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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Wicht" data-source="post: 6209405" data-attributes="member: 221">Urm... I tend to ask if they have the right components on hand...Several points here...The demon and the wish are being broken apart because the demon is an NPC and therefor has his own agenda. The granting of the wish is not assured. And the price to be paid (even for a vile wish) should be sufficient to actually cost the PC some sort of in game quandary.  He's dealing with a demon... not Tinkerbell. The whole idea that the wizard is just going to mark a certain amount of gold off of his sheet and thats the extent of it is not going to be enough in any game I run. Sure the demon wants others to suffer, but why should he have any desire to let the wizard off lightly. If the wish is particularly powerful (destroy half a town) then I would have the demon ask for something significant, like the sacrifice of the princess or the wizard's left hand.  If its rather minor, like a fireball, then the sacrifice of the wizard's familiar or kid sister, is probably enough.  If its really big (I wish the king of Symerlin to die tomorrow) then perhaps the sacrifice of the wizards eyes, or two of his party companions. Naturally the demon might negotiate, but a wish from a demon should never be cheap. It should be a significant story event. And if the wizard does not want to pay the cost then he likely shouldn't be mucking about with demons. As for the statement that "Other than determining what is 'sufficiently vile' the DM isn't really involved at all," this is a little naive. The DM must determine whether or not the demon has a wish available (minor, but not unimportant); if you use my standard method of summoning, the wizard is going to tend to get the same demon over and over (unless they get a name) and apart from the unlikely possibility of others using up the wish, if the demon has already cast a wish for the character then the whole deal will have to wait a month.  The DM must determine if the wish is vile enough (again, not an insignificant role).  The DM has to bargain on behalf of the Demon and exact some measure of suffering from the wizard (there has to be a cost). The DM has to then interpret how the wish is actually granted. It was stated above that the fulfillment, or nature of a wish's fulfillment should logically follow from the source and the alignment of that source. Demons are going to attempt to grant wishes in a way that causes everyone (wizard too) as much pain as possible and if the wizard has not worded his wish carefully the DM is in charge of making sure that it works out as badly for him as possible (within reason). For instance, the wishing for the fireball to explode will no doubt leave the person most capable of divining who wished for the fireball alive. The death of the king will be done by snakes bearing the visage of the wizard that wished for the king's death. The burning down half the town means the wizards favorite tavern, scroll shop and tower are all incinerated. Again, if the wizard wants a safe wish, he should find something other than a demon with which to truck.As for seeking out a wizard, in my game, if the players wanted to find one, I would either point them to an NPC they already know (via either character backstory or in game exploration)(for instance in our current campaign, the wizard is the student of a former character that reached about 19th level), or I would have them make a Diplomacy or Knowledge (local) check to gather information to see if they can find one. Contrary to your repeated erroneous assumptions, I normally allow my players to seek out such things if they want.  Though, admittedly, getting an audience, getting a magic item delivered, and the like all take more time. But these things are doable in most campaigns and settings.</blockquote>

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