Need help with wording of a wish

[Particle_Man]

I need some advice on the wording of a wish.

First, some background. My character is a Warlock, and has the ability to make a ranged touch attack called an Eldritch Blast which does 4d6 damage. My DM has rules for fumbling. When I last rolled a "1" to hit, I had to make another roll. It was a natural "2" and I ended up killing one of my already-wounded companions. My character has the opportunity to have a wish granted him by some being with flaming hair (an efreeti, though my character does not know this) who mentions a boon for a "price" (as yet unknown). I assume that the "price" has to do with the DM being able to twist the words of any wish I make (One wanna-be dragon disciple sorceror made a wish to know more about his heritage, and I think that his character is now effectively "possessed by" or "in the mindset of" a dragon ancestor, but I am not sure about this).

Now I do not want to turn this thread into a discussion about the merits or demerits of Warlocks, or the merits or demerits of fumble rules. There are many other fine threads for that sort of thing.

What I do want is advice on how to word my wish so that there is no obvious way to screw me. Here is what I have so far, as two canadidates:

"I wish that, for each particular eldritch blast that I fire that accidentally hits either myself or one of my friends, the particular eldritch blast in question be transformed into a ray of harmless and non-blinding light, without affecting my ability to cause damage with other eldritch blasts that I fire."

"I wish that, whenever a particular eldritch blast that I fire would otherwise hit either myself or one of my friends, the blast would not fire and I would lose the ability to fire an eldritch blast for 3 seconds."

(I don't have and will never get Quicken Spell-like ability, so am not worried about losing multiple blasts).

So are there problems with either of these wordings? I think I favour the first one, but there might be an evil loophole that I missed.

 

[shilsen]

Actually, it doesn't matter how specifically and carefully you word it, since the DM can always screw with it if he wants to. Where wishes are concerned, I seriously suggest talking to your DM out-of-game about it and how he wants to handle them. For some reason, many DMs have a knee-jerk reaction to automatically mess PCs up when using a wish, and it sounds like your DM may have the same syndrome.

 

[Barendd Nobeard]

What shilsen said. Based on the previous wish (the dragon disciple wannabe), it sounds like your GM likes to screw with wishes. A few easy ways to mess with your two versions:

(1) OK, the ray's a light. Permanently. Sprouting from your fingertips. Have fun sleeping in the bright light (you will always be fatigued). And by limiting the "no bad effects" clause to "other eldritch blasts that I fire" are you allowing the wish to be perverted so that any other attack can be messed with?

(2) You didn't specify which three seconds. It will be the three seconds as you finish trying to fire a normal blast. It doesn't matter how good the first three seconds are if the spell fizzles on the last three seconds.

I just watched an X-Files rerun with a genie. You can always pervert the most benevolent wish, must less something that rewards you personally. Mulder found out that "wishing for world peace" wasn't a good thing.

 

[Slife]

Make your wish, and append, "With no bad consequences for me, or my friends, directly or indirectly, including, but not limited to, emotional, mental and health-related consequences, at any time whatsoever."

That seems bullet-proof.

 

[Starglim]

Any and all of these wishes would give the PC the ability to negate absolutely a balance that the DM has decided to include in the game. I would interpret the first by changing all of his Eldritch Blasts into harmless light.

Not that the DM has to follow the full wording of an overpowered wish - by my reading he can provide a partial fulfilment - but this satisfies the wording of the first suggestion: it does not affect his ability to cause damage with other Eldritch Blasts, because the damage of other Blasts is the same even if he never targets a friend again in his life.

The second wish has the same loophole: the effect need not be exclusive to the trigger you specified. For the warlock to lose the ability to use an Eldritch Blast for a certain three seconds does not prevent him also losing the ability to use Eldritch Blasts for all time.

The character, if not the player, might accept this as a role-playing event. I might even argue that the warlock should get a different ability in exchange for giving up his Eldritch Blast due to the powerful uncontrolled magic that has affected him.

 

[Particle_Man]

working on it...

Well the DM's efreeti may still screw me over, but let's make him work for it.

"I wish that each eldritch blast that I fire, and only each eldritch blast that I fire, that accidentally hits either myself or one of my friends will be transformed into a ray of harmless and non-blinding light, without reducing my ability to cause damage with other eldritch blasts that I fire, or other attacks that I make"

 

[Mark]

Piffle. Keep it simple and not too greedy. The more you complicate it, the more likely the DM will feel the need to screw you.

 

[Andor]

Don't bother with clauses, approach it from the other end. "I wish that I can grant each and every person I choose immunity to my eldritch blast."

 

[Cedious]

"I wish that each eldritch blast that I fire, and only each eldritch blast that I fire, that accidentally hits either myself or one of my friends will be transformed into a ray of harmless and non-blinding light, without reducing my ability to cause damage with other eldritch blasts that I fire, or other attacks that I make"

I wish that any eldritch blast that i fire and accidentally hit either myself or one of my friends would be transformed into a ray of harmless and non-blinding light for the duration of that particular eldritch blast.


i think thats simplified and only effects a blast that accidently hits a friend and it only lasts for the duration of the blast....i think

i had a DM that did the same with wishes with me, he made me write the wish down just to screw with the commas and stuff also

 

[Cedious]

Don't bother with clauses, approach it from the other end. "I wish that I can grant each and every person I choose immunity to my eldritch blast."

but would you have to do that once per round? or would the immunity last forever? and what if that friend later becomes a foe and does still have the immunity?