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What to wish for?

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Hello fellow RPGers. This is my first post for advice and could really use some help.

It is not a dire situation more of a flavor aspect but one that will have a profound effect on our campaign. I apologize for the length of this post in advance but I feel the added context will help explain the issue.

SPOILER WARNING FOR ANYONE WHO HAS NOT PLAYED SKULL AND SHACKLES CAMPAIGN

I am a level 10 summoner in the Skull and Shackles campaign. We are in the fourth book and just cleared out the head cyclops and gained control of the island. Each of our party has taken a specific role among-st our crew to kind of define our position and establish our flavor. We each have our own ship and crew at this point still following the basis we are our own crew but much more powerful. A similar structure to White beard for you one piece fans, the main crew spit up as commanders on their own ships. So as reward for our epic win we get a wish from a genie we freed.

Our incredibly generous captain and our possibly insane GM has through shenanigans allowed each one of us to get a personal wish for use in the campaign. But it does not stop there. Each of us get one personal wish and our individual crew members that we made characters sheets for get them as well. So we get a personal wish and five more wishes that have to focus on party or crew central goals.

We have an Alchemist engineer who is making the island a death star base.
Our necromancer is getting immortality and changing his character around.
Our captain bit the bullet and used his personal wish to free the genie so we could our wishes.
I have no idea what our barbarian will do.

And here is my dilemma. I have no clue what to wish for. Seems silly but this campaign has been a blast and I really do not want to break it. My summoner focused on a theme of training creatures for our bidding. I have an entire crew around that central theme of either finding and training creatures or buying them. Hell I just got done getting two triceratops and a Trex on the very same island. It is amazing what you can do with a 30 handle animal and a rod of animal training. Given some ridiculous d20 rolls in robbing a shop we already have money and gear well beyond what our level should ever have. So from my role and gear standpoint I have a lot of s**@ already. I have no idea what to wish for?

I was thinking maybe a magic item that can tame any beast or hell a master ball from Pokemon or even a bad ass zoo to put our enemies to be eaten alive maybe a gladiatorial arena. But I really do not know. I mean a huge wish and them five smaller wishes. Not to mention every time I here people with wish talking about it something terrible happened and to avoid it at all costs. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

It's my personal experience that wishing for anything outside of the bounds of the wish spell's description (i.e. the things stated that actually work every time without screwing you over) always result in the GM twisting your words and screwing you over.

For example, you wish for a special magic item? The GM instantly teleports you to it...in the middle of the great wyrm red dragon's lair where it's sitting in the middle of his horde...and he's pretty pissed to see you show up unannounced. This actually happened to a friend of mine.

Because of that, I recommend you just stack the five wishes and get a +5 bonus to one stat. It's the safest way to go.

World peace. But seriously...it does sound like your GM has been particularly generous so far and isn't aiming to screw you over. So in this case where mechanics seem to be taking a backseat to story, I would ask the go-to question: what does your CHARACTER want more than anything?

Both promising things to think about. Thanks for the warning greenteagamer a situation I am definetley trying to avoid. Rhorik Hodsvard you raise an interesting point. Because I do not know. the animal path was just some flavor I thought would be fun and I choose a summoner because I wanted to try one. The class is awesome but my character was not kind of maid last minute. I need to think about him a little bit. That helps with context a lot what does he want more than anything. Interesting.

It should be noted that our captain was able to get it so that no negative harm can happen to us or our crew through the wish. Part of his stipulation with the genie is he specifically used his wish to free her under the condition that his crew wishes could not hurt us. Now that said if we try to push our luck to far or intentionally piss our GM off nothing is certain for sure, but he really wants this campaign to go balls to the wall so we are enjoying the ride sort of speak.

I take it binding this or another wish granting genie to yourservice is out of the question then...

Well not entirely but it would have to be done gently. As it is worded the genie only gets wish once a year per person. And the entire idea is we set her free and she is grateful so now she is willing to help. And outside the six wishes per crew member that seems to be as far as the GM will go. I am not complaining but we could probably coax her into staying but we would have to wait another year and enslaving her is out of the question yes.

You had something in mind?

Not familiar with the particular genie, but I know they all generally have fairly specific rules regarding wish granting. If even a fraction of that power could be funneled into your eidolon...we're probably getting into game-breaking territory though.

Very good point. Super saiyan eidolon I really do like how that sounds. I can already say the eidolon is broken with with his plus 5 amulet of mighty fists and his plus six to strength and con from his belt. That might really break him but I am up for ideas. Love your line of thinking.

Let's try to establish a baseline here. Immortality alone is a high-level ability for a few classes, usually in the 20th level range. I'm not sure what your Death Star plan involves, so let's stick with that one. Arcane discoveries (as well as the Alchemist capstone) would put this at somewhere around a 20th level ability. By the same token, a 10th-15th level wizard could learn the True Name of any number of different noble genies, granting access to wishes aplenty. By that token, would granting your token summon beastie something along the lines of limited wish 1/day really be out of the question?

I assume you meant 25th level range or 20th level range for the immortality thing. The death star is more cosmetic I am sure it will be epic but actually our alchemist planned on utilizing the wish to gain his capstone right away and our GM did not seem against it. Although it is only eternal youth not true immortality. As for the limited wish once a day I am sure if I do not horrendously abuse it and set specific parameters it could work yes. Just need to make sure the GM is in a good mood. But yeah that is a great idea. Lots of utility and is not as bad as regular wish. Could also do like once a week or month to really sell it.

Could also try for maybe extra evolution points and the GM even said we could change the estics to our class like he would let me go master summoner if I wanted. We are on a good path with ideas narrowing it down. Thanks Rhorik keep them coming. Wishing is fun when your not being thrown into a Great Wryms horde.

Edited a numerical autocorrect. Be prepared to be shut down. "Wishing for more wishes" tends to be a no-no. My first thought for a monster collector was a special shiny bound outsider of your own. But given the fact that you're being granted this boon for UN-binding a genie, that just seems counter-intuitive. So maybe investing a parcel of his power into one of your own might be more appropriate.

Now do you mean a parcel of the genies power or a parcel of my eidolons power. I could take a look at genies or other outsiders. Given the versatility of wishing crucial information could be a possibility like an outsider pokedex for all information concerning magical, regular, and alignment based beasties. Save a fortune in skill points for know ledges. Need to consider the campaign to what information would be best to know about our enemies and their goals. Fun having all these options. And remember I have one big wish and then five partial so combining them for some mega wish could work to.

As far as my character and what he wants most. He is a greedy f~%! who likes playing battle chess with his summons but appreciates the combined strength of his party and what it has brought. So anything bringing him power and his party power is worth it. That still has a lot of options but it generalizes the goal.

Doesn't S&S have a write-up for some sort of badass outsider ship that's a servant of Besmara? Wouldn't that be a cool thing to be able to call from time to time?

Yes Yes it would be amazing. We even have a few followers of hers to fits into the mythos quite well.

I will look into that right now.

Seems like a more "fluffy and fun" and less "game-breaking ridiculous" way to go, while also keeping both with the theme and build of your character as well as the feel of the campaign.

Perfect thing to wish for. Fits everything perfectly. The summoning, the skull and shackles flavor, pirate atmosphere, powerful in battle and utility but not broken, perfect for my character, and a great use of the wish spell. Thank you this is spot on these statistics are insane even for CR 15.

Herald of the Pirate Queen
CR 15
XP 51,200
CN Colossal outsider (chaotic, extraplanar, water)
Init +3; Senses darkvision 60 ft., tremorsense 60 ft., keen scent; Perception +23

DEFENSE

AC 30, touch 6, flat-footed 30 (+5 deflection, –1 Dex, +24 natural, –8 size)
hp 297 (18d10+198); fast healing 10
Fort +22, Ref +5, Will +13
DR 10/lawful; Resist acid 30, cold 30, electricity 30, fire 10; SR 26

OFFENSE

Speed swim 60 ft.; rush
Melee 3 incorporeal touch +25 (3d6 plus 3d6 electricity and 3d6 fire)
Ranged telekinesis +21 (varies)
Space 40 ft.; Reach 30 ft.
Special Attacks keelhaul, swallow whole (1d10+7 damage, AC 22, 29 hp)
Spell-Like Abilities (CL 18th; concentration +21)

At will—commune with nature, dancing lights, know direction, telekinesis (DC 18)
3/day—charm person (DC 14), cloudkill (DC 18), control winds, invisibility sphere, major image (DC 16, within its reach only), plane shift (DC 18), seeming (DC 18, other creatures only), teleport, water breathing, widened fog cloud
1/day—summon (level 7, 11–20 draugr 100%)

STATISTICS

Str 40, Dex 8, Con 32, Int 9, Wis 15, Cha 17
Base Atk +18; CMB +41; CMD 55
Feats Combat Casting, Combat Reflexes, Disruptive, Greater Overrun, Improved Initiative, Improved Overrun, Power Attack, Spellbreaker, Stand Still
Skills Knowledge (engineering) +11, Knowledge (nature) +11, Knowledge (planes) +11, Perception +23, Sense Motive +14, Survival +23, Swim +44
Languages Common; telepathy 200 ft.
SQ fighter training, no breath

SPECIAL ABILITIES

Fighter Training (Ex)

The herald counts its Hit Dice as fighter levels for the purpose of qualifying for feats and other abilities.

Keelhaul (Ex)

If the herald hits a creature with two or more incorporeal touch attacks in 1 round, it can perform a reposition combat maneuver as a free action without provoking an attack of opportunity. If the herald moves the target into or through a square adjacent to it (including over or under itself ), the target takes 1d6 points of slashing or bludgeoning damage (herald's choice) for every 5 feet of this movement. If this movement results in the target being underwater, the target must hold its breath or begin to drown. Alternatively, if the herald can reposition the target to the center of its space, it can attempt to force the target into its cargo hold and snap the doors shut, holding the target in place as the swallow whole ability. The herald can hold up to four Medium or smaller creatures or one Large creature with this ability.

Rush (Ex)

Once per minute for 1 round, the herald can move at a swim speed of 150 feet, even downward.

Telekinesis (Su)

The herald makes ranged attacks by telekinetically hurling objects or creatures on its deck as weapons. This ability functions as the spell telekinesis (CL 18th). It can use the ability on objects or creatures of up to 375 pounds, dealing 1d6 points of damage per 25 pounds of the hurled object or creature. If the herald attempts to hurl a creature with this ability, that creature can resist the effect with a successful Will save (DC 18). The save DC is Charisma-based.

Now just need to word it properly. Should this be like a summon monster or should I try to get it to be our flagship. That would be amazing.
thegreenteagamer wrote:
It's my personal experience that wishing for anything outside of the bounds of the wish spell's description (i.e. the things stated that actually work every time without screwing you over) always result in the GM twisting your words and screwing you over.

I think that's generally true, and I think it sucks. It sounds like his GM is pretty generous, so it probably won't happen to him, though.

My view on the right way to work Wishes so as to allow flexibility without (obviously) just letting players get game breaking things is that the GM should let players ask him if a Wish will be granted without being twisted.

The player can't be expected to read the GM's mind as to what will be considered overpowered (and thus must be twisted), so let the player ask if something will be allowed (without twisting).

And that is where our GM is pretty reasonable to. Hell we can even meta game a little with him to know if we are really breaking the game. It is meant to be fun and a wish should be something to consider heavily but not fear outright I think. Thanks for the input
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