Envisioning half a wish

[Driddle]

For reasons I won't get into here (they involve whipped cream and chihuahuas), one of our human characters was given "half" a wish. Sneaky genie salesman didn't explain what "50 percent off" really meant.

So now the guy has elf-like vision ... in one eye.

What effect would this have on usual behavior? I imagine he's going to have a headache, like when your glasses prescription doesn't match.

 

[shilsen]

The majority of the time, it's not going to have any effect. Low-light vision, which is the only thing that differentiates elven vision from human, only applies in areas of low illumination. In such situations, he's going to be able to see twice as far with one eye. Since there's no real rule for what that does, I'd use the elven vision range and just give him something like a -2 to Spot. There are lots of creatures in the game which have strange interactions of normal, low-light and darkvision on a regular basis (consider a dwarf with a torch, who sees 20 ft normally, the next 20 ft as shadowy, and the next 20 ft 'normally' using darkvision). While this specific case differs in not being natural, I wouldn't do treat it as overly detrimental.

What it basically comes down to is how much you want to screw the PC

 

[Squire James]

I guess that "salesman" doesn't expect repeat customers. Given the puniness of that wish, I wouldn't inflict a penalty on him for it (save it for people who wish to rule the world and such). He sees 50% further in low light instead of 100% further. Problem solved.

If you want to be funny, maybe he gets a headache for 1 round every time he rolls a 3 on any die. Apply no game effects, just a headache.

 

[Pyrex]

How about this:
In addition to the -2 to Spot in the increased vision range, he should also incur a -3 to hit per range-increment in that area (instead of the standard -2) due to decreased depth perception.

 

[CyberSpyder]

For reasons I won't get into here (they involve whipped cream and chihuahuas), one of our human characters was given "half" a wish. Sneaky genie salesman didn't explain what "50 percent off" really meant.

So now the guy has elf-like vision ... in one eye.

If I were you, I'd give him half-elf vision instead - low-light vision, and +1 on spot and search checks.

I mean, actually punishing someone for using a wish is pretty nasty, isn't it?

 

[Saeviomagy]

I mean, actually punishing someone for using a wish is pretty nasty, isn't it?

Especially for such a pathetic wish. It doesn't even take a wish to get permanent low-light vision...