To the Official Folks: How will Wishes affect Feats?

[HEL Pit Fiend]

Even if my DM would allow me to pay for feats, I'm not sure what would be worth it. Feats are nice and everything, but a good wand of curing, or Item of +30 to a kill would be better use for the money.

You may be right, but there are many abuses that can take place. The first 2 wishes my wizard or fighter would take are evasion and improved evasion. If my DM says that I have to be a rogue to even have a chance to Wish for evasion, then taking 1 level of rogue is not much to pay for a guaranteed 1/2 damage vs red dragon breath.

Not only that, once I have evasion, I don't have to buy a ring of evasion, and therefore it won't count against the magic wealth per level rule we play by.

 

[Arravis]

In our group, one wish will get you one feat that you qualify for. The feat has to be non-epic (epic feats can't be wished for) and the character can only wish for 2 feats total in his career (like the +5 stat point limit). So two feats aren't game-breaking or unbalancing, but it allows the characters to appreciate and use the true power of a Wish. It IS the most powerful 9th lvl spell for a reason.

 

[RigaMortus]

I am just curious as to how one would Wish for a feat. In character, I don't think you would necessarily refer to the ability to make one free attack anytime you drop an opponent as "Cleave". I just don't see it that way. What if you wanted the Roguish feat "Eyes in the Back of Your Head". What you hope to receive in this case might not be what you end up with.

Player: I wish for Improved Grapple.
DM: Ok, anytime you make a Grapple attempt, add +1 to it. Therefore improving your attempt to grapple an opponent.
Player: That isn't what I had in mind...

However, if one could find a way to word it such that it made sense in game, this is what I would do...

First off, I'd allow a maximum of 5 feats.

Secondly, you would need to have any prerequisite feats beforehand. Meaning, you can't Wish for Whirlwind Attack if you didn't have Dodge, Mobility and Spring Attack.

Third, if you want a feat that has prerequisite feats, you'll need to cast multiple Wish spells (like you do when you want to boost an attribute up more than one point). For example, if you already had Dodge, Mobility and Spring Attack, you would need to cast Wish 4 consecutive times (most likely with help from a scroll or ring or something) regardless if you got the other previous feats from leveling or other Wishes.

And no, I would not allow you to lose a level. You would need the exp up front to cover the casting cost w/o the possibility of lowering your level.

 

[Artoomis]

Keeping mind that a feat is not on the list of things to be wished for - making it a wish for which the guidlines are rather vague - one must be careful.

The in-game handling of this is simpler than you might think.

First, the player and DM need to talk. If the DM is willing to grant what the player wants without any further fuss, you are done. Make the wish and move one.

If the DM flatly refuses, saying you are being ridiculous, then don't make the wish and move on.

If you are somewhere in-between, make the wish as best you can and hold your breath while you see what's coming. Anything can happen, according to the whim of the DM and the actual wording you use.

My point being that these sorts of wishes are best handled wihtin a single campaign - characters being granted wishes for feats should not be allowed to move between campaigns - it's not really fair to other players who have characters who were not presented with the same opportunities.

 

[Macbrea]

Personally, as a DM I would allow a player to wish for a feat. This wouldn't automaticly give them the feat. It would send them on an adventure that would gain them enough experience through danger fraught terrian to level them up til they got a feat. Then life would seem to go back to normal. Until they of course interfered with something else and the Fates spat upon them!


In other words, I would allow them to do it. Would I grant it? Not really.

 

[Vaxalon]

How would a wish for a feat be worded?

I don't see how it could be done, for most feats.

 

[Artoomis]

How would a wish for a feat be worded?

I don't see how it could be done, for most feats.

"I wish I had the knowledge and ability to create magic shields."

"I wish I could do a better job of fighting when I can't see my enemy."

"I wish I was proficient in the use of a <insert exoctic weapon of choice here>."

It's not that hard to phrase the wish - but what happens it totally up to the DM. It depends completely upon the DM's view of granting feats with wishes.

Remember - feats are gained when you level-up. The wish is essentially asking for the same training (or whatever) you would have done to gain the feat normally. I'm not proposing that wishes can grant feats, but I am saying that it is conceptually not difficult to do in-character if the DM allows it.

 

[Arravis]

Feats are no "harder" to wish for then stat increases. Either one is just as subject to warping. Personally, I think it's cruel of a DM to warp a wish that a character spent 5k of xp for. I'm not saying that every wish should be granted, but make it more or less clear what the likely outcome of such a wish would be. The way our group handles wishes is that we make both Arcane Lore and Spellcraft checks to more or less guess at the outcome of a proposed wish. As a dm, I'm also aware that the wizard casting the spell has a high intelligence and that the player wording the wish doesn't have genius level of above intelligence more then likely. So the specific wording isn't important, since the "character" would have likely worded it differently then either I or the player would have. I know I don't have a 20+ int nor a ton of points in knowledge arcana or spellcraft. So as a DM I make those rolls and depending on the rolls, it tells me how close to the "spirit" of the wish they can get.

In 1st and 2nd edition I was much more willing to warp wishes, but in the old days wishes didn't have the massive xp penalty they have today.

 

[Vaxalon]

"I wish I had the knowledge and ability to create magic shields."

The character gets a scroll of "Shield"

""I wish I could do a better job of fighting when I can't see my enemy."

Character gets +1 strength or dexterity

""I wish I was proficient in the use of a <insert exoctic weapon of choice here>."

That one I'll grant.

How would you word the feats that people actually would wish for?

 

[Vaxalon]

Feats are no "harder" to wish for then stat increases.

Sure they are. Stat increases are explicitly allowed by the rules, feats are not explicitly allowed.