Shattered Honor – Part Eighty-Seven
It is a risky Wish, indeed and to clarify, Sam used the first wish to compel the Sultan to destroy (or battle) the Aspect of Acererak. Any big ticket spells or effects will be cast by the Sultan and the strain of using the Wish spell will not apply to Calvis.
If you are curious about how the spell works in 5th-edition Dungeons and Dragons, here it is:
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Wish is the mightiest spell a mortal creature can cast. By simply speaking aloud, you can alter the very foundations of reality in accord with your desires.
The basic use of this spell is to duplicate any other spell of 8th level or lower. You don’t need to meet any requirements in that spell, including costly components. The spell simply takes effect.
Alternatively, you can create one of the following effects of your choice:
- You create one object of up to 25,000 gp in value that isn’t a magic item. The object can be no more than 300 feet in any dimension, and it appears in an unoccupied space you can see on the ground.
- You allow up to twenty creatures that you can see to regain all hit points, and you end all effects on them described in the greater restoration spell.
- You grant up to ten creatures that you can see resistance to a damage type you choose.
- You grant up to ten creatures you can see immunity to a single spell or other magical effect for 8 hours. For instance, you could make yourself and all your companions immune to a lich’s life drain attack.
- You undo a single recent event by forcing a reroll of any roll made within the last round (including your last turn). Reality reshapes itself to accommodate the new result. For example, a wish spell could undo an opponent’s successful save, a foe’s critical hit, or a friend’s failed save. You can force the reroll to be made with advantage or disadvantage, and you can choose whether to use the reroll or the original roll.
You might be able to achieve something beyond the scope of the above examples. State your wish to the GM as precisely as possible. The GM has great latitude in ruling what occurs in such an instance; the greater the wish, the greater the likelihood that something goes wrong. This spell might simply fail, the effect you desire might only be partly achieved, or you might suffer some unforeseen consequence as a result of how you worded the wish. For example, wishing that a villain were dead might propel you forward in time to a period when that villain is no longer alive, effectively removing you from the game. Similarly, wishing for a legendary magic item or artifact might instantly transport you to the presence of the item’s current owner.
The stress of casting this spell to produce any effect other than duplicating another spell weakens you. After enduring that stress, each time you cast a spell until you finish a long rest, you take 1d10 necrotic damage per level of that spell. This damage can’t be reduced or prevented in any way. In addition, your Strength drops to 3, if it isn’t 3 or lower already, for 2d4 days. For each of those days that you spend resting and doing nothing more than light activity, your remaining recovery time decreases by 2 days. Finally, there is a 33 percent chance that you are unable to cast wish ever again if you suffer this stress.
Funny thing, while Sam has used one of his wishes from the Sultan (why do I have the urge to put that in all caps?), the wish spell wasn’t cast. The Sultan is fighting the Aspect, not snapping his fingers to make it vanish.
Much more epic this way, at least that is how I see it.
It is a fuzzy area for some. In this example, it does count as Sam using one of his wishes (as it compels the Sultan to battle the Aspect).
Providing the spell description is just to answer some potential questions and get everyone ready for what could come up with the second and third wishes.
It’s allllll good! I was just observing.
I also get the feeling that the Sultan is going to enjoy this little….. warm up… heeheehee
Brian, would this also be similar to the need for Calvis to follow Dwayla’s orders when she Wishes he does something?
Very much so. Dwayla uses her wishes to compel Calvis to do things.
The way I always understood genie magic is that their spells are incredibly powerful – 11th, 12th level stuff – but they are not actually casting Wish. They’re using their powers to fulfill the wishes of whatever being has released them.
The much maligned 4th Edition had an interesting take on this, in my opinion.
Granting wishes was, similar to you say, not a spell in and of itself but rather the Efreet (only Genie available in the primary Monster Manual) drawing on one or more of the following: their own physical or magical skill, their vast wealth, or their massive network of planar connections to achieve the request.
Essentially, it was more like them doing you a favor than granting a wish.
In this case since its a creature granting a wish it come down to a case of whats in their power to do.
I would see this wish as duplicating the Greater Planar Ally, which is a level 8 spell. It kinda makes sense, I think.
But wouldn’t that only apply to casters _casting_ that spell? I mean, this is the genie “casting” the spell, not Calvis.
Yep! I am just getting everyone ready for what is to come.
For this encounter, focus mainly on possible effects of the spell as listed here. You can probably ignore the final paragraph.
This *should* be a pretty serious smackdown. If this encounter was supposed to be winnable for the group, with horrible dice-rolls being the main reason they are losing (which is how it seems), and they have done some very serious damage to the Aspect already (which they have), a being able to _grant wishes_ should be able to smack his injured butt down in very short order, all by himself.
Considering that mister Lightning Bolt should be able to drop at least one more of those (and that alone would almost certainly be sufficient at this point), the battle *should* be pretty anti-climactic at this point.
Possibly, though if the Aspect has something specific for dealing with creatures from other Plane’s of existence (the equivalent of a Banish spell or some such), it might still be an uphill battle.
A good time to remember that Efreet are immune to fire, have fire attacks, and that no mention of collateral damage was mentioned, especially with regards to flammable compatriots…
Cue the “Kirk vs Spock” fight music . . .
Na na na NA nananana… Onomatopoeia is hard. https://youtu.be/Ml4wAnvfM4M
It’s kind of awkward between the last pannel of the previous page and the first panel of this page.
It goes like this.
“Alright, big guy. For my first WISH.”
“For you to DESTROY the aspect of Acererak!”
That is a good point. It is a little clunky in hindsight, so I edited the text to make it a little smoother.
Thanks for the heads-up.
Huh, I did something like this with a pit fiend and a demilich once. It… went poorly, but it was still pretty epic. (Turns out that while a pit fiend *does* keep its word, it can be kind of an asshole about it.)
“I wish my friends and I were all safe outside this dungeon.”
Probably wouldn’t work, for whatever reason, but it is the first thing I thought of, heh.
Granted: once outside of the dungeon you all shall be safe; however, you are not yet out of the dungeon…..
Granted. As soon as you and your friends manage to leave the dungeon, you’ll be safe.
You got me, there. This is why your lawyer-ese has to be in top form when it comes to wishes. X)
All genies and wishes depend greatly on whether the genie is your pal (Robin Williams) or a dick (basically almost every other genie). Disney Aladdin didn’t have to sit down with a pen and paper to work out wishes, because his genie would grant it according to the spirit of the thing, in Aladdin’s favor.
Other genies? You get the tiny piano player sitting on the tabletop.
He says it right at the start, “I’m in the mood to help you dude”, which hints at the fact that he could have been a dick about things. Which I always thought was great.
Ya “Destroy the aspect” is a risky wish. Here are a few ways it could be taken wrong
1. Collapse the entire structure down on the aspect(and party)
2. Detonate the aspect, turning it into deadly shrapnel
3. Turn the air into fire and watch it(and the party) melt
Feel free to add your own