Use of a Wish spell

[Palskane]

Due to various cuircumstances in my game, a PC has come by a Wish spell. They are currenly on a quest to retrieve an artifact-level hammer, rumored to have once been wielded by Moradin himself. They know, somewhat, the location of this item.

The PC who has the Wish available has not told the other PC's of this fact. Like I figured he might, he is toying with the idea of using the spell to try and get the hammer, thus bypassing the long journey and several battles.

I have my own ideas on how to handle this (or else I wouldn't have given this player the Wish), but was wondering how you might handle this same situation.

I don't view Wish the same as it was used in previous editions, and DM's always seemed to look for ways to twist what you wish for. I don't mind twisting, but still want to stay within the scope of the spell's power.

A list of fun ways to handle this situation would be great!

 

[Goolpsy]

If there is monsters that guard this Hammer... they surly will go for a Pc hunt if they steal the Hammer...
And well.. do they know the exact location of the item? else you might make their journey short by having a few encounters finding a lot of info on the thing, then allow the player to wish for it.

I would request for the wish to work that 'it knowns' a location of which to retrieve something from.

 

[andargor]

I don't view Wish the same as it was used in previous editions, and DM's always seemed to look for ways to twist what you wish for. I don't mind twisting, but still want to stay within the scope of the spell's power.

3.5e wish is very different from previous editions. There are a list of very specific things you can do with it. If there are no Wizard spells of 8th level or lower that could possibly retrieve the Hammer (I don't know of any), then it falls into this category:

You may try to use a Wish to produce greater effects than these, but doing so is dangerous. (The Wish may pervert your intent into a literal but undesirable fulfillment or only a partial fulfillment.)

The most he could do is emulate discern location. He'd know exactly where the Hammer is (assuming it is not in the possession of a mind blanked creature). If he follows it up with a greater teleport (not from the wish), he's in business (or neck deep into trouble).

EDIT: "I wish for the Hammer to appear in my hand!" = An image of the Hammer appears, sticking out from his hand...

Andargor

 

[Tarangil]

I'd have to go with what Andargor suggested. If your spellcaster is trying to pull something that's a little beyond the effects of an 8th level spell.

Go ahead and grant the wish but when doing so think this: What would an Efreet do??

 

[Artoomis]

I would have absolutely no trouble at all in having the wish save them a long journey and take them to the vicinity of the artifact - maybe not right to it, but outside whatever place it's stored in.

"Transport travelers. A wish can lift one creature per caster level from anywhere on any plane and place those creatures anywhere else on any plane regardless of local conditions. An unwilling target gets a Will save to negate the effect, and spell resistance (if any) applies. "

"You may try to use a wish to produce greater effects than these, but doing so is dangerous. (The wish may pervert your intent into a literal but undesirable fulfillment or only a partial fulfillment.)"

I think wishing to get right to the hammer would result in ending up somwhere near the hammer - maybe even close to whatever guards the hammer - possibly catching bothteh party AND the guardians by surprise. If wishes are not routine, I'd be generous with "partial fullfillment."

A clever person would first use Divination or other spells (or even good ol' hit-the-books research) to try and gain as much information as possible first. This way, MAYBE they'd be prepared for wherever the wish dropped them off.

 

[Zzyzx]

Seconded idea of trasporting near but not directly on top of target.

DM can use the wish to make his life easier that way as well, and not have to deal with side-tracks and a long and possibly less interesting journey.

I really do think the description of wish in 3.5 is very clear. Does the player have the spell description to help make the decision of how to use it?

 

[Anubis]

If the PC wishes for the hammer directly, the most obvious way to handle it is put the hammer in the PC's hand . . . wherever the hammer is currently located. If this is in a monster's lair, or even worse, in a monster's hand, the PC will think twice before getting too greedy in the future.

If the PC wishes for the party to get teleported to the place the hammer calls home, put them at the start of whatever stage the hammer is in.

Personally, I dislike wish greatly. For a 9th-Level spell, it's incredibly weak. You can duplicate any spell of 8th-Level or lower . . . for 5000 XP. This really isn't too incredibly handy. Personally, I'd likely house rule wish to be a bit more powerful, maybe akin to what one can wish for using the Dragonballs or from a genie. My rule would be, if it sounds reasonable for a request that can be done with the maximum non-epic power, I'd be cool with it, but any more powerful than that and it'd get dangerous and the PC better be wording it more and more carefully.

Raise all your slain friends? Okay, done, unless they've been raised before.

Cast any non-epic spell plus free use of non-epic metamagic feats (i.e. maximized horrid wilting)? Okay, sounds fine considering you're paying a massive 5000 XP for it.

Become a god? Not gonna happen, that would make the spell more powerful than the spellcaster casting it.

I would also get rid of the requirement for inherent bonuses where you have to cast the spells back-to-back; it's simply ridiculous and means the minimum caster level to pull it off is 26th for a +5. By then, this stuff should be common. I would allow each subsequent wish at any later time to push the inherent bonus up one, without them having to be cast at the same time.

Wish to acquire an artifact? Artifacts trump wish so know, although I may tell you where it is, and you can figure out how to get it for yourself.

Basically, wish is awful the way it's written. It's a 9th-Level spell costing 5000 XP. Be generous, but make sure that if a wish is epic power, it could backfire, and if it's too powerful, it just ain't gonna happen at all because it is "beyond your power".

 

[LostSoul]

I'd let them teleport nearby the artifact, as above.

However, I'd also tell the PCs this, and I'd also tell them if they were able to overcome the challenges there or not. "You might want to get some more XP before you go there."

That could create problems with suspension of disbelief, however, so frame it another way. "The guardians of the artifact are too powerful for you to overcome without great luck. Hone your skills and it will be yours."

Or whatever.

 

[Caliban]

3.5e wish is very different from previous editions. There are a list of very specific things you can do with it. If there are no Wizard spells of 8th level or lower that could possibly retrieve the Hammer (I don't know of any), then it falls into this category:

Well, you could emulate Dramij's Instant Summons, a 7th level spell. This normally requires that the item be prepared with an arcane mark ahead of time, but the DM may or may not rule that this is also included in the power of the Wish spell.

I've seen this be allowed with a limited wish before, but it was an item that was "soul bonded" to the character that had been lost, and would cause the characters death inside of a month. So the DM was probably being lenient in that case.

Of course, if another creature has the weapon in their possesion, this won't work. The Wish would probably attempt the next best thing, which could be Discern Location, teleporting the character to the location of the hammer, or any of the other things that other posters have suggested.

 

[Palskane]

Well, here's a little more background. This campaign is very high-magic for the moment. The group has just headed to the Underdark, on a quest from the gods that should span several levels. As such, each was given a special weapon from their deity with various powers that will be needed to complete the quest. One got a Luckblade. One wish within it.

The spell is far beyond the level of any of the characters to cast.

The item they are to retrieve is an artifact, and is held in a drow noble House. It does have a guardian, and several wards of protection. They should, however, have gained several levels before reaching it, assuming they don't try the Wish. The character with the Luckblade is the Bard, so he certainly doesn't have much combat ability. He has expressed interest in using the spell from the weapon while he is on watch, when they rest, since nobody else in the group knows what the other's items do.

I have no problem going out of the spell's initial listed scope of powers, especially if not worded properly. Transporting him, alone, to the item will certainly result in his death. And, bringing the item to him will not work because the item is an artifact.

I may have to wait and see how he decides to word his Wish before figuring out how I want to handle it. It simply may not work at all.