Ceremony 5e: Mechanics and Guide To Using the Spell

Spell Description:

You perform a special religious ceremony that is infused with magic. When you cast the spell, choose one of the following rites, the target of which must be within 10 feet of you throughout the casting.

Atonement. You touch one willing creature whose alignment has changed, and you make a DC 20 Wisdom (Insight) check. On a successful check, you restore the target to its original alignment.

Bless Water. You touch one vial of water and cause it to become holy water.

Coming of Age. You touch one humanoid who is a young adult. For the next 24 hours, whenever the target makes an ability check, it can roll a d4 and add the number rolled to the ability check. A creature can benefit from this rite only once.

Dedication. You touch one humanoid who wishes to be dedicated to your god’s service. For the next 24 hours, whenever the target makes a saving throw, it can roll a d4 and add the number rolled to the save. A creature can benefit from this rite only once.

Funeral Rite. You touch one corpse, and for the next 7 days, the target can’t become undead by any means short of a wish spell.

Wedding. You touch adult humanoids willing to be bonded together in marriage. For the next 7 days, each target gains a +2 bonus to AC while they are within 30 feet of each other. A creature can benefit from this rite again only if widowed.

What Is Ceremony?

Ceremony is a flavourful spell for Clerics and Paladins, servants of the Divine, and Divine Soul Sorcerers as children of the Divine.

It is a way for these classes to reach out to their respective divinities and ask whatever God granted them their powers to bless others.

Who Can Cast Ceremony?

Ceremony is a part of the Cleric and Paladin spell lists, as it is intended to be a divine blessing or an exorcism. Likewise, the Divine Soul Sorcerer has access to the Ceremony through the addition of the Cleric spell list. Bards can also take the spell at level 10 when they get access to Magical Secrets.

Much in the way that we interact with our perception of divinity in our world, Ceremony allows divine casters to perform rites such as marriages, funerals, and exorcisms on other characters.

These rites grant the affected characters buffs from the caster’s divine power.

When and Where Should I Cast Ceremony?

Ceremony is a ritual spell that requires 1 hour of casting time to perform. It is not a combat spell… at least not in the traditional way.

The Coming of Age, Dedication and Wedding buffs can all be applied before combat to aid the affected character, and Funeral Rite can help to avert the crisis of a recently deceased person becoming undead while you’re still nearby or transporting a body.

That said, Ceremony’s buffs are fleeting and can usually only be activated once per character, so its uses are somewhat limited.

While making vials of Holy Water might be very useful for fighting vampires, casting the Ceremony spell costs 25gp per cast, so it’s actually the same value as simply purchasing Holy Water… except it also takes an hour for each vial.

Why Should I Take Ceremony?

If flavor wasn’t a good enough reason for you to take Ceremony, there’s one unique build that relies on the Ceremony spell to function, the Black Widow build.

Ceremony’s Wedding buff grants two adult humanoids +2 AC if they’re within 30 feet of each other but can be refreshed if the character is widowed. If you have a caster with the Ceremony spell, it is possible to use Charm spells to get people to marry you for the Wedding buff.

Only to promptly and swiftly widow yourself at the end of the seven days and find yourself a new spouse.

Common Questions About Ceremony