wishing for a permanent skill modifier

[Bad Paper]

..."I wish for swimming ability" or something along those lines. Permanent +20 to all Swim checks? +10? +30? Something like that? How would you handle this? This is entirely theoretical, so there's no in-game test for it yet.

Does it matter for different skills? A +5 to Appraise is different than a +5 to Use Magic Device. Or is it?

 

[Nonlethal Force]

..."I wish for swimming ability"

If I were in a bad mood I'd give 'em gills but no ranks in swim. Thus, they could stay in the water, but not go ver far! I would hope that a player would take the time to phrase it a little more specifically.

Does it matter for different skills? A +5 to Appraise is different than a +5 to Use Magic Device. Or is it?

Yes ... and no. A +5 is useful to a rogue with UMD, but not really useful to a fighter with no ranks in it. A +5 to diplomacy is very useful to a bard but not so much a barbarian. I think there are skills that get used more to be sure. But any one particular skill can have a concept wrapped around it.

 

[pawsplay]

I've always wondered if you could wish for feats.

 

[Infiniti2000]

Well, if you combine these two default options in the wish spell:

Create a nonmagical item of up to 25,000 gp in value.
Create a magic item, or add to the powers of an existing magic item.

You could allow wishing of a +15 skill bost item, preferably slotted correctly. By not combing them, there's no limit on the gp value of the magical item.

But, as for an inherent bonus to the skill, hmmm, I think +10 is about the highest I might go. I could be persuaded upwards of +15, though. Remember that the racial bonus to swimming for creatures with a swim speed is only +8. Actually granting a swim speed is pretty significant, so I would consider it, but leave the speed at some small value (20ft or so max maybe) and no other bonuses to the swim check (outside the racial bonus granted by the swim speed itself).

 

[Pyrex]

First I would price the ability as either a Slotless Continuous-use Item or as a Permanent Spell.

Then, once I'd figured the GPValue or XPCost (respectively) I'd bill the caster additional XP as per the 'Create a Magic Item' clause of Wish.

Example: +10 to Swim
As an item, per the DMG it'd cost 10*10*100=10,000gp, *2 for Slotless = 20,000gp
An 80,000gp item costs 3200xp, so as per Wish the caster would have to pay 5000xp(base)+5000xp(cost for crafting an item)+6400xp(twice the xp cost of the item)

For a grand total of 16,400xp from the caster.

 

[AuraSeer]

I'd have a wish give a +3 inherent bonus to any skill. Additional consecutive wishes would increase the bonus by +2 each, the same way you'd increase an attribute.

This may seem low, but it will stack with everything. A character who is willing to expend thousands of XP on a skill bonus is probably a specialist in that skill, and most likely has a skill bonus item already, so allowing a large additional bonus might be overpowered.

When it comes to granting a movement mode, I'd probably be more permissive. You can get a temporary fly or swim speed from 2nd-level alter self, so 9th-level spell with a big XP component should be able to grant the same power permanently. Just be careful not to annoy the DM by asking for too much. A poorly-worded wish for "swimming ability" might get you a swim speed of 50, but leave you with flippered feet that reduce your land speed and won't fit into your magic boots.

 

[3d6]

If someone wished for swimming ability, I'd probably give them a swim speed of 30 feet and the ability to breathe water. That seems like the most obvious option, and I don't think its outside the normal power of wish. In most campaigns, that won't be a very useful ability.

A wish for a skill bonus would probably yeild up a +4 bonus to the appropriate skill, although I would vary it by the skill. A wish for an Appraise bonus might make it so the PC always succeeds on Appraise checks, for example, while I might only hand out a +2 or +3 bonus to more useful skills, like Bluff or Diplomacy.

 

[Infiniti2000]

So if I wish for a boost to my swim skill, I get +3. But, if I wish for swimming, I get a swim speed 30ft, water breathing, and +8 to my swim skill? How does that make sense?

 

[Whimsical]

In 1st edition my character wished that her fly spell had a permanent duration and she got it, although she lost a CON point for it which mirrored how the permanancy spell worked. I was cool with that.

So, what I would recommend is that the character would receive a swim spell (from the Complete Divine/Adventurer/Spell Compendium) with a permanent duration. It would suppress in an Anti Magic field and it can possibly be dispelled.

 

[Barendd Nobeard]

Give them +10, plus the ability to always take 10 on the skill check, even in stressful conditions, distracted, or endangered. That should suffice for most swim checks without adding god-like numbers to the skill or actually giving them a swim speed.