and that's the point -- getting wishes from an efreeti is never supposed to be "safe".
I'm curious: what wording would you find acceptable to get a standard +1 Inherent bonus to an ability score via Wish from an efreeti? What exactly would you have to say to get that bonus and not get anything else on the side?
@RobbyPants:
From an efreeti, you can just expect to get screwed -- simple as that; he's just cruel and vindictive like that. If you play with a snake, it will bite you. Why? Because
it's in its nature to do so.
Going more fantropic, "I wish for a lasting and irreversible increase to my strength that shall have no ill effect upon myself or my friends.'
@Gods_trick:
that's still wide open for interpretation.
I am against screwing up wishes TBH, unless in a certain group everybody finds it funny.
Well, by now, pretty much everybody should be familiar with the efreet's shtick. For those who aren't, they are about to learn the lesson of the above-linked fable
(of course, in this form it would technically be a parable; but whatever).
Besides, if you're opening that box, then I can only assume that you're prepared to go down that road.
I guess what I'm getting at is, I see this going down in one of three ways, depending on who's running the game:
1) You're fucked. There is no right answer. You will get screwed out of this wish, but you hope in vain that it will work.
2) Mister Cavern has picked an acceptable answer or a handful of them, in which case, you're playing "Read MC's Mind". Not a fun game, IMO.
3) Mister Cavern has not picked out an answer ahead of time, but will review them as he gets them. You're playing "Mother May I?" with Mister Cavern. This is about as much fun as option 2, in my book.
Any way you slice it, I just don't see this as going well, or being fun. I'd either take the approach of saying "pick anything off of the PHB list and you're good", or just not allowing Efreet spamming in the first place.
What mechanism is there (other than DM fiat or gentlemen agreement) to disallow said efreet spamming? If the players are oblivious to the fact that you get burned when you play with fire, they need to learn that lesson. If they're gonna get all butt-hurt by learning that lesson this way, then they're probably taking the game way too seriously; in which case, they probably also need to better consider their decisions.
Besides, if you want to get on the
wish ride, then you need to be tall enough, and you need to pay full admission; otherwise, you're asking for problems.
I also make sure that all my players know upfront, before the campaign begins, that I don't run padded sumo games -- enter at their own risk.
(disclaimer: I know that I may be coming across as a total gygaxian dick right now .... let me say that such an assumption would probably be short-sighted. My campaigns are not full of DM dick-waving. However, at the same time, I do believe in the idea that decisions should have "real" consequences. Fun has been defined as "learning in a safe environment" ..... the fact that this is a game that happens in the imagination is what makes this a "safe environment" -- to have to further padded-sumo it up is (at best) farcical -- actually takes the "learning" out of the equation, since there aren't even any imaginary consequences. This sort of Tyranny of Fun makes me sad.)