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I was reading this thread and someone brought up investing in staff of wishes. I don't want to discuss the rules validity of this.
What I do want to discuss is how you would go about guarding such a huge investment. The staff would cost 766,300 gp to make and have a far greater market price. That is a big enough price get parties of level 17+ together to work out a heist to steal it. They might even come from other planes for the score.
I have thought of a few ways such a party might try to get at the staff. I would like it if others could come up with was to guard against them as well as think of new ways parties might try to test their luck.
1. Brute force. The Party just tries to fight it's way in and hopes to be in and out before any significant response can happen.
2.Bluff. A bard or some such has such great disguise and bluff as to convince anyone that they are anyone.
Their are some restrictions on what sort defenses there can be.
1. The staff has to be accessible by authorized personal otherwise it's useless.
(I am sure there are other restrictions)
Either that, or wish that the Staff is impossible to steal.
Thing is what one wish can do another wish can undo and under the circumstances the undoing wish would be cost effective.
Unless you Wish that a wish can't be undone by another wish.
How many levels of that would you have to do before it becomes uneconomical for anyone to try and steal from you?
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I don't know, but you could make a Wish to know for sure.
In my campaign, a powerful drow noble house has a demiplane vault for exactly this reason. The demiplane is magic-dead except for the magic of the vault itself (the demiplane is the vault, and was designed this way). Authorized vault users can access the things they put into it and can authorize other users. Without authorization, it is virtually impossible to get at anything you're not supposed to. Heavily magic-y but it's worked out pretty well.
"Man, I wish no one but me could use this staff."
In all seriousness though the best protection is for no one to know you have it.
Don't craft the thing in the Library of Magnimar, do it on your own demi-plane where no one else knows what you are doing. With the cost of it- the chances are most if not all of your group is pitching in so it is in their vested interest to keep their mouths shut about it too.
You know you have it. the DM knows you have it.
Cosmic bells don't go ringing in the thieves' guilds across the planet though when said staff is created. As long as you aren't wielding it like a beatstick against your opponents in battle no one need ever know you created it.
*That* is your best protection.
Going back to the "joke" of my first sentence though..
I really see no reason why the staff couldn't be Wished to only work for a certain person. If that person died, it'd take 25k (or a UMD) to re-wish it to someone else but generally speaking that is a pretty effective security measure.
UMD doesn't have a DC for "emulate specific creature" but it would have a DC attached.
First couple of wishes for the staff wielder:
"I wish I was the only one who could use this staff."
"I wish Divination spells would not reveal that I am the only one who can cast this staff."
"I wish this staff teleported into my hand if anyone but me tries to activate it."
Of course, someone could spend 25k to start stealing/changing the staff but .. thats just part of the game when you start playing with Staves of Wish anyway.
-S
Decisiosn decisions.. should I cast fireball or wish with this third level slot....
Cast Wish and have it emulate Fireball just because you can.
The Staff lets you use your own caster level and ability mod though. The ring would be stuck either at the minimum.
I'd rather use Wish to cast a fireball with My int mod adjusting the DC than with the minimum to cast Wish.
"I cast Wish-Fireball. What do you mean they all saved?!"
Not entirely sure I'd allow a ring of infinite wishes anyway. At least the staff is capped at 5/day. (or 1/day if you are going that route.)
(not that I'd allow the staff either, for that matter.)
-S
In the thread that I was referring to. The staff would be made by a kingdom investing a large percentage of that years budget. I just wanted to make sure that investment could be kept fairly safe. And from the advise here that would seem to be the case. If you spend like a week or two worth of wishes to keep the staff safe no one who does not already have a staff of wishes is going to be able to steal it from you.
And That, Ugh, is why such items shouldn't be allowed.
:)
-S
"I wish no one but X can use this staff."
"I wish no wish granted by this staff can be undone with another wish."
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"You made a staff of wishes? Didn't you wonder about why you had never seen a staff of wishes? It's because no one is stupid enough to make one. Between gods, demons, thieves, and adventurers, there is just no way to ever hold onto one, they always wind up in the wrong hands, and have to be destroyed. Besides, if you *are* strong enough to hold onto a staff of wishes, you are powerful enough that you don't *need* a staff of wishes."
-- A mentor's response.
Considering how unlikely it is that you'd ever be able to sell it once you stole it I have to assume that the purpose of stealing it would be to get wishes. To that end use all the charges in the staff and only recharge it when you're about to make your daily wish. That way, to anyone who doesn't know the spell wish it's just a stick.
- Torger