ToME WikiJust about every time someone finds a Staff of Wishing (which is a rather rare occurence), a question "what to wish for?" immediately pops up.
What you can wish for
You may wish for items or monsters.
However, you must type exactly the name of your desired item/monster, otherwise wish fails.
You can't wish for artifacts. Ego items at best. Also, you can't wish for a rod with a rod tip. So, Wooden Rod of Charging of Nothing is ok, but Wooden Rod of Charging of Trap Location isn't.
You can't wish for a monster corpse.
You can't wish for unique monsters. When you wish for monsters, you may insert 'companion' or 'pet' before monster's name to get a friendly monster. E.g. wish for 'Great Wyrm of Power' would summon a hostile GWoP, but 'companion Great Wyrm of Power' would give you quite a bodyguard. Interestingly enough, you can successfully wish for monsters which are not generatable, they were zangband or cthulhu monsters (which are currently not available in ToME) or are joke monsters, but you don't have joke option on.
Items recommended for wishing
Polished Power Dragon Scale Mail of Immunity - gives almost every resistance (not fear or blindness), flying, reflection and a random immunity. Heavy.
Pair of Hard Leather Boots of Elvenkind - bonus to speed and stealth. Levitation and a random ability.
Elven Cloak of the Magi, Elven Cloak of the Bat - has quite high bonuses to speed, luck, stealth, along with other powers.
Elven Cloak of Air - Void diver's favorite.
Feanorian Lamp of the Magi - may have many qualities, but they're mostly random. A fixed quest gives a light source of the Magi already, though.
Adamantite Rod of the Istari of Nothing - the most powerful rod possible.
Rod Tip of Speed, Rod Tip of Healing, Rod Tip of Restoration - very useful rod tips to go with the above.
Scroll of Artifact Creation, Scroll of Craftsmanship - rare scrolls which upgrade equipment.
Potion of Invulnerability, Potion of New Life - rare non-artifact potions.
Vampiric Shadow Blade (*Defender*) - one of the best weapons possible. It's almost guaranteed that this has positive pval, so you get vampiric qualities, bonuses to few stats and stealth as well as a percentile life bonus, a bunch of high resists and, if you are lucky, an immunity to one of the elements. You might also want to try "of extra attacks", or if you're feeling lucky "of aman" or "of the thunderlords"
Vampiric (weapon) of Morgul - crazyness. Once flipped, this weapon can give huge bonuses to life and luck, potentially as high as +200% life and +10 luck, as well as giving you a powerful life-draining weapon and some plusses to AC. On the other hand, it comes with Aggravate, Black Breath, and Drain Experience. A tricky option.
Monsters recommended for wishing
Companion Great Wyrm of Power - powerful bodyguard for everyone. Dangerous because of breath's splash damage.
Pet Master Quylthulg - the best non-unique symbiote for a symbiant.
Companion Death Orb - a blast from the past. Orbs are invulnerable to almost everything. Type only 'death orb' if you want some challenge.
Companion Horned Reaper - probably the strongest melee monster out there. Digs and squashes weaker monsters.
Companion Pit Fiend - Has a variety of summon types.
Wishing for a rare beastmaster's quest monster is also viable, if you really want more Monster Lore points and your corpse preservation is high enough that you may count it will drop a corpse. Otherwise it's a waste.
Chatter
NerdanelVampire: I haven't tested it myself (never having seen a staff of wishing makes it kind of impossible) but it occurred to me that you'd want symbiotes and companions pre-levelled if possible, which means either Angband or a deep god temple. God temples are 100% dependable in levelling amount; Angband is 100% dependable in theoretical reachability.
GrootheWanderer: Does anyone know what the best location to find Staffs (staves?) of Wishing is? If those who find them can list what dungeon and level they were on, that would be very useful information. I have played 100+ characters over teh last couple years and have never, ever seen one. Of course, I usually play melee types so that is probably the reason. I don't usually do the dungeons that are really heavy in "magical" loot.
EczemaTheDeathMold: I just found one on level 90 of Angband from a Dark Elven Warlock, if that helps. I think anything that drops staves is just as likely to drop a Staff of Wishing. Considering I'm a death mold wearing the full set of Gothmog with a negative luck that has to be measured in scientific notation, I'm a little surprised to see one turn up. I guess that means one's chances are not modified by luck.
GrootheWanderer: Also, I didn't read above whether you could wish for a certain pval on the item or not. Has anyone tried this (i.e. ring of extra attacks (+10))
GreyCat: Wishing for "ring of extra attacks 3" or "ring of extra attacks +3" or "ring of extra attacks (3)" or "ring of extra attacks (+3)" in wizard mode always fails. You get nothing at all. If you just wish for "ring of extra attacks" or "indestructible ring of extra attacks" you get a randomly generated one for whichever dungeon level you're on, which means it could be +1, -2, etc.
ScrawnyCat: I vaguely recall wishing for a Spider Web of Air (which is my idea of the void-divers favorite) at some point, without success. Yet I know that these can be generated (except, of course, when I'm playing a non-evil character with mimicry). Did I miss something here?
NeilStevens: That's because the wish system predates the way we do mimicry and related items now.
Guest: Are there any staves of wishing left as of 2.3.3? I did some source-diving a while back, but I couldn't find them anywhere. Were they removed?
NeilStevens: No, they weren't ever removed. Wishes are even being reimplemented in ToME 3, so we're definitely not opposed to this rare and special kind of item.
ReenenLaurie: I have found 2. I can't recall the first though, but the second was in the very early levels of Moria. And I remember I could recharge it... Maybe it was Zang though, because I am not sure there is a building where you can recharge in ToME.
What I definately 100% recall was that it was not a "forest" dungeon, and I was walking west, and it was between dungeon level 36 and 50. I got it from some kind of uber orc/troll/ogre (non-unique). Can't recall which type.
NeilStevens: Staves of wishing are specifically impossible to recharge in ToME, so it must hot have been in ToME you found one.
ReenenLaurie: Was it like that ever since pern? It might've been in tome 1.x.
K-Dawg: I just found my first Staff on SwL 28, but that is not the main point of this comment. I was just going to suggest that someone post some Caster specific recommended items. I'm playing a Rohan Sorc, and I don't have any clue what to wish for. Possibly a certain type of staff?
NeilStevens: Not sure. These days the Mage Staff of Forochel is very nice, and reduces the need for a good random staff. You might wish for an Elven Cloak of the Magi, polished power dragon scale mail of immunity, or a cloak of air if you want to ease your trip through Numenor.
GhostBuster: Just found a staff of wish of plenty (8 charges) in a deep expensive black market!!! Didn't know such an item was possible.