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This thread is why I'm glad I'm highly intelligent.
Wish 1: I wish this wish and every wish I make afterwards from my perspective turns out 100 percent exactly how I want them to turn out, even if I do not specify every detail.
Wish 2: I wish your helpful powers were transfered to me.
Wish 3: Oh wait, I don't have to make wishes anymore, because I have wish as a spell-like ability, with no material cost. I'm effectively a god now.
This is why unlimited wishes should never happen.
1) You would either end up deluded (believing you had gotten what you wanted), moronic (to dumb to know you hadn't gotten what you wanted) or anmesiac (unable to remember what you wanted)
2) Ultimate cosmic power, itty bitty living space.
Thanks for playing.
This thread is why I'm glad I'm highly intelligent.
Wish 1: I wish this wish and every wish I make afterwards from my perspective turns out 100 percent exactly how I want them to turn out, even if I do not specify every detail.
Wish 2: I wish your helpful powers were transfered to me.
Wish 3: Oh wait, I don't have to make wishes anymore, because I have wish as a spell-like ability, with no material cost. I'm effectively a god now.
This is why unlimited wishes should never happen.
Oh, alternate version. Twist wish one:
Anything you ever wish for, your mind is twisted so that you think it's exactly what you wished for, but it's not what you initially intended.
This thread is why I'm glad I'm highly intelligent.
Wish 1: I wish this wish and every wish I make afterwards from my perspective turns out 100 percent exactly how I want them to turn out, even if I do not specify every detail.
Wish 2: I wish your helpful powers were transfered to me.
Wish 3: Oh wait, I don't have to make wishes anymore, because I have wish as a spell-like ability, with no material cost. I'm effectively a god now.
This is why unlimited wishes should never happen.
Oh, alternate version. Twist wish one:
Anything you ever wish for, your mind is twisted so that you think it's exactly what you wished for, but it's not what you initially intended.
Right you just have to be put in a microcosm mindscape where you think you're a god. Meanwhile, your body stands drooling an the real world moves on without you. You do whatever you want to a world that you think is real but isn't.
1: The way corrupting wishes works is that the wish granter twists the wish so they technically granted it. In those examples, they have not granted the wish, in any way (not even a twisted version of it).
You asked that from your perspective the wish be what you wanted. Either giving you what you would want, or changing your perspective would perfectly satisfy that.
2: So? That literally would have no effect. Hell, a monkey's paw holds the power to grant three wishes, bind itself to the current owner, constantly reteleport into their possesion when it leaves by any means, grant curses at the same time as the wishes, and then teleport away to another plane after the third wish to repeat the process with a new creature. If all that power can be contained in that small of a space, then merely having the wish spell-like ability would do nothing harmful to a humanoid.
Obviously you totally missed the reference.
This thread is why I'm glad I'm highly intelligent.
Wish 1: I wish this wish and every wish I make afterwards from my perspective turns out 100 percent exactly how I want them to turn out, even if I do not specify every detail.
Wish 2: I wish your helpful powers were transfered to me.
Wish 3: Oh wait, I don't have to make wishes anymore, because I have wish as a spell-like ability, with no material cost. I'm effectively a god now.
This is why unlimited wishes should never happen.
I feel like the problem with this is that it comes across as (Even if not intended) very condescending which actively encourages people to come up with new and exciting ways to twist it around.
Though, to be honest, I imagine most GM's would simply say "No" to the first wish and be done with it. I think there are such limitations for the spell, but I actually don't remember off hand (And can't check at the moment sadly)
1: The way corrupting wishes works is that the wish granter twists the wish so they technically granted it. In those examples, they have not granted the wish, in any way (not even a twisted version of it).You asked that from your perspective the wish be what you wanted. Either giving you what you would want, or changing your perspective would perfectly satisfy that.
Obviously you totally missed the reference.
2: So? That literally would have no effect. Hell, a monkey's paw holds the power to grant three wishes, bind itself to the current owner, constantly reteleport into their possesion when it leaves by any means, grant curses at the same time as the wishes, and then teleport away to another plane after the third wish to repeat the process with a new creature. If all that power can be contained in that small of a space, then merely having the wish spell-like ability would do nothing harmful to a humanoid.1: Except that that doesn't fit the parameters of "turn out 100 percent how I want them to turn out, even if I don't specify every detail".
2: Oh, that was a reference? I have Asperger's Syndrome, so social knowledge isn't my strong point.
1: Yes it does. You wanted a reality where your wishes are always correct? You got it. If your wishes or your reality aren't what they once were, well, it still fulfills every aspect of your wish. It's exactly what you asked for, even down to the spirit of the wish- your wishes are fulfilled exactly as you want them.
Re: Monkey's Paw
It's a reference to a line by the genie in the Disney Aladdin, which I admit to having never seen, and only know the line from Kingdom Hearts.
If that's a troll, it's a good one. If not, I weep for your generation.
"It says 'based on Romeo and Juliet.'"
"Wow, I can't believe someone is remaking that Baz Lurhmann movie."
"We wish for the full restoration and return to us of our companions X, Y, and Z with all of their possessions and gear with them, completely healed and restored to their normal minds and spirits unfettered by curse, magic, or wound."
They didn't say "corruption" :P If you have access Horror Adventures, that's a pretty nasty trick.
Gender swap, class swap, race swap, now having a phobia, an obsession, having an Implacable Stalker going after them, go for it ;)
This thread is why I'm glad I'm highly intelligent.
Wish 1: I wish this wish and every wish I make afterwards from my perspective turns out 100 percent exactly how I want them to turn out, even if I do not specify every detail.
Your clauses do cover you, but the big flaw is that you said "from my perspective". In this scenario, we seem to be discussing a power greater than the wish limitations of the normal game, but that actually works against you because this wish granter is all powerful. He need only change your perspective to grant your wish. To put it another way, your wish only asks that they are granted 100% accurately from your perspective. If you believe that they have been (even if they are not) then the rest of the wording of this first wish is irrelevant. Without the 1st wish the rest falls apart.
Even if you take out that issue, if the granter is an all powerful being, then they could change "The way you want them to turn out" from your perspective. IE they can change your own mind to want something different before the wish is granted. Sure it is cheating in the legal sense of things, but it is a mortal vs an all powerful.
This thread is why I'm glad I'm highly intelligent.
Wish 1: I wish this wish and every wish I make afterwards from my perspective turns out 100 percent exactly how I want them to turn out, even if I do not specify every detail.
Wish 2: I wish your helpful powers were transfered to me.
Wish 3: Oh wait, I don't have to make wishes anymore, because I have wish as a spell-like ability, with no material cost. I'm effectively a god now.
This is why unlimited wishes should never happen.
In pathfinder, these go beyond the constraints of the wish spell. The first one allows you to make as any wishes as you can obtain with any level of power and no downside. Wish allows for a variety of effects (none of which are detailed above) and asking for an effect stronger than these comes with danger. Removing the danger portion thus is more powerful than what wish can allow because it creates more powerful wishes.
Also, if the above reasoning doesn't work for you, the second power asks for the ability to make multiple wishes. Multiple wishes are stronger than one wish (logically) and thus stronger than the constraints of the wish spell.
At least, that's how I would GM it.
No, I wanted this reality to be one where my wishes turn out how I wanted them to. I don't want to be trapped in a false reality; who would? And just because I didn't specify those details doesn't change anything, because of the "even if I don't specify every detail" clause. No matter how you look at that, you aren't granting my wish if you corrupt it, because of what I'm now repeating for the third time "turn out 100 percent exactly how I want them to turn out, even if I don't specify every detail".
You aren't in a false reality, you are in a very real reality of your own making (aka your own mind). You just happen to be the only resident. And you get to make this reality to your wishes. Just like your wish granted. Congratulations.
Ummm, I'm wondering what the OP is going to do.
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Instead of making the players pay the price have others pay the price for them. For every condition removed and everything restored have someone they know t pay the price. Make the people paying be those that the players actually care about or will affect the players. So the person the dead player cares about most dies. Three people the insane players know are now insane. The value of the gear restored is taken from people the players know and care about. Every HP and condition the players have removed is transferred to someone else.
Also make some the people who pay the price be important people. Maybe the good king turns into a tyrant. And last but not least let the fact that the players are responsible for the situations become public knowledge.
OK so this one miiiiiiiiiiiiiiight be a bit of a stretch, but....eh what the heck?
Make them Zombies*. That asterisk is SUPER important.
See they wished to be fully restored right? Well, restored applies as long as they can achieve all the things they could before. So as long as their physical ability scores and skill ranks remain it totally applies.
The trick is to use Alchemy, which, technically, is not magic. So they end up becoming alchemical abominations onto the lord. The fact that they now have alternative dietary concerns shouldn't be a problem; they still had to eat before, the fact that they now need to consume flesh (Or really whatever you want, including rare materials that hey only this guy as access to) is, in the grand scheme of things, negligible.
Beauty is also a subjective term. As long as they're roughly humanoid, it totally works out. They're just as beautiful or ugly to an elder god as they were before right?
Again, kind of a stretch, but it's a starting point at least!
Edit; Also you should be sure to make them Pseudo Zombies in this case. It wouldn't be fair to them if they couldn't die horribly anymore, after all.
Ummm, I'm wondering what the OP is going to do.Also yes, I'm really curious as well.
Still working on the specifics. We play this Sunday, after which I will reveal the results of their poor decisions in this very thread!
a new idea for the o.p.
be crul by being EXTRA NICE AND HELPFUL!
grant them all the wishes they asked for, be large, even include washing them up from the blood and dry cleaning all their clothes AND THEN the wish giver, who will want to be extra carfull that nothing will harm them again, adds a free pernament undispellable Resilient Sphere around each of them. to keep them in 'mint condition'. ;)
for extra funsies, allow the people outisde the sphere to move them by rolling them around...
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This came up on our Slumbering Tsar campaign. Here's the lowdown.
During a fight in a large barrow mound three characters got affected by insanity. One of the three characters fell into a deep chasm immediately after being affected and is dead and unrecoverable by the party. The two that survived are being restrained by the others as they seek a cure. Problem is, insanity is rather hard to cure. No one has the ability to cure them.
So they discover there is a being that dwells at the crossroads of Tsar that grants wishes, but has a tendency to twist them to the detriment of the wisher. So they visit this being and make the following wish to heal their friends and get their lost companion back.
"We wish for the full restoration and return to us of our companions X, Y, and Z with all of their possessions and gear with them, completely healed and restored to their normal minds and spirits unfettered by curse, magic, or wound."
As you can see, they tried to be pretty thorough. How would you twist this wish?
If they know they are going to have a wish twisted... assuming this is the case here given the structuring.
Do nothing; Initially.
Just smile and tell them they got what they wanted. Plenty of adventure hooks and ideas can be spun off this structure and it will keep the group guessing.... what exactly did this cost?
This thread is why I'm glad I'm highly intelligent.
Wish 1: I wish this wish and every wish I make afterwards from my perspective turns out 100 percent exactly how I want them to turn out, even if I do not specify every detail.
Wish 2: I wish your helpful powers were transfered to me.
Wish 3: Oh wait, I don't have to make wishes anymore, because I have wish as a spell-like ability, with no material cost. I'm effectively a god now.
This is why unlimited wishes should never happen.
In agreement with others that wish one forces your perceptions/reality to be altered to comply with the outcome of the wish, probably leading to you becoming a mad, drooling, mind locked being... from others perspective.
Still does not violate that you get exactly what you want... 100%... even if you didn't specify the details because you wanted absolute outcome control... from your perspective... a perspective is a changeable thing.
The truly mad don't know they are... and your happy now.
Like many others, my first reaction was to either have the characters come back in alternate forms or that they come back without any magical abilities (unfettered).
Instead, how about their wish brings about an incredible powerful creature; the characters' magic items are returned, but drained of all magic. Characters temporarily lose any magical and supernatural abilities for 24 hours, and each has lost a tiny sliver of their soul.
The end result is a 'creature' born of magical energies and living spells, with extremely high SR, resistances, powerful magical attacks (can either use one powerful spell a round or mulitple lower-levelled spells) and needs to be attacked by mundane weapons, it has no damage reduction against these mundane attacks. An extremely large and nebulous creation, it appears on the surface, near a small village and wipes it out as it seeks magical energies to add to it -think of it as an enormous magical battery that uses its own energy to attack and must consume more to survive- The thing moves on to destroy more villages and then moves on to attack towns and cities. It takes a while for the PCs hear about it and the damage left its wake, but will soon learn that they are also linked to it; everytime it takes 10 hit points of damage, all the PCs also take 1 single hit point of damage (it'll soon add up). Might be that the PCs have to deal with their current adventure and then deal with the wake of the creature, try and figure out a weakness that doesnt rely on magic and then take the fight to the creature (gives you more time to find or design such a creature). Their selfish wishes means that the creature cannot truly die (like the terrasque) Maybe the only way that the creature can fully die is if the PCs risk the remainder of their souls to fell a creature born from them!
Good luck =)
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It's quite simple-
By all accounts, the dead PC was returned to their party in pristine health.
They wished for the benefit of their friend. No mention of their own wellbeing. Twist that aspect. ;)
Best part? End the session with that. The Demon snaps his fingers, wish granted, with everything gone black. The PC's hear a voice: "Guys, are you okay? What happened?"
For me I would do this :
Return time to the moment everithing goes wrong but everyone has resisted insanity, all is well, everyone is the same etc.
But the PC will realise, little by little, that some things has changed around them... Somethings minor first : The innkeeper they were at is now a woman... Then more important : People they don't know seems to knows them, other they knows don't seem to recognize them... More and more things Etc.
Something has go wrong with their wish and they don't know how bad it is... And that will make the players (not the character, the players) worry oabout a lot of things... Trying to know everything about them in this current reality...:D
Fun and a lot of plot twist possible... ;)
Well, here's the thrilling conclusion. But first a bit of a recap and further explanation of the situation.
The characters involved:
Pashe Onyx - Female Oread Druid who is affected by insanity.
Suri - Female Human Rogue who is affected by insanity.
Finion - Male Human Cleric who was killed. His body was unrecoverable.
After the wish is made the Dweller at the Crossroads solemnly announces that the wish is granted. Two women appear laying on the ground next to a pile of their belongings. Standing over them is the figure of Finion, but his back is turned to the group.
As it turns out, Finion has been brought back as a dread ghost and the party has to deal with the trauma of fighting their old friend and killing him again.
The two women have been returned and are no longer insane. However, Pashe has been returned as a dryad and Suri has been returned as a mermaid. Now dryads have this thing where if they don't bond to a tree and remain within 300' of it they start taking Con damage every day until they die. Merfolk don't suffer any debilitating effects being out of water, but land speed is a mere 5'. Oh, the adventure takes place in a large desert wasteland where the closest trees or water are days away.
Upon inspection all of their items have been stripped of magical properties. Pashe also is unable to cast her druid spells or use the spell-like abilities of her new form.
When the group angrily confronts the Dweller and complain that this isn't what they wished for he replies, "Are you not pleased? Your companions are fully restored, as the spell. They have been returned to you along with all their possessions. They have each been healed, as the spell. They are unfettered by any wounds, any curses, and all magic. They have been returned to their normal minds and spirits. It is a shame you mentioned nothing about their bodies." With this the demonic being vanishes.
So right now the group is rather pissed. They have lost a ton of magical items, still down a cleric, and one of them is a dryad who needs to find a tree before she dies. What they haven't figured out yet (but will soon) is that the two NPC cohorts they left behind to care for the two women have woken up the next morning only to find them missing. So now two close allies are going to venture off into dangerous territory to look for their missing friends and get into loads of trouble.
So once again, thank you all for your suggestions.
toxycycline, Nasty, nasty, nasty. I hope the players end up figuring out that they were greedy. As for the Con damage being supernatural, isn't it a good thing that you posted? Now you know in time not to actually dish any out!