rank of a chain-cast spell is the Sorcerer Rank of the Focus plus 1 for each contributing member of the chain.)

Ritualists must have Sorcerer as their highest (actual, not effective) Aspect. If another Aspect matches or exceeds Sorcerer, the Ritualist permanently loses all benefits while retaining all penalties.

Ritualists in adventure parties: Obviously not the primary spellcaster. They spend all their non-adventuring time (and money) creating scrolls, weapons, and utilitarian magic items that are then used up in adventuring to gain more resources to create more magic items for the next supply run adventure.

The Ritualist's Staff conundrum: So the effective Caster Rank of a Ritualist is +2 when casting a Ritual. Does this mean a 5th Rank caster can use a 7th Rank Staff as long as it's used during Rituals? Is he restricted to a 3rd Rank Staff in combat? No and no.