wishing for a permanent skill modifier

[Primitive Screwhead]

keeping on the same page.. what exactly does that quote mean, mechanically?

complain about DM's parsing every word and taking the stated wish to mean something else... and if your wish is not clear.., then I have no compassion for your plight.

I have no problem with a player taking time to figure out exactly how to word the wish.. not any problem with them getting input, advise, etc.. from others...even from me as the DM. In fact, I encourage it. I know the players are not the INT 25+ wizards casting the spell and I don't want to 'screw the players'.
What I want, oddly enough, is to be given a defined wish that has an obvious result so that I can adjudicate how it fits in with how the Wish spell operates and not get into long drawn out arguments about how DM's screw players over wish spells

As one of my players, give me ambigiously defined wish and odds the result will not look like what you thought it would....because my idea of what you intended is not your idea of what you intended. The more vague the language defning the wish, the less of a chance I will 'get it right'... which is obviously {from the witty repartee on this thread} an attempt to screw the player.






Yup, Im tired. I think I will call it a night on this one... been an interesting conversation, see ya in the next one

 

[PallidPatience]

Of course, the source of the wish spell might lead to the ACTUAL intended corruption of the wish. If a Noble Djinn is rewarding a PC, there might be no problems. If the PCs are using a non-cursed ring of wishes or sword of luck, there will probably be no problems. But if it's an Ifrit who hates the PC for some reason, he'll probably bend the wish, since he's casting it on their behalf, as long as they give him wiggle room.

THAT'S when you REALLY have to be careful what you wish for (which might also be a theme the DM is trying to explore with the players).

 

[Baramay]

How would you regard a wish "to regenerate as a troll, without suffering and mental or physical changes?" We had this happen in our campaign and the DM granted the ability and assigned a LA adjustment. Could not the same happen with the wish for swim speed. Give a +1 LA.

 

[Jack Simth]

How would you regard a wish "to regenerate as a troll, without suffering and mental or physical changes?" We had this happen in our campaign and the DM granted the ability and assigned a LA adjustment. Could not the same happen with the wish for swim speed. Give a +1 LA.

Decent way to handle it.

With that Wish, I'd be inclined to give them a troll's Regeneration (Ex) as a Permanent spell effect (so it's dispellable, as a mercy) and give them a hunger flavortext drawback also drawn from the Troll entry - he's going to be raveounously hungry - to the point where if he's not eating basically constantly, he's going to find he'll starve to death very very quickly.... and that Rings of Sustenence and their ilk can't keep up with the demand.....

 

[Bad Paper]

It may be enough that the recipient of that troll-regeneration wish needs a Ring of Sustenance to simply function normally (and still eat normal meals and sleep the normal time). Otherwise, he has to eat four times as much and sleep twenty hours a day. . .

back to my original post: I deliberately worded the wish to be vague. I wanted to see where people would run with, "I wish for swimming ability."

I think granting the +8 swim, take-10, and a swim speed is not a bad way to interpret the wish, thanks for the idea. That is probably the upper limit that I would grant to someone; heck, I would probably grant only swim speed 10'. And that is only for an impartial or beneficial grantor. A devious grantor would probably grant one of the aberrant feats that give you flippers.

I have always felt that a wish is a little stronger than a feat, or maybe worth a feat and a half, so as a guideline I would maybe grant +5 or +6 as suggested by Pawsplay.

I guess I was worried about the fact that not all skills are created equal. Some allow take-20, some allow take-10, some are opposed. If I allow a +8 to swim, but only a +5 to Use Magic Device, am I missing something? Should I try to shoot for one smooth guideline?

 

[Magesmiley]

My personal view is that a wish is powerful enough to grant a feat or even a bonus to a skill or. Consider:

A wish can grant an inherent bonus to an ability score, essentially at a rate of 1 point for 1 wish.
Characters get an additional ability score point every 4 character levels. They get feats every 3 levels. This kind of implies that an ability score point is more valuable than a feat, but they are roughly equal in power and value.

A feat exists in CA which gives you 5 skill points, so 5 skill points is roughly equal to a feat, which is roughly equal in turn to an ability score point. So, there is kind of a logic that can be reached that a wish should be able to grant a bonus roughly equal to 5 skill points. So, I'd allow a player to get 5 skill points for a wish.

However... there is a caveat to this - the maximum number of ranks a player can have in a skill. If they're looking to exceed their normal maximum, I'd probably grant them the Skill Focus feat for the skill instead.