Yet another Wish limits thread (CODE GEASS SPOILERS)

[Paseo H]

I don't want to belabor the point or explain my entire campaign, so I hope this brief explanation will suffice.

I'm about to introduce my game's true Big Bad.

The first thing she will do is play 'Geass Witch' to one of the hero's comrades, in the hopes of making him owe a debt of gratitude towards her.

That is to say, she will use a Wish spell (from a ring) to give him some sort of power.

This will be to establish that she is so badass that she is willing to sacrifice one of her precious Wishes to get her claws into someone.

The question is, what would be some examples of powers that could be granted, preferably with no risk, or else with a manageable risk?

[Paseo H]

Of course, this assumes it's feasible at all.

[Sindri]

Do you want this to be an actual no-strings-attached boon, or a be-careful-what-you-wish-for type thing?
In the first case, you should probably stick to the examples in the book, or similar low-powered effects; nothing more powerful than can be done with a normal spell.
In the second case, the sky's the limit. Pre-epic magic probably can't directly affect the gods, or create epic items/creatures, and she probably isn't willing to do major reality alteration (that would screw her up as much as them), but anything else is fair game. Make sure that they phrase the wish as their character would (no metagaming terms), note the exact phrasing, and go wild.

[Paseo H]

Well I was thinking of a low level but meaningful ability.

Like say, detect evil.

[Aron Times]

Have your players seen Code Geass? If they haven't, why not give the chosen PC Lelouch's Geass? Just tell him that with eye contact, he can issue absolute verbal commands to his target. Don't tell him about it working only once per target or becoming permanently active if overused, and definitely don't tell him that he can make people kill themselves with his command. Lelouch had to experiment with his power to test its limits.

Have the Geass become permanent at an inconvenient moment like when Lelouch accidentally turned Euphie into the Euphinator.

http://i234.photobucket.com/albums/ee136/Joseph_Silver/Code%20Geass/bloody_princess_euphemia.jpg

[Paseo H]

I don't want it to be that powerful, and I don't want it to be anything beyond what a wish can grant.

However, I did think of one way that a Detect Evil type power could 'backfire:'

If they come to overuse it, they could end up becoming Miko-esque.

[Serpentine]

Wish easily allows you to duplicate the effect of Dominate Person, with room to spare to make it Permanent, possibly with restriction. I would consider LeLouche's ability well within the range of a Wish, especially with the limits and drawbacks.
Not saying you should use that one, but don't gimp yourself too much.

[Eurus]

I'd say Detect Evil is a little lackluster, but the ability suggested by Joseph Silver does seem a little over-the-top to give as a free boon to one player (I imagine there might be some jealousy...). Perhaps something like Detect Thoughts, maybe even a no-save version? Or maybe a limited ability to see the future; a great way to drop plot hints or steer the party where you want them.

[nyarlathotep]

Well if she's the BBEG then you could give the player a continual effect similar to but more powerful than detect evil, it detects those hostile to the character and detects them even if they would be hidden by magic/invisibility or more conventional means, or at least that's what she tells the PC. At first this is true it illuminates bandits attempting to ambush him from several meters away, it lets him find invisible demons, etc. After he has come to rely on it however she should use it to illuminate an innocent who is in the way of her plans and of course it does nothing to detect her or her minions that she sends specifically to take out the PC.

[Starbuck_II]

Wish can be used to create any magic item (although it cost XP instead of gold).

Sadly, unless the ring had the XP already built into it: it can't do that spend any. So that seems out.

[Sindri]

I think you should wait and see what they wish for. If it's something innocuous like the detecting evil thing, allow it as they intended (though I don't know anyone who'd get themselves indebted to a BBEG for that). If it's something that pushes it a little, like being able to Dominate people by looking at them, introduce drawbacks, like it not being entirely voluntary, or being reversable if the target makes a good enough will save. If it's something beyond the scope of the wish, like asking for a major artifact or wishing for the BBEG to become their slave, give them something that imitates that well enough to convince them until they're well and truly screwed.

[Aron Times]

For those of you unfamiliar with Code Geass, here's a clip from the first episode of the series, where C.C. grants Lelouch the Power of the King.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fot-PBRFebg

He automatically knows how his power works (mind control), but not its details. He discovers these facts through trial-and-error:

1. It only works once per person, but the duration is permanent.
2. It has a limited range.
3. It works through direct eye contact and does not transmit through electronic means (he can't mind control you through the TV).
4. It grows more powerful with each use, first triggering unexpectedly in normal conversation and then becoming permanently active (with tragic consequences).
5. C.C. is immune to it, as are previous victims of the Geass.
6. The command must be obeyed. Characters with superhuman willpower can resist only for a few seconds, while most people cannot resist it at all.
7. A special device called the Geass Canceller can reverse Geass' effects, but it also leaves the target vulnerable to Geass once more.

There's probably some facts I forgot to mention, but this list has most of them.

[Paseo H]

My info on wish comes from here:

http://www.dandwiki.com/wiki/SRD:Wish

Does the actual books have more information that I'm missing?

[Sindri]

My info on wish comes from here:

As a general rule you should use d20srd.org rather than D&Dwiki; it's better organized, easier to use, faster to load, and only contains actual RAW information, while D&Dwiki is missing several key things and full of (typically bad) homebrew.

In this case, I believe that is the full and correct text of the spell description, but the "You may try to use a wish to produce greater effects than these, but doing so is dangerous. (The wish may pervert your intent into a literal but undesirable fulfillment or only a partial fulfillment.) " line is the most important. The examples given are in order to grant a sense of how powerful the spell is (no asking to kill deities for you), and give suggestions for things that you can get without screwing it up. In the end, what happens is dependent on exactly what the character using the wish says, in-game.

[Paseo H]

Okay.

Want to help me brainstorm some ideas? Something interesting but not too destructive?

[Serpentine]

Unlimited cosmic power!

Teeny little living space.

Okay, maybe not that :smallwink:

[Halae]

I like the idea of some form of shapechanging ability, maybe to make them into a more powerful version of themselves? I once had a character who got even just enlarge person 1/day through a pair of gauntlets, and he simply never wanted to take them offbecause it helped him so much in combat without being gamebreaking

[SITB]

Well if she's the BBEG then you could give the player a continual effect similar to but more powerful than detect evil, it detects those hostile to the character and detects them even if they would be hidden by magic/invisibility or more conventional means, or at least that's what she tells the PC. At first this is true it illuminates bandits attempting to ambush him from several meters away, it lets him find invisible demons, etc. After he has come to rely on it however she should use it to illuminate an innocent who is in the way of her plans and of course it does nothing to detect her or her minions that she sends specifically to take out the PC.

This seems a pretty good idea; I would just change the fact that the BBEG tries to actively harm the PC and let the PC do it to himself. The power would start as showing hostility of people directly trying to kill the PC (improved Detect Evil), and later changes to show people who plan to harm/hinder the PC (Detect Thoughts). The definition of hostility probably should grow (as should the PC sense of paranoia), possibly it would become permeant and thus the PC would start seeing his enemies everywhere.

[Aron Times]

I just remembered that Mao's Geass was telepathy. It went permanently active when he was a child, and it drove him insane. To tune out the thoughts of people around him, he wears headphones which constantly play C.C.'s voice. Mao's sudden appearance led to Lelouch discovering that using Geass too much causes it to become permanently active.

Detect Thoughts is a 2nd-level spell, so it fits your requirement of being a low-level spell. It has little use in combat because it requires concentration to use, so it won't significantly increase the chosen PC's power level. When it does become permanently active, though, treat the PC as deafened unless he spends a standard action to concentrate per round.

Another probable ability would be Charm Person (level 1). C.C.'s Geass was to make people love her, basically turning her into a Mary Sue. It drove her to loneliness because although everyone fawned around her, deep inside she knew that they loved her because they were forced to by her Geass, not because of who she was.

What do you think?

[Paseo H]

Hmm, one thought I had, is there a list of spells I can find online?

[SITB]

Here it is. (http://www.d20srd.org/indexes/spells.htm)

[Paseo H]

Thanks. This should help me decide what to go for.

Also, granting someone powers via a wish spell wouldn't be unprecedented in my campaign...one of the villains had a permanent Undetectable Alignment spell on her, before.

[Paseo H]

Okay, now I'm leaning towards something like Bulls Strength or another stat increasing spell.

[Serpentine]

"Permanently increase an ability by +1" is already one of the options for Wish.

[Paseo H]

Right, but this ability could let the person make themselves stronger/smarter/whatever in short bursts, more dramatic that way.

[Paseo H]

Update (just for the heck of it):

I decided to have her use it to grant him Detect Evil (and maybe some other effect later if I decide it's not strong enough).

However, it also has the effect of making his eyes flash with a symbol (yeah I know, Geass ripoff), and it also tattooed the symbol into his chest. This will become important later.

In other words, she has marked him as one of her elite lieutenants for a future bad guy organization.

Nice bit of plot weaving there, I think.

[Prime32]

Meh, every 1st-level paladin can use detect evil, and every 1st-level cleric can cast it. Detect thoughts is more unusual, and there's even a PrC built around it (mindspy, which lets you read minds faster, affect multiple people at once, and avoid attacks by predicting their movements).

[Paseo H]

I was trying not to turn him into a Mao ripoff.

[Aron Times]

Have it start out as Detect Evil, then turn it into Detect Hostility, to keep with the Be Careful What You Wish For clause with all Geass.

[Paseo H]

Hmm, could work.

Also, if a person using detect evil uses it on someone with undetectable alignment, would they realize it was stopped by undetectable alignment?