Wishing for Immortality (Unaging actually)?

[AbsolutGrndZer0]

Would it be beyond the scope of Wish to gain unaging? I don't mean like full immortality hard to kill etc, just stop aging.

 

[frankthedm]

Would it be beyond the scope of Wish to gain unaging? I don't mean like full immortality hard to kill etc, just stop aging.

Wish is nice and specific on what it can do with a full on warning about exceeding those bounds.

Wish
[sblock] * Duplicate any sorcerer/wizard spell of 8th level or lower, provided the spell does not belong to one of your opposition schools.
* Duplicate any non-sorcerer/wizard spell of 7th level or lower, provided the spell does not belong to one of your opposition schools.
* Duplicate any sorcerer/wizard spell of 7th level or lower, even if it belongs to one of your opposition schools.
* Duplicate any non-sorcerer/wizard spell of 6th level or lower, even if it belongs to one of your opposition schools.
* Undo the harmful effects of many other spells, such as geas/quest or insanity.
* Grant a creature a +1 inherent bonus to an ability score. Two to five wish spells cast in immediate succession can grant a creature a +2 to +5 inherent bonus to an ability score (two wishes for a +2 inherent bonus, three wishes for a +3 inherent bonus, and so on). Inherent bonuses are instantaneous, so they cannot be dispelled. Note: An inherent bonus may not exceed +5 for a single ability score, and inherent bonuses to a particular ability score do not stack, so only the best one applies.
* Remove injuries and afflictions. A single wish can aid one creature per caster level, and all subjects are cured of the same kind of affliction. For example, you could heal all the damage you and your companions have taken, or remove all poison effects from everyone in the party, but not do both with the same wish.
* Revive the dead. A wish can bring a dead creature back to life by duplicating a resurrection spell. A wish can revive a dead creature whose body has been destroyed, but the task takes two wishes: one to recreate the body and another to infuse the body with life again. A wish cannot prevent a character who was brought back to life from gaining a permanent negative level.
* Transport travelers. A wish can lift one creature per caster level from anywhere on any plane and place those creatures anywhere else on any plane regardless of local conditions. An unwilling target gets a Will save to negate the effect, and spell resistance (if any) applies.
* Undo misfortune. A wish can undo a single recent event. The wish forces a reroll of any roll made within the last round (including your last turn). Reality reshapes itself to accommodate the new result. For example, a wish could undo an opponent's successful save, a foe's successful critical hit (either the attack roll or the critical roll), a friend's failed save, and so on. The reroll, however, may be as bad as or worse than the original roll. An unwilling target gets a Will save to negate the effect, and spell resistance (if any) applies.[/sblock]
You may try to use a wish to produce greater effects than these, but doing so is dangerous. (The wish may pervert your intent into a literal but undesirable fulfillment or only a partial fulfillment, at the GM's discretion.)

There are several ways to stop aging within the power of a wish spell. Chances are you won't want any of them.

 

[AbsolutGrndZer0]

What about wishing to be an outsider? Most outsiders are considered immortal, are they not?

 

[Sigurd]

A lot depends on your DM and how hard you've worked for the wish.

The guidelines for the wish spell are certainly there but they are only guidelines.

Non aging is a rather weak ability at most tables because characters usually die by outside effects. Look at the disparity between life spans.

I would have the character research a solution so that you could know more about what you want. Becoming an outsider or changing race certainly would be one way of doing it.

Reincarnation is disorienting but you keep all your game skills. You could be reincarnated as a race with a very long lifespan.

Another possibility might be service to a high magic that has a way to keep you alive because they need you.

Some PRCs have immortality as a perk too. Assuming you don't want to be a lich or an undead there are other options.

Talk to your DM.

 

[Alzrius]

Wish is nice and specific on what it can do with a full on warning about exceeding those bounds.

Personally, I don't care for the interpretation of wish that it's limited to reproducing the specific effects outlined in its description, which basically make it a powerful anyspell. Rather, I see those as guidelines for adjudicating how strong a result you can get. (Skip Williams talks about this more in Kobold Quarterly #10.)

That said, I believe that the question of using a wish to stop aging is directly dealt with in the 2E Complete Book of Necromancers, where it states that a properly-worded wish can stop your aging for up to a thousand years, but after that you'll need to find another method of agelessness (the implication seemed to be that you can't just keep using a wish in that manner every millenium).

 

[ruemere]

Only a GM is aware of limitations of Wish. For example, in Scarred Lands, two NPCs are said to pursue immortality, however the Wish spells allowed them only to stave off age penalties and gain perfect health. Implication is that Wish cannot grant unaging.

That said, if you Wish to Reincarnate into a creature belonging to the same race and of the same sex, you should be pretty much on a safe side.

Regards,
Ruemere

 

[Crothian]

Would it be beyond the scope of Wish to gain unaging? I don't mean like full immortality hard to kill etc, just stop aging.

It is really going to depend on the DM I think. Not aging is not a strong ability in D&D so I'd have no problem allowing it. Or maybe to limit it some say a Wish would allow no aging for a set period of time.

 

[grufflehead]

Better hope that whoever is making that Wish is either casting the spell him/herself, or getting it from an unimpeachable source. Cos that's so easy to twist into several degrees of nastiness, they are going to end up wishing they hadn't...

 

[frankthedm]

Rather, I see those as guidelines for adjudicating how strong a result you can get.

That is exactly what they are. Guidelines for how potent a safe wish should be. Anything that would be reasonable for an 8th level arcane spell. Bringing back someone who was completely destroyed takes two wishes. if it happens last round you could instead use one wish to give them a reroll that might fail anyway.

That said, I believe that the question of using a wish to stop aging is directly dealt with in the 2E Complete Book of Necromancers, where it states that a properly-worded wish can stop your aging for up to a thousand years, but after that you'll need to find another method of agelessness (the implication seemed to be that you can't just keep using a wish in that manner every millenium).

I don't feel that is applicable since wishes were far more costly in 2E.

what it all comes down to is that Wishes are supposed to be weaker that what the used to be because they are not as costly / rare as they used to be.

 

[pawsplay]

Unaging is effectively permanancy on a hypothetical spell that halts aging for some period of time. Seems okay as it is. Now, if you don't want a permanent unaging effect, but to literally halt aging, that seems like it might be pushing it. I might allow each wish to stall it for some amount of time. Literal unaging immmortality might come at some price; transforming into a native outsider with some kind of drawback seems like a beginning.

Perhaps the character is affected by the flow of time, and takes a -5 penalty to initiative; further, he must make a DC 15 Int check the first round of combat or be dazed for a round.

Or maybe the process distorts his ability to change and grow. Healing is at 1/10 normal rate, XP received is halved.

Or maybe it works basically as hoped, turning him into a quasi-immortal; however, he spends d% years in a cocoon as he transforms.