Wish is a powerful spell that can alter reality by speaking aloud. As a 9th-level spell, it is available to spellcasting PCs reaching their power height. In D and D 5e, the basic use of this spell is to duplicate any other spell of level 8 or lower. The wish spell is legendary and can be used in both in-universe and out-of-universe scenarios.
In the Player’s Handbook for 5e, the wish spell is described as Wish (Conjuring/Summoning) Range: Unlimited Components: V Duration: Speical Area of Effect: Special Saving Throw: Special. Wish is the most powerful spell a mortal can cast, both in-universe and out-of-universe. However, it requires some DM intervention to smooth out potential abuses. A wish is one action to cast, which can take up to 6 seconds, with any actions beyond that being allowed by the GM.
Wish 5e is considered the best spell in Dungeons and Dragons, a feat of magic all Wizards aspire to. However, even DnD Wish has its downsides, such as its damage resistance. The rules say that wish can reliably duplicate any spell of 8th level or lower, but it can also be scaled down if it seems too powerful.
In conclusion, Wish is the most powerful spell a mortal can cast in D and D 5e, and its mechanics and uses are explored in this expert-written guide. While it may require some DM intervention to smooth out potential abuses, it remains a powerful tool for players to explore and improve their skills.
📹 The most Powerful Wish Spell – D&D 5e
After a lot of study of the Wish spell and its description, talking with countless dungeon masters and testing it on actual dungeons …
What is the 33% chance of the wish spell?
Casting a spell to produce an effect other than duplicating another spell weakens you, causing 1d10 necrotic damage per level of that spell. This damage cannot be reduced or prevented. Strength drops to 3 for 2d4 days, and your remaining recovery time decreases by 2 days for each day spent resting and doing light activity. Additionally, there is a 33% chance that you cannot cast wish again if you suffer this stress.
What is the most overpowered character in DnD?
The Druid and Bard are the most overpowered classes in D&D 5e due to their versatility and ability to adapt to various situations. While the Druid and Bard do not possess the same degree of raw power as the Wizard, they are nevertheless capable of contributing to any situation in a meaningful way.
What are the drawbacks of wish 5e?
Wish 5e has drawbacks, including the risk of losing access to the best spells in the game, a 1 in 3 chance of never being able to use it for anything except copying spells, and significant weakenedness from the stress and shock of casting Wish 5e. Your strength drops to three for 2d4 days, and until you have a long rest, casting other spells damages you, causing 1d10 necrotic damage per spell level.
Are there limits to the wish spell?
Wish spells can have unintended consequences, making it crucial to be precise when expressing your wish. For instance, a mortal wishing for omnipotence would be instantly destroyed. Reddit and its partners use cookies and similar technologies to enhance user experience. Accepting all cookies agrees to their use to deliver and maintain services, improve content quality, personalize advertising, and measure advertising effectiveness. However, rejecting non-essential cookies allows Reddit to use certain cookies for platform functionality.
Can the wish spell do anything?
Wish is a 9th-level conjuration spell that can be used by wizards, sorcerers, bards, Arcana domain clerics, and warlocks with a Genie patron. It can duplicate any 8th-level or lower spell, heal creatures, summon wealth, and gain damage resistance. As a 9th-level spell, it is available to spellcasting PCs reaching their power height. The spell’s only component is verbal, requiring no extra materials and no spell saving throw. Its powerful nature makes it nearly game-breaking. The casting time is 1 action, target is self, duration is instantaneous, and school is conjuration.
What is the limitation of wish spell?
Wish spells can have unintended consequences, making it crucial to be precise when expressing your wish. For instance, a mortal wishing for omnipotence would be instantly destroyed. Reddit and its partners use cookies and similar technologies to enhance user experience. Accepting all cookies agrees to their use to deliver and maintain services, improve content quality, personalize advertising, and measure advertising effectiveness. However, rejecting non-essential cookies allows Reddit to use certain cookies for platform functionality.
How strong is a wish spell in D&D?
Wish is a spell of considerable potency, capable of replicating spells of the 8th level and below. When coupled with the backlash, it can ensure the efficacy of any of the listed options to a high degree.
Can you use Wish to Become a God 5E?
In D&D 5E, the casting of a wish spell with the intention of becoming the god of anti-magic would ultimately prove futile, as the spells utilized for such a purpose are significantly inferior in potency to those required for the creation of gods, which necessitate a 12th-level spell and the sanction of the All-Seeing One.
How strong is Wish DND on Reddit?
Wish is a 9th-level spell that is expected to be as efficacious as other 9th-level spells, with the exception of Weird, which is presumed to be less effective.
📹 How to Use the Most POWERFUL SPELL in Dungeons and Dragons 5e
Wish is easily one of the most powerful spells in dungeons and dragons and so many people misuse it in order to destroy their …
Great way for the villain to remember you even if the party fails. Provided you play 5e, you want to do that just before the end of the battle, though. Wish has drawbacks that most people seem to ignore: If you use wish in a way outside it’s described purpose (anything outside the options provided in the spell description), your Strength is reduced to 3 (hope you don’t play with encumbrance) for 2d4 days. Any spell you cast after this causes 1d10 necrotic damage per spell level (can’t be halved or reduced) until your next long rest. And finally, there is a 33% chance you’ll lose the ability to cast wish ever again. Basically: casting wish Willy-billy – expensive. Making the BBEG shit themselves even though it might cost you your PC’s life – priceless.
Aaaaahhh – ‘I love this to happen in the Beginning of the Fight. 1D10 Necrotic to himself everytime the Caster casts afterwards, the Effect can have various Sideeffects like the Fighter stepping onto the former Position of the BBEG may slip on the Feces and such. Also, a 9th Leveöl burned right away. Also, it is mostly wasted, as many BBEGs do not wear Pants, thus this Spell makes them just leave – to return with more Preparation. Or, they just teleport away to change Clothes. Or, they do not give a shit about shitting themself, like most “Knights” do. Get creative or I’ll do.
so this is a story i heard from of mine on discord Some player : i cast wish Dm : deep defeated sigh for what Sp: i wish the BBEG to have a dangerous case of indigestion Dm:”…. Okay roll for it” 19 Dm:”*quietly* with the migth of an elder dragon Demiurge the demonic necromancer rips the migthest of ass that has befallen this world….. another sigh he takes damage” the entire table losses their shit and likewise prețy sure the dm lost a bit of his souls that day
Being immune to the unconscious condition is a thing, however it’s not strictly beneficial. Some creatures such as many elementals are immune to the unconscious condition and thus can’t be affected by spells or other effects that would cause them to fall unconscious. What happens when they fall to 0 hit points, you ask? They die. No saving throws, they just die, unless they were summoned creatures in which case they might just return to their native plane. Quote from the basic rules: “Dropping to 0 Hit Points. When you drop to 0 hit points, you either die outright or fall unconscious” and since you’re immune to being unconscious… you die.
All these people saying Prestidigitation does the same thing. No it does not. Using Prestidigitation is like throwing Poop at then using Magic. Using Wish is magically ordering them to shit themselves. There is a difference. And yes, you can use Command instead for the same effect but that means there is a CHANCE OF FAILURE. Why bother? Also, you forget the sheer feeling of POWER and MENACE of casting WISH for this.
Oh geez. XD In the last Pathfinder campaign I was in, I used the Wish spell to cast all of my other remaining attack spells on the BBEG at once. The GM had let us stock up over a sort of time-skip period on stuff we would need for the final conflict with this collosal eldrich deity that was gradually approaching, visibly, in the sky/space. It was actually a sort of dimensional movement, so it wasn’t bigger than the planet when it finally got all the way there, but it was still extremely huge. But, it also took a very long time to get there! We had years to prepare. So, naturally, one of the many things I prepared was a fist sized diamond specifically to use as the material component for Wish! It was even better than an earlier campaign, where in the level 20 conflict with the BBEG, I cast Time Stop, and used that time to cast a whole bunch of high level Summon Monster spells to summon a total of 17 Celestial T-Rexes. What surprised me was that the GM had prepared a custom Celestial T-Rex token with a matching visor like my character wore, since I summoned one before. What surprised my GM was suddenly having to find room on the Roll20 map to place seventeen of them.
NEVER make a healer, always broaden out up to a general support. You should be buffing, debuff canceling, healing, and maintaining a “livable” area (keep away environment or suddenly environment disasters from devastating the party) It makes that “healer” class far more entertaining to play and you do more than “so I heal grok for 2d4…”
Great article. I just “Wish” i had a group to play a lvl20 game with. most of the groups i have played with disbanded before those higher lvls. i have never gotten to play past lvl 10..i can only dream. Anyways, Enjoying all your content, your Uhm Ackshually build is one of my favorite of your articles. I showed it to my wife( who is not a dnd fan) and she laughed through the whole article… thanks for all the inspiration and guidance.
1. Cast Simulacrum without Wish. 2. Have the simulacrum cast Simulacrum with it’s 9th level spell slot on you because your main body hasn’t used its 9th level spell slot yet. 3. Have the new simulacrums cast the Simulacrum on you again and again. You’ve created infinite wizards. You’ve achieved infinite damage.
A few extra mentions for Wish spells in my opinion Heroes Feast is also a shout if you have 2 days before encounters (day one Simulacrum, day two Heroes Feast) you also avoid the material component cost of the spell, You also have Find Greater Steed as well if you have time, Forbiddance can also be used to stopping escapes through Teleports, Tsunami is an interesting Druid Spell to deploy against hordes but at the same time you already have Meteor Swarm for your 9th level slot, Wind Walk is a nice spell as well as it gives the whole party a 300ft fly speed if teleports have been stopped and you need to escape, Regenerate is actually a nice spell as it gives you 1 HP at the start of every turn for 1 hour which can keep you alive unless you get damaged 4 times in a round,
5:41 I’ve done some quick math, and here are my results : Probability of having at least one, among 5, casting of Wish that results in the loss of being able to cast it again : around 86,5% Same probability, for 10 castings : around 98,2% This math ( binomial law ) is probably not perfect, but it can give a first estimate
Normally I write the correct Genie Wishes, but as Wish is not a Genie I will offer what I believe is the best RAW use for non 8th level spells for Wish. Make a 5’x5’x5’x5’x5’x5’x5’x… multidimensional object of Graphene Aerogel, with one face being empty. Just 4 dimensions gives us a hypercube, so make as many dimensions as you would like. Only Mystra can attempt to impede you. Then use Catapult/Mage Hand/Unseen Servant/etc. upon it and throw it at your enemies, dropping the open face upon them. As most known entities can only see in 3 dimensions they will fall into the multidimensional object’s open face and be trapped in near endless multidimensional of spacetime. We are NOT talking alternate Planes. And Wish says “any dimension” which clearly means (x,y,z,a,b,c,…x1,y1,z1,a1,b,…xxx1, xxy1,xxz1,…) ANY dimensions. (Suck on that Newton! Where is your calculus now!!!!!!!!!!!!????) You are very welcome. -Your Friendly Neighborhood Druid
So, my dm once gave my stoner goblin artificer a scroll of wish, I saved it at the time because of a very specific reason, the reason being that I was very close to being 6th level. In 6th level of artificer you can get a new artificer infusion called “replicate magic item”. Need I say more? Also, the only reason I got the scroll was because I rolled a nat 20 on checking a body and rolled perfectly on my dm’s rng magic item chart thingy
honestly i like this idea of wish better than the typical “all powerful do anything you want” deal. it makes gameplay more interesting and certainly mixes up the meta with things like hallow and simulacrum edit: i also wanna mention that dnd isnt always about player vs dm, its about character vs enemy. its simply the dms job to think “how does the enemy counter this” instead of “how do i give my players a hard time.”
I would actually argue that what you should do is wait until you have access to “Wish” cast “Simulacrum” at 7th level, and then have the simulacrum cast “Wish” to replicate “Simulacrum” using you as the target, creating another simulacrum which then cast “Wish” to replicate “Simulacrum” using you as the target, rince and repeat. Of course, you shouldn’t actually do this because you want to play nice with your DM, but this is technically a way to mass produce infinite Simulacrums.
Can I offer, as a DM myself, the counterpoint that screwing over players for using Wish should be used sparingly. DM’s seem to think its their bound duty to fuck with players casting Wish, even if what they’re asking for is both in good faith and narratively satisfying, but I recall the absolute bafflement on my players face the first time he used a wish for a non spell replicating effect and he just hunkered down expecting me to fuck him over. But what he was wishing for (effectively a non line of sight mass teleport) was well within the normal power bands I associate with wish and while I made him roll to see if he kept wish afterwards, I let him have the effect he wanted. He explained to me afterwards that he expected me to do something like interpret his request to teleport the NPC’s they were evacuating to ‘safety’ by teleporting them back in time before the BBEG was alive or something. He obviously intended for them to be moved to their protected home base but the wording was loose enough that I could have fucked with it. But why? Sure if the player is acting in bad faith, wishing to kill the BBEG or make themselves God or whatnot, fuck with them, but when it comes to effects that are roughly in line with player powers at 7th level I will never understand DM’s who fuck with players wish casting just to be assholes.
“Make bad guy disappear” is just wishing for labyrinth to be cast. Might as well use it with 8th level slot Reincarnation is also a useful one. If you have like a week of spare time, stack a bunch of buffing spells with glyphs of warding inside of a demiplane and pop in with your friends before the next bug fight. Spam clones for free You can have all kinds of fun with wish
Another few spells that work well with Wish. Resurrection/Revivify: Allies within the Wish’s area needn’t fear death, and you needn’t carry around an expensive diamond. Mordenkainen’s Magnificent Mansion: if you need to duck out of combat quickly. You get this impenetrable fortress at your fingertips for the cost of an action and a 9th level spell. Any summon from Tasha’s: Having another power ally and not needing something expensive to conjure it. Think about having an 8th level Iron Golem punching a white great wyrm with fiery fists. Heroes’ Feast: Imagine using that every day without the need of 1000 gold bowel or 10 minutes of casting. You get a wizard, sorcerer, genie warlock, and bard, all with Wish, summon a mansion, then have Cthulhu (summon aberration) guard it, resurrect the fighter, and serve up a heroes’ feast. Then come out after a short rest…
I always change how wish works in my campains. I mostly lower it to make 3rd or 5th level spell but there is always a consequences which dm decides with dice. It mostly goes like this, Party:(Almost dieing) Wizard:”I want to cast wish” Dm:”For what?” Wizard:”I want to heal all my party” Dm:(rolls d20 and gets 5) “okay all of your party healled up to max hp but last kobold started to change it grew wings, becomes bigger and starts breathing fire. It is now become a kobold dragon”
I would argue that using wish to cast simulacrum is acting in bad faith to the dungeon master and the rest of the party. I’ve never been in a game where I liked the fact that someone basically had a second character running around. Totally within the rules of course, I just personally absolutely despise this use of wish.
If your simulacrum has your spell slots, why can’t you have your simulacrum cast wish in the alternative ways to give yourself consistent buffs? Like having the entire party be resistant to all damage types, at all times, after a week of casting simulacrum. Having them cast the resistance part of wish? Do that outside of battle when you are just resting around a town for a month or so. Especially since wish can have resistance to whatever and hallow can’t. And the wish spell isn’t stopped by a location like hallow is.
So few ever pick wizard it’s rare that I ever have this issue. The only times it’s come up are when magical items containing wish show up. My warning to players during session zero regarding wish is really simple. If the wish is earned, you’ve earned what you’re after. If the wish wasn’t earned… well… you’ll end up earning it after. I want us to have fun telling a story together, in stories there’s a beginning a lot of middle and a great end. Try to mess with that and we’ll end up with a beginning and a very quick end. Usually, everyone agrees and understands. The ones that don’t, I, unfortunately, have to avoid placing those kinds of items in the campaign.
So, something I noticed is the resistance effect doesn’t have any time restrictions on it, and doesn’t state that it can’t be stacked, which usually means it’s fair game…so… If you had 2 wizards who can cast wish, one could cast wish targeting the other with simulacrum so that the simulacrum still has a 9th level spell slot. Then that simulacrum can wish for the 10 creatures to have the damage immunity. Who cares if the simulacrum fails the wish save, it won’t cast any lv 9 spells ever again anyway. Rinse and repeat for every damage type, and boom, your whole party is resistant to every damage type.
I just saw your 2,000 damage fighter in one round article. Can I talk to you about our lord and savior “lvl 7 Shadowblade”. You need Lvl 20 character as follows, Lvl 11 Eldritch Knight Fighter, lvl 2 Paladin, lvl 3 Gloom Stalker, and Lvl 4 Sorcerer. They need the War Caster, Polearm Master, Alert, Piercer Feat. Then you use Holy Weapon, Booming Blade (7th lvl Shadowblade Scroll), Smite, Hold Person, and I believe a Hexblade or Cleric ability to create vulnerabilities. If you really want to break the game, 1 Potion of Giant Size. Once you do all of that you can deal +11,000 damage in a turn, without the potion +4,500 damage. On average if I remember right it is roughly the same as the max damage from your build.
Could you make a drain tank build. I havent seen many people who know what a drain tank is so ill explain. You have a medium amount of health for dnd i think fighter fits the regular hp amount and the drain tank heals from hitting enemies and most of the time with the lifesteal can out last other tanks. I havent been able to find a good drain tank build in dnd.
Player: ” Wish is a reality bending technique right? ” DM: ” Yes ” Player: ” And it’s capable of copying any Lv8 or lower spell ” DM: ” Correct ” Player: “So, as long as i wish for somethig that scales roughly to the feats achievable with Lv8 or lower spells, (wich include natural disasters like summoning a whirlwind, a tsunami, an earthquake or changing the weather) but still lower than other Lv9 spells (kill a target instantly, summon giant meteors, transmute anything into anything else, and stop time), whatever i wish for should be allowed to happen without any problem ” DM: ” Mhm, sounds perfectly logic to me ” Player: ” … I wish for a sandwich ” DM: ” Your wish goes terribly whrong– “
On the Simulacrum note, if they can’t get it through wish, and actually have to pay the extremely costly materials, don’t just be that DM that dispels it. That’s a sure fire way to piss them off because you know as a player doing something really cool and having it completely erased because of your DM feels awful. However, if they are getting it every day for free because of wish? Yeah go nuts. Just remember everyone is there to have fun it isn’t DM vs Players
So if you use the actual spell simulacrum on yourself and or someone else uses it on you with a wish spell or the ritual and you are capable of casting wish….. you can just keep having the new simulacrum cast wish to make another simulacrum infinitely? welp time to roll up to any BBEG or Gods doorstep with an army of a couple quadrillion level 20 wizards and to make it so they can’t dispel you….. have your friend cast wish to make you immune before making your army so now they’re protected dear god it’s beautiful
Once one of my players wished to create a star the size of a house that would then instantly be destroyed. That quickly ended the campaign. BTW multiclassing won’t stop you from learning high level spells because the rule with learning those stories is just that you have to have that level of spell slot.
I wish that mystical energy follows the players around, this energy will allow a random party member to use a cast a free wish of their choice during a battle (DM rolls for which player can use it for each battle) Added details for downsides: if the spell is used the energy takes a certain number of days to recharge. (Maybe a D20 roll to determine charge time) the player will suffer 1 exhaustion and have a saving throw, if save is failed the player will spend half of their max total spell slots (this can inflict over spell penalties) the spell will also have its normal cast rolls but the player will not suffer stress related effects, but a crit fail will faint that player. I feel like there should also be a fail risk of wild surge.
That part i hate. Replication of spells are usually not interesting. The whole point of coolnes factor of the wish is it’s being outside of the normal system. Why did they make it so much stronger in replicating, in fact they are making interesting use of that spell practically not viable. I hate it so much, that i am greatly disappointed.
Loved the article! Haven’t dived into how to play around with high level play before. Thought about the healing option: if you purely want to get the party up, what about Prayer of Healing? As a 9th level spell it would be 9d8, typically takes 10 minutes but will take one action, and worst case scenario if you’re a sorcerer you can use empowered spell to reroll 1s. Not guaranteed to keep them all up but potentially better than being exhausted for the rest of the fight.
I recently had the wish X Simulacrum conversation with a friend of mine, assuming you have the time, I usually recommend trying to cast Sim. at 7th lvl normally … because then your simulacrum has a 9th level spell slot, and it doesn’t matter if that simulacrum uses wish outside of duping spells in the long run like it does for your character.
Ok first I will use my simulacrum to cast such a wish. I have just had an instance in my last game where I made a mistake in judgement that has come back to haunt my party. I am planning on using a simulacrum to wish that I changed my mind in that moment in time (when I made that poor decision), and decided to not do it.
I did a slight change to how i let the wish spell be used cause it doesn’t seem fair to let a character that’s worked that hard just never be able to use it again so i did a lil changes instead i put that the person’s strength and constitution drop by 5 fr 1d12 days and they suffer a point of exhaustion on top of it and they don’t have access to using the spell fr 2d8 days before casting it again
So I may have spent several hours rewatching the entire Forever DM series and making this stat block: Gavel of Justice d12 magical bludgeoning +3 warhammer finesse attunement A large warhammer seemingly made of bronze, that brings a sense of security to those near it, and a sense of dread to those who oppose it. Justice Twice per day, the wielder of this weapon may raise it into the air, yell “JUDGEMENT” and deal 10d10 thunder damage from the sky to any creatures with an evil alignment in a 30 foot radius sphere Ritual of Corruption The Gavel of Justice can be transformed into the Greataxe of Execution. This is done by placing the weapon on the ground, drawing a 10 foot radius circle in chalk around it, and performing a 30 minute ritual to corrupt the Gavel. The creature keeps attunement after the transformation. Greataxe of Execution d12 magical bludgeoning +3 finesse attunement(preserved from the Gavel of Justice) A large black greataxe with a purple gem set into the center of the blades. The blades are connected to this center with multiple black metal rods, rather than it being a solid single piece. Punishment As punishment for creating such a horrific weapon, the first time the attuned creature picks up the weapon, they, and every creature within 5 feet of them are dragged into hell, where they can only escape by killing or being freed by the ruler of hell. Great Counter While holding this weapon, as a reaction to being hit by a projectile attack, the wielder of the Greataxe may counter the projectile, converting its damage into Force damage and reflecting it back to its source.
So… when you said to use Wish to heal, did you mean the Heal spell? Presumably, if you’re using Wish you’re an arcane type class, they’re not a healing focused character, so would have been handy to list off the best healing options for given situations just like you stressed Hallow and Simulacrum. (Also, having a copy of yourself means having a second reaction and second store of spell slots for counterspells to counter the enemy dispel magics and counterspells, which completely by that alone make them worth having.)
There are only two situations where using Wish for something other than spell replication is acceptable. 1. You have a “monkey’s paw” free wish this may include the exhaustion from it. 2. You are a class that has no access to the Wish spell. (Magic items exist that have wish) Honorable mention: you are preparing for the final battle and are making a Magen army but if you plan to do this just be a necromancer wizard or some other class that can’t have its HP max lowered.
Day one use wish to true polymorph yourself into the oldest silver dragon you can, now you have the race change along with all your class stuff and probubly racial magic of that dragon, take long rest day two use wish to make simulacrum and have the simulacrum ritual cast simulacrum, take long rest, day three go to the boss’s house squish him into a ball and play dwarf toss with your doubles and the barbarian till the boss stops breathing.
So, you can’t have a simulacrum go to the library and study because it can’t learn anything. Therefore, it can’t scout for the party either. It is basically useless when you aren’t with it, telling it what to do. The problem with dispelling the darn things is that you need one dispel per copy. If I have 30 of them, you are hosed. If they all have wish, I don’t care if they can’t cast wish again, because they won’t have the slot to do so.
If you have a Ring of Three Wishes, and you use a wish to fully heal the party, can’t you just use another wish to use 5th level evocation Recharge to restore the ring’s charges? You’re technically touching the ring itself AND you don’t have to burn a diamond worth at least 250gp as a component due to the base effect of a Wish Spell.
Well, for the wish spell, the first time i read its effect, i said that my sorcerer would never had it, i mean, okay, it’s a super good spell for using almost every spell…but only for that, used in an other way is way to risky (if one day, in a campaign, my character can learn a level 9 spell…i think i’ll go for time stop, it may be technically a less useful spell compared to wish, but it can be used to temporize foes and then make them more damages, weakening them, or simply help your party)
One thing about wish that annoys me from it’s very description. The way they dumbly word the spell- the only way you don’t suffer stress/risk losing the spell is if you use it to replicate any 8th level spell free of charge instantly….that’s cool, I don’t mind that, BUT THEN WHY DO THEY THEN DOUBLE THE SPELLS DESCRIPTION WITH OTHER EXAMPLES THAT DON’T MATTER?! It’s not like the examples are outlining limitations, it’s a spell that tells limitations to kick rocks. It’s like they originally wanted wish to also do the listed examples also free of charge but the way they worded/ruled it after just completely disregarded that entirely. A quarter to a half of the spells description is unneeded.