Items that Grant Access to Wish 3.5

[Petey7]

I was wondering what items grant access to Wish, directly or indirectly? I know of the Ring of Three Wishes, and the Efreeti Bottle has a 10% chance of the Efreeti of giving you one Wish. Is there anything else that grants access to Wish?

For those that are curious, I'm planning on starting a 3.5 campaign in the near future, with the PCs starting at level 15. I want a Ring of Three Wishes to be part of the main storyline, so I planned on saying that no one could buy one, ever. But it occured to me that other items give have access to Wish, so I was thinking of banning such items. It's not that I think Wish is particularly overpowered. I just want an item granted free uses of Wish to seem important. That and discourage people wishing for the best sandwich ever or other stupid wishes.

[tyckspoon]

Luckblades are the other magic item that is known for having Wishes. It is *possible* to write a scroll of Wish, although it is hard to imagine why one would do so instead of just casting Wish anyway and the huge XP cost means you can't just pay somebody to scribe one for you unlike most spells.

If you're serious about controlling Wish access, tho, the main thing you need is some houserules regarding Calling spells. There are a number of beings that can cast Wish or create a Wish-like effect, and spells like Planar Ally, Planar Binding, and Gate can bring them to a character and either let him bargain for or just compel the called creature to use its Wishing power on the character's behalf.

[Killer Angel]

Candle of invocation.

...come on, someone had to say it.

[HMS Invincible]

Is this to gather the 5 wishes needed to boost stats? Cuz I heard you needed to cast them simultaneously, else future wishes didn't work.

[Petey7]

tyckspoon, I think I can prevent creatures brought in by Planar Ally from casting Wish without too much bending of the rules. Gate could be a problem. I think as long as people don't specifically try to abuse it, I can go without a rule for now. I'll definitely think about it and thanks for mentioning the Luck Blade.

Killer Angel, thank you. I completely forgot about Candle of Invocation.

HMS Invincible, no. I don't want to be too specific with what I'm planning because I know at least one person that is planning on playing comes to this site for OotS and might come across this thread, and I still need to work out a couple details anyways.

[Psyren]

Is this to gather the 5 wishes needed to boost stats? Cuz I heard you needed to cast them simultaneously, else future wishes didn't work.

Not quite - future Wishes will work, but only the best inherent bonus applies. This means that if you get 3 wishes for, say, +3 to an ability score, then later want to go to +5, you have to start from scratch and procure 5 wishes instead of 2.

The distinction is important because it means you can wish for a lesser boost, and rely on that boosted attribute while adventuring to help you amass the wealth needed for a full +5. A +3 won't "lock you out" of a +5 later.

[DoctorGlock]

Scrolls of gate and planar binding count?

[Johel]

Efreeti Bottle
Price 145,000 gp
Strong conjuration; CL 14th

It is more expansive in gold than a ring of three wishes and less efficient (only 10% to get the 3 wishes).
But it can be created earlier and doesn't need as much XP to do so.

[Sudain]

Candle of invocation.

...come on, someone had to say it.

How does that grant wishes? (I'm just dense & not seeing it right now)

[Psyren]

How does that grant wishes? (I'm just dense & not seeing it right now)

Burning it lets you cast Gate; Gate in something that grants Wishes.

[hydraa]

DMG - Deck of many things
BoVD -Sacrifice
BoVD - dying curse from a HD 17 creature or above
WoL - Custom Weapon of Legacy
DMG - Talisman of Zagy

[Namfuak]

Not an item, but you should probably ban Planar Shepards. Or just restrict them from taking the fire plane.

[DoctorGlock]

Anything that grants shapechange can turn you into a Zodar for Ex wish.

[Curmudgeon]

Any DM can deal with the issue of "Wish n/day" on called/summoned creatures in a straightforward manner. The obvious starting point is that "Wish n/day" is a valuable ability; that's why the PCs want it. But back wherever this creature calls home it's still a valuable ability. So why would any reasonably thoughtful or wise being let this ability go to waste? The answer is, they wouldn't. While the rules may prevent them from using it on themselves, the rules don't keep the creature from selling or trading that ability. And since calling/summoning is a weaker ability than "Wish n/day", every such creature will know there's a risk that they could be whisked away and forced to perform for some random spellcaster on another plane. Thus right at the start of their personal day they should already have a contract in place to trade their valuable ability for something the creature values in turn. With that as S.O.P., the chance of any PC getting a creature who hasn't already used up their "Wish n/day" is really, really low.

You just have to think this through.

[Thrice Dead Cat]

Curmudgeon does bring up the point of the "wish economy," where creatures with the voodoo sell it to others for personal gains. It's a bit of a headache for non-business types to deal with how goods are traded around like that. It does run the risk of becoming Spreadsheets and ShareholdersTM, though.

[Cruiser1]

A good houserule to prevent the absurdness of the Wish economy is to make it so that extraordinary (Ex), spell-like (Sp), and supernatural (Su) abilities that duplicate or simulate spells with XP costs still require that cost. That way if you Gate in an efretti, it can't give you a Wish (unless it has 5000 XP saved up). This also prevents abuse with certain PrC's and Shapechange forms. (For example, Shapechanging into a Zodar now only gives you access to Wish if you want to cast it but don't have Wish on your spell list, since you still have to pay 5000 XP to cast it.)

[Petey7]

Looks like this might be more difficult than I first thought. I figured I couldn't limit Wish completely but I wanted to limit it somewhat.

Hydraa, I'm not worried about the Book of Vile Darkness stuff. The other three were added to the list I've been writing.

Namfuak, I already made it a rule that anything from a Forgotten Realms or Eberron book had to be approved. I probably wouldn't allow Planar Sheperd anyways because of the abusability of Planar Bubble.

At least now I know what ways people might try to gain access to Wish if they are like "Hey, it looks like he's limiting access to Wish. Let's see how we can mess with the DM today." Which I don't think is very likely anyways, but you never know. Even I've screwed with a DM or two in the past.

[Darrin]

Simulacrum Elixir (21000 GP, Frostburn) can be used to create a creature that can grant wishes, although you need to supply the material component. Chaos Flask (100 GP, Planar Handbook) can provide that part.

[Psyren]

Any DM can deal with the issue of "Wish n/day" on called/summoned creatures in a straightforward manner. The obvious starting point is that "Wish n/day" is a valuable ability; that's why the PCs want it. But back wherever this creature calls home it's still a valuable ability. So why would any reasonably thoughtful or wise being let this ability go to waste? The answer is, they wouldn't. While the rules may prevent them from using it on themselves, the rules don't keep the creature from selling or trading that ability. And since calling/summoning is a weaker ability than "Wish n/day", every such creature will know there's a risk that they could be whisked away and forced to perform for some random spellcaster on another plane. Thus right at the start of their personal day they should already have a contract in place to trade their valuable ability for something the creature values in turn. With that as S.O.P., the chance of any PC getting a creature who hasn't already used up their "Wish n/day" is really, really low.

You just have to think this through.

Why wouldn't the party just Gate in a creature that does have Wishes remaining, though?


By naming a particular being or kind of being as you cast the spell, you cause the gate to open in the immediate vicinity of the desired creature and pull the subject through, willing or unwilling.

So instead of gating in "Efreet" with my candle, I could instead ask for "Efreet with Wishes remaining."

But even if this can be surmounted, there's also a Prisoner's Dilemma; these creatures are inherently treacherous. if Creature A wants to give its wishes to Creature B (so they won't be available to mortals), when it comes time for Creature B to reciprocate, what's to stop Creature B from simply using the Wishes to further itself, and then conspiring to assassinate his rival, who no longer has the bargaining power of his wishes for protection?