Wishing is one of the most powerful features in ADOM. When you receive a wish, you can ask for (almost) any item, skill, monster, or stat. However, they are extremely rare and it is quite possible to go an entire game without getting one.
Obtaining a wish
There are five ways of obtaining a wish in ADOM. Note that it is impossible to wish for any of the first three items on the list, making wishing for wishes a fool's game. Wands of wishing cannot be recharged by any known means. Casting the Wish spell always drains 10 points of a random stat. Getting a wish from a wand of wonder is safe, because the needed PP exceeding the PC's available PP comes from some unknown source. The -10 drain still occurs though.
- A blessed Ring of djinni summoning
- A Wand of wishing
- The Wish spell, which can be learned from a Spellbook of wish, a potion of wonder , a wand of wonder, or certain class powers (eg. level 18 Bards)
- Randomly from a Wand of wonder
- Randomly from a pool
- Randomly from a statue
Common ways to obtain those items are:
- Gremlin bombing for a ring or wand
- The Library for a spellbook of wish - not guaranteed, but common for Wizards.
- Darkforge for pools
- A Wish engine (see below for details)
Wish engine
A wish engine can be summarized like this: A way of creating unlimited or near-unlimited wishes by transforming rings on a dungeon level with a high enough danger level to create Rings of djinni summoning. See full details on creating and using a wish engine on the Wish engine page.
Archmage
An Archmage is defined as a character who has enough PP and HP to bookcast from a Spellbook of wish with 1 Mana and Toughness and survive, granting unlimited wishes. See the Archmage page for more advice on creating an archmage.
What to wish for
There is no one most important item to wish for in ADOM. Depending on your individual character's wants and needs, you will find yourself wishing for different things. A guide on the most common wishes can be found at what to wish for.
See also what not to wish for.
Possible wishes
Items
Most non-Artifact items can be wished for using the name of the item. Heavy cudgel shares its name with Black Thumb, meaning you must misspell this wish in order to get one. A wish for Spellbooks can be used to obtain several random Spellbooks. Wishes for Statues, Corpses, and Figurines of wondrous power can be used to obtain several random items of the appropriate type; specific versions of these items cannot be wished for.
Wishing for the plural of an item usually results in receiving multiple items of that type. Certain items have special plural forms that need to used to ensure you receive multiple items per wish: wishes for Gauntlets, Boots, or Bracers should be prefaced with pairs of, and wishes for clothes should be prefaced with sets of. Certain items can only be obtained one or two at a time.
| Limitation | Items |
|---|---|
| Can't be wished for | Spellbook of Wish, Ring of djinni summoning, Wand of wishing, items that can't be generated as random drops |
| One per wish | Potion of gain attributes, Whip of slaughtering, Whip of the snake, Sword of sharpness, Amulet of life saving, Seven league boots, Girdle of giant strength, all Magic staves |
| Two per wish | Potion of strength, Potion of learning, Potion of willpower, Potion of dexterity, Potion of toughness, Potion of charisma, Potion of beauty, Potion of mana |
Skills
The Alertness and Healing Skills cannot be wished for. Otherwise, skills can be wished for using the name of the skill. Wishing for a skill the PC doesn't have grants it at a skill level of 20. Wishing for a skill the PC already has will usually increase its skill advancement dice.
Monsters
Most non-unique monsters can be wished for using the name of the monster type. Dwarven smith, Dwarven innkeeper, Cloaked ratling, Cute dog, Demented ratling, Ancient karmic wyrm, Big casino guard, Banshee, Greater black unicorn, Grizzled gladiator, Old barbarian, Ratling dealer, Raider lord, and Ratling rebel can be wished for despite being otherwise unique. Wishing for Emperor moloch, Minotaur emperor, Quickling bard, and Shopkeeper will summon several different hostile monsters.
| Wish | Monsters summoned |
|---|---|
| Emperor moloch | Greater molochs |
| Minotaur emperor | Minotaur kings |
| Quickling bard | Quickling lords |
| Shopkeeper | Thugs |
Attributes
All nine Attributes may be increased directly by wishing. Learning is increased by wishing for Knowledge, Perception is increased by wishing for Alertness, and Appearance is increased by wishing for Beauty. All other attributes are increased by wishing for the name of the attribute. Wishes for Willpower, Charisma, and Appearance are notable in being more effective than wishing for the relevant attribute increasing potion.
Concepts
| Wish | Result |
|---|---|
| Speed | Increases base Speed by 1 and provides a large temporary boost to Speed |
| Power | Increases maximum PP |
| Better marks | Increases all weapon skills by a Learning-dependent amount |
| Friend | Summons a tame monster |
| Help | Summons a tame monster; if there is no room, grants a weapon |
| Gold | Generates a level-dependent pile of gold pieces |
| Insight | Identifies all carried items |
| Death | Unnaturally ages the PC until they have one year left to live |
| Healing | Restores the PC to full health and clears most negative status effects |
| Light | Illuminates all dark areas in a large radius and grants a Wand of light |
| Satiation | Gives the PC enough satiation to make them bloated |