Quote Originally Posted by Darth Credence View Post
I don't worry about the wording because of an experience back in AD&D. I was a player, and one of the other players had a wish to use. They wrote - by hand, in cursive - a 20-page contract for a wish. They laid this on the DM near the beginning of a session. The DM then started to read it, taking notes on it. When 15 minutes later, he had reviewed the first four pages, one of the other players stood up and said, 'if this is today's game, you don't need the rest of us here' (something like that, it's been about 30 years). The DM, deeply involved in reading this contract, just nodded. That was not what the one who stood up expected - he thought the response would be that the DM could do it later. But the rest of us ended up leaving and did not play that day. I don't even remember what the wish was or why it needed such a long contract - I don't recall it having any impact on the campaign. I do know that there is no way I ever want to be in that kind of situation, so I'm never going to get into caring about the precise wording.
All versions of Wish I know of require the caster to speak the wish out loud. If a player did that, I'd give him the contract back and tell him to read it, or better yet, keep it and tell him to say the wish. Any significant pause in reading would be considered the end of speech. If he starts listing terms and conditions first, he's not wishing for anything, and wasted the spell. If he wishes for anything, the wish happens, and no conditions added later will be taken into account.