On the Spot: Wishes
Ever give your characters such a wonderful gift in the game only to have them hem and haw over how to use it? Well, just that happened this past weekend in my 1st edition game.
We just completed a three-year excursion (real time) through the wonderful Desert of Desolation series adapted for the Ylaruam desert of the Known World. I’ve been planning on adding in the Unearthed Arcana material for the players at this point as “lost knowledge” uncovered in their travels, and had a large trove of treasure prepared at the end of the adventure as well. They finally entered the Tomb of Martek and resurrected the ancient wizard with lost Nithian pyramid magic. So powerful was the magic that it imbued Martek (as the last of his kind) with the power of a demi-god. As reward for helping his ascension, he offered each of the characters (and NPCs) their fondest wish.
Now, one would think that getting a wish in AD&D is one of the best things you could possible get. Well, it took the players over a week of consideration and an additional 3 hours of in-game deliberation for the players to finally decide on their wishes. Here is a summary of what happened:
Eraergon “Eric” Patheney, male half-elf druid 8 [PC]: During the adventure he was one of the frontline combatants and took the brunt of the level-draining attacks. His wish was to be immune to undead level-draining. Seeing this as a viable wish, it was granted by Martek.
Chow-Lin, female human (Ethengarian) magic-user 7 [PC]: Having been affected by several nasty spells and spell effects during the adventure (especially from one particularly nasty NPC named Trifakas), Chow-Lin wished for magic resistance similar to a dark elf’s. Well, since she was human, she was granted a flat 50% magic resistance with no way of increasing the percentage over time. Martek suffered a few extra years of aging for granting this wish.
Falim ibn Ibrahim, male human (Ylari) ranger 6 [PC]: This guide was found in the desert after being ambushed by Thune dervishes near Amun-Re’s cursed tomb. He wanted to be able to move instantly into and out of combat without crossing space by foot. Although he originally wanted to teleport, I talked him down to dimension door 3x/day. He was overjoyed! Martek granted this wish graciously.
Myriam the Scholar, female human (Ylari) cleric 6 of Al-Kalim [PC]: This cleric joined the group in the Oasis of the White Palm and remained with them to spread the word of the Eternal Truth. To better be able to convert the outsiders, she wished to be able to speak in all languages to all races. Martek thanked her for going easy (you should have heard some of the other considerations) and granted the wish.
Hamlin Hoefurrow, male halfling fighter 5 [NPC]: A henchman of Chow-Lin’s, the loyal halfling could think of little but his empty stomach (and shrinking waistline from all the desert travel). His wish was for an everfull lunchbag. Martek was able to grant the wish with little effort. Myriam was grateful since she no longer needed to prepare create food and water for her 3rd level spell slot.
Percivlis, male human (Ylari) paladin 6 [NPC]: This former leader of the Maddogs joined the group in the Tomb Garden, and followed them for the rest of the adventure. He was shamed by his constant failure to save against undead fear and spent most of the combats huddled in a corner shaking. His wish was to be immune to undead-inspired fear effects (note, not ALL fear, as his wisdom showed him the error of a fool who fears nothing). Martek respected his decision and granted the wish.
Pietro Vorloi, male human (Thyatian) fighter 3 [NPC]: Originally the ”leader” of the expedition into the desert (the PCs were baby-sitting himas a favor to his father on this treasure seeking mission to the tomb of Amun-Re), Pietro’s only wish was for his deceased mother to be able to see what a hero he had become. The ramifications of such a wish were considered and I’m certain that the Vorloi Family back in Specularum is, at this moment, dealing with the results of this wish. Martek could not help but grant such a heart-felt wish.
The party spent so much time deliberating (and it was so hot that night), that we were all very glad to be done with wishes for a time. We also checked on values of gemstones, rolled random effects of some of the magic items, and basically role-played our way through treasure division. Martek opened his collection of scrolls and tomes to the party, granting them free access to spells from Unearthed Arcana and free training for this level. The treasure was sparse in the three adventures and they lost most of it at the end of I3: Pharaoh to a fireball from an angered Munafik, high wizard of Amun-Re, and a number of traps.
In my 1st edition game, I have tried to reward good role-playing and forward thinking with bonuses in combat and encounter resolution with little effect to the characters. However, the truly powerful magic of 1st edition has been out of the player’s grasp for many years of real time. It felt good to help them out in this way - and they truly felt as though they had earned these gifts. In the end, each member of the party walked away with something from the treasure pile and each had a new-found ability or item to use in the future. By negating the training costs for this level they were able to keep all of their hard-earned spoils. How often have you caught your characters on the spot, having to make a decision of great importance that would affect them the rest of their careers? How often have you allowed a wish to creep into the campaign? Do they use it right away or keep it hidden away for possible use in the future?
Posted on June 12th, 2008 at 10:49 am. About 'On the Spot: Wishes'.
I’m currently running the Expedition to Castle Ravenloft to my group. For the “shakedown” adventure leading into it, I chose to run The Ghosts of Aniel which pits the part against ethereal menances as they investigate the disappearance of an entire Elf village.
spoilers
A Wizard who resides at the village was in possession of a magical gem that still possessed two wishes. A greedy apprentice killed the wizard and stole the gem. A villager shot the apprentice in the back as he tried to escape. With his dying breath, the apprentice wishes that the entire village would soon follow him. Thus, they became ghosts within the week.
Now, the party is _supposed to _ locate the gem and use the final wish to restore the village. However, the player of good conscious was out that evening and the dwarf cleric decided to keep the wish and move on.
The hook between this adventure and Expedition was a messenger who slipped away from Strahd’s Vistani patrols to deliver a message to the (now deceased) wizard, imploring him to bring his “treasure” and rid Barovia of Strahd once and for all. “We fear nothing less will stop him this time!”
To their credit, despite many near-death experiences and the death of a beloved NPC (Strahd’s bride to be!) the party has not yet decided what to do with the wish. I would have thought one of them would have used it by now, that dwarf has a mean streak and an axe to grind… :D
Posted on June 12th, 2008 at 1:11 pm. About 'On the Spot: Wishes'.
Funny thing about fourth edition D&D - a 4th ed character wouldn’t NEED to spend a wish asking for immunity to level drain effects, because those effects no longer exist in the game.
It also goes against the 4th ed philosophy to have characters spending entire combats huddled in the corner because of one failed fear save.
Given how these wishes have changed the party, will they continue to face undead threats in the future? A Lich-type monster is going to be much less effective than it might have been before the party got its wishes. However, the party is not, overall, that much more effective against other types of monsters, such as giants or dragons.
If you don’t give the party undead enemies to face, they will end up feeling like you are conspiring to make their wishes meaningless, but encounters against undead will have to be rebalanced because this party would clearly outperform another party of similar level.
Posted on June 12th, 2008 at 3:04 pm. About 'On the Spot: Wishes'.
Strangely enough, the NPC paladin is no longer staying in the party, so his immunity to undead fear is not a problem. Also, the druid is more or less useless against energy draining undead as much as they will be against him! The magic resistance will not avail the magic-user against a high-level undead spellcaster as the MR in 1st edition is based upon spells cast by an 11th level wizard. Thus, an 18th level lich wizard would reduce the MR by 7 x 5%; she would only have a 15% chance to resist the spells! On the other hand, she is basically immune to magic cast by a 1st level magic-user apprentice. I’m certain that the dimension door spell is not too unbalancing since you can only go where you can see directly or by stated direction and distance (maximum of 30 ft. per caster level). The continual tongues spell effect on the cleric is really cool and should help them immensely in the future. I intend on using undead again - they are, after all, the perfect dungeon creature - no need to eat, sleep, or breathe, can exist in stasis for centuries, are silent, can;t be detected using infravision, etc. That halfling’s eternally full lunchbag may cause me no end of grief though…. :)
I’m very happy for 4th edition users, not having to contend with level-draining effects. Of course, I don’t have to confuse my players with the plethora of stats they would need in such an edition. All my characters’ stats fit nicely on 3×5 index cards. Of course, in 4th edition, I’m sure they couldn’t just wish for such permanent effects either, if the wish spell even still exists as a 9th level ritual!
Posted on June 12th, 2008 at 5:24 pm. About 'On the Spot: Wishes'.
Desert of desolation is a good series of modules. I ran it in my Mystara campaign many many years ago. I believe I set it in the Sind desert. Regardless, I don’t remember how it ended.
On the wishes, what a nice story, and well thought out. I think you may find Dim-Door at 3x day for a PC as the most unbalancing of them. Especially at this party level 6-7 ish. Dim-Door was always a top 3 spell (4th level is it..) right up there with Polymorph.
Tell us how it works out a few months later.
Posted on June 13th, 2008 at 10:02 am. About 'On the Spot: Wishes'.
Umm, ok, I did look it up… no “wish” rituals and no polymorph spells yet in the 4e rules. Things with really complicated rules issues and special cases have no place in the new “lean and mean” 4th edition. I’m sure that we will get some kind of “wish” guidelines at a later date, but none for now.
And really, 4th ed is much less stat intense than 3.5 edition - fewer skills, etc., although a high level PC will have a lot of special powers, daily abilities, and feats to list on a sheet. Monster stat blocks in 4e are much more lean than the 3.5 versions.