Ezeriah says:
I have an idea thought, to reward those who have a higher INT: for every +1 INT ability modifier you have, you start with/learn a new ritual. This allows smarter characters to start with more rituals (makes sense) while further allowing that later on, if you level up and boost your strength, you can learn a new ritual (RP-wise, you've been 'working on it for months/years, some lost notes or a page from some ancient book, etc).
I don't think this will OP ritual casters in any way, as their magic already requires a good 10 minutes to cast. What it will do is open it up, like we did with the flexible Combat Proficiency, Feats, extra Archetypes, etc. And, at least a 12 INT is still above average, which is believable: some guy who might not be a genius, but is sharp enough to put together some rune stones, ingredients, and follow a ritual's directions.
Here's the kicker: we give Rituals a DC difficulty when casting them against Arcane checks. Nothing too hard. I was thinking a base DC 10 (for the 1st level rituals; what happens later is highly variable, I imagine). What this means is that a 12 INT guy, at level 3, will have an Arcane skill of +3. A 16 INT level 3 guy will have an Arcane of +5. At the top end, Level 20, we're looking at +6 Proficiency, and +5 from a 20 INT = +11 to the roll. That's right: a 20th level Ritualist only fails on a natural 1. Also, this system lends itself to Rogues: with Expertise, they can boost Arcane, doubling the proficiency bonus (maxing at +17 Arcane); and if there's any class that should be oriented toward ritual mastery, Rogue seems fitting. Knowledge Domain Clerics as well (since they get Expertise, too).
+1 Ritual Spell for every +1 INT Mod sounds good. Will let people see a payoff for the Ability Score, which is good.
So extra 1st level spells? Is that right? I think that is best, mainly to control the release of 2nd and higher level spells on a more gradually, story line dependent basis. And again, them casting ANYTHING in this world is a big deal and sets them apart in the very rare category of sorcerer, arcanist, etc.
I think the DC for casting is a great idea. Gives some uncertainty and a lack of total faith in depending on magic, but I feel like it should be some increments easier, more of a sure thing, especially for 1st level spells. At 3rd level, Proficiency +2 then maybe INT 15 (+2 Mod), that's only a +4. Even that guy, I'd like him to feel pretty good about his effort to cast a spell working. His Ritual Caster Feat spend should set him up with a decent capability, with failure as a possibility, but a low percentage especially at the low level spells. And if guys are super squared-away with big INT or something like Expertise, then they should get down to the 5% natural 1 only failure pretty quickly. With this in mind, I think base DC for 1st level spells should be maybe 7 or 8 max. And they go up +1 per level. With INT Mod +5 as max, that will also be theoretical max of spell level. That would give a DC 12 or 13 as the high DCs. I think that's ok, because I think the practical manifestation that we are going for is that a caster who is decent USUALLY has success, but sometimes he blows it because he's just not a full-time student. Meanwhile, the solid caster who is has done the background study in Arcana and has the natural brains RARELY ever botches it.