As a gm, would you allow it?
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I'd turn what he was wearing into something with a 0% arcane failure. Alternately i'd have a pair of Bracers of Armor appear at his feet.
if thats exactly how they worded it? my gm would probably make them a barbarian.
one of our players recently wished to become celestial (the template) my gm made him a cassisian.
No.
If you need a more interesting answer, give him armor that normally has no arcane spell failure chance (there are 2 light armors with no spell failure chance).
Possibly give him bracers of armor +5 (which are worth 25,000 gp, the value of a wish).
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Evil. They can only prepare verbal and or material only spells.
Very evil. They provide no ASF when they are equiped as armor.....
Kind. Free metamagic feat to ignore it.
Very kind. Free meta magic rod for up to their highest level spell. Perhaps rechargable some how to be used more than 3x a day. And usable as a +x staff for hitting people in melee.
At first, the wish appears to work perfectly. The mage can select one suit of armor that never obstructs his magic. But he starts to notice certain side effects:
First, the armor can no longer be taken off. The magic has almost melted it down, fusing it to his body. If you're nice, you can have the Wish protect him from exhaustion, otherwise he has to wait to grab Endurance.
Second, the magic is slowly suffusing the armor, disintegrating it with raw power. It can survive a certain number of spell levels cast—anywhere from 9 to 50 to whatever you want. When he inevitably casts over the limit, however, the armor melts away completely, severely burning him—or at the very least taking away his protection.
Yeah, sure. Not worrying about ASF gives them, what, less than 10 AC max, since they still have to deal with ACP and movement. They're a high-level caster by the point they're asking for wishes, AC isn't their primary defense anyway.
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I agree that this wish seems pretty reasonable, but it's no fun making it easy. ;D
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A magical book appears, titled "Still spell for dummies".
If anyone reads the book for 48 hours over a six day period, that person gains the Still Spell feat and the book turns into a non-magical reference book.
Sure. I'd grant the wish, then congratulate him on his spontaneous conversion into a psion (heck, the PDF is even on sale right now).
And BTW, he still would suffer the armor check penalty to attack rolls and to all skill checks that involve moving for wearing armor with which he's not proficient.
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Yeah, sure. Not worrying about ASF gives them, what, less than 10 AC max, since they still have to deal with ACP and movement. They're a high-level caster by the point they're asking for wishes, AC isn't their primary defense anyway.
I imagine that a wizard asking for no ASF has already managed to gain at least medium armor proficiency if not heavy. Probably from a dip into a fighting class. So the PC's going to be able to get a heck of a lot more than a +10 to AC if you let then completely bypass ASF.
Not really a game breaker; but always make your PC pay an appropriate price for a benefit like that.
KestrelZ's idea is pretty good. Granting a permanent feat for a wish isn't a bad trade. The PC might be a little miffed that he has to use the feat, but as a wizard I'd be thrilled with a bonus metamagic feat.
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What level is the PC, and what level is the max for your campaign?
Also, how is he getting the wish?
Last, is arcane spell failure something that is socially understood in your setting, or is it a more vague concept?
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Personally, if PC's level is almost too the end of the campaign, it doesn't seem to damaging to let them have it.
If wish is their own casting, again, not too damaging to the setting. If wish comes from a genie that likes to screw people that make wishes, then you should probably do just that.
If arcane spell failure is a stat that everyone knows about in-game, then wishing it away is reasonable. In your campaign, would a shop keeper use the term "arcane spell failure" when advertising their armors? If not, the spell needs to be worded to reflect the common way to describe the phenomenon.
If it's more the armor's construction being too restrictive to cast spells, then there are a number of ways to handle it. You could replace the PC's armor proficiency and armor with natural armor equal to their current armor value. For fluff, this would be making your armor move as if an extension of yourself (by fusing it to your body).
I'd balance it against the level of being-an-annoying-jerk the player's been. If he/she makes a habit of trying to 'break' rules and be an overall pain? Well, there's no chance to fail arcane spells if you're now a commoner, is there? A wish like this is pretty much painting a target on yourself for any GM anvils; it's an open invite for laser-guided karma.
Also, how is he getting the wish?
This is the important question for me.
If he's simply casting the spell then it's definitely outside the spells parameters and invokes the dreaded "The wish may pervert your intent into a literal but undesirable fulfillment or only a partial fulfillment, at the GM's discretion" clause. So if that's the source I'd probably exercise that clause and not give it to him. Wish is a plenty powerful spell if you stay within it's defined parameters and don't get greedy.
If on the other hand the wish is a reward from a benevolent super powerful entity for service rendered then sure, done.
If it's from any of the take your pick creatures out there that can give wishes but are always dicks about it then I'd be a dick about it.
- Torger
Yeah, sure. Not worrying about ASF gives them, what, less than 10 AC max, since they still have to deal with ACP and movement. They're a high-level caster by the point they're asking for wishes, AC isn't their primary defense anyway.I imagine that a wizard asking for no ASF has already managed to gain at least medium armor proficiency if not heavy. Probably from a dip into a fighting class. So the PC's going to be able to get a heck of a lot more than a +10 to AC if you let then completely bypass ASF.
Not really a game breaker; but always make your PC pay an appropriate price for a benefit like that.
KestrelZ's idea is pretty good. Granting a permanent feat for a wish isn't a bad trade. The PC might be a little miffed that he has to use the feat, but as a wizard I'd be thrilled with a bonus metamagic feat.
I meant the increase to AC over mage armor/+X silken ceremonial robes/bracers of armor, but that's a good point.
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Contributor, RPG Superstar 2010 Top 8
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Possibly fun idea, depending on the player:
Convert their spellcasting to divine, and then awaken their spellbook to serve as their "god." They'd still cast Wizard spells, drawn from the list they have in their spellbook, but the spellbook would be willful and have its own goals, separate from the wizard's or the party's.
If they piss off the spellbook, or their alignment changes to one contrary to the spellbook's alignment, they lose all spellcasting until they atone.
You could even go crazy with it, and say that all spellbooks are secretly minor gods, and that they can all grant spells this way if you only know how to speak to/understand them. The player could switch his allegiance or worship to a new spellbook by going through an atonement-style ritual.
I'd probably just laugh and have whatever creature is providing the Wish physically toss a non-masterwork Armored Kilt at the caster.
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If the wish is coming from a Glabrezu, I'd go with a set of cursed Bracers of Armor, if it's coming from any other source, I'd either tell them as a GM no, or give them a set of mithril chain shirt and free retraining of a feat into Arcane Armor Training.
Although Benchak the Nightstalker's idea is positively brilliant.
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Yeah, why is everyone's answer, "I'd make him suffer!"
What about, "Hey, don't be a douche and have your character wish to remove a meta-penalty he wouldn't understand. Can't you wish for something that makes more sense?"
Or, more likely, "Oh wow, how did you guys get high enough to cast wish when I wasn't looking? Ok, campaign over. Campaign over several levels ago--let's get back to the level range where this is still actually playable..."
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Yeah, why is everyone's answer, "I'd make him suffer!"
I never got that. When I GM, and I grant a PC a wish, that's a *reward,* not a passive-aggressive trap.
Even demons and devils *want* people to make wishes, to draw them into their snares. If every wish ever granted brutally screwed over the wisher, then *nobody* would make deals with glabrezu (efreeti, whatever). They'd be in alleys, "Hey buddy, want a wish?" and even the most desperate person would be like, "What, you think I'm suicidal? Nobody's ever gonna fall for that one. It literally *never* works. Might as well ask if I want to spoon out and eat my own eyeballs."
As GM, I have an infinite number of ways to make PCs suffer. I don't have to twist their wording and piss off my players, who, generally speaking, *are my friends,* by being deliberately obtuse, when, again, generally speaking, I know darn well what they *meant.*
RPG Superstar 2011 Top 32
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I agree with the question "how is he getting the wish?" What entity is granting the wish determines, for me, how much of jerk interpretation the player gets. A planar-bound genie forced to grant the wish against his will is going to get you different results than a benevolent entity granting a reward.
Also, arcane spell failure isn't really an in-game concept by that name; I'd require the player to phrase the wish with in-character terms only, and what he got would be determined by his actual phrasing.
I definitely don't think this is too powerful for a wish, but since it's not one of the specific list of "easy" things the player has to be somewhat careful with his wording.
So Set, I presume that if you ever were somehow offered a wish in the real world that you think no one would take it? Because quite a few stories about getting wishes turn our poorly for the wisher.
As a gm, would you allow it?
This is an advice question not a rule one, but with that aside, no I would not allow it. Part of the game is about making decisions and managing resources.
I did not read that as wishing per the spell. I read it as if it was a "request".
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Also, arcane spell failure isn't really an in-game concept by that name; I'd require the player to phrase the wish with in-character terms only, and what he got would be determined by his actual phrasing.
The world would have an observable phenomenon that causes spells to fail when wearing armor. We don't know exactly how they would describe it, but there would be terminology for this.
I don't see any reason to not accept Arcane Spell Failure for that concept.
It depends on the exact wording of the wish. I'd probably let him cast his next spell with no arcane failure. After that, back to the normal rule for arcane failure.
That's a pretty weak result for a ninth level spell with an expensive material component. ("OK, I put on my breastplate. Then I go into battle. I cast one spell. Then I start to take my armor off so I can cast some more spells.")
If I wasn't trying to punish the player ironically, I might allow something like a minute-per-caster-level duration during which he can cast spells with no ASF.
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Also, arcane spell failure isn't really an in-game concept by that name; I'd require the player to phrase the wish with in-character terms only, and what he got would be determined by his actual phrasing.The world would have an observable phenomenon that causes spells to fail when wearing armor. We don't know exactly how they would describe it, but there would be terminology for this.
I don't see any reason to not accept Arcane Spell Failure for that concept.
Some spells. Sometimes. From an in-universe perspective, it would be challenging to scientifically pin down arcane spell failure. Adepts are divine casters so they don't have it. So only PC classes could have it, and they are a small enough proportion of the population that getting a statistical sample would be problematic. Also there is the fact that a lot of arcane casters don't suffer from ASF, such as bards, magi, and so forth. In fact, it's possible that more classes ignore ASF than actually have it at this point. So yeah, I think it would be suspect to consider ASF a "known thing" in the world. An individual PC would know if armor interferes with their spell gestures, but I'd want them to phrase their wish in those terms.
How is being able to wear armor more shortsighted or petty than wishing for +1 STR?
If anything, the petty one here is not the player...
+1 STR vs. +14 AC? Those aren't exactly balanced.
I'd think -5% or -10% per wish would be more appropriate for the power of a permanent wish. Depending on what armor they want to wear, one -5% to ASF could be enough.
+1 STR vs. +14 AC? Those aren't exactly balanced.How is being able to wear armor more shortsighted or petty than wishing for +1 STR?
If anything, the petty one here is not the player...
How did you get +14 AC?
The wizard can already wear armor that doesn't give him a failure chance. He doesn't go from +0 bonus to +14 by wearing a +5 full plate. It's more likely he goes from +8 bracers and Shield spell (or some combination of mithral/celestial armor that gives 0% ASF) to +5 plate and shield.
Full Plate opens up the bracer slot, amongst other things.
But even if you want to limit it, it's still +6 AC with the ability to add another +5 worth of abilities, above and beyond what bracers can do. And you're opening up the bracer slot. And you can still cast Shield. So no, +1 STR isn't really a comparable wish to compare to removing what's supposed to be a core balance restriction in the game.
Whether you can make Celestial Armor out of Mithral is something that's been hotly debated with, so far as I am aware, no actual resolution at this point.
Would you allow Wish to give permanent access to a feat? I don't know that I would. Doing what is requested here is what Arcane Armor Training is for, except this wish wants no limit on the reduction, and doesn't want to be burdened by the action economy restriction (which is something you'd ordinarily need a mythic feat to do). So you've got one wish accomplishing more than two regular feats (ignoring prereqs) and one mythic feat.
Again, not analogous to +1 STR.
As a gm, would you allow it?
In the spirit of ability score wish increases, a properly-worded wish might lower the failure chance by 5%. Up to five wishes could stack for this purpose.
Wishing for no ASF, though, is like wishing for 50 Strength (or "as strong as a titan" or similar) rather than wishing to be stronger. Treat it in similar fashion.
Turn him into a dwarven Skald.
As a gm, would you allow it?
Sure. Most spellcasters who don't start with armor prof dump Strength, and now they can't. Plus they either need to multiclass, or spend feats on proficiency ... it's really not a particularly good idea, near as I can tell.
There's a number of less then reasonable GMs here (which is the reason I stick to RAW allowed Wishes, see divine casters) who by being petty (seriously it's just ACF, which has always been a gimmicky throwback not a balance issue) are just opening the door to page long air tight wish spells, that I quite frankly hope their players will shove down their throats.