Living Wish? [Archive] - Wizards Community

Living Wish? [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
SJE
06-24-04, 05:10 PM The Living spells are interesting. Unfortunately they also contradict themselves- described as spells that have taken on sentience and 'move with purpose' they are later called mindless and given 0 Int.

So I've decided to ignore that and assume they are sentient. Perhaps some are even able to communicate?

But best of all, what would happen with a Living Wish? Pure possibility and transformative magic roaming the land! The grail of every adventurers dreams!

What would you do with a Living Wish in your game?

SJE
Muldran
06-24-04, 05:23 PM A Living Wish...

I'd use it as a rumour, to start a treasure hunt. Just think of what could happen is someone owned the Living Wish.

Groups of hunters travelling to various places, false and true maps... Could make an entire campaign in itself!
bv728
06-24-04, 06:45 PM Also Fun (for definitions of Fun including making your players hate you): The character is slammed by a Living Wish, and MUST make a wish. Now. I'm imagining a chaotic living wish; it can't change the outcome, but it wanders around being amused as it grants wishes at random.
deganawida
06-24-04, 07:02 PM Originally posted by SJE
But best of all, what would happen with a Living Wish? Pure possibility and transformative magic roaming the land! The grail of every adventurers dreams!

You could turn it around, make it a rumor. Perhaps it is a Shades spell, and it's been mistaken for a wish. It could become the Head of Vecna for Eberron...
Lord Zeb
06-24-04, 07:34 PM Originally posted by Muldran
A Living Wish...

I'd use it as a rumour, to start a treasure hunt. Just think of what could happen is someone owned the Living Wish.

Groups of hunters travelling to various places, false and true maps... Could make an entire campaign in itself!

:thumbsup:

That is a GREAT idea!

Actually having it fly around would be a bit...unbalancing...unless it had it's own sinister purpose and only granted hurtful wishes (for examples please see "What's a DM to Do" on how to twist wishes.)

The benevolent Living Wish as a 'treasure' to hunt though is wonderful. What red-blooded adventurer wouldn't search for something like that!

Cheers,
Zeb
Fedifensor
06-24-04, 08:00 PM Originally posted by Lord Zeb
Actually having it fly around would be a bit...unbalancing...unless it had it's own sinister purpose and only granted hurtful wishes (for examples please see "What's a DM to Do" on how to twist wishes.)

Not if the person caught by it was drained 5000 XP. Heck, you could have "wish zombies"...
Ch@pel
06-24-04, 08:36 PM Wouldn't a Living Wish have to be derived from an actual wish spell, that had already been cast? In which case, it would have to resemble the properties of the wish as outlined by the caster. Like if they wished for gold, it could appear as a massive dust cloud, where the bits of dust are actually gp when you look close. (getting slammed for huge damage by gold could be really off putting to some of those greedy adventurers :D)

Or if the wish was for a boost in some stat, it could be a relatively small entity. Imagine that there is some smoky cloud that flies across the country side, riding local winds, and any creature that breathes it gets a Str or Dex boost for 24 hours. There could be a group of hunters or bandits that follow it around and use the boost it gives them to gain an advantage over their prey.

I'm also wondering if two or more spells could somehow "merge" at the same time they become living, creating a multi-faceted magical entity. Also, imagine if some spellcaster has a living spell as a familiar? I've been toying around with one that would be a blend of illusory script and comprehend languages. It would look something like a fist sized glowing dot with three curved lines attached to it: O))) It can read and remember anything written and shown to it. It can communicate back by rearranging any written letters or words in the area to say what it wants. If anyone knows that goofy show Ghostwriter, it'd work kinda like that. It would be a great help to an absent-minded NPC wizard.
SJE
06-24-04, 09:02 PM I like the idea of a Living Death Spell slaying all who fall under its shadow, like some Biblical curse. Then its companion, the Living Animate Dead would raise them up from the grave, creating an army of zombies with one thought on their rotting minds... Brains!!......

Time to crack open AFMBE!

SJE
Valoy_Muniz
06-25-04, 04:56 PM You can also say that is why that one area is al mest up from the a spell.
RaynerApe
06-25-04, 05:20 PM Originally posted by SJE
The Living spells are interesting. Unfortunately they also contradict themselves- described as spells that have taken on sentience

I think that means that a Living spell can sense (thus is sentient) the world around it, but it is unable to analyze it and respond to it with complex actions. Thus, a Living Wish can travel around the world, sense populated areas and stay away from them - for example, not wishing to grant a wish, pun intended - but it is unable to decide to whom and why to grant a wish, it cannot plan the consequences of that wish nor it can entertain itself with them. It cannot read signs, count the stars on the sky, learn things and use that knowledge. It can just sense things and be attracted or driven away from them.
darkthought
06-25-04, 05:46 PM Or it could be a living wish of the person who casted it.

*Destroy all Warforged!*

Oh look, there's the LoB... ;)
SJE
06-25-04, 05:50 PM I'm thinking 'Living Intelligent Spell' is too much of a mouthful. What I might call it instead is a Smart Spell. Having 2 points of Int per spell level seems fair.... That way you get reactive little low level spells with the brains of a pet, while a Smart Wish or Smart Storm of Vengeance is probably more clever than most of the party!

SJE
RaynerApe
06-25-04, 06:14 PM I think that would rule out the "stupid wish" concept. Instead, I would create two spells/rituals, each producing one element of the psychology of a living spell - create intelligence and create ego - and then use a third spell to infuse a living spell with produced artifical intelligence or ego. It should not be a simple process of simply casting a double-effect spell, but have chain of spells that add up to the final effect and allowing bad things to happen (imagine creating ego for your living wish so it seeks out people in love and grant them fortune, but somewhere in the process things go wrong and you end up with violent schophrenic living wish that hates itself and granting fortune to people in love actually makes it more and more depressed and urging to then leave the city, go into the wood, find a pair of squirrels in love and beat the f***ing s*** out of them!...)

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
SJE 06-24-04, 05:10 PM	The Living spells are interesting. Unfortunately they also contradict themselves- described as spells that have taken on sentience and 'move with purpose' they are later called mindless and given 0 Int. So I've decided to ignore that and assume they are sentient. Perhaps some are even able to communicate? But best of all, what would happen with a Living Wish? Pure possibility and transformative magic roaming the land! The grail of every adventurers dreams! What would you do with a Living Wish in your game? SJE
Muldran 06-24-04, 05:23 PM	A Living Wish... I'd use it as a rumour, to start a treasure hunt. Just think of what could happen is someone owned the Living Wish. Groups of hunters travelling to various places, false and true maps... Could make an entire campaign in itself!
bv728 06-24-04, 06:45 PM	Also Fun (for definitions of Fun including making your players hate you): The character is slammed by a Living Wish, and MUST make a wish. Now. I'm imagining a chaotic living wish; it can't change the outcome, but it wanders around being amused as it grants wishes at random.
deganawida 06-24-04, 07:02 PM	Originally posted by SJE But best of all, what would happen with a Living Wish? Pure possibility and transformative magic roaming the land! The grail of every adventurers dreams! You could turn it around, make it a rumor. Perhaps it is a Shades spell, and it's been mistaken for a wish. It could become the Head of Vecna for Eberron...
Lord Zeb 06-24-04, 07:34 PM	Originally posted by Muldran A Living Wish... I'd use it as a rumour, to start a treasure hunt. Just think of what could happen is someone owned the Living Wish. Groups of hunters travelling to various places, false and true maps... Could make an entire campaign in itself! :thumbsup: That is a GREAT idea! Actually having it fly around would be a bit...unbalancing...unless it had it's own sinister purpose and only granted hurtful wishes (for examples please see "What's a DM to Do" on how to twist wishes.) The benevolent Living Wish as a 'treasure' to hunt though is wonderful. What red-blooded adventurer wouldn't search for something like that! Cheers, Zeb
Fedifensor 06-24-04, 08:00 PM	Originally posted by Lord Zeb Actually having it fly around would be a bit...unbalancing...unless it had it's own sinister purpose and only granted hurtful wishes (for examples please see "What's a DM to Do" on how to twist wishes.) Not if the person caught by it was drained 5000 XP. Heck, you could have "wish zombies"...
Ch@pel 06-24-04, 08:36 PM	Wouldn't a Living Wish have to be derived from an actual wish spell, that had already been cast? In which case, it would have to resemble the properties of the wish as outlined by the caster. Like if they wished for gold, it could appear as a massive dust cloud, where the bits of dust are actually gp when you look close. (getting slammed for huge damage by gold could be really off putting to some of those greedy adventurers :D) Or if the wish was for a boost in some stat, it could be a relatively small entity. Imagine that there is some smoky cloud that flies across the country side, riding local winds, and any creature that breathes it gets a Str or Dex boost for 24 hours. There could be a group of hunters or bandits that follow it around and use the boost it gives them to gain an advantage over their prey. I'm also wondering if two or more spells could somehow "merge" at the same time they become living, creating a multi-faceted magical entity. Also, imagine if some spellcaster has a living spell as a familiar? I've been toying around with one that would be a blend of illusory script and comprehend languages. It would look something like a fist sized glowing dot with three curved lines attached to it: O))) It can read and remember anything written and shown to it. It can communicate back by rearranging any written letters or words in the area to say what it wants. If anyone knows that goofy show Ghostwriter, it'd work kinda like that. It would be a great help to an absent-minded NPC wizard.
SJE 06-24-04, 09:02 PM	I like the idea of a Living Death Spell slaying all who fall under its shadow, like some Biblical curse. Then its companion, the Living Animate Dead would raise them up from the grave, creating an army of zombies with one thought on their rotting minds... Brains!!...... Time to crack open AFMBE! SJE
Valoy_Muniz 06-25-04, 04:56 PM	You can also say that is why that one area is al mest up from the a spell.
RaynerApe 06-25-04, 05:20 PM	Originally posted by SJE The Living spells are interesting. Unfortunately they also contradict themselves- described as spells that have taken on sentience I think that means that a Living spell can sense (thus is sentient) the world around it, but it is unable to analyze it and respond to it with complex actions. Thus, a Living Wish can travel around the world, sense populated areas and stay away from them - for example, not wishing to grant a wish, pun intended - but it is unable to decide to whom and why to grant a wish, it cannot plan the consequences of that wish nor it can entertain itself with them. It cannot read signs, count the stars on the sky, learn things and use that knowledge. It can just sense things and be attracted or driven away from them.
darkthought 06-25-04, 05:46 PM	Or it could be a living wish of the person who casted it. Destroy all Warforged! Oh look, there's the LoB... ;)
SJE 06-25-04, 05:50 PM	I'm thinking 'Living Intelligent Spell' is too much of a mouthful. What I might call it instead is a Smart Spell. Having 2 points of Int per spell level seems fair.... That way you get reactive little low level spells with the brains of a pet, while a Smart Wish or Smart Storm of Vengeance is probably more clever than most of the party! SJE
RaynerApe 06-25-04, 06:14 PM	I think that would rule out the "stupid wish" concept. Instead, I would create two spells/rituals, each producing one element of the psychology of a living spell - create intelligence and create ego - and then use a third spell to infuse a living spell with produced artifical intelligence or ego. It should not be a simple process of simply casting a double-effect spell, but have chain of spells that add up to the final effect and allowing bad things to happen (imagine creating ego for your living wish so it seeks out people in love and grant them fortune, but somewhere in the process things go wrong and you end up with violent schophrenic living wish that hates itself and granting fortune to people in love actually makes it more and more depressed and urging to then leave the city, go into the wood, find a pair of squirrels in love and beat the f*ing s* out of them!...)