Why is my NPC Wizard cursed with immortality?

[Olgar Shiverstone]

Say it with me: "Polka will never die."

It just goes out of style.

//

Wish #3 was for immortality. He just forgot to include the "eternal youth" part.

 

[aramis erak]

Two come to mind for me:

• He made a wish for it to a Jinn. Of course it was twisted by the Jinn.
• He tied himself to some ethnic group - he steals 1 day from each one born... but he's only affecting the age for natural death.

 

[Rune]

He’s not actually the same character. Each new incarnation has an increasing integer next to his name. Example: Abricadabricus the Wizard, Abricadabricus the Wizard the Second, Abricadabricus the Wizard the Third, and so on.

 

[Eltab]

He is supposed to be a crucial part of the plan to defeat the Mind Flayer empire at the end of time and prevent them from time-traveling back to the archaic past to get revenge. He was supposed to become an immortal demilich but something sent wrong at the last moment. He got the immortality but damaged his mind. (Which is OK because the mind flayers cannot interrogate him in this condition and learn his true importance.) His allies will cast Wish on him when they meet in the future, to restore him.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

The curse* was intended for someone else, and the caster missed. The mechanics of the inaccuracy isn’t too important. That it happened is.

And perhaps the method by which he could alleviate the curse- if any- was impossible for him because he had no way of even knowing how.



* if it was one. It’s just as possible the magic was NOT a curse but the intended target was still someone else. Which, of course, would have led to hard feelings elsewhere in the world...

 

[Ulfgeir]

Maybe he travelled into Faerie, spent some time there (and time not flowing at the same speed), and was told that when he returned to the mortal world, he had to do something very specific, and either he botched doing that thing, or the conditions for when he can/should do it hasn't occurred yet.

 

[Voadam]

Sounds like it could be a Calistria curse. Perhaps there was an Eos/Tithonus action going on and the elven fantasy Eos turned to Calistria. Maybe a bad breakup with her Herald of Passion?

 

[Deset Gled]

- It's actually not his curse. His estranged son/daughter/lover that hates him with a fiery passion did a ritual/wish for immortality, and the condition of their long life is that the wizard is guaranteed to outlive them. Only by hunting them down and killing them will the wizard be free. Bonus points if the hatred of the wizard is based on a misunderstanding, and the wizard actually loves them but is forced to kill them to break the curse.

- A horrific crafting accident with a decanter of endless water. Attempts to reproduce it have been... worse.

 

[Rune]

The immortality is a side-effect. The curse is: he can’t not get killed.

 

[Bohandas]

He botched up some ritual or procedure that had been intended to make him properly immortal so that it only half worked