Wish
(Conjuration/Summoning)
Wish
(Conjuration/Summoning)
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Effect: The wish spell is a more potent version of a limited wish (q.v.).
If it is used to alter
reality with respect to:
HP
sustained by a party,
to bring
a dead character to life,
or to
escape from a difficult situation by lifting the spell caster (and his
or her party) from one place to another,
it will not cause the M-U
any disability.
<>
Other forms of wishes,
however, will cause the spell caster to be weak (-3 on STR)
and
require 2 to 8 days of bed
REST
due to the stresses the wish places upon time,
space, and his || her body.
Regardless of what is wished
for, the exact terminology of the wish spell is likely to be carried
through.
(This discretionary power
of the referee is necessary in order to maintain game balance.
As wishing another character
dead would be grossly unfair, for example,
your DM might well advance
the spell caster to a future period where the object is no longer alive,
i.e. putting the wishing character out of the campaign.)
The Effect of Wishes on Character Ability Scores.
SA:
Using a wish to change race.
ADQ: A dwarf character
in my campaign
found a Wish, and said "I
wish
for the ability to progress
beyond the
normal dwarven limits of
ability." He
doesn't want to "max out"
as a 9th
level fighter. What should
I do?
ADA: Turn the character
human, permanently.
For guidelines, use the
current
Intelligence and Wisdom
scores,
but re-roll if you want
to give him a
fighter body, or possibly
apply the
guidelines
for creating an NPC (Dungeon
Masters Guide pg.
100)
(Polyhedron #12)
ADQ: Can 2 magick
items be merged
together by means of a wish?
ADA: Possibly, at
the GM's option, in most
cases, and the wording of
the wish is critical.
As an unofficial guideline,
consider the
XP values of the items,
and require one
wish for each 10K total
XPV (or less).
e.g., nearly any sword could
be
merged with a wand, but
combining a wand
and a staff will often require
2 wishes.
The availability of wishes
is also a factor; if
1-2 wishes are used per
year (player Time),
as in my campaign, the total
XPV affected
should be increased -- perhaps
to 100,000
or more. Conversely, if
10 or More wishes
are used per year, a figure
of 5K XPV (or less!)
might be more balanced.
(Polyhedron #22)
Question: Can a character that failed to make his system shock roll while being resurrected still be brought back via a wish?
Answer: Yes.
Question: Is it possible
for a character to use a wish spell to become immune to psionic attack?
Answer: Yes.
Q: How about some
guidelines on the
wish spell?
A:
* In one Lake Geneva campaign,
wishes
were sometimes used to gain
treasure. A
random amount of 5,000-40,000
gp (5d8 x
1,000) was the usual range.
Experience
was never awarded for this
treasure, and
a few local campaigns now
actually deduct
experience (½-1 xp
per 1 gp gained). A
wish may never be used to
gain experience
or levels.
* A wish will produce a magical
item (not
of artifact quality) of
up to +5 enchantment,
lasting for one hour. The
item is not
actually created; it is
just ?borrowed" from
somewhere. When the duration
is up, the
item disappears, returning
?home." (Such
an absence might anger the
item?s owner,
of course.)
* The DMG says that
a
wish can be used to permanently
gain one
ability score point as long
as the score is
not raised above 16. If
the score is 16 or
higher, it takes 10 wishes
to raise it one
point. Thus, it would take
20 wishes to
raise an ability score from
16 to 18.
A wish can temporarily raise
an ability
to 18. In some Lake Geneva
campaigns, the
duration for this effect
is anywhere from
1d6 turns to 1d6 hours (6-36
turns),
depending on how low the
original score
was to begin with.
* A wish can change a character?s
race,
but it can?t remove a racial
class or level
restriction entirely. Thus,
an elf made into
a human can rise as high
as a human can
in levels, but an elf (as
itself) can at best
only slightly exceed racial
restrictions on
maximum levels using a wish
spell.
* A wish can duplicate other
spells. One
Lake Geneva campaign allows
wishes to
duplicate any other spells;
another limits
this to first- to seventh-level
spells.
* Wishes can usually negate
or change bad
events. This can range from
the previous
hour to the previous week,
depending on
how many creatures are involved,
the
creatures? relative power,
and how specific
the change is. A bad adventure
involving a
few adventurers could be
wiped out completely
after as much as a week,
but a
wish that negated the bad
effects of the
same adventure while preserving
everything
gained would have to be
made within
a day. The results of a
minor battle
involving normal troops
could be changed
after as much as a day.
If the fate of a
whole empire hinged on the
battle, however,
and there were powerful
demons
present, the wish would
have to be made
within the hour and be limited
to changing
the result a single key
melee (which might
or might not change the
outcome of the
battle).
* A wish which shows excessive
greed or
promises to be a campaign-buster
should
be twisted so that the exact
wording is
met, but the intent is not
served. For
example: ?I wish to know
everything there
is to know about this dungeon,?
would
result in the character
getting deluged
with information which is
quickly forgotten.
If the party is being lazy
and trying to
avoid a piece of campaign
business with
which it ought to be concerned,
it is
incumbent upon the DM to
see to it that
the wish winds up costing
the party more
than it gains. If a wish
is to be used in a
tricky situation, players
should limit the
number of words in the wish.
* This list could go on.
Ultimately, the DM
must decide on his own guidelines
for
using wishes. A useful article
on this topic
appeared in the Best of
DRAGON Magazine
Anthology, volume 5: "Best
wishes!"
(133.72)
Q: Can a ring
of spell turning turn a
wish spell?
A: This depends upon
how the wish is
used. If the wish is used
so as to have a
personal effect (one not
involving a broad
area) on the ring?s wearer,
and the effect is
not delivered by touch,
then the wish is
subject to turning, and
the wearer and
wisher each get saves (unless
the turning
fails or is total). See
the ring?s description
in the DMG, page 131.
(133.72)
ADQ: Is a resurrection
survival or system
shock roll required for
a character
Wished back to life?
ADA: No, the power
of the Wish
is such that these rolls
are not required.
The refereemight want to
make a
judgement call concerning
whether or
not creatures dead longer
than one
month may be Raised.
It is quite possible
that the spirits of such
creatures
have been used by beings
on other
planes.
(Polyhedron #13)
ADQ: May a character
who fails the
resurrection roll still
be Wished back to
life?
ADA: Yes, this is
within the framework
of the AD&D game rules.
(Polyhedron #13)
Q. What are the exact
limits of a wish?
A. The 2 spells most open to abuse by
PCs are wish and limited wish.
The very nature of the
phrase 'I wish that.....' invites players
to bend and break the roolz of The
Game, and DMs often appear to have
little choice but to give in. The 1st
and simplest method of limiting
PCs in using wishes is
not to let them get hold of either rings
of wishes or details of the spells in
the 1st place.
The physical effects of casting a
wish or limited wish are clear
enough: the caster ages 3 years or 1
year, depending upon which spell is
being cast. Using
a wish from a ring
does not age the character, but the
MU who 1st put the wish into the
ring is aged.
Limited wishes should be seen as
having minor, localised effects upon
reality. The PHB gives examples of
restoring 'some HP' or increasing
the 'duration of some magical
effects'. As a rough guideline it is fair
to assume that a limited wish used as
an adjunct to some process will
produce the best possible result that
could have been statistically expected.
When used to 'restore some HP',
for example, the limited wish
would have the equivalent effect of
the best result of the most powerful
cure spell, without any of its random
factors (otherwise, it is simpler to
cast a cure spell in the 1st place).
As for other possible effects, the
limited wish spell should be controlled
by the DM. A character who
wishes that her opponents will miss
when attacking in combat could have
this limited wish fulfilled by having
opponents always miss her and hit
her companions, or by the DM applying
a -1 or -2 adjustment to the
opponents' 'to hit' rolls. Naturally,
the limited wish to this effect should
come to an end at the finish of the melee.
Wishes are much more powerful,
and hence much more abused. The
only limit set upon them is that they
cannot be used to cancel the decrees
of god-like beings. We think it is fairly
safe to assume that god-like beings
decree themselves to be alive, so
PCs wh attempt 'deicide'
by wish a god dead are
wasting their breath.
The main limit on the wishes of all
types must be the ability of the DM to
deliberately 'misinterpret' what the
characters are wishing for by being
perversely literal. If <a> character wishes
that someone were no longer dead
the DM should feel quite at liberty to
have the deceased return as, say, a
vampire (which is definitely not
dead), thirsting for the blood of the
wisher, or as a zombie, (and the
social problems of a zombie for a
friend could be somewhat interesting,
not to mention having to put up
with the understandable resentment <do zombies have resentment?>
of the poor zombie).
The DM
must be prepared to use
any and all loopholes that the players
leave, ruthlessly; refuse to grant
wishes with cautious sub-clauses
and qualifiers; and generally make
the whole business of saying 'I
wish.....' risky. Wishes should become
something saved for a last when-all-else-has-failed
resort, not something
used as a casual spell when players
cannot think of something more
original. Of course,
if a PC
is unknowingly wearing a ring
of wishes and happens to start a
sentence with 'I wish that.....' then
the DM is entitled to a little joke.....
(Imagine #27)
wj9
This spell is a more potent
form of the limited wish.
If used to replace lost
HP,
or escape from a difficult situation, there is no ill effect on the caster.
Otherwise, the wu jen loses
3 points of Strength and must rest 2-8 days
to recover.
The wish spell literally
grants the desire of the character, altering reality to do so.
Yrag used a wish
to gain a horn of blasting.
He got a map that he followed
through perilous lands to finally arrive at a cavern in which he had to
fight several
hydras.
Sadly, the length of the
{quest} and the hard fight at its conclusion made
me {forget} that my character was seeking a magical treasure of specific
sort.
He left with some treasure
but not the horn he had wished for.
In short I overlooked the horn of blasting and so never did Yrag or any of his associates ever possess such an item.
Cheers,
Gary
Quote:
Originally posted by MerricB
G'day Gary!
Back again so soon?
Just been looking over Mordenkainen's Fantastic Adventure again (a Fantasy Word Adventure... oops!). I tried taking my character Meliander the Mage through that once... not good. Much respect for your playing skills from that experience!
Here's a question... how common were wish spells in your game? It seems that every time I look at tales of your characters exploits, a wish spell or two seems to be used to save them!
(Am I exaggerating? Possibly. Individual perception is a wonderful thing!)
Hmm... I notice that our 'local' mail order people have The Hermit in stock. I'll see if I can get it... Necropolis has renewed my interest in your adventures!
Cheers!
Hi Merric!
My fellows call and I respond in expeditious manner
There were all too few wishes
from my POV.
Whenever one or another
of my PCs discovered an item that granted one or more,
that prize went into the
common treasury, and they were kept for emergency rescue use, so to speak.
Later on, of course, Mordie,
and then Bigby rose to sufficient level
to cast the spell personally.
Then potions
of longevity became likewise prized items.
Now i trust that when you put The Hermit adventure into play, you will be using the LA game system version, right?
Heh,
Gary
Quote:
Originally posted by
MerricB
G'day, Gary!
I was just wondering - how popular were demihumans in your AD&D games? Did they often reach the level limits? Did they go above them due to one method or another?
Cheers!
Hi Merric 
About half of the players
had demi-human PCs, and that's when I saw the need to allow multi-classing
more broadly, and not limit the thief level.
Also some of the sub-types
were created and the level limits bumped up to accommodate those who insisted
on playing non-human races in a human-dominated game and world setting.
Actually,
I allways allowed a Wish spell to bump up a level too...
It is worth noting, that most players never got PCs above around 12th level, so even an elf fighter/m-u of 5/8 was a viable member of a typical party.
Cheers,
Gary
Quote:
Originally Posted by PapersAndPaychecks
I'd also like to invite
your comments on the "Wish" spell, particularly its uses for ressurecting
dead players. I've heard it said that Wish could be used to raise any dead
character (including those races which could not be raised through Ressurection)
and that no system shock roll is required - would you agree or disagree?
I would agree with the caveat
that the wish would have to be phrased properly, generaly one that prevented
the deadly incident from having occurred.
thus, something like this
should be required:
"I wish that our party had
not encountered entered the cave in which the red
dragon was laired,
thus preventing it from
becoming aware of us,
attacking,
harming,
and killing Alfie the Elf,
even though such wish might
mean we are not aware of the red dragon and that might remove from our
knowledge and possession such items that led us to the cave."
Cheers,
Gary
Thanks in advance![/QUOTE]
Quote:
Originally Posted by Anson
Caralya
Fair enough!
Sorry, I didn't mean "all-powerful" in the game-breaking, greedy-player way; more that it's the spell to call on when you have a problem without other solution, which I believe is the same usage you're citing from Mordenkainen's experiences (although I see how my post doesn't spell that out... "spell that out"... ouch). Perhaps "spell of last resort" would have been more accurate.
In my personal OAD&D experience, parties were of low enough level that a wish was extremely rare and never used in such a way as to invite a DM to create his own Arabian Nights tale in the interpretation.
Hail Anson Caralya!
Thanks for the added insight and the unintended pun <cool> Indeed, your explanation is very much the way I regard the wish spell.
In my campaign magic items
granting wishes were quite rare and after a few hilarious times where the
incautious PCs misused them, all such were saved for desperate situations.
without potions of longevity,
Mordenkainen
will not use a wish spell, and there are only two item-cointained wish
spells in the whole of the Obsidian Citadel's magic repository.
Cheers,
Gary
Quote:
Originally Posted by SuStel
Speaking of wishes, I've
always wondered how people worded wishes to raise ability scores. A wish
can only raise a score a certain amount depending on how high it is, so
what did a player character say? "I wish to be stronger"? "I wish I had
a 16 strength"? "I wish to raise my strength score"? The first is in-character,
but wouldn't a character be more likely to say, "I wish to be immensely
strong," or something like that?
The pharsing of wishes is
a matter of some consternation on the part of most players, that due to
the devious and malign nature of most DMs... I have had some hilarious
times "fulfilling" the wishes of PCs in my campaigns.
You are correct abot players
using PC-held wishes to increase stat scores, and I am amongst the latter
group. As with most cautious players a good knowledge of the DM's mind
is a prerequisite to uttering a wish and having it come out anywhere near
the result desired.
For instance, a reasonable
DM being in charge, a whish phrased thus is likely to succeed in gaining
a point of Intelligence:
"I wish to have my mental
ability increased so as to emulate the most intelligent sane living human
being of benign ethical and moral compass, this increase in my own intellect
permanent and not detrimental, harmful, or incapacitating to me in any
way."
Not perfect but difficult
for a reasonable DM to pervert
Cheers,
Gary
