More ritual questions

[Cúangol]

“Ritual marshal reviews the casters’ player cards to note how many levels of the appropriate school of Formal Magic they possess. Note that a Ritual Caster may choose to not use all of their Ritual Levels when casting if they so desire” p. 166

1. Is zero a valid number of levels to choose (without an automatic backlash)?
2. Can secondary casters also choose to contribute zero even when assisting (with or without formal link)?
3. Does this chosen number of levels apply to computing (a) the success number, (b) the caster’s ritual level for purposes of the Ritual Manipulation high magic, or (c) different numbers can be chosen for each?

“The prerequisite for each type of manipulation must be met individually on a scroll to caster basis, and is based on their current Formal Magic level compared to the chosen difficulty of the target Ritual Scroll.” P153

4. For the primary caster of a ritual, can one include levels from formal link to determine whether the primary caster can use a ritual manipulation?
5. Secondary casters with at least one level of formal magic also add one to the caster’s level (see previous marshals answer). Do we include these levels when determining whether the primary caster can use a ritual manipulation?
6. Lets say a secondary caster has 30 levels of formal purchased and is assisting a primary caster with only 10 levels (and there is no formal link/etc) who is casting a difficulty 9 ritual. Can the secondary caster use a high magic point to Terminate the ritual? (presuming the high magic was spent in advance for this purpose)

 

[tieran]

1. No, not without a backlash. You have to have at least a 10% chance of success (at the base difficulty) to attempt casting.
2. They can choose whether or not to be secondary casters and if they choose to be, they contribute 1, not accounting for formal link.
3. The total of primary caster and secondary casters (with or without formal link) is used for the success number. Ritual manipulation requirements are based off of the primary casters formal magic level before adding anyone else in.
4. Nope.
5. Nope.
6. Nope. Only primary casters can use ritual manipulations.

 

[Draven]

1. This would mean the individual isn't a formal caster. The ritual would fail to start with no penalties other than maybe an annoyed marshal.

2. This means they're not part of the ritual, and are effectively not casters as far as the ritual is concerned.

3. (a) Yes, (b), no [the primary caster needs to be self-capable of hitting level X in order to prep manipulations for it], (c) the casting level is the casting level for a ritual.

To simplify, a caster who is using Ritual Manipulations must be capable at casting the ritual at 90% by themselves, because all RMs require X levels above the difficulty level. Secondary levels are irrelevant unless they factor into the ritual's effects themselves, such as Vengeance (which gives damage/charges based on the caster's total level).

Outside of those limited situations, there's no mechanical advantage to having secondary casters in a ritual if the primary caster is already able to 90% it. That's not to say there isn't a roleplay reason to adding secondary casters; I have -definitely- told a student to get into a circle and cast with me as part of their training.

4. Nope, see 3 (b).

5. Nope. Secondary casters cannot assist in confirming eligibility for RM, as in 3 (b).

6. Nope.