Wishing mechanics???

[nipon621]

I did a quick search on the forum, consulted the guidebook and the wiki, but thus far I have not found much in the way of wishing mechanics (ie; how much can you squeeze out of a wish?).

The list as far as I know of

What wishes will not be respected
- Artifacts, certain NPCs, Alertness, Direct means of wishing (there are others, well documented in the guidebook, wiki and elsewhere)

What will be respected
- plurality (in most cases)

So here's the question - can I usefully wish for blessed murderous eternium swords of sharpness? Or a blessed amulet of lifesaving? Why cant I find information on that?

In a pinch, beatitude can be as important as the item you are wishing for, and without the prefix/suffixes, most base items are worthless.

Has anyone done research, or had experience with this? I think it could be very helpful information.

Thanks,

- Matt

[Silfir]

You cannot wish for magical pre- or suffixes, only item types (i.e. "swords of sharpness" are fine since that's a special item type); and you can't wish for status (wished-for items can be cursed, uncursed or blessed as normal).

Stuff like red dragon scale mail or eternium tower shields are occasionally perfectly sensible choices even without suffixes.

[anon123]

ADOM is pretty different than NetHack in this regard. You can ask for most non-artifact items in singular or plural form, but that's about it - no suffixes/prefixes, B/U/C status, number of charges or anything else "special" can be asked, that's assigned randomly. Many "base" items are certainly already excellent by themselves without the aid of extra properties, however.

Also, you are not limited to wishing for items only. Many abstract concepts (e.g. healing, light, friends) are wishable, as are most non-unique monsters.

[nipon621]

Wow... has anyone compiled known information about maximizing wish use? For example, pre-khelevaster (sp?) an amulet of lifesaving gets you 6 blessed SoCR, 4 blessed PoUH, an eternium dagger etc - a wish could not be better spent (unless youre about to die from something specific). Or another example would be wishing for herb seeds which could max your stats, provide infinite satiation, up to 5 artifacts and an intrinsic resistance.

Just trying to get a handle on wishing in ADOM.

[anon123]

Wow... has anyone compiled known information about maximizing wish use? For example, pre-khelevaster (sp?) an amulet of lifesaving gets you 6 blessed SoCR, 4 blessed PoUH, an eternium dagger etc - a wish could not be better spent (unless youre about to die from something specific)

Well, off the top of my head...

• Ancient karmic wyrm - gain up to 30 levels in a virtually risk-free manner, with some previous preparation.
• Emperor moloch - the hardcore, high-risk version of the entry above.
• Rings of weakness - get your Strength to 99 in a few minutes.
• Banshee - take her to the bug temple, let her kill scream the bugs into oblivion, then raid the place and get many nice items. Deafen yourself first.
• Magical writing sets - write many copies of any scroll you've identified. (Scumminess factor probably depends on your class.)

There are other things worth wishing for, but those are the ones that deliver rather high rewards for just one wish, if you don't mind some people screaming "scumming"

[grobblewobble]

Magical writing sets are a great wish for monks especially.
Spellcasters will often want to wish for spellbooks of acid ball.
Then seven league boots are such a good item that they are also very much worth wishing for (you have to wish for "pairs of seven league boots" to get more than one, handy because they are vulnerable items).

If you are lucky, items you wish for can be generated with a prefix or suffix. So in principle, you could wish for eternium spears and hope you get a weeping eternium spear of penetration.

As Silfir said, some special names of unique items look like suffixes but can be wished for because they are their own item type. Notably, it is possible to wish for arrows of dragon slaying. However, "arrows of slaying" (the kind that slays everything) are a suffix and can't be wished for.

[JellySlayer]

Wow... has anyone compiled known information about maximizing wish use? For example, pre-khelevaster (sp?) an amulet of lifesaving gets you 6 blessed SoCR, 4 blessed PoUH, an eternium dagger etc - a wish could not be better spent (unless youre about to die from something specific). Or another example would be wishing for herb seeds which could max your stats, provide infinite satiation, up to 5 artifacts and an intrinsic resistance.

Just trying to get a handle on wishing in ADOM.

I don't think you would get enough herb seeds to be able to guarantee yourself a good farm... you need gardening as well, which many PCs don't have. I think you only get 2-4 items when wishing for multiples (except for maybe a few odd things like arrows and gold), which is not likely to be enough even with good gardening skill unless you have a lot of holy water to burn. While herbs are good, I would never count them as being worth 5 artifacts, myself.

This list provides a pretty decent overview of most of the best wishes in ADOM.

[Kyreles]

While herbs are good, I would never count them as being worth 5 artifacts, myself

I think he was talking about (pre/post) crowning gifts.

[JellySlayer]

I think he was talking about (pre/post) crowning gifts.

I know. I would still never count that. Getting more than 1 precrown is insane.

[Spellweaver]

With herbs it's not that insane. But getting more than 3 precrowns means losing mummy's both artifacts.