Wishin' is fo' suckahs...

[Pielorinho]

What do you do if the PC uses a wish and inserts the phrase "according to my intent"?

While I don't think that the DM ought to screw the player over with a poorly-worded wish, I also don't think she should hand the keys to the campaign over with a well-worded one.

I might rule that wish is a Lazy attempt to manipulate reality: it asserts a strong pull in the direction that the wizard desires, but it'll take the easiest route to that desire that it can find. If it can't find a simple way to achieve the goal, then it'll do its best, but that may fall short. I'd also rule that its creativity is limited: it can teleport existing things, or it can snuff things out, but it's not going to create something unless specifically directed to do so. The wizard must have a very clear idea in his head of what he intends with the spell.

Wishing, "I want to defeat the army" won't work, because it's not specific. Adding in the phrase, "According to my intent" won't matter, because that's exactly what the spell will do: but it can only consider the intents that are stated in the Wish itself.

Daniel

 

[boredgremlin]

You can't usually cut ang paste clauses like that without destroying the grammer of a sentence anyway; consider that if you drop the fighting portion of the clauses, you end up with "taking any other actions that can be accomplished within 1 round per caster level" which is also nonsensical; the parenthesis were just to point out that the issue lies in figuring out how the compound sentence is put together - does the 1 round/level apply to both forms or just the one? DM ruling. Ah - so he is pulled through, and departs at the end of the spell - which, in instantaneous form, is immediately, like a fireball or a magic missle - an expensive effect for something that doesn't have time to actually do anything. Umm, no.

Gate also lets keep the monsters for a lot longer. You just have to pay them. It specifically says to see lesser planar binding as an example. So the wizard just needs to stop being cheap and cough up the dough for some magic mercs lol.

 

[Hypersmurf]

Regrettably untrue - wishes cost 5000xp no matter what you wish for, even if it is a 1st level spell.

I assumed he meant "Wish as a spell-like ability", rather than "the Wish spell used to emulate another spell"...

-Hyp.

 

[two]

Okay for gated monsters against an army. I would go with.

Nightmare beast- MM2-15d10- DR (havent converted to 3.5), SR20, Nightmare* all creatures within 10 miles of the beast must make a will save 17 or suffer from the spell Nightmare. 2/day it can also cast/ chain lightning, cloudkill, incendiary cloud and monster summoning 5. This thing should take out any army pretty quick.

Megapede-MM2-32d8-DR very high(again MM2 is not converted), SR31, burrow 20ft, tremor sense. I envision this thing diving up and down through the ground and leaving huge swaths of destruction then dissapearing back under ground.

And a nightwalker or nightwing from MM1. Very usefull creatures with the undead they can summon each night.

So there is the 3 i would gate in.

Yup, thanks. I really, really like that 10 mile radius thing. Perfect!

And a nightwalker or nightwing summoning some wraith or shadow undead (turning soldiers into undead) is a nice 1 2 punch.

Perhaps just 2 gates will do the trick.

Honestly, this seems a LOT more straightforward and simpler and, well, by-the-rule and the-gm-can't-screw-me-over than messing around with wishes.

Can you use the wishes from the djinni to wish for a scroll of Gate, rather, 3 of them, and proceed after elaborate preparations?

 

[Plane Sailing]

I assumed he meant "Wish as a spell-like ability", rather than "the Wish spell used to emulate another spell"...

Ah, gotcha. I understand now.

and Ur-priests? where in the world did that wonkiness come from? I'm glad I've never come across it before.

 

[Saeviomagy]

You can't usually cut ang paste clauses like that without destroying the grammer of a sentence anyway; consider that if you drop the fighting portion of the clauses, you end up with "taking any other actions that can be accomplished within 1 round per caster level" which is also nonsensical;

Reads like a sentence fragment to me, which it is. Note it takes a lot more leveraging to make the other version work.

the parenthesis were just to point out that the issue lies in figuring out how the compound sentence is put together - does the 1 round/level apply to both forms or just the one? DM ruling. Ah - so he is pulled through, and departs at the end of the spell - which, in instantaneous form, is immediately, like a fireball or a magic missle - an expensive effect for something that doesn't have time to actually do anything. Umm, no.

Oh, you mean just like the planar ally and planar binding series. Are they useless too? Does feeblemind cease operation immediately upon taking effect?

No. Instantaeneous really only has one meaning - that the effect isn't dispellable.

 

[Saeviomagy]

Ah, gotcha. I understand now.

and Ur-priests? where in the world did that wonkiness come from? I'm glad I've never come across it before.

It's a cool idea, but the execution is excruciatingly bad, and keeps being repeated in further books. It's in the BoVD and Complete Divine.

 

[moritheil]

So aside from the DM, um..., unfairly disadvantaging the caster, what is the draw-back of the spell? In the Ur Priest example, he got wish 3x/day...seems like he could eventually get it right and/or seriously twist a game.

What I'm hearing is that Wish works great when used to do one of the things detailed in the spell description, but when you go outside that, either the character dies or the game is basically ended. That seems odd that that would be the intent of leaving the spell open like it is.

1. The hypothetical Ur-priest example hinges upon the Ur-priest stealing the 3/day wish from an efreet. BUT, the efreet cannot use its wishes to benefit itself, IIRC. If you find some other creature that has a 3/day wish with no XP cost that CAN benefit itself with it, let me know.

2. It's intended as a last ditch "come on, DM, throw us a bone because we rolled a lot of 1s" option.

 

[Jack Simth]

Reads like a sentence fragment to me, which it is. Note it takes a lot more leveraging to make the other version work.

It takes a fair amount of tweaking to make either work; one just works better than the other because of distance issues. Other tasks were closer to the duration listing clause, and so flow better when joined (no word-gap); combat was separated in what could very easily be a two-item list fashion, and so simple cut-paste doesn't merge them so easily. I may not have put the parenthesis in ideal spots, but the idea and the potential interpertation remains.

Oh, you mean just like the planar ally and planar binding series. Are they useless too? Does feeblemind cease operation immediately upon taking effect?

No. Instantaeneous really only has one meaning - that the effect isn't dispellable.

Not quite:

Instantaneous: The spell energy comes and goes the instant the spell is cast, though the consequences might be long-lasting.

With instant, the spell comes and goes - it's there and away on the same turn; but that's not exactly the reason an instantaneous interpertation for combat results in the critter going away - the Planar Bindings specify that the critter goes home when it completes the agreed-on task:

Once the requested service is completed, the creature need only so inform you to be instantly sent back whence it came.

Quite clearly; one effect is the critter being pulled to you, a lingering effect is a error-free ticket home on completion of any agreements. It refers to informing you of task completion for going home, not the ending of the spell. Gate also gives conditions for when the creature goes home when calling the critter to fight:

A controlled creature can be commanded to perform a service for you. Such services fall into two categories: immediate tasks and contractual service. Fighting for you in a single battle or taking any other actions that can be accomplished within 1 round per caster level counts as an immediate task; you need not make any agreement or pay any reward for the creature’s help. The creature departs at the end of the spell.

(Emphasis added). With an instantaneous spell, the spell has an effect (which is commonly semi-permanent) and ends in the same moment - with an instentaneous interpertaion of combat-gate, the spell has ended, and hence the creature leaves, on the same turn it's cast, just as a Fireball does ... or are you arguing that every fireball cast leaves a big ball of fire sitting on the spot forever? It is also instantaneous, after all.