You get one Wish...

[Drew]

For every 5e character you are playing right now or can remember playing in the past, the GM of that game gives that character one Wish with zero restrictions and a solemn promise not to twist your words around and try to ruin it. I'm curious to know how you all would spend those Wishes to munchkin your character to the extreme or how else you'd use such power to possibly permanently alter the course of the rest of your game experience. It's a lot of power that you now wield. If used incorrectly you could ruin the game for yourself, so you have to think carefully about what you'd have your character do with his literally-anything-wish. If you understand all this and choose to wish for something that breaks the game anyway, do you think the rest of the game is fun for you as a player or is it boring now? If it wasn't a solo game and you had other people playing it, too, how do you think your Wish would have affected the rest of the game for them?

[RaistlinMC]

I'd ask for my PC to know how the story ends. That'd be my wish. Then, for the rest of the game, the PC would vacillate between trying to forget the future and trying to convince people of its truth (while failing spectacularly, as always).

In the end, the PC would go mad, cursed by the foolish wish asked for.

It sounds like a blast to play to me.

[No Body]

Munchkin is such a loaded term lol. I don't know if many of my characters would ask for "unlimited powaaaa!!!" but could still ruin games none the less.

Emmry would wish for world peace, which great for her she gets to go back home to her parents but poof there goes the campaign.

Onik would hold on to the wish or try to make a clever wish in a way it'd save his backside when it's really needed it. But he doesn't really want for things let alone things to fight better, he had wealth and left it, he wants to be famous for his art but wouldn't wish for it because it'd be the wish and not his art. He'd be a fairly safe character to give a wish as a gm, you'd know it's just gonna be a get outta tpk free card.

Nixelulyss would wish his God queen be the one and only true God above all... Which would be interesting?

Wen wants the silver maiden.

Cadence would probably come the closest currently in that'd she'd wish for wealth but just enough to retire comfortably.

And that's all my active characters I think. A few of my older characters would wish to be a God or for a dragon's hoard of magic items and gold which would definitively break a game but would be fun lol.

[Drew]

I'd ask for my PC to know how the story ends...It sounds like a blast to play to me.

True to form, your choice prioritizes both the narrative and the personal player experience over all else. Always a good way to go.

Munchkin is such a loaded term lol...A few of my older characters would wish to be a God or for a dragon's hoard of magic items and gold which would definitively break a game but would be fun lol.

It is, isn't it? I have not gotten the type of replies so far that I was expecting. I thought I'd mostly just get stuff like "I'd Wish for a STR score of 30!" or "I'd Wish that all my hits were critical hits!" That kind of thing. But I like this per-specific-character thing instead and I have altered the first post so that I'll get more responses like it.

[No Body]

Well it might be more inline if we follow Nixelulyss' thread to his ultimate desire (although he's too zealous to dare use his wish on something other than his God queen) if he could add on an addendum it'd be something along the lines "and be her avatar to bring all world's to heel under her true might! " Which would need to be you know an accurate representation of the one and only God. 20 in every stat, Gestalt in every class, level 20 obviously. Probably a few legendary actions and resistance or 5... What I'm saying is he'd be the campaign's new big bad and an epic level 20 brawl. In theory. I also likely give him over to the dm and stat up a new character for the showdown.

But again that's really stretching the definition of one wish. I wish for this eladrin Xerxes to be a real God AND be her material avatar IN THAT all my stats are 20, my level is 20, and I know and have all (at least core) powers.

[Kerilstrasz]

To be honest, i never spent the time to learn how Wish works, other than stories of people using it to great success or failure,
mostly because i never had a caster that high lvl to be able to cast it.

That said, and forgive me if in my ignorance i overstep on Wish's power, i would ask something in the lines of: ...

"I wish for the power to have the SOLELY and ABSOLUTE control over time itself.
Be able to travel back (&/or forward (according to your time travel preferred version)) as an at will, no action required mental command.
I will be able to stop, reverse, forward and resume time as i see fit; for the entire world, a specific person or object, or any area or time period that ever existed or will be.
I ll be able to pinpoint,choose & travel to the exact moment i wish at any time with no physical, mental or material cost.
If at any point i get killed (against my will), loose my sanity or i am about to loose my powers (including this one), EVEN if i had no way of knowing in advance that any of that would happen, then i would instantly travel back in time to the start of the most recent period of my life that i was physically & mentally safe that lasted at least 10days.
In any and all of my travels i retain any and all memories & experiences i collectively had through out my entire life, even if those memories/experiences some how lost in the way by ANY and ALL means.
At the time of me initiating such a "travel", i can include any number of living, dead, animated or inanimate objects & creatures to travel with me.
Upon arriving at target time point, the time will stop for the entire world but me (or those i brought with me) until i choose to resume time."

OBVIOUSLY, i know that if the above was possible & "grandable", it would break any game.
I share this just as a "mind exercise" .

[RaistlinMC]

I hope - truly, truly hope - someone gets to Wish for something in my game with you, K. Nothing makes me grin an evil GM grin more than folks trying to out-smart Wish. haha

[Drew]

Oh, it would absolutely break any game, you're right about that. But that's exactly what I want people to think about and speak further on. If your character was actually given this power, exactly as you described it, exactly as you intended it to be, how long would it be before you as a player grew bored because there was no challenge in the game anymore? If there are other people in your game playing characters of their own, how do you think the gaming experience will change for those players?

[Drew]

To be honest, i never spent the time to learn how Wish works, other than stories of people using it to great success or failure,
mostly because i never had a caster that high lvl to be able to cast it.

That said, and forgive me if in my ignorance i overstep on Wish's power, i would ask something in the lines of: ...

"I wish for the power to have the SOLELY and ABSOLUTE control over time itself.
Be able to travel back (&/or forward (according to your time travel preferred version)) as an at will, no action required mental command.
I will be able to stop, reverse, forward and resume time as i see fit; for the entire world, a specific person or object, or any area or time period that ever existed or will be.
I ll be able to pinpoint,choose & travel to the exact moment i wish at any time with no physical, mental or material cost.
If at any point i get killed (against my will), loose my sanity or i am about to loose my powers (including this one), EVEN if i had no way of knowing in advance that any of that would happen, then i would instantly travel back in time to the start of the most recent period of my life that i was physically & mentally safe that lasted at least 10days.
In any and all of my travels i retain any and all memories & experiences i collectively had through out my entire life, even if those memories/experiences some how lost in the way by ANY and ALL means.
At the time of me initiating such a "travel", i can include any number of living, dead, animated or inanimate objects & creatures to travel with me.
Upon arriving at target time point, the time will stop for the entire world but me (or those i brought with me) until i choose to resume time."

OBVIOUSLY, i know that if the above was possible & "grandable", it would break any game.
I share this just as a "mind exercise" .

And I know the whole point of this thread is not to screw up the wishes, but to assume they are granted fully according to what the player was thinking and then talk about how that affects the rest of the game, the player's gaming experience, and the other players' gaming experiences, but I also can't resist the opportunity to mess with this one in particular.

"Extremely happy with your verbiage and fully confident that you've left zero room for any monkey business, you take your newfound powers for a spin and find that they work perfectly. You manage to get a small handful of additional uses before you, unfortunately, learn what it means to become 'blobbed'. You see, each time you rocket through the corridors of time, you are more and more likely to encounter a past or future version of yourself who is also doing some time traveling. Eventually you and another version of yourself will have a head-on collision. When that happens, the two of you combine and become a big blob of flesh, eyes, and teeth.

"You still arrive at whatever point in time you were aiming for, and time stops just as it should. You're unable to resume it, though, because your blobbed brain can no longer form cohesive mental commands. You still have your powers. They haven't gone anywhere. You're now just too simple in the head to use them. You're also too simple to ever go insane or object to dying of starvation or old age, so you live out the remainder of your blob life in a paused world until you pass away, at which point the world becomes unpaused again. At least you had all of your past memories and experiences to keep you company through the decades. Your infant-like brain derived a lot of joy and entertainment from the stories they contained."

[Kerilstrasz]

And I know the whole point of this thread is not to screw up the wishes, but to assume they are granted fully according to what the player was thinking and then talk about how that affects the rest of the game, the player's gaming experience, and the other players' gaming experiences, but I also can't resist the opportunity to mess with this one in particular.

"Extremely happy with your verbiage and fully confident that you've left zero room for any monkey business, you take your newfound powers for a spin and find that they work perfectly. You manage to get a small handful of additional uses before you, unfortunately, learn what it means to become 'blobbed'. You see, each time you rocket through the corridors of time, you are more and more likely to encounter a past or future version of yourself who is also doing some time traveling. Eventually you and another version of yourself will have a head-on collision. When that happens, the two of you combine and become a big blob of flesh, eyes, and teeth.

"You still arrive at whatever point in time you were aiming for, and time stops just as it should. You're unable to resume it, though, because your blobbed brain can no longer form cohesive mental commands. You still have your powers. They haven't gone anywhere. You're now just too simple in the head to use them. You're also too simple to ever go insane or object to dying of starvation or old age, so you live out the remainder of your blob life in a paused world until you pass away, at which point the world becomes unpaused again. At least you had all of your past memories and experiences to keep you company through the decades. Your infant-like brain derived a lot of joy and entertainment from the stories they contained."

one could argue that...
loosing the ability to use or control a power is the same as loosing the power.
I have a skill/knowledge. Let's say i am the great theoretical physicists Steven Hawking.
Due to an illness i loose my physical & mental qualities that allow me to move and speak.
I can still think, thus i retain my knowledge & skill. I'm still a theoretical physicist.
Due to an illness i loose my ability to think to my previous capacity. Thus,
im no longer a theoretical physicist, thus i loose my knowledge &/or skill... my power.
Que rewind to a time i was still ok.
I'm smiling at how Steven Hawking was actually studying time :P

[Drew]

Yep, one could argue that losing the ability to use a power is the same as losing a power. The unforgiving GM, however, would probably disagree and point out that your wish was granted 'to the letter'. You asked to never lose the power. You technically haven't, since you retain the ability to use it but merely lack the cognitive capacity to do so anymore. You're no longer intelligent enough to understand that you are definitely not ok right now. If your world weren't on pause and someone, for some crazy reason, found you and cast some sort of spell on you that raised your intelligence back up to the point where you could once again think with reason and rationality, you'd realize that this isn't acceptable, your failsafe power would activate, and you'd time travel back to a time ten days prior to the time travel trip where you crashed into yourself. Because, using a technicality, the power was never gone. You literally didn't lose it, only couldn't use it for a while.
Condition "If at any point i am about to loose my powers (including this one), EVEN if i had no way of knowing in advance that any of that would happen, then i would instantly travel back in time to the start of the most recent period of my life that i was physically & mentally safe that lasted at least 10days." has been met to the GM's satisfaction.

Unfortunately the time that you are without the ability to use your power will likely end up being until the day you die. You're no longer intelligent enough to object to this. You can't lose your mind, either, being far too simple-minded for such a thing.
Condition "If at any point i get killed (against my will) or loose my sanity, EVEN if i had no way of knowing in advance that any of that would happen, then i would instantly travel back in time to the start of the most recent period of my life that i was physically & mentally safe that lasted at least 10days." has been met to the GM's satisfaction.

You retain all of your memories and experiences, even ones from timelines that don't exist anymore due to your actions, but they all lose their significance and are reduced to not much more than pleasing colors and shapes that you can call up whenever you like to cause your blob's mouths to curl up into horrific, drooling smiles of contented happiness.
Condition "In any and all of my travels i retain any and all memories & experiences i collectively had through out my entire life, even if those memories/experiences some how lost in the way by ANY and ALL means." has been met to the GM's satisfaction.

Your wish was examined and granted as it was worded, and if it was accomplished via the Wish spell or granted by an evil djinn, this is one possible outcome that you might receive if your game has a clever but nasty GM.

[RaistlinMC]

As Ly proved recently in your game, Drew, the best use of Wish is not to wish for anything beyond casting an 8th level spell instantly.

[Faeryl]

Hmm.. well, my barbarian, Anja, would probably wish that nobody can ever utilize such things as the Wish/Limited Wish/Miracle spells ever again. Because she's from Thedas, where magic is almost constantly abused by people. Healing magic is okay for the most part, but open-ended stuff like Wish would cause her to immediately want to prevent its use. Imagine if some of the villains in Dragon Age had access to a Wish spell or three...

My bard would probably wish to be the most popular performer in all the Realms. Her primary goal is popularity, after all.

The only other PC I can recall that would actually use the wish for something interesting is the evil PC from a dead game that was basically all about a race to capture a spark of divinity. She would wish to be the most powerful of all deities, or, barring that, to be a Goddess of Destruction.

[Drew]

If you would, please tell me how you think those three wishes being granted for each of those characters in their respective games would affect the remainder of the game experience for you, and how it would affect the remainder of the game for your fellow players. Let's assume you're about 1/3 of the way through the game's story.

[Adamstrokes]

If i had one wish I could use, I'd bring back my pet who unfortunately suffocated in a storage box when my son (6 year old) accidently closed him in it.

[RaistlinMC]

That certainly is a tragic story.  Sorry that that happened to you, sir.