From: covin@tartarus.uchicago.edu (David Covin)
Subject: Re: RE:wish spell results
Organization: University of Chicago Computer Science
	<1e3gjeINN9lh@master.cs.rose-hulman.edu>
Date: Mon, 16 Nov 1992 20:46:41 GMT

In article <1e3gjeINN9lh@master.cs.rose-hulman.edu> trottibw@nextwork.rose-hulman.edu(Barry Trottier) writes:

   You are very correct, nearly any good wish can be equal to "I wish you were  
   dead."  That's why you shouldn't allow PC or NPC wishes to effect other  
   sentient beings.

   Wishes (in my campaigns) are big time powerful, even powerful enough to go  
   against the laws of nature.  But, I still never let PC's or NPC's in control of  
   wishes to use them in any form of combat, except to duplicate the effects of  
   another spell.  If a PC had a wish, in the above scene, he/she could simply say  
   "ok, I wish that this dagger would automatically hit and kill Tiamat, and  
   bingo, Tiamat is dead!
   When I DM, I really don't care what the wish plans to do, I still won't let it  
   effect another (unwilling) being.


Well, you construe "direct adverse effect" a bit more broadly than
I expected.  This is fine, and certainly will avoid a lot of problems
with wishes; it does seem slightly inconsistent with allowing wishes
to duplicate lower-level spells, though, unless you rationalize it 
very carefully.

For example: while I cannot Wish for Fred, the annoying 4th-level
Fighter guard-captain who I dislike, to die, I can Wish for him to
suffer the effect of a Death spell (which will kill him instantly)?
If that is possible, then what about using a Wish to duplicate the
effect of a new spell?  Suppose that my mage has researched a new
3rd-level "Ball of Cold" spell; could I, in extremis, use a Wish
to duplicate Ball of Cold?  If so, then suppose that *I* haven't
researched Ball of Cold and don't know it, but I know that a rival
mage *has* created this spell, and I've seen him use it; could I
then use a Wish to duplicate the spell (perhaps as part of an attempt
to impersonate my rival)?  And if that is possible, then suppose
that I haven't actually *seen* a Ball of Cold spell cast, but I've
run across a reference to the existence of such a spell in some arcane
tome-- could I then use a Wish to duplicate the spell, so that I
can learn what it looks like?  Finally, suppose that there *is* no
Ball of Cold spell-- I just think it's about the right power level
for a 3rd-level spell (identical to Fireball but with cold damage
rather than fire), and I want to achieve its effect (I'm fighting
a bunch of hellhounds): can I use a Wish to summon forth a Ball of
Cold then?  Does it matter if after the battle, I go do some intense
research and create an actual Ball of Cold spell?  What if I intend
to do this, but never get around to it?

My own interpretation of Wish is that all of the above are possible;
your interpretation clearly draws the line before one of them (since
creating a Ball of Cold in the last case does not duplicate an
existing spell effect, and does have a direct adverse effect on
other unwilling sentient beings).  You need to decide where exactly
you draw the line, and come up with a rationale for that line; I
need to decide for each Wish that a PC attempts whether or not it
duplicates a *possible* lower-level spell effect.  Obviously, I prefer
my own approach; :)  however, yours probably makes adjudicating Wish
effects easier.

I've also been poisoned in my view of Wishes by reading too many 
fairy tales.  It was all right for Aladdin to wish for a castle and
a pile of riches; why can't an (A)D&D character do the same?

--
David Covin                           covin@despair.uchicago.edu