using wish against the party - what does a dm wish for?

[carborundum]

So the party of 5 14th level characters was flying over a demon-infested jungle and spotted a Glabrezu supervising sacrifices on a ziggurat. The cultists quaffed potions of fly and rose to meet them. The Glabrezu telepathically instructs one cultist that he is now his favourite, and may use a Wish to further his cause.

What to Wish for? Dump one pc on another plane? An antimagic ray? Some wicked curse? Raise the sacrifice as undead?

I'd love to surprise them with this next week. All ideas welcome!

Thanks

 

[Niccodaemus]

The DM doesn't wish for anything. The NPC does. Is the NPC selfish? Stupid?

Would you twist the wording of the wish if the PCs made it? How about putting the PCs in an environment that is a result of a badly worded wish.

PC "Guys, why is the music so loud, and why are those bards screaming at the top of their lungs?"

NPC "Damn it! I didn't mean THAT kind of acid pit!"

 

[RUMBLETiGER]

So the party of 5 14th level characters was flying over a demon-infested jungle and spotted a Glabrezu supervising sacrifices on a ziggurat. The cultists quaffed potions of fly and rose to meet them. The Glabrezu telepathically instructs one cultist that he is now his favourite, and may use a Wish to further his cause.

What to Wish for? Dump one pc on another plane? An antimagic ray? Some wicked curse? Raise the sacrifice as undead?

I'd love to surprise them with this next week. All ideas welcome!

Thanks

My first thought would be a Wish for that Cultist to improve his own power and status. If you're a cultist fanatically devoted to a powerful being, and in the company of fellow cultists, and you've just been promoted to favorite, you want to keep that status.

How about gain a template?

 

[Jack Simth]

So the party of 5 14th level characters was flying over a demon-infested jungle and spotted a Glabrezu supervising sacrifices on a ziggurat. The cultists quaffed potions of fly and rose to meet them. The Glabrezu telepathically instructs one cultist that he is now his favourite, and may use a Wish to further his cause.

What to Wish for? Dump one pc on another plane? An antimagic ray? Some wicked curse? Raise the sacrifice as undead?

I'd love to surprise them with this next week. All ideas welcome!

Thanks

Personality of the cultist reigns supreme, here.

From an "immediate service" perspective, either Wish in a bunch of allies, or Wish away the invaders. One creature per caster level, SR or Will negates... which means while he could Wish the entire party somewhere ... unpleasant... as it's DC 24 (9th level spell, +5 Charisma modifier for the Glabrezu), at 14th, you're really only likely to get one party member gone that way... if that. Allies would probably be the more effective option. I'm sure there's a lot of demons that would like to spread Chaotic Evil over the material plane. 14 that'll voluntarily fail their will saves shouldn't be too hard to find.

From a "personal glory" perspective, well, the Wish from the beast has a modified clause that it can grant the mortal whatever he desires... which will probably be "power" in one form or another. Drop the Half-Fiend template on him, and you're good to go, probably.

What's the personality of the NPC?

 

[was]

I'd say the cultist wishes for power..looking at the cult, what would that power look like? maybe he turns into a powerful demon?

 

[carborundum]

Allies would be a nice surprise, the party are going to tear the cultist apart. They are Mayan style lizardmen with a few levels ranger or barbarian. The demon, if it stays a while, is what makes the encounter more than a speedbump.

And the Wish

 

[DireWereTeddy]

In that position, the obvious wish to me would be for the cultist to wish for 'the power to defeat my enemies and hold my position as favorite'. However, what form that takes would depend: on the cult, the cultist's personal view on power, and, if it were my campaign, upon the will of the glabrezu.

I think the half-fiend template would be reasonable, but only if it advances him to being a threat to the party. Any template that is appropriate for the cult or the cultist's culture could be used. And twisting the wish would be interesting. Maybe he gets turned into a half-fiend elemental. If it was my game, he'd be turned into a half-fiend dinosaur, but that's mainly because I've played way too much Warhammer Fantasy and have inextricably linked precolumbian-style lizardmen with dinosaurs.

On a different track from the personal power wish, if the PCs are using magic to fly, or more accurately, if the cultist thinks the PCs are using magic to fly, then an anti-magic field could ruin their day. Granted, it could definitely come across as a bastard move.

 

[zepherusbane]

I suggest that he wish for a field of lava to erupt from the ground below the party completely covering the lot of them.

See how fast they can think to dimension door out of range or otherwise protect themselves against immersion in lava. You could ensure that the lava encompasses enough space that they can't just fly out of the area before being doused, which might force them to use an item or spell to remove themselves.

 

[frankthedm]

Simple: "Tear the blood from the heathen's bodies!" Horrid Wilting winds up being 14d6 and Fort save DC24 for half. Also it's Long range, to avoid any arguments on who the targets have to be in range of. And it has continuous true seeing so invisible characters get hit too.

Don't forget anyone dropped to dying by the spell then falls to the jungle floor for a lovely splat. The Fly spell ONLY grants feather fall when the duration ends, not merely when one stops using the fly spell.

Either that or Wish a powerful being back to life. Any convenient piece of dragon bone will do.

 

[Noumenon]

The DM doesn't wish for anything. The NPC does.

This attitude is leading everyone down the wrong path. You're thinking "If I were playing a PC who was an evil cultist, what would I wish for?" But what really makes this wish unique is that it's a DM's wish. A DM doesn't need to wish for a half-fiend, some demons, or a horrid wilting. A DM gets that stuff for free to build encounters with whenever he wants. What we want is to use wish to do some things DM's normally can't do, so that this will be special.

The "turn the ground to lava" one is a good start. You can make an encounter over lava, but just all of a sudden the forest is gone and lava is there? That's using wish to freak out the PCs and take them off guard. That might be a 12th-level spell it's duplicating, though, seems too good.

I would like for the cultist to wish for his enemies to believe in the cult as he does. Kind of duplicating dominate person, but with some real mind control so they don't remember anything different than worshiping glabrezu.

How about "I wish the glabrezu would fight them himself?" That lets you set up the interesting encounter of a demon who doesn't want to fight and is fighting against his will. It might turn the encounter really funny to see how annoyed he gets with that puny cultist.

In the subverted wish category, you could have him wish "I wish I were at the portal-opening ceremony instead of here," and he disappears, only to be found later being used as a material component for said ceremony.

Or have him wish "I wish I were strong enough to fight these guys all on my own!" and turn into some bizarre creature, in an unpleasant metamorphosing process.