Tales from PnP: I Wish

Recently, DDOstream has been running a series of live PnP games, using Fantasy Grounds (FG) as their Virtual Tabletop (VTT) of choice.  Watching a few of these sessions has got me a bit nostalgic for when I played 1st Edition AD&D*.  And I recalled a rule we used with respect to what is arguably the most powerful spell in D&D:  The "wish" spell.

In 1st edition AD&D, there are actually (2) "wish" spells:  The "limited wish" and the (full) "wish".  If I recall correctly, the limited wish is a level 7 spell and its description mentions something like it was able to mimic** the effects of any level 7, or lower, spell; the full wish does not have this limitation.

Now, I'm not certain if our rule was an "official" rule or not, though I suspect it was probably a house rule.  But our rule when casting "wish", in either variety, was that if the player used the word "and" in their phrasing of the wish, the spell was still cast but its effects completely negated.  In other words, yes, you used the spell and it disappeared from your memory, scroll, or what have you, but it did nothing.

I recall DM'ing a game (I did not run many and maybe only the one) when one of the players cast (full) "wish" and uttered the fateful word "and" and as soon as he did, I cut him off and said the spell was voided.  He was not happy and we went to the description in the PHB where it stated to the effect that the phrasing of the wish didn't matter.  However, I reminded him that we had always played by that rule, to which he tried to tell me that it only applied to the limited wish, not full wish.  But, as they say in my world of consulting engineering, the AHJ ("Authority Having Jurisdiction") is always right, even when he's wrong.  So my ruling stood.

As you might imagine, he was less than happy with me, but I was also supported by at least (2) other players who confirmed we had always enforced that rule with "wish", regardless of the version.

So in addition to the old adage "be careful what you wish for (as you may just get it)", I would add "be careful how you wish", too.


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* We played "homebrew" content, mostly, using 1st Edition plus the (original) Unearthed Arcana (UA).  UA contained the original barbarian class and the Cavalier class.  It also changed the Paladin to be a sub-class of the Cavalier and no longer a fighter sub-class.

** No, not the iconic monster of the same name.