Wish spells

[John Q. Mayhem]

IMC, my players have just bound an efreeti in dimensional shackles. They want to make some wishes. Now, my question is this: if they ask for a really good thing, like a minor artifact, etc., how do I decide what happens? I'm pretty sure that they can do this, but that they have to word it carefully. But how does that work? Some the PCs are signifigantly more intelligent than the players (rogue with 18 Int). I'm thinking of making it an Int check, but what would the DC be? I can't just use the spell's DC, because that's only like 20, and I think it would be much harder, s what do I do? Assistance?

 

[gfunk]

Providing an artifact, IMO, is far beyond the realm of what a wish can offer.

One of the best changes in 3.0 were the changes to Wish. Old things you had to worry about in 1st/2nd ed like "wording" and the like have been eliminated.

If they wish for a magic item, see if it exceeds the cap. If so then the Wish simply won't work (the Efreet could tell them this) or you could give them a cheaper substitute.

 

[DaveStebbins]

Issue 49 of The Dragon had the greatest all-time article (Best Wishes) on how to work with wishes. It had loads of great advice; which isn't exactly very helpful here. However, my suggestions are based upon my strong beliefs which were formed by that article.

It is easier to give information on where/how to find an item than to create it. It is easier to bring it here (or send you there) than to create it.

In general wishes will attempt to fulfill intent as well as what was said. The exception is when the wish is being granted by an agent (such as a noble djinn or efreet).

In that case (your case) the agent will perhaps modify it or twist it. Given the evil nature of efreetis, I would expect it to twist the intent or wording. The efreet is intelligent too, and probably has much more experience with granting wishes than the PCs have in making them. This is a racial power after all, the efreet probably has many generations of teachings and legends to draw from.

My personal leanings when PCs wish for items (especially items which would be too powerful for a wish spell to create - it is only a single ninth-level spell) are to either send them there, or tell them where the item is or how to find it. This, of course, leaves out the whole idea of who currently owns the item (items can be owned by good people and used for good purposes, what does the party do then?) or what is guarding it. Again, this sort of wish-twisting should only occur when the wish is being granted through an evil and angry agent.

Hope this helps.
-Dave

 

[Dakkareth]

Only noble Genies and Efreet can grant wishes. So if you don't want to give them too much power too quick simply have the Efreet tell them something along the lines of "Hehehe, did you really thing you could have bound me this easily, if I could grant wishes?". This will also prevent them from shackling every efreet they meet and demand wishes.

Also diplomacy and intimidate checks would probably be in order to make the efreet do the wishes at all.

Finally for the wording an int check seems appropriate, maybe a wis check to catch a bad wording.

 

[Darkness]

... like a minor artifact ... I'm pretty sure that they can do this ...

Hm. No. Artifacts - minor or not - are outside the scope of mere 9th-level magic.

Oh, and this is a Rules question, so... *swoosh*

 

[LokiDR]

25,000 gp in value or it is twisted.

 

[Tabarnak Smokeblower]

25,000 gp in value or it is twisted.

Which aint bad...

TS

 

[Artoomis]

Nothing is outside the power of a Wish.

However, note that

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.)

Quite obviously Wishing for a minor artifact is well within the above and so should result in a literal but undesirable fulfillment or only a partial fulfillment.

Edit: Knowledge(Arcana) or a Spellcheck should be good enough to let the players know that this sort of wish is exceedingly dangerous. I'd set the DC 24 (15 + 9 for a 9th level spell).

 

[LokiDR]

Nothing is outside the power of a Wish.

I disagree. If you worded a perfectly clear wish to kill a greater god, it wouldn't just happen. You might be tranported to the god and buffed in some way, but the clear wording of a wish doesn't mean it will happen. Another example would be inherant bonuses. You only get a single +1 inherent bonus with a single wish, so a single wish couldn't grant more than a single inherent +1 to a stat.

Wish is a good stepping stone, but it is far from end-all and be-all. What would we need epic casting for then?

 

[Malcolm]

Allow them to Wish for the artifact.
Allow the Efreeti (LE to the bone!) to twist the wish so that it brings the Artifact, Owner of said artifact, and the Owner's powerful friends to the immediate local of the PCs!
Put the artifact in one of the PCs hands.. These NPCs should be of the level that the minor artifact is a standard item for them (in other words, they should have more that they will use!) but that they still don't wish to part with.

- this is in keeping both with "Wish can grant Anything" school and the "Only in the rules" school in that a.) it grants something absolutely unbelievable by most standards and b.) It stays in the rules. Wish can move Any group of individuals from one point on a plane to another (Will DC to resist. claim the NPCs rolled low).