ToME WikiReenenLaurie: Wishing can be interesting, and I have a couple of suggestions as to what should be able to be wished for (additionally).
And anyone who can think of other things that can/should be able to be wished for can add here.
- Money (Level * 30000) I really feel people will go for this if it is an option
- Natural Resistance (just one resist or immunity)
- Natural Sustain
- Natural Speed bonus of (1 ..(level / 15))
- Natural Attack speed bonus (1 extra attack)
- HP
- Mana
ChrisAmes: I agree with this. Perhaps ToME could take some ideas from ADOM's wishing system, where you can wish for many things such as stats, monsters and the like.
KhymChanur: Wishing for a skill would be cool (which you can do in ADOM). It could be like getting a skill from the Fumble Fingers quest, but you get to pick exactly which skill.
ChrisAmes: Consider it's a wish I'd set it straight to a .500 mod though..
Zonk: We do need wishing for abstract things. Personally, I would be somewhat more generous with skills: if you don't have that skill, you gain level 1 and a mod of .600 in it, if you already do you gain another 2 levels but a +mod of only .200 or 300. Also, you should be able to wish for stats(Str,Con...), invulnerability(temporary), and maybe even for a new form(like, wishing for 'hill giant'form might put you in the body of an hill giant, but there would be a check to see if your level isn't too far from the monster one or so on).
Ingeborg Norden: Wishing for abstract abilities (even skills) sounds great in theory, but I'd restrict severely unbalancing choices: no character deserves permanent, intrinsic immunity to several attacks just because he finds a Wishing staff. With the new resistance rules in T-Engine 3, I suggest that one wish will increase one resistance by a flat percentage (e.g., 20% per wish). I'd also forbid wishing for abilities that require a specific skill/experience level the character hasn't reached yet: a 10th level warrior shouldn't be able to wish for a second extra blow.
TobiasParker: A 10th level warrior will never find a staff of wishing.
Remuz: In my opinion, granting too powerful wishes is kind of bad. They are too rare to be reliable (on the contrary to nethack, where there are plenty of ways to get one). Playing success should be based on the player skill, not on dumb luck. That being said, the money wish is kind of useless, since, as stated by TobiasParker, only high level chars get wishes, and at that point money is useless anyway. Sustain seem quite balanced, while resist and/or speed seem too powerful to me. Only my humble opinion, of course.
LordEstraven: I think wishing for innate resists, etc. would be unbalanced IMHO. I think wishing for a stat would be okay, if it acted as a potion of $stat rather than an item with +X to $stat. Then again, you can wish for a potion of $stat already, so why bother?
ElvishPillager: Or better yet, a Potion of Augmentation.