Well, that Wish went better then expected.

[Orhinge]

You hear a lot of stories about the Wish spell going wrong, and it makes sense, if it goes hunky dory then it's just a wish spell working as intended. But has anyone had an experience with it going BETTER then originally planned?

In a campaign I was playing our characters were in quite a bit of trouble, they needed a macguffin that was held by one of two big bads who were currently in a shaky alliance. They didn't know which one, or even where it would be, and their attempts to rough up the big bad's men hadn't turned up anything, and they were trying their best to keep their identities a secret because both big bads (basically massive crime lords) utterly hated the players, which had lead to them uniting in the first place. They thought the players were dead now, but it was a little difficult to untangle the two groups so they remained "allied"

Anyway, we took a break from trying to take on the two big bads to try and get more resources (magical items, friends in other places and whatnot). Eventually we ended up defeating a temple dungeon and freed a genie, who rewarded them with a wish.

We toss around a few ideas before deciding to wish for the macguffin. The DM didn't think much of it at the time, but at the next session they could barely keep an exasperated smile off their face.

Our party returns to the main city to find out that hostilities have broken out between the two big bads. Turns out they had collaborated on guarding the macguffin because they didn't trust each other, and when it vanished they both assumed the other took it.

So while the DM had expected a more stealthy approach to take on the big bads, the two had softened each other up to the point where we brave heroes heroes triumphantly declared our return and proceeded to mop up the rest.

So, does anyone else have similar stories of wishes or similar going better then expected?

[Ikitavi]

As a player with a rather overgenerous GM, we freed a powerful dragon who offered us each a Wish for what we had done. The other players all started trying to figure out how to wish for the most munchkin weapon or armor possible.

I wished for "Only your friendship, and some token to show other dragons that I am indeed your friend."

This was back in 2nd edition, and the dragon gave me a powerful spellstoring ring that doubled as a ring of elemental command. Not quite what I was after. I figured having the friendship of a powerful dragon was something more valuable than any item that could be written on a character sheet. But the GM wanted a more concrete reward.

Sometimes an overgenerous wish is actually a rather nasty twist. It can draw unpleasant attention, and put the players in a political fight way above their abilities to manage. :)

[TheTeaMustFlow]

I've got quite a good one, though unfortunately I'm now effectively relating it from second hand (amnesia's a bitch).

So, a little before the climax of our campaign, we run into the Deck of Many Things. Being a properly paranoid adventurer, I drop an Augury before even thinking about touching the thing, and when it comes up Woe, I steer clear of it...

...But then I remember I have a familiar. Philip the Hawk (no relation (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XZP4My2zNDU)) draws two cards from the deck.

The first one's the bloody Skull. Philip immediately disappears into the ether, I casually put a bullet through the 1 hit point Avatar's head, swear mildly as I remember that summons one for me, and execute my own Avatar almost as casually. (The Avatar of Death is a total wimp in this edition. Half the summoners HP and an average dps of 11? That's barely a threat at level 3, let alone level 20.)

The second card, however, is the Moon. While I'm a little disappointed that Philip didn't get 50,000 xp, and thus become the first Hawk with 9 levels of Druid, the creature I have almost total control over now has three wishes.

Skip a bit, and it's the big climatic battle, the one the entire campaign's been leading up to. Us against acouncil of six Pit Fiends, fighting for the fate of our world.

A few rounds in, and the fate of our world isn't doing so good. The Paladin's backed into a corner, the Bard's on the floor, the Warlock and I are back-to-back against four of Hell's finest and look about to join her, and not a single Pit Fiend is down. The enemies take their turn, and sure enough, I get conked on the head with a mace.

And that's when Philip steps in. Seeing his master fall (for the first time in the entire campaign, I believe), the familiar uses a Wish, asking that I be granted the power of a mighty champion against evil, or somesuch.

There's a brilliant flash of light, and Mercer, severely concussed Elf, is gone. Replaced with Mercer, severely annoyed Ancient Dragon.

Suffice to say, the battle started turning in our favour at that point.

[Techwarrior]

The leader of the party, my character, had been bitten by a werewolf. His first night of his transformation had been, terrifying for everyone involved. Fast forward a week and we're each given a single wish.

I sighed a deep breath because even though I knew I wanted to pull some kind of shenanigans, I knew exactly what Dorian would wish for.

"I wish only to be able to fight the curse that has been laid upon me. I need my mind back."

The DM's response was absolutely great, and not at all what I had intended. Dorian Nightblade is now a natural werewolf. He's also a pack alpha, but that's another story.

[Psykenthrope]

The leader of the party, my character, had been bitten by a werewolf. His first night of his transformation had been, terrifying for everyone involved. Fast forward a week and we're each given a single wish.

I sighed a deep breath because even though I knew I wanted to pull some kind of shenanigans, I knew exactly what Dorian would wish for.

"I wish only to be able to fight the curse that has been laid upon me. I need my mind back."

The DM's response was absolutely great, and not at all what I had intended. Dorian Nightblade is now a natural werewolf. He's also a pack alpha, but that's another story.

That's seriously awesome. I might have to steal that for a game if you don't mind.

[Techwarrior]

Go right ahead. Let me know (via PM?) how it goes, or if you need help putting it together.

[Segev]

This one was with me as the DM.

The party had been trying to figure out why random portals to elemental planes had been opening up and disgorging elementals and raw elements (which were causing all sorts of problems, like the water portal in the dwarven mines that was causing flooding). They tracked it to a wizard's tower, where a pretty janni girl was frantically moving from book to book trying to do...something.

Turns out, she was not quite keeping ahead of an out-of-control magical experiment that the wizard who'd summoned her had started. He was now, however, dead, as she didn't appreciate his attempt to bind her as his concubine and reacted violently in self-defense.

There is an "emergency off switch" the wizard had planned, but she can't pull it off while keeping the portals from expanding catastrophically right now. The party pulls it off, and it turns out to summon an efreeti.

The plan was simply to use a wish to seal the portals, apparently with some amount of foreknowledge that this would not be considered too onerous (despite the wizard being leery of otherwise getting wishes from efreet).

The party wishes the portals shut, then has two more wishes and are not sure what to do with them. They have a couple of infected wererat NPCs with them, and a passel of them that they've been trying to find a cure for, but the efreeti informs them that he only has the power to cure one person of lycanthropy per wish. So they debate, and debate, and, when the efreeti expresses irritation that they're keeping him there so long (he just wants to grant the wishes and go home), the players take the discussion OOC.

One of them, at this point, gets a phone call from his mother (we're in college, and she wanted to catch up, and is impossible to get off the phone). 30 minutes later, he manages to get back, and I have allowed (grudgingly) the OOC discussion to go on while we waited, rather than forcing it IC. When the player returns, he is annoyed to find out that the others still haven't figured out what to wish for, because they're terrified of the potential twists that may go into it. They didn't deign to discuss it with the efreeti or the janni IC, so I couldn't even really give them the genies' input.

In annoyance, the returned players said, "Okay, my character wishes for the wizard to be back alive, and to be more beautiful than her sisters." (She was a daughter of a nymph and a paladin, and her sisters had gotten the Half-Fey template, but she...took more after her human father.)

The other PCs and players' jaws dropped in horror. I don't know what they were anticipating, but they were obviously terrified of what the genie would do with those two wishes.

The efreeti, who just wanted to do his job and go home, granted the first without a twist, and the second by giving her a +1 inherent bonus to Charisma (and a cosmetic beautification that could reasonably be described as being more beautiful than her sisters).


So, perhaps it didn't go "better than expected," but the way they built it up in their heads, the players were certainly expecting much, much worse!

[Psykenthrope]

Go right ahead. Let me know (via PM?) how it goes, or if you need help putting it together.

K. I don't spend much time on this forum though (too many other distractions), so you probably won't hear from me.

[Quertus]

They tracked it to a wizard's tower, where a pretty janni girl was frantically moving from book to book trying to do...something.

Turns out, she was not quite keeping ahead of an out-of-control magical experiment that the wizard who'd summoned her had started. He was now, however, dead, as she didn't appreciate his attempt to bind her as his concubine and reacted violently in self-defense.

...

When the player returns, he is annoyed to find out that the others still haven't figured out what to wish for, because they're terrified of the potential twists that may go into it. They didn't deign to discuss it with the efreeti or the janni IC, so I couldn't even really give them the genies' input.

In annoyance, the returned players said, "Okay, my character wishes for the wizard to be back alive, and to be more beautiful than her sisters." (She was a daughter of a nymph and a paladin, and her sisters had gotten the Half-Fey template, but she...took more after her human father.)

(and a cosmetic beautification that could reasonably be described as being more beautiful than her sisters).


Confused about this wizard's gender, and why the party brought the troublemaker back to life...

[Segev]

Confused about this wizard's gender, and why the party brought the troublemaker back to life...

The wizard was male, and I don't know why the character brought him back to life, but she did. The character that made the wishes was the "she" in all of that.

[goto124]

Just when I thought a certain Girdle was involved!

[Âmesang]

Either that or a very ravishing, bishounen-esquer male nymph?

Wish I had a story (heh). In fact I can't recall every having to use a wish, at least not in an otherwise absolute joke of a campaign. :smalltongue: If anything I'd be the type to just wish for a scroll of wish, something to save for a rainy day. Or when the tarrasque attacks.

[goto124]

Either that or a very ravishing, bishounen-esquer male nymph?

But... but the latter is still a he!

[Reboot]

The wizard was male, and I don't know why the character brought him back to life, but she did.

Did the janni kill him dead again straight away?

[Segev]

Did the janni kill him dead again straight away?

Nah, she just hitched a ride with the efreeti home. The wizard, grateful for the save, helped them by giving them some advice on where to find the next macguffin in their quest.