Wishin' is fo' suckahs...

[werk]

Wish was brought up in the thread about the Ur-Priest, and I thought it might be fun to wish away on a Friday in May.

The scenario was, how do you use Wish to destroy an opposing army? You have three (3) Wishes. Use a standard human or monster 'big' army, whatever.

Text on wishing for non-listed stuff:
You may try to use a wish to produce greater effects than these (listed in spell description), but doing so is dangerous. (The wish may pervert your intent into a literal but undesirable fulfillment or only a partial fulfillment.)

Note, it is the wish that is perverting the intent, not the DM ;p


There doesn't really seem to be any limitations on the scope of the wish. I brought up this thread to maybe understand Wish a little better. It just seems to me to be all-powerful and wanted to see how easy it is to 'win' when using the spell.


I think I would just "wish for a large army of average stone golems under my control that will destry to opposing army then cease to exist." or something along those lines.

What's wrong with that kind of wish?

 

[IcyCool]

I think I would just "wish for a large army of average stone golems under my control that will destry to opposing army then cease to exist." or something along those lines.

What's wrong with that kind of wish?

Just off the top of my head, "a large army", "average stone golems", "under my control", and "destroy the opposing army" are subjective. Also, as it can't create more than one magic item, the wish will probably bring those golems from the possession of several someones. Whomever owned the golems would not look to kindly on you using and then wishing their pet statues out of existance.

I'm sure if I thought about it, I could come up with more.

 

[Primitive Screwhead]

Wishing..

That wish? Absolutely nothing.
*poof*.. hundreds of Stone Golums that are under your direct supervision appear around you, and begin to pound on the opposing army.

Cut to big battle sequence

Cut to small group of elite warriors bypassing the Golums to deal with the pesky spell caster

Cut to next year as the destruction of the army continues.. a scout fleeing the battle is defended by the local militia, who are now considered part of the opposing army and must be destroyed..

cut to next decade as the Stone Golums destroy all life on the continent, finally completing ther mission to 'destroy' the 'opposing army'




In a wish, you need to be specific and quantitative. And you need to remember the basic concepts of timelimits and that the Wish will use a lesser spell effect when possible to acheive the goal. Teleporting golums is easier than creating them, etc...

 

[Pielorinho]

I think I would just "wish for a large army of average stone golems under my control that will destry to opposing army then cease to exist." or something along those lines.

What's wrong with that kind of wish?

How large is large? The ring may only be able to get ten of them for you--still better than any ninth-level spell, but probably not good enough to destroy an army.

Where are they coming from? If the ring teleports a hundred stone golems in, they may come from all over the planes, and you may end up with some very powerful wizards very angry at you for destroying their expensive guardians. Maybe that "cease to exist" kicker wasn't such a good idea, eh?

There's always a way to pervert the wish.

If I were wanting to destroy a large army of relatively low-level critters, I'd consider wishing for a widened Storm of Vengeance. Covering an AoE of almost a quarter-mile with 6d6 points of damage will kill off most pack animals, a significant number of light warhorses, and almost all second-level characters and many third-level characters. The damage it'll do to unattended objects will really hurt the army: food will be ruined, tents devastated, and so forth. If I can wish for a second storm to follow the first, even better!

Daniel

 

[werk]

Thanks, I appreciate the feedback on my wish...but I'm not hearing an proposed wishes from the experts.

edit: thx Pielorinho - SoV.

 

[Whimsical]

Try to select an effect that would take the least amount of magical power to do. It's easier to influence a soldier's attitude then killing them. So wishing that everyone in X army believed that there is a gold rush in the mountains three regions over could effectly destroy the army without much effort. Can anyone think of an subtler effect? It should entice with a positive or repulse with a negative (there's a plague in region X.) Plus it should be something that the soldier would want to be true so that the belief is more effective. Like "Our king has died and his successor has recalled the troops back home." I prefer the gold rush idea because it moves them even farther from home. Something that they would be willing to do if they believed they would be coming back with a jackpot, or staying in the land with no king.

 

[Goolpsy]

I Wish for Alladin

I think I would just "wish for a large army of average stone golems under my control that will destry to opposing army then cease to exist." or something along those lines.

What's wrong with that kind of wish?

well here is saveral unstates things, hoe large is large? how godo are average?
and then you give them a goal, yet still putting the 'under my command' within..

I (as a DM) would make a wish teleport 8 Cr 20 golems to fight your inner demons.. (killing you), thats one of the easiest way to fulfill the wish

btw you "gold rush" wish, is jsut like using a mass suggestion spell.. just with a slightly higher DC (i guess)

I would put up a crap load of traps and wish for a powerful sword, expecting it to teleport a even more powerful npc, thus being prepared to fight him

One thing i've observed though, is that even though it replicate a certain effect from another spell. Stating "I wish those soldier headed for the mines" there isn't realyl a DC, cause its no question. The Spell describtion doesn't say much about failure, but stating "I wish those soldiers would think that there is gold in the mines and go trying to get it" It leaves a 'Think' within the sentense and make it a ''mass suggestion'' spell with a Will DC..

 

[two]

Perverting even a simple wish is something any 10 year old can do.

A complicated wish like the golem-army thing is not even child's-play; it's easier than that.

How to form a wish that isn't pervertable to destroy the enemy army?

You can't, unless the GM wants the enemy army destroyed.

Honestly, it's beyond the power of the spell.

Unless the GM says something like "the point of your wish scroll is to get the enemy army destroyed" nothing will or should work.

9th level spells are pretty powerful, but not all that powerful.

Your best bet is probably to gate in and bind/whatever a Pit Fiend or some high end monster like that and have it harass the enemy army to death. Might take a few days or weeks, but could work unless they have heavy-duty magical firepower capable to taking our your summon.

 

[blargney the second]

I wish everybody in that encampment would fall asleep for the next 2 hours.
-blarg

 

[dungeon blaster]

Maybe if your word the wish such that it will operate according to your "intent", rather than exact words. You can then argue with the DM after he perverts your wish that it did not operate according to your intent.