help word a wish

[jerichothebard]

I would also allow this, no questions asked. PCs never (in the scope of the game) die from old age, so it's pretty much just changing the characters IC background.

Alternately, if the Wish is incapable of that degree of power, it may reveal the path to immortality in a flash of insight. Maybe it's a magic item the Druid needs to find, an item he needs to craft, or a ritual/spell to give him some sort of apotheosis. Maybe he can research a spell that would transform him into some type of Dryad where his lifespan is tied directly to an oak. There are 1,001 mythological ways that people became immortal, and being undead is the minority. I say the rest are fair game.

In Ann Rice's The Mummy, the main character is made immortal through the use of a potion/herbal concoction/natural recipe. He is sort of an anti-vampire - solar powered, if you will. Perhaps the wish could reveal the recipe for this type of potion, or the location of this recipe, or maybe the name of the person who holds the map to the location of the recipe...

As a DM, I would allow you this wish, because it really has no in-game effects. You would be like Tolkien's elves - immortal, not merely long-lived as the DND elves are, and yet you could still be killed...

jericho.

 

[Cedric]

"I wish that, without undergoing any other physical alterations, my natural lifespan were changed so that I have no limit imposed by aging to the number of years that I might live."

<shrugs> That's about the best I can do...going to depend on your GM.

If you were in my game though, I'd say, ok...you don't notice any changes. But secretly, I'd likely allow it.

Cedric

 

[LostSoul]

It doesn't sound like a very big deal for a 9th level spell. It's not really going to have any game effect, unless you plan on playing that character through thousands of years of game time.

I would allow it, and when the campaign ends, I'd use the druid as an NPC. Sounds like a great NPC, actually.

 

[Wayside]

In Ancient Greeks heroic tales there was a king who worded the same wish... He just forgot that part about staying young.

IMHO, a wish couldn't achieve this for you.

IIRC not a king but the Cumaean Sibyl. That wish would work for Chip's Druid however, as the Sibyl did get eternal life, she just withered away into nothingness because she continued to age for eternity. Since the Druid doesn't age it would be a non-issue.

 

[Bauglir]

Well your character has a specific interest in dragons, so why not approach it from that angle?

"I wish I could live as long as a dragon"

If your dm allows it, it could also lead to some interesting side-effects to RP. Your character could start to develop some minor draconic traits, start to *think* like a dragon in some ways.

Or your life could be bound to that of a particular dragon a la Dragonheart

 

[MonkeyBoy]

"I wish not to die of old age."

Thats what would do the job IMC. It follows 3 of the 4 rules of good-wishing for my game;

No rules lawyering. I got very tired of the 1/2 hour or longer wait for someone to use a wish, the groans and looks of accusation thrown my way whenever I mentioned a wish, and the fact that my players _feared_ using wishes instead of getting enjoyment from them. So, any wish which sounds like its a legal document, or one which mentions game-rules by name, fails.

Simple. I don't allow subordinate clauses in wishes. You get one thing from one wish.

Clear intent. This is to both cut down on the time taken to make the wish, and to simplify things when the results of a wish need recording because they either won't take effect for a while or will have effect for a long time (like your aging one; I don't need to remember it until or unless you reach your age limit) Basically if you want a cat, ask for a cat. Also this combines with the sub-clauses thing; never mention what you don't want, just clearly ask for what you do want.

Not Selfish. This is really just a case of me cutting the wisher more slack if they're wishing good things on someone else, rather than themselves. It covers a LOT of the "utility wishes" for which worrying about wording is purely wasted time. Basically if Billy Bladders died and the party (out of the goodness fo their heart) wants to wish him back to life "I wish Billy wasn't dead" is fine and dandy, one True Resurrection coming up


I deal with rules-lawyering and sub-clauses by either taking just the first clause, or by having the wish do nothing. I see no virtue in coming up with "inventive" ways to pervert the players wishes.

BTW; IMC the wish at the top would NOT protect you from the effects of being magically aged; one blast of that past your natural lifespan and you're dead. I'd mention this to the player when they made the wish, however.