feartheminotaur
First Post
"I wish for a million hit points and unlimited Charisma!"
Seriously though, I sympathize with both sides.
For the DM: As mentioned, twisting a wish has a long and storied tradition dating back to...well, a long time. Longer than any of us have been around. Plus, the wording of the spell even says "the greater the wish, the greater the likelihood something goes wrong". So, for a DM to construe "I want to be stronger!" as vaguely as that is stated isn't really out of line with history, literature, or the text of the spell. After all, 'be careful what you wish for', right? Additionally, I understand a DM not wanting to be wish-carte-blanche = I've seen some annoying meta-wishes "I wish I would never run out of spell slots!" or "I wish I had every feat in the game" (I heard both these).
But, as a player, assuming this was a PC casting, a paid for NPC casting, or a reward, and not a tricksy Djinni, yeah, having that backfire sucks. Having DM say "You want to be stronger? OK. Your strength is 3 as per the spell text, so now...it's a 4! Bwahahahahaha!"? Yeah, I wouldn't like that one bit. A reasonable wish should be resepected. As a player I'd be pretty up front, as @771M suggests, about what I expected from the wish.
And that's really it, the DM and player need to communicate, out of the game, to find a nice common ground. Maybe the DM wants to be a jerk about it, heck, maybe the player wants to be a jerk about it ("Well, wish can overcome the cap! So, 50 Strength or I'm leaving the table!").
But both sides should find a way for the wish to be reasonable in request and result. After all, you're both playing the game. For the DM to say "You want to be stronger? OK. Your 10 is now an 12!" seems in line with the spell, demanding that it go from 10 to 50 seems like the kind of greater wish, greater likelihood something goes wrong situation.
Seriously though, I sympathize with both sides.
For the DM: As mentioned, twisting a wish has a long and storied tradition dating back to...well, a long time. Longer than any of us have been around. Plus, the wording of the spell even says "the greater the wish, the greater the likelihood something goes wrong". So, for a DM to construe "I want to be stronger!" as vaguely as that is stated isn't really out of line with history, literature, or the text of the spell. After all, 'be careful what you wish for', right? Additionally, I understand a DM not wanting to be wish-carte-blanche = I've seen some annoying meta-wishes "I wish I would never run out of spell slots!" or "I wish I had every feat in the game" (I heard both these).
But, as a player, assuming this was a PC casting, a paid for NPC casting, or a reward, and not a tricksy Djinni, yeah, having that backfire sucks. Having DM say "You want to be stronger? OK. Your strength is 3 as per the spell text, so now...it's a 4! Bwahahahahaha!"? Yeah, I wouldn't like that one bit. A reasonable wish should be resepected. As a player I'd be pretty up front, as @771M suggests, about what I expected from the wish.
And that's really it, the DM and player need to communicate, out of the game, to find a nice common ground. Maybe the DM wants to be a jerk about it, heck, maybe the player wants to be a jerk about it ("Well, wish can overcome the cap! So, 50 Strength or I'm leaving the table!").
But both sides should find a way for the wish to be reasonable in request and result. After all, you're both playing the game. For the DM to say "You want to be stronger? OK. Your 10 is now an 12!" seems in line with the spell, demanding that it go from 10 to 50 seems like the kind of greater wish, greater likelihood something goes wrong situation.
