Martial equivalent of Wish..

[Lord Zardoz]

Note: This has no bearing on anything regarding known 4th edition rumors.

A thread in the general forum regarding wishes got me to thinking, one of the intents of 3rd edition, and presumably 4th edition, is that all else being equal, each character class should be able to do equally cool stuff.

Now, Wizards have the Wish spell Clerics, at least in 3rd edition, have Miracle. But what about fighters? What would be the martial equivalent, in terms of potential to affect the game world, of a wish spell? Obviously, unless your DM has a house ruled "Chuck Norris" character class where you can round house kick a planet into tiny bits, nothing really exists.

So, here are two questions worth considering.

1) Should martial characters have an ability that has the same scale or scope of impact as a wish spell (ie, costs XP or whatever to use?)

2) What would a reasonable and consistent martial ability of that scope do?

(Edit) A clarification:

I am NOT advocating that a Fighter get a relabeled wish spell. I am advocating that they get something of comparable power / impact / of roughly the same level of impressiveness.

END COMMUNICATION

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Why would you want every class to be equivalent to one another?

 

[Sundragon2012]

Hell Nooooooo

That is the worst idea I have heard online in a looonnngggg time. Wizards are wizards, they can at high level obliterate many mooks at once that is the benefit of high level artillery magic and is classic. Warriors can carve through a lot of mooks as well but only as many as their swords can hit in a given round of combat. This is because melee weapons don't have large areas of effect. Warriors unlike wizards, who run out of mass kill spells, will not run out of high powered melee weapons to use and can over time kill more than the wizard.

The bright flash of light from the swordsman and 30 goons fall dead bloodlessly and the warrior hasn't worked up a sweat, is found in anime and doesn't belong in D&D except as some completely optional spatbook. Maybe this book can be called

Grossly Distorted Features and Ridiculous Buster Swords D20.



Sundragon

 

[Umbran]

Has no bearing on rumors, 4e, or even gaming.

I read the thread title as "Marital equivalent of wish..."

 

[GSHamster]

I don't think it's that bad an idea. Giving martial classes a "supermove" might be kind of cool.

For example:

A Good Death
Requires level 18
For the next 10 rounds, the fighter cannot die. She gets a +20 bonus to her attacks, and all damage done is tripled. At the end of those 10 rounds, the fighter dies and cannot be brought back from the dead.

 

[RPG_Tweaker]

The fighter should not have a wish-like ability... but I don't think the wizard or cleric should either. In my opinion, that is the realm of the gods and powerful outsiders.

 

[Cadfan]

Agreed with RPG_Tweaker. Kill wish entirely. Its the ultimate in metagame spells, anyways. It basically reads, "Do anything. Ask your DM if you're allowed."

Its got a lot more explanation than the version of Wish in my old first edition Rules Cyclopedia, but its still pretty bad.

 

[EricNoah]

A non-magical equivalent might involve having vassals, a kingdom, an army, etc. -- would require some good rules ala Birthright. You might not get the same scope as a "wish" but you could have the ability to control the "reality" around you to a certain extent by being its ruler or by force of arms.

 

[Lord Zardoz]

Why would you want every class to be equivalent to one another?

I do not want every class to be equivalent with one another. I do want them to all be reasonably competitive with one another, in the sense that a 30th level Fighter is just as scary as a 30th level Wizard.

To that end, with Wish type effects in the game, it gives those classes with spell casting abilities (and I also assume there is a psionic equivalent to Wish) a tool that the Martial classes just cannot touch.

I am not saying a Fighter should be able to cast or grant wishes. I am saying he should have something just as awesome.

END COMMUNICATION

 

[FadedC]

If you actually look at what a wish can safely do, t's not quite the godlike spell many people imagine. If you were going to give fighters an ability on that level then something apropriate might be spending xp to emulate any non magical class ability or to give themselves a permanent bonus to a stat.