Okay, okay, don’t freak out.
So the wizard just reached reached level 17, meaning that they’ve finally unlocked that much-coveted 9th level spell slot, which means they’re probably going to go ahead and pick up that extra special spell, Wish.
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Often referred to as the most powerful spell in the game, it’s no wonder that Wish has found its place in the D&D community as something of an enigma — I mean, Nine Hells, you get to wish for anything, right???
Wellllllllll… that kind of depends on your DM.
The thing about Wish is that there is a lot of wiggle room on both the player and the DM’s part to ensure that the spell doesn’t entirely break the game, or else you’d have high level wizards simply wishing the BBEG to die all over the place before even reaching the final confrontation.
Which would be a pretty good use of a Wish, sure, but it kind of leaves the rest of the party a little high and dry and grinds the entire game to an anticlimactic halt.
So, thankfully, the good folks over at Wizards of the Coast built a few failsafes into the spell so that DMs can keep the story and game as fun as can be.
Let’s dive into it.
Given how absolutely huge this description is, I say we go through it bit by bit.
Wish is the mightiest spell a mortal creature can cast. By simply speaking aloud, you can alter the very foundations of reality in accord with your desires.
Well, anyone who may have started penning a complaint letter when I said that Wish was the most powerful spell in the game earlier in this article can stop now, seeing as it’s RAW.
The basic use of this spell is to duplicate any other spell of 8th level or lower. You don’t need to meet any requirements in that spell, including costly Components. The spell simply takes effect.
It’s interesting that WotC included that phrasing, “the basic use of this spell,” as if to say, “Hey! This is what Wish is supposed to be used for — sure you can use it to actually make a wish, but that’s where things get a little messy.”
Alternatively, you can create one of the following Effects of your choice.
• You create one object of up to 25,000 gp in value that isn’t a magic item. The object can be no more than 300 feet in any dimension, and it appears in an unoccupied space you can see on the ground.
• You allow up to twenty creatures that you can see to regain all Hit Points, and you end all Effects on them described in the Greater Restoration spell.
• You grant up to ten creatures that you can see Resistance to a damage type you choose.
• You grant up to ten creatures you can see immunity to a single spell or other magical Effect for 8 hours. For instance, you could make yourself and all your companions immune to a lich’s Life Drain Attack.
• You undo a single recent event by forcing 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 spell could undo an opponent’s successful save, a foe’s critical hit, or a friend’s failed save. You can force the reroll to be made with advantage or disadvantage, and you can choose whether to use the reroll or the original roll.
So here we have another list of things that the spell can do without running any risks. It’s kind of a wide spread, though, seeing as you can do everything from restoring ALL hit points for up to 20 creatures to… forcing a disadvantaged or advantaged reroll? Is anyone really dropping a Wish spell just to mess with the results of a single roll?
Well, now that we have an idea of what Wish is capable of from its basic uses, let’s get into the fun stuff.
You might be able to achieve something beyond the scope of the above examples. State your wish to the DM as precisely as possible. The DM has great latitude in ruling what occurs in such an instance, the greater the wish, the greater the likelihood that something goes wrong. This spell might simply fail, the Effect you desire might only be partly achieved, or you might suffer some unforeseen consequence as a result of how you worded the wish. For example, wishing that a villain were dead might propel you forward in time to a period when that villain is no longer alive, effectively removing you from the game. Similarly, wishing for a legendary magic item or artifact might instantly transport you to the presence of the item’s current owner.
I think the key wording here is “The DM has great latitude in ruling what occurs in such an instance.”
Now, no DM wants to completely shut down a player’s grand idea for their Wish spell. It took them 17 levels to get here (unless they lucked out on the Deck of Many Things at like, level 5 or something) and they only get the one 9th level spell slot per day, so obviously it means something to them to use it on a Wish.
But, at the same time, I don’t think that Wish was made as a way to fix whatever end game the party is working towards, here.
A lot of people might think that it’s like a genie wish, where as long as you phrase things in a way where they can’t be misconstrued, the Wish will go properly. I personally don’t think that’s how the spell is supposed to work, though. I think that even with a perfectly phrased spell, it is still in the DM’s power to nerf the effectiveness of the spell as they see fit.
This, obviously, can lead to some issue between the wishful player and the DM.
So when Wish does come into your game, what DMs should do is speak to that player ahead of time about the potential uses of Wish that they might be considering to use in the game. The two should work together to come to a conclusion about what would be fair to allow, and what a fair unforeseen consequence might be as a result of the Wish.
Because no one likes getting the rug pulled out from under them, and while it may seem like a cool move to pull some wild Wish out of your back pocket to completely derail a DM’s end game plans, you need to keep in mind that the DM has every right to pull a rug right out from under you in return with that RAW “latitude in ruling.”
…Which could lead to a pretty resentful situation, if everyone is over here yanking at rugs all session.
Plus, we haven’t even gotten to the penalties for casting the spell in such a way:
The stress of casting this spell to produce any Effect other than duplicating another spell weakens you. After enduring that stress, each time you Cast a Spell until you finish a Long Rest, you take 1d10 necrotic damage per level of that spell. This damage can’t be reduced or prevented in any way. In addition, your Strength drops to 3, if it isn’t 3 or lower already, for 2d4 days. For each of those days that you spend Resting and doing nothing more than light activity, your remaining recovery time decreases by 2 days. Finally, there is a 33 percent chance that you are unable to cast wish ever again if you suffer this stress.
This is pretty tough if you’re planning on casting Wish at the top of a BBEG fight, because it’s not like Wizards and Sorcerers have all that much HP to begin with.
The 33% chance of losing Wish for good also acts as a significant nerf for any Wizard who might think that they get 1 free Wish per day to use on anything, because odds are that after three days of that you’ll just be done.
At the end of the day, I think it’s in the interest of the DM, the Wishing player, and the game as a whole for some prior communication if Wish is going to be used outside its basic use. Sure, it might not seem quite as exciting for the player to have to explain their big move to the DM before the session even starts, but it will give you a chance to work together to come up with something that you both feel good about — and that will make for the best story for the party.
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