I had a query about the intention of spells and maybe how I could/should be balancing them. My players love the casting system and have been using spells plenty when they have the cunning for it. They are level 2 and recently had to fight a 6HD enemy, I didn't roll bad maybe 19 for hp and gave it 5 ac. They killed it in two attacks because one of my players cast a ceremony on themselves as the day started. The attack succeeded as they have high cunning and did 2d6 damage should this be possible or should only words do damage here? I had them do a cunning to attack should this have to beat the monsters ac? Does this have to beat the damage they took last round? if so AC and HP damage(also is this the case for words too)? and Finally should mishaps apply?

Sorry for the lengthy post, If this is stuff I should just decide fair but I struggle to see why you'd ever use conventional spells/weapons if 1 ceremony can do this damage for a whole day and I don't want my ritual lacking players to feel less useful.

To clarify the ceremony gave them the power to attack using shadows.

This is a situation where I’d say just make a ruling. If you think this effect was too powerful then speak to your players about it and adjust it until it feels right. This may require some trial and error but that’s the nature of a freeform magic system.

As far as what Ceremonies ‘should’ do, honestly that depends on which words are being used and how the players are interpreting them.

Bear in mind that the example you’ve given, the monster has below average hit dice for their HD and it sounds like the player is playing in a smart way. Also bear in mind that monsters can always run away, they don’t have to fight to the death every time.

Ultimately, use your best judgement and have fun with it. There aren’t any wrong answers.