Wishes in-game

[Mouseferatu]

The "Gross, Horrible Story thread" (which you should go read, right now, if you haven't already) got me thinking.

I haven't included wish in my games in years. Honestly, since before 3E.

It's not because I think they're overpowered, and it's not because I think they're inappropriate. It's because I get sick of watching the party spend 30 minutes to an hour of real time trying to write up a wording of the wish that would make a lawyer proud and would frustrate Lucifer himself.

Don't get me wrong, it's not that I feel the only purpose of wish is to screw the players. But that should at least be a risk, if one wants to keep the feel of wishes from myth and folklore. More to the point, I'm getting a little tired of the fact that every PC in every campaign world has read "The Monkey's Paw," or otherwise knows how wishes can go wrong. It's reached the point where it simply isn't worth it to me to put the darn things in the game at all. (I suppose it would be viable if I had to run a quick errand or something; they'd still be discussing the meaning of the word "the" when I got back.) :\

I've decided, if I ever do allow the PCs access to a wish in my campaigns again, it's going to come with a real-world time-limit of roughly 60 seconds. But of coure, that's only viable in certain circumstances.

Anyway, I don't know if I'm particularly asking for advice--though I'd certainly welcome it--as much as I'm just expressing my frustration with how such a standard element of myth and fantasy has been turned into a non-entity.

 

[Crothian]

As a DM I deal with two types of wishes. The first is the wish that is a reward, and for that I just let the players tell me want they want the wish to do and I allow it. Since it is a reward I am not trying to screw the players over with wording or anything like that. Plus as you say they spend so much time on the worrying it seems like a lawyer is making the wish and I hate that.

The second type of wich is the type that is going to come out not as the players intend. So, I do the same thing as above, I talk with the player on what he wants and trhen just bend and twist that. It is obvious from the source of the wish which it is but the players don't seem to mind the second type of wish actually perferiung it since it comes with a price and tends to make things very interesting.

 

[Whimsical]

My advice is at the beginning of the campaign (or when they receive their first wish) just speak to your players as a DM and inform them that wishes in your campaign aren't the auto-screw-you effects that other DMs do. As long as what they are asking for is within the power level of an 5000 XP-powered 9th level spell to grant, then they can be confident that they would get what they want without consequence, and there is no need to dicker around with the wording. Asking for something more powerful than the examples listed in the Wish-spell description will most likely not work the way they want regardless of wording. Infinite Cosmic Power wishes automatically fail. For example, asking for something like world peace would be automatically negated by the gods whose portfollios represent war, strife, hate, etc. So just be simple and direct when wishing. Wording won't save you.

If you do that, the players will most likely go along with it. Wishes are now fun again for everyone.

 

[RandomPrecision]

I like to assume it's based on the wisdom and possibly charisma of the character making the wish (I originally thought wisdom only, but charisma is strength of personality, so exerting will is probably in the realm of charisma...I still tend to go with wisdom, but having a high charisma is something I'll look at). If you're stupid, unperceptive, and unable to communicate efficiently, you probably won't have a good experience using wish. But if you have good wisdom, you tend to get exactly what you wished for. The character might word a wish more carefully than the player - let's say a player is running an ancient gold dragon (never happened under my DMage, purely hypothetical). Whether or not the player can figure out how to word the wish well, it would probably be a simple exercise in logic to the gold wyrm.

If a wish is just asking for it (like the horrible, gross story thread's wish), I tend to oblige them. But if a character with reasonably high wisdom was making that wish, I might ask the player if that's really what his/her character would say, and they'd certainly rethink it.

 

[Baron Opal]

When I was a player back in the day, I had a DM who loved to twist the wording of a Wish. She took it as literally as she could, sprinkled with the odd interpretation, and we often spent 30-60 minutes trying to word the Wish just right. One day when my character had some extra gold, I found the wisest sage that I could who was knowledgable in potent magics. And I told my DM "I want the wording for two Wishes. One to restore the party to full health and another to escape back to our tower. How much does it cost?"

She though about it, quoted a figure, and the party came up with the cash. For some reason she stipulated that each wording would only work once. I forget why. Not that we actually had the Wishes, mind you, just the wording for them.

Baron Opal

 

[Silver Moon]

Try this one just for fun - have them get a magical item of wishes but it only works if the person doesn't know that it grants a wish. An identify will just reveal it to be a regular item. The next time the person just casually says "I wish..." their wish happens. No worry about lawyering the terms since they weren't expecting it.

 

[Raven Crowking]

Source of Wishes

IMC, wishes are not simply magical energy waiting to be used. Casting a Wish spell either asks or forces a being with the power to perform the Wish to do the work. Now, the Wish spell of a LG wizards is liable to ask the power of a LG god, and be used toward reasonable ends. The god is unlikely to twist the wish, unless it is used for evil. However, a Wish might be a trap placed there on the command of a powerful demon lord...use it, and you're just asking for trouble.

Which is not unlike Mouseferatu, really.

I have a third type of wish, though: Dreams of the Ancient Titans. IMC, the Titans defeated the Lovecraftian Elder Gods and imposed order on the Cosmos. They now lie imprisoned and sleeping beneath the earth, or are dead, but their dreams linger on. Anyone who comes in contact with an Ancient Titan's dream can attempt to bend it to alter reality, effectively gaining a powerful Wish without having to worry about how it is interpretted. The character becomes the wish-granter. However, those who do this are often driven insane by contact with the Titan's thoughts......

In other words, there is power if you seek it out, and it has no strings if you are strong enough to use it and keep your own mind....but overconfidence has its price.

My PCs encountered this phenomenon once already, at about 3rd-4th level. They ran like the dickens. The higher-level NPC who was with them at the time ran with them.


RC