Alchemy & Sorcery Rituals

[Véhemen]

Alchemy & Sorcery Rituals

What are rituals for?

If an alchemist wishes to create an item or a sorcerer use the Dark Side on a larger scale, they will need to conduct a ritual. These events are usually set pieces with a lot of thematic roleplay and involve a lot of creativity on the part of the player.

How do Rituals work?

In order to conduct a ritual an alchemist or sorcerer will first need to submit a ticket to the officer inbox outlining the detail of their ritual, they will then be given a target roll. Once they have their target roll, they may conduct the ritual and attempt to roll for success.

The rolling aspect of our rituals is designed to emphasize planning and preparation. After you submit your proposed ritual, we score it based on Intent, Preparation, and Execution, giving each a score. We will then compare this to a table (which we will not share) that determines how many successes are required according to the type of alchemy or sorcery ritual you are undertaking. Once scored, we immediately inform you of the number of successes required for your ritual to succeed.

For smaller rituals, a well-planned effort often guarantees success upfront, meaning that your roll is only to determine if you gain a bonus to your intended outcome. For larger rituals, good planning minimizes the impact of rolling, reducing the risk of failure.

Only the person conducting the ritual needs to roll, which minimizes the effect of poor rolls from others and ensures that other player characters' presence isn’t arbitrary. Instead, additional players contribute a flat bonus to your roll, so involving more players further reduces the chance of failure, though for smaller rituals, they might not be necessary at all.

In short, the outcome of your ritual is primarily determined by the ideas and preparation behind it, rather than the dice rolls. However, the system doesn’t reward laziness or poorly conceived ideas—rituals that are poorly thought out, lack flair, or are overly ambitious will still face a high chance of failure.

What is intent?

Intent is essentially about whether your ritual makes sense overall: Is your stated goal reasonable, does the structure of the ritual make sense according to this goal, is the the concept of the ritual in keeping with our roleplay setting.

What is preparation?

Preparation, as the name implies, is about how you prepared for the ritual: the more effort you put into getting the right ingredients or time spent testing and experimenting for the ritual, the better the outcome. This can be expressed through events ran to get ingredients or roleplay devoted to experimenting.

Preparation also includes a time element. Big rituals don't happen overnight and if you're aiming to create something special in a short time frame, you're more likely to fail.

What is execution?

Execution represents the planned flair and creativity you put into the actual ritual itself: The words spoken, the actions undertaken, the ritual circles you create, or theatrics involved. A good ritual needs some flair, but keep in mind that if the proposed ritual ends up feeling unthematic or silly, that could work against you.

What about other players?

As stated above, involving other players will give you a bonus to your ritual if they are active participants, but they are not needed for all rituals. That said, roleplay without at least an audience is rarely fun, so we'd always suggest you should have an audience along for the ride.

In terms of how the ritual impacts those participants, we may specify something for the failure aspect of the ritual, but otherwise it's up to you to decide what their involvement might entail.

Types of Alchemy and Ritual

To help players better understand how we categorise their submissions, we will generally view them according to the table below. Lower end creations will usually have limited scope, timeframes or charges. Higher end rituals will create powerful items or effects, but require a much better executed ritual to succeed.

Type​	Requirements​	Description​
Small Flavour​	Rank 1 - 2​	Very limited power, duration or area of effect. Typically only impacts an individual or immediate vicinity.
Small RSS​	Rank 1 - 2​	Time limited to a few days or charges, only minor RSS impact.
Medium Flavour​	Rank 2 - 3​	Limited power, duration or area of effect. Can impact a few characters or immediate vicinity in obvious ways.
Medium RSS​	Rank 2 - 3​	Time limited to a few weeks or charges, only modest RSS impact.
Large Flavour​	Rank 3 - 4​	Larger power, duration or area of effect. Can impact many characters significantly and cover a large area.
Large RSS​	Rank 3 - 4​	Permanent item with buff to RSS. Usually situational, or with negative RSS impact too.
Huge Flavour​	Rank 4 - 5​	Huge power, duration or area of effect. Can impact a very large area and potentially thousands of characters.
Huge RSS​	Rank 4 -5​	Permanent item with buff to RSS. Usually a flat bonus with no negative RSS impact, or bigger buff with some form of negative impact.

To help give some examples of what might be appropriate at given ranks, we've provided a table of ideas below. Please note these are just examples and not a definitive list. You can propose anything that matches the themes of our guild and setting.

Type​	Requirements​	Alchemy (Example)​	Sorcery (Example)​
Small Flavour​	Rank 1 - 2​	Creates a tankard that allowed the user to drink any strength of alcohol poured within without becoming intoxicated.	Creates a ritual is conducted to reveal the cause of death for a dead character.​
Small RSS​	Rank 1 - 2​	Creates a medallion which when worn grants the user an extra re-roll but which is consumed when that re-roll is used.	Creates a ritual to increase a users skill in detoxify poison by one rank for twenty four hours.
Medium Flavour​	Rank 2 - 3​	Creates a compass which can be used to track the location of another character if a drop of their blood is placed within it.	Creates a ritual that makes the user invisible to the naked eye for up to two hours.
Medium RSS​	Rank 2 - 3​	Creates strength totem that gives +1 die in a strength based roll but can only be used three times before it breaks.	Creates a ritual that reduces someone's dice pool by 1 for 24 hours.
Large Flavour​	Rank 3 - 4​	Creates a ring which when worn allows a user to change their appearance for sixty minutes. Characters with Force Sense 3 can see through the deception.	Creates a ritual that allows the user to take control of non-sentient creatures within the radius of 3km and control those creatures for up to one hour.
Large RSS​	Rank 3 - 4​	Creates a set of armour that allows the user to change saber forms but must randomly roll for that form.	Creates a ritual that connects three players, empowering them with +1 die when using Force Lightning, but only when together.
Huge Flavour​	Rank 4 - 5​	Creates a massive sithspawn that can descend on a fortified position to lay waste to it.	A ritual that grants a user the ability to heal from terrible wounds by draining the life of many others.
Huge RSS​	Rank 4 - 5​	Creates a medallion which when worn grants the user +1 success to any roll for a day. Then -1 success for a week.	A ritual that gives the user +2 successes for a day, greatly increasing their power.

The Process

As of today the new process for conducting a ritual will be as follows:

1. You come up with the idea for your ritual and submit an inbox ticket using the template shown below. In this you will include your intent, preparation, execution as well as a proposal for what failure or success would look like.
   • Ideally you will have already begun your preparations at this stage, but you could wait to hear the outcome before doing so.
2. The officer team will score your ritual, referring to our own reference table and decide how many successes are needed. We will also potentially amend your proposed failure or success outcomes.
3. If you think that is something you can achieve, you proceed to conducting your ritual.
   • If you've aimed too high and do not think you can reach the number of successes required, you can always resubmit the ritual once you've finessed the idea.
4. At the climax of your ritual, you make a roll in the #rituals-and-alchemy channel to see how many successes you get, listing any traits or bonuses you would get. A table of bonuses can be seen below. You may of course use re-rolls but cannot edit or delete anything in this channel.
5. Upon completing your roll you'll know whether your character failed, succeeded or got a bonus and can proceed from there without referring back to the officer team (unless we explicitly request you do).

Bonuses

Bonus​	Effect​
Ritualist	+2 Dice
2-3 Players Participating	+1 Success
4-7 Players Participating	+2 Successes
8+ Players Participating	+4 Successes​

The Template

When you create a ticket, you can access the appropriate template to help format your submission using the button below.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q. Do I need to Inbox every ritual I do?
A. If your ritual will create any effect or item that will impact the guild or its narrative, it must be inboxed. If you are creating something entirely for private roleplay that will not manifest within the wider guild, all we ask is you cleave to the guidelines we provided.
If in doubt, inbox the Officer Team, and we can inform whether a full submission would be required.

Q. How do I know if it will impact the guild?
A. If players outside of your private roleplay ever hear about it in roleplay or it appears in a lore entry or dossier, it's impacting the guild.

Q. I am not sure how my proposed ritual would be graded, medium or high, can I ask?
A. No. If you submit your idea and we deem it more difficult than you expected, then you can either park the ritual until your character is stronger and can attempt or, or finesse the idea and resubmit it.

Q. Can I give player characters who contribute fun effects from being part of the ritual?
A. Absolutely, though the impact should be limited unless you've had officer approval. If the participants are unhappy, they can always beat the snot out of your character later.

Q. Is there a limit to how many rituals I can do?
A. Realistically you should only be working on one thing at a time, at least formally. If you submit multiple rituals to us, your character is probably doing too much and would burn out. We suggest focusing on one, or perhaps two things if you're a Lord, at any given time.

 

[Véhemen]

Ritual Examples
The good, the bad and the ugly

​

Below are some examples of the sort of things we think about when scoring ritual submissions. No two rituals are alike, and there is no formula for how a ritual should be done. However they are some things we always look for:

• That the intention makes sense for a sith ritual.
• That the preperations show a proper investment in the ritual and that the items being used make sense.
• That the execution has flair, makes use of the preperations and feels impactful.
• That the outcome is balanced with the amount of effort that has gone into it.

It's also important to remember that there are four tiers of rituals and the one your ritual lands in depends upon what you are proposing. Often we see rituals that would land in the large or huge category as it proposed permanent or significant effects, placing them far beyond the characters skill to acheive.

Spoiler: Sorrow Blade - Good Example

Ritual Intent

To create a dagger known as the “Sorrow Blade,” a cursed weapon that leeches the pain and suffering from those it wounds. Each wound it inflicts, it feeds into its reservoir of torment, increasing its effectiveness against Jedi by weakening their connection to clarity and inner peace. The wielder must resist being consumed by the anguish within.

Why this is good

• Clear and specific goal: A single item with clearly defined function.
• Lore-appropriate: It leverages Sith themes, pain, torment and corruption.
• Limited impact: It's a dagger that causes emotional torment so can only impact those it stabs and only
• Thematic Consequences: There is a suggestion for the user might wrestle with the consequences of what they have made.

Ritual Preparation

Use a dagger used in betrayal - Alchemist Bob recovered this item during an event ran by Lord Jimmy where a Republic soldier killed his Captain to save his own life by stabbing them in the back with this dagger repeatedly. It was a dramatic scene at the end of a big event with everyone watching and immersed and the captain experienced a sense of immense betrayal.

I will run an event where Alchemist Bob travels to Korriban to kidnap Acolytes and torture them, collecting their blood, potent with the pain and misery of their suffering to be used in the ritual.

Alchemist Bob will arrange a trade with Lord Ben to purchase a family of three slaves from them to be used in the ritual. These slaves will be held in miserable circumstances until the ritual so their pain and suffering is maximised.

Finally, Alchemist Bob will spend two weeks washing the dagger in the blood of the acolytes whilst meditating upon it, pouring their own pain and misery into it. I will post a few updates in the Update channel to prepare it for the ritual, and have at least one evening where I am doing this in-game.

I will also use the dagger in events over the next two weeks, making sure it is used to kill people and feed on their sorrow in doing so.

Why this is good

• Ingredients have symbolic relevance: Each ties directly to pain and suffering, the ritual’s theme. Nothing is random or boring. The dagger is the cornerstone and has a clear plot reason for its use.
• Component gathering: There is a fun event to gather at least one of the ingredients and some player-driven roleplay to get another.
• Avoids mundane: Ash is part of the ritual, but there's nothing to say the ash is important. You could make it important and make it the ash of someone burned alive, but if it's really just ash... why mention it?
• There is a build-up: There is a couple of weeks of just preparing the weapon for use.

Ritual Execution

The ritual will be conducted inside the arena in the base, a place where much suffering and pain has occurred. A triangle will be drawn on the snow using ash and blood. In the centre will be the alchemist conducing the ritual.

At each point of the triangle will be one of the slave sacrifices. They kneel with heads bowed, hands bound behind their backs, focused upon their own fear and suffering. Their emotions fuels the resonance.

Three participants stand behind each slave, focusing their own memories of pain and suffering, repeating the final line along with the alchemist.

You were not forged in fire, but in grief.
In the quiet after screams, in the ache behind memory.
No hammer shaped you, only loss.
I name you Sorrow.

In the blood of the pain I bind you.
In the suffering of the innocent I empower you.
These wounds are yours now.
I name you Sorrow.

Each sacrifice speaks with a voice long silenced.
A brother’s betrayal. A child’s grave. A lover’s last breath.
All echo in your edge.
I name you Sorrow.

(The blade is then used to cut two of the slaves throat, their blood draining into the snow to spread out through the triangle as their suffering flows into the dagger)

You will not kill for power, but for remembrance.
You will drink only grief, not glory.
Let the strong weep, and the weak fall silent.
I name you Sorrow.

Bound in pain, born of anguish
You are hunger with no mouth, torment without end.
At last you are given purpose.
I name you Sorrow.

The dagger is then thrust into the final slaves heart and their suffering is siphoned into the dagger with dark alchemy. The triangle ignites in violet flame, burning with alchemical power as the dagger is pulled free. Cold, glinting, and empowered with suffering.

Why this is good

• Strong visual cue: Triangle is a typical sith symbol, sacrifices a common theme, blood and ash work too. The captive slaves waiting to be killed feels very Sith. The use of emotion and how its manipulated through the Force.
• Chants and participant roles: Adds drama, involves the participants, makes them part of the ritual.
• Climactic finale: The dagger’s “birth” is clear and memorable, giving a satisfying end.
• Everything ties together: The dagger, the suffering of the slaves, the participation of the ritualists. Nothing is wasted.

Failure

This ritual fails and all those involved experience whiplash, causing them experiencing terrible pain and misery that lasts for the next forty-eight hours.

Why this is good

• Consequence makes sense: They are attempting to channel pain and suffering, it rebounding onto them makes perfect sense if it all goes wrong. The amount of time could be scaled up if the ritual was bigger and the goal bigger. If trying to create something very big, could even have a "you cannot re-roll for xx number of days" clause.

Success (Flavour Example)

A dagger is created which inflicts emotional torment on those cut by it. They experience extreme anguish for several minutes. Once those minutes pass, the impact will lessen but will linger on for days or weeks according to the characters strength.

Why this is good

• Matches the intent: This does exactly what it was intended to do, no more, no less.
• Clear timeframes: The duration of the immediate effect is made clear; it's a few minutes only. There's a lingering effect which can fade according to strength, creating a limited effect that people can lean into.

Success (RSS Example)

A dagger is created which inflicts emotional torment on those cut by it. They experience extreme anguish for several minutes. Once those minutes pass, the impact will lessen but will linger on for days or weeks according to the characters strength.

The wielder must declare they are using the dagger before they make a roll, they cannot re-roll their roll, reflecting their own struggle with the daggers anguish and pain.

If they beat their opponents roll, their opponents target roll is increased by 2 for their next roll as they struggle with their emotions.

Why this is good

• Matches the intent: Thematically still causing anguish and the impact on rolls reflects the struggle.
• Clear timeframes: The duration of the immediate effect is made clear; it's a few minutes only. There's a lingering effect which can fade according to strength, creating a limited effect that people can lean into.
• Provides a downside: For the wielder, but a modest one. encouraging use only where the wielder has an advantage.
• Fair impact if succeed: Just a round of combat impacted for target and still a chance they can overcome it.

This would be considered a Large RSS item because it's permanent, one could limit the RSS impact to 30 days to move it down to Medium RSS and still retain the flavour effect.

Spoiler: Gauntlet of Power - Bad Example

Ritual Intent​

The purpose of this ritual is to create a glove that makes the wearer stronger in every way. It will boost their connection to the Force, increase their intelligence, make them more charismatic, and protect them from mind tricks. It will also make people obey them.

Why this is bad

• Overly broad and overpowered: There is no thematic unity to the effect: physical, mental, social, and Force-based boosts all at once. This would likely be considered Huge RSS but has no justification or progression toward that level of power.
• No narrative limits: "Makes people obey them" is a vague and absolute effect with no restriction or consequence.

Ritual Preparation​

I will light some candles and meditate on a glove created from sithsteel for two days. I will also fix some crystals to the glove to hold the power. Then I will pour some blood on it from a local butcher shop to make it Sithy. I might get someone to chant with me.

Why this is bad

• No meaningful sourcing: Why would butcher’s blood invoke Sith power? Attaching random crystals doesn't really feel like it makes sense. Creating a random gauntlet doesn't feel like there's much investment from the character in creating it.
• No symbolic or character-driven ties: There's no narrative connection, no betrayal, no emotional resonance, no arc.
• No meaningful RP prep: Two days of vague meditation is far too short, and nothing is gained via events, story, or player-driven RP

Ritual Execution​

The ritual will take place in the guild base I will draw a star on the floor in chalk and place the glove in the centre. People will stand in a circle and shout "Power to the Glover!" over and over while I read a paragraph from a Sith holocron I found.

Why this is bad

• No flair or dramatic weight: A chalk star and shouting “Power to the Glove!” lacks gravitas, imagination, or Sith aesthetic.
• No climax or transformation moment: This is where you need flare and a moment where the object transforms, this feels lacking, or at least unexplained?
• Lazy theatrics: Using a “paragraph from a holocron” is a placeholder, not content. It's unclear, undeveloped, and feels like filler. Where did this holocron even come from, what are the words?
• No Alchemy? There is no real reference to alchemy or the Force.

Failure​

If the ritual fails, I’ll just get a headache for a bit. Maybe people laugh at me.

Why this is bad

• No real cost: There’s no danger or backlash for attempting to seize massive power.
• Tonally inconsistent: “People laugh at me” is comedic, but the item’s intent is serious and grandiose. This undermines the tone and stakes.

Success (Flavour Example)​

The glove glows and the character becomes incredibly powerful in every way. People respect them instantly and they feel unstoppable.

Why this is bad

• Too vague and absolute: “In every way” and “unstoppable” offer no real guidance to others on how to RP around this item.
• No consequences or limitations: Nothing reins this in; there’s no cost, no trade-off, no warning. Not every item needs a downside, but for such a powerful item there needs some sort of limit to its power.

Success (RSS Example)​

When worn, the user gains +2 dice to all rolls and cannot be mind tricked. All NPCs obey them unless otherwise stated.

Why this is bad

• Mechanically unbalanced: +2 to all rolls is equivalent to some of the highest-end abilities in the system.
• “All NPCs obey them” invalidates DM control and narrative freedom, this isn’t fair to others.
• RSS level not earned: No part of the ritual justifies this effect. It lacks the structure or effort that would merit even a Medium-level item.

Spoiler: Ritual of the Mirror Veil - Looks good but it isn't

Ritual Intent​

The purpose of this ritual is to allow the sorcerer to take the form of another person. It is intended for infiltration, manipulation, or secrecy. The sorcerer will be able to become anyone they have seen.

Why this seems okay

• Infiltration and disguise are thematically approproate for Sith.
• It seems like it has a limit, only allowing the sorcerer to appear as someone they've already seen.

But why it’s bad

• No limits: How long does it last? How many times can it be used? Can the user change their voice, height, presence? What happens to their own body?
• No mechanical clarity: Can Force-sensitives detect the illusion,
• Too open-ended: “Anyone they have seen” could include Sith Lords, Darths, or other players, which although may seem reasonable, is also extremely powerful without any sort of limites.

Ritual Preparation​

The sorcerer will gather a mirror, a lock of hair from someone, and a bowl of black ink. They will fast for a day and meditate on deception. The ritual will be done on the night of the new moon, when shadows are strongest.

Why this seems okay

• Involves fasting and meditation which could make for some interesting roleplay at least.
• Mirror and hair feel appropriate for mimicry.
• The talk of shadows and how they thematically tie into the concept of changing shape is interesting.

But why it’s bad

• Items are generic: A “mirror” and “black ink” have no personal story. Where did the hair come from, was it earned in RP, how do any of these thematically tie into the Force?
• No symbolic connection: The ink isn’t tied to illusion or darkness in any meaningful way, it’s just dark. If it has one, it's not reallt explained.
• Low-effort preparation: Fasting for a day and grabbing three items isn’t much for what is essentially a high-powered shapeshift

Ritual Execution​

The ritual is to be performed at midnight during the new moon. The sorcerer sits alone before an old mirror, with the bowl of ink placed directly beneath it. The mirror must reflect both the caster and the ink. Three candles are lit, one white, one grey, one black, representing the shifting faces of identity. The lock of hair is placed beside the mirror on a folded cloth.

The caster begins to chant softly, invoking deception and transformation, their words rising in intensity as the ritual progresses. After ten minutes of focus and incantation, the sorcerer lifts the lock of hair and drops it into the ink. At that moment, they must gaze into the mirror and recite the following lines:

“Face behind the face, step through the veil,
Borrowed shape, stolen trail.
By mirror’s lie and ink’s deceit,
Let new eyes see and false heart beat.”

As the final words are spoken, the caster reaches forward and presses two fingers into the ink, then smears it across the reflection in the mirror. This marks the end of the ritual. If successful, the caster’s reflection begins to ripple, taking on the features of the one they wish to mimic, soon mirrored in their actual form.

Why this seems okay

• Ritual has structure: mirror, incantation, transformation.
• Visual element of reflection changing is evocative.
• The incantation seems appropriate.

But why it’s bad

• Ritual structure is all surface: It's not really clear how all the things tie together, the candles are explained but how do they fit into the act itself? The mirror and ink seem to do something, but it's not really explained how they are part of the ritual.
• No escalation: There’s no sacrifice, no pain, no emotional tension. It lacks the gravity one would expect when assuming another identity.

Failure​

If the ritual fails, the caster’s reflection becomes distorted; grotesque, almost unrecognisable. They suffer dizziness and disorientation for the next day, and any illusions they attempt to create flicker and fail intermittently.

Why this seems good

• It includes a thematic reaction: distorted identity reflects failed mimicry.
• It introduces a mechanical penalty (illusion failure).

Why this is bad

• The penalty is temporary and minor: a one-day inconvenience to creating illusions as well as a sore head feels tirvial. It isn't clear how long their reflection is twisted.

Success (Flavour Version)​

If successful, the caster takes on their chosen form. The transformation lasts up to one hour, and is seamless to most observers. Force-sensitives may notice something is off with sufficient suspicion or focus.

Why this seems okay

• Establishes a time frame (one hour duration).
• Mentions Force-sensitives possibly detecting it, which sounds balanced.

But why it's bad

• Seamless to most observers: is too vague, what does that mean for player characters for example?
• No defined triggers for detection: what counts as “suspicion or focus” and what about Force powers?
• It allows potentially abusive mimicry of player characters with no obvious limits and trivial consequences.

Success (RSS Version)​

Once per day, the sorcerer may assume the appearance and voice of a humanoid being they have seen within the past seven days. The transformation lasts for one hour. During this time:

• They cannot use re-rolls, reflecting strain from maintaining the false identity.
• Anyone with Force Sense 3+ may roll 3 successes to sense something is wrong.
• They cannot mimic special powers, mannerisms, or combat style.

After using the ritual, the caster cannot use it again until the next new moon passes.

Why this seems okay

• Daily limit, Force resistance, and re-roll restriction suggest thoughtful balance.
• Clear duration, memory window, and some flavour drawbacks.

But why it's bad

• The mechanics are bolted on and not reflected in the ritual itself, why does the caster lose re-rolls? Why is the cooldown tied to a lunar cycle?
• Still no clear explanation of what breaks the illusion, how it fails, or what happens when it ends.
• It gives too much power for a single scene of vague chanting and cheap ingredients.