Did you ever Wish?

[DwarfFighter]

There are a number of Bad Stuff effects that can only be undone by a Wish spell, e.g. being transformed into a slaad, or an abyssal wretch, or some other unfortunate situation. I've been a bit wary of introducing these sorts of effects because, well, I think they're pretty brutal.

Have any of you used Wish to fix this sort of situation that explicitly calls for its use?

How did your characters learn that Wish could be used to undo the Bad Stuff?

Was Wish already available to your characters before the Bad Stuff, or was it made available to specifically fix it?

-DF

[Mastikator]

Our group was once trapped in a dimensionally locked pocket dimension with no way out, and a luck blade with 1 charge. I kinda always assume that wish can undo special-event bad stuff.

[MarkVIIIMarc]

I am DMing a group where at least the Wizard has Wish. He's been appropriately worried about using it for any purposes but to cast lower level spells.

For the life of me, I don't know why he hasn't made a Simulacrum of himself. One of the recurring NPC's has.

I will assume its some worry about the Monkey's Paw effect or loosing his ability to cast it?

Either way, last session we had an incident with an Intellect Devourer the party left their over adventuresome Bard alone with for too long even after it was apparent things had gone south. Wonder what they'll do this time?

[Porcupinata]

I house rule that if a wish is used to undo one of the many effects that require a wish to undo, then it counts the same as using it to cast a lower level spell in terms of side-effects.

I've run campaigns where characters were high enough level to cast Wish on a daily basis, rather than just having access to the occasional one from an item, so this was an important house rule and it meant I could happily throw "can only be undone with a wish" effects at the party without too much concern.

Then again, I'm also fair with wishes and never monkey-paw them. If someone wishes for something reasonable then they get it, and if they wish for something that (in my opinion) is beyond the capability of the spell then I let them know that and the spell isn't wasted.

[Glorthindel]

I once used a wish to undo a Potion of Gender Changing in AD&D; the DM let it go without being too strict on the wording because, firstly, I spent a bit of time sewing up obvious holes in my wording, but mostly because I had played for about 3/4 of the campaign under the Potions effect, we were nearing the end of the campaign, and my backstory sorta required my character to be in his own body to resolve things, so he probably let it pass easy.

Same character had a second Wish available, and had been carrying around a Holy Avenger Sword for about half the campaign, so i wished to be able to wield it (not sure my exact wording, but I did try and avoid any obvious pitfalls) - the DM was slightly less generous here, and hit me with a forced alignment change to LG (not too bad, i think i was CG before) and a class change to Paladin (which again was fine as i was a Fighter, so no major change in role).

[ImproperJustice]

Times we used Wish / Divine Intervention to cast Wish:

To return a young boy who has been cursed with Vampirism back to normal.

To ask the Reorx to rebuild a lost temple dedicated to knowledge (they were allied with a Gnome deity that was part of his Pantheon / good terms with).

Following a titanic battle with the Red Dragon Klauth and his Githyanki allies where he slew thousands in our attempt to retake an ancient Dwarven Stronghold (again asking Reorx for help), to resurrect / revivify the fallen.

To move a sphere of Annihilation that was expanding.

To summon a Quicicotyl?, with its true sight and mental defenses to guide us through an endless maze of Misty corridors and confusion spells.

To cast Greater Restoration when it wasn’t otherwise available.

Stopping a Volcano from erupting.

[Wizard_Lizard]

To be fair, wish is almost always more useful being used to cast lower level spells..

[Avonar]

I didn't use it when I had it, mainly because we had a DM who would be very harsh on wishes and I figured that whatever I Wished for, it would have screwed us over.

[DwarfFighter]

I didn't use it when I had it, mainly because we had a DM who would be very harsh on wishes and I figured that whatever I Wished for, it would have screwed us over.

That sucks.

GM: "You find a ring of wishes with one remaining."
Player: "Ooh! That's amazing! There are loads of things my character can do with this!"
GM: "Sure, it's your funeral. Wishes are dangerous in my world, they tend to backfire."
Player: "...So if I use this thing that you gave me, I'm screwed?"
GM: "Yeah. Sorry, I don't make the rules."
Player: "...You literally do, though."

[Avonar]

That sucks.

GM: "You find a ring of wishes with one remaining."
Player: "Ooh! That's amazing! There are loads of things my character can do with this!"
GM: "Sure, it's your funeral. Wishes are dangerous in my world, they tend to backfire."
Player: "...So if I use this thing that you gave me, I'm screwed?"
GM: "Yeah. Sorry, I don't make the rules."
Player: "...You literally do, though."

Yeah. A wish from a genie, sure I'll monkey's paw the hell out of that. Casting your 9th level spell that might only work once? Be generous. I figure the wish would try and follow the intentions of the caster.

[Wizard_Lizard]

Yeah. A wish from a genie, sure I'll monkey's paw the hell out of that. Casting your 9th level spell that might only work once? Be generous. I figure the wish would try and follow the intentions of the caster.

Yeah like the rule that you shouldn't make fun things difficult for reasons of balance (forgot the shorthand).. just.. archetypally doesn't apply to wishes.