Ring of 3 wishes @ 1st level??? WHAT?

[Crazysaneman]

So I have been toying around with an idea for quite some time to use in a heavy RP game. Before I get to the hook, let me tell you a little about the story. The world they will be playing in magic is an all powerful thing. Equally awed and feared by the common man, it is a source of inspiration and terror. Only a tiny percentage of the population even feels the pull of the source of all magic (less than 1% of 1%). The magic comes in 3 forms; arcane (arcana is learned through intensive study), divine (godtouched exactly what it sounds like, touched by some divine source of power), and something akin to psionics/artifice (used through devices directed by sheer force of will). To have someone gifted with magic in a thorp, hamlet, or small town is almost unheard of. Anyone expected to be magic touched is taken away from their family and trained by a group similar to the guild from fable.

I am thinking about giving each of my players a ring of 3 wishes at first level; bear with me... it comes with a couple of caveats.

1) They can never gain a wish or miracle from any other source. Ever. Three is all they get.
2) They are unrestricted (thanks Psyren) wishes, however they are granted by a fickle god. The wishes can be corrupted to amusing effect if they are not copacetic with the game. Wishing someone back to life is a good use if it pushes the story forward, wishing for free levels is not. Basically the goal is to get them to use this ultimate power for RP purposes in some way.
3) The wishes must move the story forward in some way. My group is really good about keeping the bs out of the game, and I can see so many potential RP uses for such a font of power.
4) The final encounter of the story requires a wish to keep imprisoned, the players do not have to provide it but they won't know that unless they figure it out through RP. I have to figure out a way to ensure they know the danger of running out of wishes (thanks Dire_Stirge) any ideas?

I play in a group that is low-mid OP with only 1 player that I have to reign in from time to time, so I'm not really worried about too much shenanigans; and it seems like a lot of potential fun and tons of story development capability. The group is a heavy RP group, and mature enough to use this kind of power wisely (for the most part).

Thoughts? Ideas? Thanks for taking a look :smallsmile:
(sorry if things come across a bit scattered, if something is confusing let me know and I'll try to clarify it)

[Inevitability]

What if the players use their wishes before learning about the 'final encounter' and end up with no way to imprison it?

[Psyren]

1) They can never gain a wish or miracle from any other source. Ever. Three is all they get.
2) They are unlimited wishes, however they are granted by a fickle god. The wishes can be corrupted to amusing effect if they are not copacetic with the game. Wishing someone back to life is a good use if it pushes the story forward, wishing for free levels is not. Basically the goal is to get them to use this ultimate power for RP purposes in some way.

1) Wait - three is all they get, but they're unlimited? Did you mean to write "unrestricted" instead? :smallconfused:

2) Given this provision, I personally wouldn't bother using them at all unless the alternative is someone dying or staying dead.

[Crazysaneman]

@Psyren lol oops, meant unrestricted... good catch, will update the text to reflect.

@Dire_Stirge hmm that's a good point, I hadn't thought of that TBH I will have to work something out for that. Thanks :smallsmile:

This is why I come to you guys for review... so many different points of view it's easy for the playground to find the flaws :smallbiggrin:

[Spore]

Have a "cooldown" between uses. A clever user can solve your entire campaign with a clever combo of three wishes. And if you stop your character from doing what he or she would do this heavily breaks immersion. Nothing written in stone, but if you have written your story in the classical story arches or acts one wish per act should work best.

[Janthkin]

1% of 1% is still 1 in 10,000; not that scare, really, though it depends on the overall size of your populace. Every 1 million births would result in 100 such magic users; the US would have something like 30,000 magic users (contrast with 1500 or so active NFL players in a given year). Add in that magic users are likely to live longer than the average peon, and your ratio of magic users is going to increase over time.

Consider narrowing it further, and make it a zero-sum game, where someone new gains their power only because someone who previously had it died. Heck, maybe any time a magic user's offspring reaches age 27.3, their power automatically passes. Now, there are only X magic users in the world, period. And if some of those become "lost" (plane-hopping, magically imprisoned, etc.), your overall number will be declining over time. Or maybe a magic user only retains the power for one lunar year, and can choose where to bestow it - this could lead to interesting game theory scenarios (familial power, oligarchies, etc.).

As to the wishes...#3 reads to me as "only useful to get out of sticky story situation free". That's not a Wish; that's either lazy roleplaying (as they can't be bothered to actually RP their way through a situation of their own creation) or bad DM'ing (as you've put them in a story situation that requires world-altering power to advance the plot, or that they are so disinterested in that they would rather spend this limited power than keep playing through it). That's probably not what you're going for, but that's what it looks like.

If you want costless resurrection available to the party, give them a Staff of True Resurrection with limited charges, and let them decide when it's appropriate to use it. Hell, make it the only source of True Resurrection in the game, and make your BBEG some flavor of Lich that needs True Resurrection to destroy. But don't give them a Wish*.

*Terms and conditions apply.