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I have a problem with how unspecific the wording "1/day—grant up to 3 wishes" is. What does this mean from a mechanics standpoint?

  • Is granting a Wish mechanically identical to casting a Wish but without a cost? Casting Time is my main concern here.
  • Is it 1 "cast" of Wish with results equating that of 3 "casts" of Wish or is it 3 separate "casts" of Wish, just worded terribly?
  • If it is a single "cast" of Wish, do I have to decide all 3 Wishes at the same time?

Wording is my main problem here, since for example the Shaitan noble (which does pretty much the same thing as Efreeti) has "ability to grant up to three wishes per day" which sounds more like separate "castings" of Wish.

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The Effeeti grants the ability to cast wish spells

If you look at the Spell Like Abilities section of the Efreeti, it looks like this:

Spell-Like Abilities (CL 11th)
Constant—detect magic
At Will—plane shift (willing targets to elemental planes, Astral Plane, or Material Plane only), produce flame, pyrotechnics (DC 14), scorching ray
3/day—invisibility, quickened scorching ray, wall of fire (DC 16)
1/day—grant up to 3 wishes (to nongenies only), gaseous form, permanent image (DC 18)

All1 the abilities are spell effects, and the wishes are also italicized, as it standard notation for indicating spells. That is a pretty clear clue that these are wish spells. The reason this is written so strangely is because the Efreeti cannot itself cast wish spells, it only can grant up to three wishes to nongenies who ask for them. The grantee then can formulate their wishes and cast the spells.2 Granting the wishes is a standard action according to the rules for spell-like abilities:

Using all other [i.e. not Constant] spell-like abilities is a standard action unless noted otherwise, and doing so provokes attacks of opportunity.

The grantee then speaking all three wishes would take at least another 3 standard actions, because the casting time of wish is also a standard action. How long the grantee can wait between wishes is not further specified, and up to the DM.


1 Invisibility, for some weird reason is not italicized on AoN. Apparently this is a formatting error by AoN, and it is in italics in the print version; thanks to @williwontu.

2 For example, there is a whole adventure path, Legacy of Fire, that revolves around an Effreti's plan to overcome the inability of Efreet to formulate wishes themselves. From the introduction of the last installment, "The Final Wish" (p. 7)

So the powerful efreeti turned his attention back to his original plan—to use his own wishes, siphoned through mortal lips, to absorb and infuse himself with the essence of a great monster of yore

and on p. 56

Such tales exaggerate much, but at their root lies a single undeniable truth: some genies can grant wishes. Blessed with the might to reorder reality, yet cursed never to take advantage of their own powers, genies both take pride in their incredible ability and resent that their gift can only serve the wills of lesser creatures.

and p. 57

Regardless of how they come by their powers, though, genies possess one law that rules over their ability: no genie may grant wishes to another genie, especially themselves.

wish makers who entreat genies to perform tasks that could naturally occur are more likely to find their wishes granted as they desire, while those who presume to make wild demands of reality often find themselves thwarted by offended genie wishcrafters

That is, the genie grants the power to the nongenie to make wishes, the nongenie then casts those wishes (note the wish in "wish makers" is in italics). And all the grantee has to do is to speak their wish to cast it. As per the spell's description:

Wish is the mightiest spell a Wizard or Sorcerer can cast. By simply speaking aloud, you can alter reality to better suit you.

And it then is the genies inherent ability to fullfill the wish that has been cast, or thwart it if it is overreaching. (At traditionally done for wishes by the DM, who plays the genie).

I think this is not fully mechanically sound, because what happens if the genie dies after it granted the power to make those wishes? But that probably needs to be resolved by the DM, and also is not the focus of the question here, the question is about the action economy of the wish-granting spell like ability. And that just is a standard action, without the genie casting any whishes at that time.

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    \$\begingroup\$ Invisibility is italicized in the book for their SLA's so it's just an editing error on AoN's part. \$\endgroup\$
    – willuwontu
    Commented May 28 at 18:24
  • \$\begingroup\$ To be honest that doesn't explain any of my questions. Is it 3 wishes in a single standard action? I actually consider using it in combat as action economy booster combined with early access to up-to-8th-level-spells but without knowing how long it takes I can't do anything. \$\endgroup\$
    – Nec Xelos
    Commented May 28 at 18:28
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    \$\begingroup\$ It is NO wishes in a single action, it is granting the power to speak 3 wishes. Then the grantee needs to use the normal actions to cast wishes. \$\endgroup\$ Commented May 28 at 18:38
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    \$\begingroup\$ This relies exclusively on one text. Pathfinder must've used the occasional efreet in its myriad of adventure paths. Do any of them back up this reading? (I think you're correct, by the way, but this is not how any other media typically depict genies granting wishes, so fortifying your answer with other sources would make it more persuasive.) \$\endgroup\$ Commented May 28 at 19:18
  • \$\begingroup\$ @HeyICanChan I managed to dig something up. It is not totally watertight, but it makes it clear that the other creatures must mouth the wishes, not the efreeti, and they cannot just cast them themselves \$\endgroup\$ Commented May 28 at 21:16

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