Wish in Dungeons & Dragons

[@maxx8362]

Casting wish is like doing coding on a reality-level scale without the ability to check for bugs first.

[@PapaBear_Gaming]

That is quite possibly the best description I've found to date.

[@anthonynorman7545]

PERFECT!

[@nickwilliams8302]

Not necessarily. Wish is actually pretty reliable, _provided_ that you're only using it to produce one of the listed effects or duplicate the effect of an 8th level or lower spell. It's when the player tries to go outside those parameters that things get weird.

[@anthonynorman7545]

@@nickwilliams8302 yes, the metaphor works because if someone is coding something they're extremely familiar with, they won't need the warnings to know what they did wrong. The farther the programmer goes from what they know, the greater the danger.

[@nickwilliams8302]

@@anthonynorman7545 That's fair I suppose.

[@mikegould6590]

In my 40 years of playing this game, I've had all of one Wish. At that time, I wielded a sword that contained the souls of it's last two owners. "I Wish that the souls contained within Harbinger would be released so that they may pass to their proper afterlives in peace." The DM at that time gave me a huge chunk of bonus XP. He did not expect the Wish to be used selflessly.

[@DavidJette]

genie, you're free

[@johnsnow9210]

@@DavidJette lmao

[@jjs8426]

That's it? Meh

[@abelaguilar-acosta8691]

( ╹▽╹ ) Yee

[@jaimetheone9150]

The DM proceeds to murder you so your soul can go get them out and guide them into the afterlife.

[@The_E_Paladin]

So, a lawyer would be the best person to cast Wish.

[@zevfeitelson]

Don't forget even if it's successful if you aren't using it to replicate a lower level spell you have a 1 in 3 chance of never being able to cast wish again

[@brycelloyd3592]

5:55 ~ So, to a god, a wizard with wish is pretty much a kid with a gun.

[@ReverendRover]

You could actually do something with that idea, story-wise. The gods see a mortal use something so powerful and they are like "Nope, we're not having any of that. Pass me that meteor would you? I'll handle this..."

[@leviathan1082]

@@ReverendRover wizard wishes for true and absolute immortality before it strikes.....

[@ThaisPetralanda]

"Lemme see what you have!" "A KNIFE!" "NO!"

[@puppetmaster1420]

More like juggling nukes

[@PureGoldNeverCorrodes]

IT’S A BABY WITH A GUN!

[@pyronicdesign]

Had a character at the end of my game wish for absolute balance in the universe... the scene was like this, Player: I wish for absolute balance in the universe Other players: "NOOOOOOOO!!!" Their screams were cut off as a screen green screen door opened in front of them. (note, there were in an old temple with the only furnishing being an alter that held the gem which granted the wish) A tall skinny child wearing strange garbs and glasses stepped out of the screen door. The man was half turned behind him saying something is a foreign tongue that some how the players understood though it sounded far away. Me/DM: *stands Walks to my screen door* Begin a conversation with some invisible people. "Howdy guys! I'm The Dungeon master." Players: "Uuum okay, What does that mean?" DM: You know all those gods you worship? All the magic you have used, the world you live in and all of the planes and other gods and pretty much everything?" Players: "...yes..." DM: "I'm just gonna let that sink in for a few seconds..." Parties, dumb Barbarian who wished for balance: So...you some know it all? I hate Know it all's" DM: Oh i know. I also do it all, and make it all and all that, everything except what you actually do. That's all you, i just decided what happens after. What you guys do is controlled by someone else. Anyway, Turns out of of those someones decided to ask for absolute balance in the universe. So now I have to decide what happens. The problem is, absolute balance can mean a lot of different things. So i'm here to help clarify what you mean. because i COULD make everything...well boring, or i could just end everything, or i could start from scratch and start everything all over again.. So he's what we are going to do, I'm going to let each of you tell me one very specific change to your universe which you think would make everything more balanced. when you are done i'll make all of them happen, but you will have no memory of this meeting. Fair?" Players: "Fair" Barbarian: "No more Kingdoms!" Wizard: "Everyone can read!" Palidan: "Everyone follows the law!" Thief: "I grew up poor, Everyone has a home" Party: "Aww that's adorable!" Cleric: That I'm DM" DM: looks at the bard Bard looks at me Bard: "That none of that other stuff ever happened."

[@nanashi3711]

Woahhhhh that was sick!

[@who3730]

You deserve far more likes

[@natskis]

What a twist!!!!!

[@ZackeryCochran]

That is top tier meta gaming. I am impressed.

[@pyronicdesign]

@@ZackeryCochran that's what I thought.

[@reeven1721]

IMO every Wizard should just hire a team of Devil and Modron lawyers double checking each other to write their wish for them in Truespeech.

[@Wreckur4203]

I love this idea, "FIEND & MACHINE bufete"

[@anthonynorman7545]

+

[@thecactusman17]

This would actually be a great campaign hook.

[@hiswordremains]

I'm stealing this.

[@zevfeitelson]

But remember even if the wish is successful unless if you're just replicating a lower level spell you still have a one in three chance of never being able to cast wish again

[@drewforchic9083]

9:38 Not gonna lie, when I heard the request phrased that way, the first thing that came to mind was a bit more horrific. Let's go with a nice painting instead.

[@FelineElaj]

Have you though of a face with spider legs showing up? Because I though of a face with spider legs showing up.

[@garret1930]

@@FelineElaj raised as a zombie

[@jgr7487]

a disembodied face?

[@AndrewOplinger]

Replace the player's face with the face of the dead loved one. You get his face back, but you lose your own.

[@David-hx6hw]

I imagined the flap of skin that makes up the face just plopping on the ground

[@aformofmatter8913]

It's a trope that Wish is literal about the wording, but I personally like to think of it as granting the path of least resistance. Reality doesn't like being changed, so it will make the smallest change possible that would match what was requested.

[@heskelator3240]

A form of matter This is 100% my opinion on wish. If you want BBEG dead reality might just kill them if they view the party had a decent shot at taking them out but would also weigh up other possibilities like chance of them becoming a Lich, chance of them dying of old age and acts appropriately

[@CBJames2149]

@@heskelator3240 Honestly, if it came down to wanting the BBEG dead immediately, my wording would be something along the lines of: "I wish for the being in front of me named (insert baddy's name here) to have a brain aneurysm immediately right here, right now, and die from the aneurysm's effects." That way, not only is there little room for mischievous interpretation, but it's also something extraordinarily small and inconspicuous that reality shouldn't make much of a fuss over.

[@arsenelupin5424]

Heskelator Becoming a lich would make them undead,not dead

[@jcrase]

I tend to go on the side of not screwing over the characters intent of the wish for poor wording or phrases, for the same reason that puzzles that require player only knowledge are bad, its immersion breaking and feels unfair. I see wish as like a capstone to (usually) a character arc, and to have it all messed up because the player didnt say this or that properly makes everyone feel bad. That's not to say, as mentioned in the video, that consequences or new adventures cant sprout from it.

[@jacobvanveit3437]

Joe Crase I also treat it like this, with exception that I have a spell failure roll based on the spell level vs the players casting ability and primary caster attribute. So any spell can go wild, but high level spells go wild more often. The risk you pay.

[@zach1972]

With the whole stress thing and the 33 percent change of never using it again, I would increases the percentage by 33 percent for every successful use, meaning that you can essentially only cast it 3 times, or 4 with a 99% percent change of never using the spell again

[@Ragnaracc]

You shouldnt need a law degree to play dnd.

[@fiercemushroom4840]

@@zach1972 As the DM for my group, I would never have a player lose the ability to cast wish. On the flip side however, wishes must be VERY meticulously worded because every wish can and will be scrutinized for ways to corrupt it. Some of the best adventures my party has had have come from corrupted wishes.

[@monsieurnothing46]

I once had a player write an entire legalistic essay detailing the ramifications of their Wish spell to bring back a dead party member who died under horrible circumstances and was beyond True Resurrection (also complicated plot stuff involved). I had intended as the DM to have some strange or difficult circumstances occur with the Wish spell, similar to what is detailed in this video. This player planned for weeks after the death of the party Ranger (at Level 19, right near the end of our campaign), writing this long essay accounting for every possible loophole that could be exploited by a fiendish or otherworldly entity possibly granting a Wish. The TLDR of the essay (over 3000+ words) meant that the other player character could be brought back to life with no negative effects the player would dislike. The character’s body, soul, memories, and entire person would be brought back to life and now be able to live a prolonged life with no strange circumstances or undesired outcomes. I appreciated the effort taken by the player to write this essay (and it fit the character of their very introspective, quiet, shy, and cautious wizard) and I could not think of any silly loopholes to not give the player what they fully intended. And anything I could have tried would have been breaking the rules or lore of my own world I had built over the campaign. Nor would I be so mean-spirited as to deny someone this Wish after going through so much effort, even if I could have found some tiny loophole to give them something unexpected. They weren’t able to cast Wish ever again afterwards, but that was okay for them. The Wizard resurrected the Ranger despite it seeming impossible and it was a good end to the campaign.

[@red2fire2]

This made me smile

[@sebaseba6710]

*player casts wish Gaunter O'dimm theme starts playing...

[@sirbraveheart6535]

Ohhhh, I heard it in my head as soon as I saw this, underrated comment!

[@nickolas474]

DM: "Your wishes he grants, as he swears to adore you Gold, silver, jewels, he lays riches before you Dues need be repaid and he will come for you All to reclaim, no smile to console you" ...you sure this is what you want?

[@JB-xl2jc]

nickolas474 “Do you really wish to know?” “Yes.” “No, Geralt, you don’t. Just this once I shall spare you. All those who have learned my true nature have perished.” Slightly paraphrased but that exchange was one of my favorite in any game ever. We as a player realize just how close Geralt came to inadvertently ruining his immortal soul by making a wish to Gaunter carelessly.

[@Aplesedjr]

I’ve personally never understood the “take the wish and give the player the absolute worst outcome you can think of!” mindset that a lot of DM’s seem to have. This is one of those things where you need to lay down the hammer and just say no if they try to wish for something ludicrous, or simply tell them to not wish for something like that when they gain access to it. Or maybe even just go along with their crazy, if poorly worded, wish and make something fun out of it, instead of basically ruining any chance of that player continuing with their character.

[@TheRandist]

Our barbarian for his third wish wished for the Djinn’s most powerful item. He got an indestructible ballbearing :)

[@eventhorizon853]

The best example of "a wizard getting that power without knowing how to use it properly" is most likely found in Brandon Sanderson's Mistborn. Good starting point if you're a DM and have a wizard get to that point.

[@HSuper_Lee]

Interestingly, that's exactly how I plan to flavor wish if I ever have a player cast it. Divine power and perception but without the knowledge or wisdom to use it correctly, and you can't take very much with you when it departs.

[@GiordanoBruno42]

There are also very specific wishes, which cannot be easily manipulated by DMs to have unexpected effects. Things like: "I wish I was two feet taller, in proportion to my current body shape." "I wish that the Grand Fountain in Capitol Square would transform the input water in it's plumbing system, into quality red wine, also transforming drained wine into water as it re-enters the plumbing system. It will produce this effect as long as the fountain exists in working condition and is located in Capitol City." "I wish for BBEG to be cursed with the property of smelly feet, for all of eternity." These are silly examples, but the point stands, some wishes can be constructed in a way which leaves little room for shenanigans.

[@huey1910]

welp, I had wish once, the game master in a way tricked me into having it. Long story short, I tried to use it to level up my friend, he summoned, what can be called a GOD and tell us, “if you kill it, you’ll level up once”, as you may expect, we all died. Moral of the story only wish when you have a good dm, not a moody one

[@handsomeman-child8751]

Just say “I wish for my friend to be brought back the way I INTEND them to come back.” No fancy wording necessary. If the DM does anything fishy you just have to say, “that’s not what I INTENDED” and they’ll have to fix it.

[@DavidJette]

everyone who plays D&D has heard the story about the guy who got a lawyer to write their character's Wish for eternal life, to eliminate loopholes and force the DM to honor it. this is the only true way to win the game, imo

[@anthonynorman7545]

I normally say that it's not a game to be won, but if a DM requires a lawyer's level of wording to not screw the player, yeah that player won... For a little while. The DM always wins in the end.

[@anthonynorman7545]

@Michael Johnson I prefer the consistency of a video game

[@draxthemsklonst]

You say "the guy behind the curtain" in reference to the DM. I pictured the Wizard of Oz. Was he DMing?

[@Wreckur4203]

YES!!!!

[@prophetsith]

i mean.. kinda yeah xD

[@thecactusman17]

If you DM, you know that he's ALWAYS DMing.

[@Beastintheomlet]

Absolutely, he gave Dorthy a magic item of ruby red slippers that solved the whole quest in the first five minutes and naturally she never bothered to inspect them.

[@tiaxanderson9725]

Wording is often important. My Dragonborn said to a bunch of undead Dwarven smiths "Make me armour". After measuring his dimensions the Dwarves proceeded to forged plates of red hot steel onto his body. Upside; with my HP, second wind, and ways to gain temp HP a couple of times I just survived it (I let them do it) and got the XGtE Dragon Hide feat (without the stat improvement)! Downside; a Goblin warchief and lieutenant just arrived to mess up our days and I was basically out of features and abilities ^^'

[@lattekahvi1298]

if i were the DM i would described how those smiths take knives and start skinning you alive to make dragonscale armor

[@tiaxanderson9725]

@@lattekahvi1298 I doubt my DM wanted to take out the only experienced player out of this group of 6 other newbies though :P

[@faselfasel2864]

I would've let those dwarfs make an exceptionally well crafted replica of your character as armor plates. Basically unwearable therefore, but a nice monument/pseudo statue.

[@HeirophantCarneus]

Could just listen to JC talk about D&D forrrrrr, basically forever

[@succermom975]

Wish for it

[@unzens]

They wished my bbeg dead...made him undead added resistance to necrotic damage and gave him undead fortitude

[@ATinyWaffle]

But then, they wouldn't be dead. They would be undead...

[@fiercemushroom4840]

I had a similar experience when my party found a luck blade (courtesy of an extraordinarily high loot table roll) and wished death on a dragon they were pursuing. And so a previously unknown Lich showed up, murdered the Dragon in single combat, then stole the corpse. So of course later when they finally get around to hunting the Lich, he's got a pet bone dragon guarding his vault with the phylactory. Fun times, fun times. The party did eventually win the encounter but it came damn close and was ultimately decided on essentially a coin flip.

[@RoundRobin0]

@@ATinyWaffle in MOST RPGs undead IS dead....just an aware and mobile variety of dead.

[@AIWARAS619]

That's why you ask for his brain to be teleported to the center of the sun without any other mystic change in the universe outside of that exact effect resulting out of the casting of this instance of this spell, or for his body to turn into non magical acid. Or my favorite is to slow someones perception of time so much that a million years in reality would feel like a single second to them, so that even if they can not die of old age and starvation just standing there we will still have three million years before any action can be taken by them, so you can research any back ups for resurrection they have and destroy them before you kill them.Because let's face it the big bad will have a way to come back or two prepared and finding them can be a journey on it's own.

[@dashua1735]

_"I wish for (villain_name_here) to die by my doings next time I meet him, saving the world in doing that."_

[@Bluecho4]

The Wish spell in DnD functions much like...basically all magic in Mage: The Ascension. Incredibly open-ended, but with the caveat that you're always at risk of royally pissing off Reality itself. There are ways to avoid that; like with DnD's Wish, if you stay within the realm of effects that Reality accepts as standard (or at least _appear_ to), you don't get punished. Mage: The Ascension, being set in the modern World of Darkness, means the titular mages have to skirt around what is believable to the average observer (Coincidental). If they do unbelievable things (go Vulgar), they risk the hammer of Paradox (literally the paradox between accepted reality and what your mage just did) hitting them on the head, in unpredictable ways. Which doesn't mean mages in MtAs don't go Vulgar. They just have to be careful and sparing about it. Gotta make sure that if you break Consensual Reality, it's because you really needed (or wanted) to. And that you be prepared to take Paradox on the chin. You won't be caught every time (each Vulgar casting or botched effect adds a Paradox point that gets expended at the GM's will), but you WILL be caught. Eventually. So if I ever run a DnD game where the players get up to casting Wish, I'll use that as license to channel some Mage: The Ascension directly into the DnD game. I've got a long list of Paradox backlash ideas, just waiting.

[@brotherbear92]

I prefer the way Mage: the Ascension handled people witnessing vulgar magic and to the way that Mage: the Awakening handles it. In MtAw Sleepwalkers just seeing magic at all risks paradox, regardless of what steps mages might take to make the magic believable.

[@bainbonic]

Speaking of World of Darkness, I love using Wish like the Level 10 Disciplines in Vampire: The Masquerade. These Level 10s are called "Plot Device," and are there for story purposes rather than to benefit the players directly. As a player I often discuss the uses of Wish with the DM beforehand as a plot point that doesn't directly benefit me or the party, but benefits the DM's plans.

[@zdbarnett]

My 'Wish' experience: In a homebrew campaign set in the Forgotten Realms, my 6th-level players used a bean from the Bag of Beans to awaken a subterranean tarrasque (that I stupidly included as foreshadowing), then had to try to stop it from destroying the nearby city that they were sworn to protect. In encountering the tarrasque, they activated a trinket one of the players had been holding since the beginning of the game: the snuffbox of Karsus Netheril, whom had enclosed a 'Wish' spell scroll within, to be opened only if the tarrasque was ever re-awakened. Their wish: To resurrect Karsus Netheril in the flesh to assist them in locking the tarrasque away. My BBEG was a beholder lich, pulling strings behind the scenes, before they made that decision - but they gave me a bigger, badder, more-evil super-villain to supplant him!

[@Gray963]

There is a strong lesson here about researching super beings before you bring them to life. xD

[@ZackeryCochran]

Lol? Why not just wish the terrasque away? “I wish the terrasque, and only the terrasque, was sent to an empty pocket dimension where it will never be able to leave and nothing will be able to enter.” The end.

[@leviathan1082]

@@ZackeryCochran I wish that the terrasque had NEVER existed....

[@ZackeryCochran]

Leviathan time wishes get tricky. Be careful with those. Can unfold into something worse than a terrasque if the dm gets creative.

[@JohnCavalcante.Oficial]

Karsus didn't transform Mystryl into Mystra? SPELLPLAGUE ALL OVER AGAIN?

[@p.chavez2839]

"Wish is the ultimate expression of wizardly power" Bards with Magical secrets: HOL' UP A MINUTE

[@chesskinge4627]

Sorcerer using subtle spell "I think and it happens!" 😛

[@eliaslovell7756]

A better option to use instead of 33% chance to not cast wish again is to give the caster 4 levels of exhaustion that only goes away by passing a constitution DC check of 20.

[@Mare_Man]

Even just 3 levels of Exhaustion should be sufficient, no extra strings attached. It's easily the most debilitating status condition in the game

[@eliaslovell7756]

Just an Average Dragon True. It’s just that a 33% to never cast wish again is just boring.

[@Mare_Man]

@@eliaslovell7756 Agreed.

[@dnddude9652]

...if not 3 or 4, 5 would work... 6 = instant death

[@TheMajickPixel]

My favourite wish was one told to me by a friend who ran a campaign about a bunch of holy characters raiding the nine hells ti save a friend who fell to darkness And he gets a wish and wishes "I wish the nine hells were no more" They were returned to the mortal world but along with every demon/ entity in the 9 hells The wish took it literally and simply removed the location And just moved every demon to the mortal realms Including the big bads like orcus and asmodeus It was pretty much an instant game over XD

[@gokification]

I always have it that if a wish is cast not by the caster but on behalf of the caster ( Genie Style or monkey's paw) or by a source that is not directly the caster that the wish may not go as expected but if it is directly cast from them I usually are on their side of interpretation of what they want to happen

[@PikaPetey]

so if my character knows wish. I could spend a week for my character using wish to cast clone and forgo the material components. I could have 7 clones growing in a week. I could use my character to plant clones all over the place and they'd never die.

[@NaN-Gram]

Isn’t Clone a 9th level spell?

[@jhinpotion9230]

Why did I know that Crawford won't mention sorcerers at all?

[@NerdimusPrimeX]

Sorcerers are always "wishing" for their spells.

[@saintmastema17]

well sorcerers are only the weakest class in the game, and litterally pointless to play play and multiclass, sure they got cool meta magic stuff but that does little compaired to the warlocks powers, (the other half magic full caster)

[@torinsmith9867]

@@saintmastema17 You're joking, right? A level 3 divine soul sorcerer can twin spiritual weapons and become as powerful as three fighters combined. Warlock is my favorite class, but their power peters out at high levels with their crappy mystic arcanum.

[@AkeelaTheGhost]

@@torinsmith9867 I don't think twinned spell affects spiritual weapon. Spiritual weapon's casting doesn't target a creature, it targets a point within range where a weapon is summoned and then it can attack a creature. Jeremy Crawford even answered that question on twitter. Even if it did, casting spiritual weapon multiple times doesn't allow you to take multiple bonus actions to attack with all of the different spiritual weapons. I do agree with you that sorcerers are not even close to the weakest class in the game. Sure, the number of spells learned in total is a bit anemic, but that's easy to rectify as a DM. Let them learn an additional spell every few levels. Sorcerer is a favorite at my table and metamagic is an all-star feature, though I wish there were more options.

[@ThisNameIsBanned]

@@saintmastema17 Warlocks require a lot of role play to properly fit in their entire source of power , which lots of players fail to accomplish. If a Warlocks patron requires some nasty crap you have to do their bidding, which makes all warlocks slaves and whimsy losers pretending to be great magic users. Sorcerers however are born magical , the true and only way to embrace magic in its fullest. Anybody stupid enough to face them is instantly disintegrated. Thats the true way of magic, full eternal power, nobody claiming superiority over you, magic at your fingertips part of your very existence. Sorcerers are the master class.

[@minibuscus2]

the love this two camera set up and the kind of back and forth that happens, really enjoyable

[@Dalarish]

I usaly rule the outcome based on the source of wish. If the caster is a player or something that is on the players side, then the outcome is ruled in the favour of the player While malevolent sources will make it rule against the players and neutral sources rules as litteraly as posible

[@dnddude9652]

Lawful = Word to word Neutral = Lawful’s, Chaotic’s or something else Chaotic = Try to infer

[@kennymonty8206]

I come from the very early editions and both enjoy and am a tiny bit derisive of the changes that have occurred leading up to modern dnd. But, I never liked the idea of playing wishes out with the, at best, mischievous, or more likely, backfiring effects. I always felt that the wizard had been through an incredible journey to reach the levels needed to cast wish and it seems insulting somehow to make one of their greatest spells play out more like a curse. Rather, I enjoy the notion that the wizard might have some idea of the cause and effect relationship of reality, and might realize that the spell must reflect this reality, and take this knowledge into account. If one takes from here, there may be an unpredictable cost, but it need not be unpredictable. Balance, I think, would be something fairly obvious to someone who has become so completely tied up with the arcane forces that make up the magical universe. Anyway, I always tried to be more neutral, not adversarial, except at the surface level in the context of an enemy npc, for example.

[@dylanmcloughlin2187]

Once gave a homebrew character a curse where they had infinite wish spells, but not the free copy spell part. Rolled 10 on percentile dice first time!

[@MisterSmith00]

Odd thing is...if you are a Conjuration Wizard, your subclass features makes it so that any Conjuration spell with "concentration" cannot be interrupted. And since "Wish" is a conjuration spell...any spell replicated with "concentration" is essentially unbreakable until the wizard falls.

[@barrybend7189]

Incesent hammering would like to have a word with you.

[@mikewar5078]

I’m so glad he specified that the gods aren’t generally granting the wish but the wizard actually manipulates reality. So many players and DMs think that wish relies on a higher being rather than the wizard expressing the potential of its class. I’ve been working on a concept with wish being the gateway to higher tiers of magic by using powerful rituals to sustain the powerful effects of the spell and in turn being able to effectively cast lvl 10+ spells. However the goddess of magic maintains the only knowledge of the rituals and the players have to gain her blessing to use them.

[@The3ddfan]

My brother was playing a wild magic sorcerer, and unknown to anyone in the party, he had rolled a wish on his wild magic, so his party had one in reserves, but they just had to say the right thing. One guy eventually said "I wish I had an aoe," so the dm told him to roll to see which one. If I recall, he said it helped them out a lot.

[@CooperSummersVA]

How I like to do the idea of bringing somebody back with wish (unless worded differently) is to rewrite history to be what would have happened if they had never died in the first place, often with drastic results on the world

[@siyarg.4900]

OOOH THEY TALKED ABOUT LADY OF PAIN FOR A SPLIT SECOND, INSTA LIKE

[@MnJiman]

Considering I keep on reading that Lady of Pain is not part of DnD... and now apparently she is now canon... so... yea

[@siyarg.4900]

@@MnJiman Lady of Pain is definitely canon, she's the... entity (i call her this because she's hates being called a God so badly she kills any who calls her that) of neutrality, anyone who says she isnt canon doesnt know jack diddily squat

[@satansbarman]

I first came across and angered the lady of pain in planescape: torment, you can visit one of her legendary maze demi-planes 👍

[@spot6532]

I'm lowkey stealing that 1st Edition demiplane item idea

[@dnddude9652]

Demiplane is a spell, you know...

[@casual1857]

Wish is like a monkeys paw. You have to be careful with the hubris of your wishes

[@WarriorTRZ]

Nested Wish: When you need to keep the Gods of Order busy. The Chaos of that rippling and (sometimes) allowing other wishes to be cast/fulfilled at random will keep them chasing back just what the hell is going on. Also Casting Wish to make it so you can Cast Wish as a Spell-like ability once a Day? Broken....

[@ZackeryCochran]

“But doing so drains your hp to 0.” DMs retaliate.

[@WarriorTRZ]

@@ZackeryCochran Only if you get Caught... and if that's the case you best be ready for FAR FAR worse then "Near" Death from the amount of Havoc it will have Caused. Unless of Course you have it Set as a Contingency so that if you Get reduced to 0 HP you Cast Nested Wish.... It shouldn't need a Punishment to Cast it. The Punishment will be Actually Casting it and the Fact that suddenly all your Spells are gone. Or Someones "Vague Wish" of having a wife Ropes in the Parties Cleric... who is now Happily Married to old Farmer Giles. Or the Rogue who is now unable to steal anything without Crippling Pain... No the Punishment isn't something so Simple. It's Tailored too the Party that Let this Happen...

[@gethrojenkins9619]

The way those two were going on about Wizards and the Wish spell tells me a great deal. At the level a Wizard will be to have access means that he/she is no idiot and far from ignorant concerning a Wish's capabilities and risks.

[@bronsonkim6652]

I've been tinkering around with an NPC concept of a Wish Contract Lawyer. Someone who doesn't have class levels, but whenever a king or empress have a Wish scroll or a Genie that they need to cash in, that Lawyer is the one who is hired to write the most detailed, airtight Wish possible. Their fees are extreme, and they have a lot of sway over the nature of the wish, probably careful to make sure the wish doesn't do anything they would deem catastrophic

[@joeconlon9661]

So my characters wife has the lucky blade and during childbirth is dying. She wishes to stay by my side forever. Now I'm an adventurer who's wife is by my side as a spirit that only I can see. I'm looking for a vessel to put her in. Wish can really have insane effects.

[@killfear]

Wish is described as the Mightiest of Spells, but can't produce other 9th level (less mighty?) spells seemed odd... so I pushed back wish to be a pseudo-class feature/spell for 19th level instead of a 9th level spell so Wish becomes a true Anyspell (minus wish itself) from cantrip through 9th. mischief is still a feature; just made it a more logical progression. If wish is the Mightiest of spells, IMO having a 2 level delay to "get used to" casting 9th level preps the caster for some true campaign-ending decisions. love these spotlights!

[@InquisitorThomas]

Well it can presumably cast another 9th level spell, you just have to be willing to risk the 1/3 chance that you can never cast wish again, balance has to be taken into account, if you can cast any 9th level **with** a 9th level spell, then what's the point of the other 9th level spells?

[@killfear]

@@InquisitorThomas what's the imbalance of a spell that can cast any spell of 8th level at no risk @17th level vs any spell of 9th level @19th level? After 3 campaigns running level 1 - 20 over the past 5 years... my feedback is "no imbalance". In practice, my variant makes sticking to 19th more balanced. I'm open to evidence that would demonstrate how delaying wish to 19th is worse for a campaign.

[@InquisitorThomas]

Fil kearney I kinda agree, Wish does break spells like Simulacrum and Clone since they're meant to kept in check for by long casting times and material costs, as well as essentially giving the Sorcerer and Bard access to those spells when they originally didn't (I know Bard can technically learn these spells with Magic Secret, but it's the same instance of Magic Secret they can get wish, and unless you're **hyper paranoid** about losing wish then there no reason to pick any 8th level spell.

[@patrickhector]

@@InquisitorThomas Wish specifies that it can "duplicate the effects of any *other* spell". I think that quite clearly indicates that it can't replicate it's own effects

[@kaioxys]

Me: “I wish for complete understanding and mastery of the wish spell, including its origin and creation.” DM: “You now know absolutely everything about why you cannot cast this again.” ME: -_-

[@Luraldir_Original]

when it comes to bringing characters back (wish or otherwise), they may have seen your world's versions of either heaven or hell. if heaven, they may be furious that you've torn them from their family and eternal bliss and maybe even deny them the ability to return. If hell, those characters will be scarred beyond comprehension from the tortures they have endured.

[@Purgosmusic]

I'm trying to make a Genie build for a player of mine the way I'm going to build it is: When a player runs her lamp that player will get 3 wishes that will allow the player to wish for any spell except the wish spell,any spell that forces someone's freewill and any spell that bring back the dead but the twist is the Genie gets to choose how the wish is granted if they are not careful with their words.

[@williamsmith1741]

I've only got two issues with Wish as it currently stands: 1) You provide a list of safe options: granting ten creatures immunity to a single spell for eight hours, forcing a single reroll, etc., but then also subject those "safe" options to the new stress rule of having a 33% chance of losing the ability to cast Wish. For most of the "safe" options, they seem pretty trivial to run the risk of permanently losing Wish, and even conjuring $25k of gold should be trivial when you consider that you're a level 17 to level 20 wizard. I should be able to play in the same arena as fiends and celestials, conjuring gold to reward lesser beings while I focus on rewards of far greater value. Besides, it's basically making the creation spell's effect permanent. If anything, being able to conjure gold on demand should make me and my tower a target for thieves/dragons that I'd have to deal with or risk losing my research. 2) If I have my simulacrum cast wish, even though it is just a construct that can't be healed and must be "repaired", sharing no physical or mental connection with the caster, if that simulacrum casts wish, somehow the strain on the construct transfers to me as biological strain. Doesn't make sense. I'd have made it so that either the Simulacrum can't cast spells above the spell level which was used to create it, or, since it's basically just a snowball wielding cosmic power, if the Simulacrum casts wish, give the spell a 66%+ chance to fail with the Simulacrum exploding with force damage and dealing a number of D10's equal to the number of the caster's hit dice. Of course, I acknowledge that these can all be waived or modified and you would really just have an adult conversation with your DM if you plan to use wish. The RAW just leaves a lot of room for lazy or stubborn DMs.

[@anthonynorman7545]

By RAW the simulacrum's 33% affects the original castor? I don't remember that being in the PHB. I agree that the listed alternatives should be immune to the stress. Why'd they include them if they can't be reliably used?

[@williamsmith1741]

@@anthonynorman7545 "If a simulacrum you have created casts wish, both you and your simulacrum suffer the stress associated with casting the spell-including the risk of being forever unable to cast wish again. The inability to cast wish extends to any simulacrum you create in the future. " The above is taken from the D&D Adventurers League FAQ March 24, 2017

[@anthonynorman7545]

@@williamsmith1741 ah, so it's an addendum added to AL play. I don't play AL so it's not RAW in regards to my gaming.

[@CptnJaymz]

The 33% chance to loose the spell is only if you do an effect that isn't listed in the description.

[@anthonynorman7545]

@@CptnJaymz unfortunately, that's RAI the text says: "The stress of casting this spell to produce any effect other than duplicating another spell weakens you. After enduring that stress...Finally, there is a 33 percent chance that you are unable to cast wish ever again if you suffer this stress." It would have to say "other than duplicating another spell or one of the alternate effects mentioned" for it to work that way RAW. Tangentially related, by the wording of the stress description, duplicating a 9th level spell doesn't result in the stress.

[@defensivekobra3873]

So that is why bards and clerics dont get wish? Bard replicate the words of creation in accordance with their wishes, but they lack magical mastery. Neato. Still can be Gotten via magical secrets. Also can you wish for something weird and then request a drawback?

[@DaDunge]

"Wizards are almost like gods" Yeah we've noticed WotC feel that way.

[@rokkkrinn2793]

My favorite video you guys and gals have done. So much fun. Thank you, Todd and Jeremy.

[@brianmaxwell4285]

One of my party members pulled the Wish card out of the Deck of Many Things and we spent 30-40 mins wording that wish so that the whole party got some benefit out of it. By the time we told our DM we were ready and he saw it, he couldn't think of anyway to make us pay. We would have made a group of lawyers proud!

[@rotwang2000]

The wish is based on traditional folk tales where they come in two types. The beneficial ones given to righteous individuals who use them wisely and the nefarious ones abused by greedy and foolish individuals who end up running to their doom. In D&D it's a form of entrapment. It lures you with the promise of power and then is meant to give you the shaft in every possible way if you omit so much as a comma.

[@papamonkeydaddy9137]

i never noticed that wish could cast spells from other classes that is awesome

[@crowsenpai5625]

Imagine the Lich’s shock when the wizard casts Smite at the 8th level.

[@yinyangdragonx]

my DM rewarded us with a wish, and the other members of the party all wished for super cool stuff, like a warship that can magically fly, and me the paladin wished that a demon that was in another character (who was a child in our group at the time) would be transferred and resealed inside my paladin, i surprised everyone at the table, DM ask why i wished for that, and i say because thats what my paladin would do, and now my paladin struggles to be faithful and stay on the path of righteousness due to the demon's influence.

[@Diana-tf4js]

the way i handle wish (that i think is fun) is that i have whichever player is casting it write down their wish (so that i have their exact words), i decide how i want to interpret it, and then i have the player read their wish out loud and it happens

[@leocarioshiny]

I started my current longform campaign with a wish spell. The players get access to it by assembling arcane artifacts that have been mysteriously falling from the sky, which when brought together, can grant a wish. Little did they know that after using their wish to save someone from a horrible curse, they became indebted to a quarut. They are then commanded to repay their cosmic debt by retrieving these artifacts before more adventurers start making wishes of their own

[@deKahedron]

11:06 Trust me, my group keeps selective traditions alive.

[@ryanwaughman8492]

Wish has been used multiple times in campaigns I have been a player in to bring people back from the dead and like they said, it doesn't always go as planned. On one occasion we resurrected our partys monk, the wizard worded it as "Return her to us in body and mind" and when she came back she could no longer use ki (the spirit which he did not ask to be returned). The other was an unearthed arcana campaign and we tried to wish back the partys mystic (after he failed his disappear for 1d3 days instead of dying trick) and did something similar, the wizard asked that "My dear friend be returned as we once knew him in hopes that he remembers us" (or something along those lines) and he was revived as a child due to the partys backstory stating they had known each other since childhood. This caused a lot of problems due to the fact that even though he had all his memories up until his death, he was now a child and no longer possesses the control over his body a mystic needs to use their abilities.

[@matts.7667]

I really want to get into D&D, I’ve played a bit before and it’s really fun but my wired work schedule and life makes it damn near impossible for me to get a few hours a week just to chill out and play.

[@TheFirstMasked]

I would wish for two luck blades full of wish counters

[@alessandraduffie3543]

If you wish to continually replicate wish, you get a stack overflow

[@zorkwhouse8125]

A familiar quote to go with that reminiscence of DM's being more mischievous in early editions - "When the DM smiles, it's already too late..."

[@answerstewart1878]

I have always ensured the cost of the wish was equivalent to the reults and made sure my players were aware of this restriction. Except when mimicing a spell, i would try to see if any spell could effectivly cover the wishes wording

[@seidfric]

My DM gave me one wish in the form of the "luck blade" when I joined his game. The whole campaign i didn't touch that wish then during our last encounter with the bbeg we messed up the fight not knowing what to do. Long story short bbeg absorbs like 13 vestiges of the old gods and is just pulsing this intense all consuming black energy hitting us for like 43 damage a turn, I used my wish to get all the vestiges sealed away almost killing myself in the process. My favorite dnd moment ever

[@roguewisdom8742]

Personally, I always imagined Wish to work like it utilises the "path of least resistance" kind of logic. Example: A wizard wishes for limitless money. Of course, the laws of what would normally happen would involve a certain amount dropping from the skies, and the chance of never being able to use Wish again, due to casting beyond an 8th level spell. If she (in this case) were to cast this in an urban centre near to a bank, I would make things very interesting. Instead, several lockboxes in the bank would be Knocked, and their wealth (potentially greater than what would normally be wished) would stream in a line towards her. Due to using magic equivalent or below to 8th level, she does not recieve any personal drawbacks, but every guard in the city will be after her for grand theft.

[@teagan_p_999]

I like that method.

[@Millie-eb3iz]

I think that the universe wants to create the literal effect that you are asking about, but doing it the way that would result in the smallest amount of magic used, like with this: 9:36 - 9:45 the universe knows that it would be "cheaper" in terms of magical energy to make a portrait appear, rather than making the person come back to life.

[@danpeterson9317]

Wish is like asking a teenager to do a chore. It may get done but you may not like the results.

[@mrmastaofdesasta6994]

Oh, so I can choose how the spell grants wishes. I always wondered about that, because it is of course extremely important if the wish is granted by some entity, or if it instead gives the wizard omnipotency to grant the wish themselves.

[@gwagwagwa858]

Casts wish: get got, the universe gets got.

[@garrettrobinson3826]

I think the reason we can't use Wish to cast 9th level spells is so that we can't Wish to cast Wish in a way removed from ourselves. Like, if you could use it to cast itself, you could avoid the possibility of ever losing the ability to cast it, because the spell would be casting the spell for you. No need to roll the percentile if you aren't technically the one casting the Wish. Putting the level cap on the replication ability fixes that.

[@nervesconcord]

Currently at 4th level and doubly lucked out and got to pull a card from the Deck of Many Things where I got the Wish card, only one wish from it but still, thinking of ways to word something either cool narrative wise (we're doing Avernus) or something very powerful that the DM can't possibly find a way to screw me with however it's worded. Any suggestions? I don't know whether to just wish for something mundane like a once per long rest 8th level spell slot which can be used to cast any spell I currently know or just go totally OP and wish for the ability to control all matter.

[@hypatiaatheiria5868]

best tool for a DM faced by a party with a wish spell or ring = a good thesaurus

[@heyduke5761]

I miss the aging aspect of casting wish.

[@cassandragidney7682]

When you can bend the laws of reality you have to be careful not to bend them too far, or they're likely to snap back.

[@Peter-xs2mu]

Meh. Let's be honest: any GM will be able to twist *any* wording of a wish in such a way that the player is screwed over and their (single) 9th level spell leads to ruin or is simply wasted (9:30 is a case in point). Such GMs would run out of players on short notice, even if they're Lead Product Designers of D&D itself.

[@dexter2392]

it was explicitly said in this video that you're not supposed to screw the players over, but you're supposed to make the effect spark new adventure and create new problems even if it solves old ones. that is, make it interesting, not just plain.

[@MagizardInternet]

Personally if I was DMing, I would be more lenient with the wish like how Aladdin's Genie would do the wish.

[@fiercemushroom4840]

As a DM, I look for anyway possible to corrupt the Wish spell. My players must word their wishes VERY meticulously lest the wish immediately backfire. But I don't use the rule that says you have a 33% chance to never cast wish again, so they could technically cast unlimited wishes if they were high enough level with enough time and resources. They'd almost certainly destroy themselves and possibly all of reality though.

[@dylanstacey6782]

I'm playing as an oathbreaker paladin X school of necromancy wizard currently. I'm planning on using wish to become a lich

[@AmericanBrit9834]

I'm generally pretty lax with the wish spell but I work with a self-created rule that regardless of anything is always active. The Multiple punishment. If I suspect you are intentionally attempting to wish for more/infinite wishes (directly, additional sources of wishing, time shenanigans, ETC), I immediately cancel and use up the wish. Wish is supposed to be a big thing and I refuse to have it turned into a munchkin moment. If I suspect you are doing it unintentionally, I’ll give you a warning that multiple wishes are dangerously unstable and may break apart.

[@PlatipuseKing]

This guy is always smiling so intensely

[@scorpiovenator_4736]

my villains used this spell to make everyone forget the party existed

[@surge123456789]

i am running HotDQ and gave a player a ring of wishing (i know i know I KNOW) and he wished that Tiamat would not be freed from Avernus and with out a second thought i went "BAM! GRANTED! but nothing in the game seemed to change for my players, there was still a dragon cult stealing money, planing on raising Bahamuts sister (is Null male or female?) and being a pain to the PCs so 2 of my players using meta knowledge started complaining that everything should have changed, can't wait to see their faces when they basically made things go from bad to worse by making the cult not summon Tiamat but instead Null in her place.

[@stevegixing700]

I’d wish that the weave is and always has been completely immune to any action made on it when the intent is conniving, violent, or malicious.

[@trustindean5164]

So this thing just reminded me that in my tomb of annihilation game only two members of my party died, yet still I considered myself to be the "sole survivor" in spite of the fact so many also lived through the whole thing bc my character was put into a life threatening scenario basically once per session and lived through each one while the others mostly avoided it

[@shallendor]

The Wish spell is why D&D needs lawyers! Temple of Elemental Evil was a nasty adventure!

[@kingmasterlord]

The pair of you seem like someone to ask, if I was to go to the positive energy plane and fill an entire bag of holding with those crystals that form there, then go to Avernes and steal a Devil's Ride, could I set up a ritual casting of Wish, dump the bag of holding into the circle, and say "here, magically animate that so it doesn't run on souls" and have it work as intended? expeditious retreat, animate object, permanency, three mid-level spell effects.

[@unknownvalor9755]

From what I understand you can use a buddy's wish to restore your wish if it gets burned out.

[@cameronscott9399]

Yeah but theirs could get burned out I think. And then if that happens you're both fucked. Try getting a level 17 caster NPC for starters, then a level 17 caster NPC who's willing to risk casting wish like that, then getting the stack of cash they will inevitably charge

[@CptnJaymz]

The wish is still cast so you could wish their wish back.

[@DanTheYoutubeAddict]

Here is my experience with Wish: I wished for a way to control a tarasque and got a saddle with reigns that I had to physically apply to it. So with a strength of 4 (due to the spell) and either excessive courage or stupidity (take your pick) I flew off towards the tarasque, and... I botched my roll to apply the reigns which allowed it to eat me. Since then I have ardently refused to use it outside of just replicating another spell. Also my humorous way of casting it is to say "Gee, I Wish I knew _." and then cast the Wish.

[@thundasc]

I had a player contemplating wishing that all contracts were no longer valid. This is after the players had an excursion through the first 4 layers of the Hells and had signed themselves into a number of them. He never actually did it, because I think he knew there was no way that it ended well for him, but at least once a session for the final ten or so of the campaign (level 1-20) he would ponder making that wish aloud. An interesting side note is that the wishes were granted to the player by way of a monkey's paw that he knew would 'Exact a cost equal to the wish made on the world around it'.

[@futuza]

Oh dang, that's a dangerous wish. You could end up making the laws of physics completely fall apart, it might even consider things like the law of gravity, or the electromagnetic force part of a 'contract', reality would straight up just die and become primordial chaos.

[@thundasc]

@@futuza An interesting aside, while on the topic. Just before their excursion through the Hells they wandered around Limbo for a couple weeks. So they had a pretty solid look at that sort of thing exactly, albeit with the relative safety of limited use protective magic items that ensured they could remain unchanged and able to breath/survive in the shifting landscapes they encountered.

[@NOSHEDMANTIS]

I was in a group of level 4 or 5 adventurers who had somehow ended up with an item that gives us 1 use of Wish... "We wish to become level 20". We got our wish but the required XP was "claimed" by killing the equivalent Good creatures in the world.

[@poodlefilmstrailer]

Anyone know which table for wish spellcasting side effects Matt Mercer seems to be using?

[@hurdco7]

Are you talking about the standard side effects that happen when you use wish for something else than replication. If you use wish your unable to use magic without hurting yourself for a while and decrease in strength are part of the spell. I haven't caught up with the 2nd campaign so I'm unsure if wish has come up.

[@poodlefilmstrailer]

@@hurdco7 It was used by Scanlan in the 2 extra episodes they made "Search for Grog" and "Search for Bob". He seemed to be rolling for possible drawbacks and even was knocked senseless after one casting in "Search for Grog" episode...

[@AkeelaTheGhost]

@@poodlefilmstrailer He was rolling for the "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." part of the spell. There's another clause which states "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. " which is probably what knocked him out. Its been awhile since I watched those though, so it could maybe be something else.

[@HeyyItsDaleVODS]

God i would love to wish for an unowned, unattuned luck blade to appear in my bag next time i intend to safely reach for it.

[@crowsenpai5625]

If standard wish can cast ANY other spell lower than 9th with ease, can i get risky with it with the GM and use it to bypass Mystra’s restrictions on magic and also cast spells above the 9th level? Could I use Wish to cast Ioulaum's longevity? Proctiv's move mountain? Marvin's Worldweave? Could I use wish to cast KARSUS’ AVATAR!?!?

[@CollinBuckman]

Probably not _cast_ them, but perhaps you could use it to gain access to knowledge on _how_ to cast them (because they actually can still be cast, it's just incredibly difficult and unknown to basically everyone)

[@Deamons64]

I have my players have to be damn careful when they use wish. There are rules, and they have to word it VERY specifically. I don’t make it so the outcome is always balanced against them, but I also don’t have it balanced towards them.

[@lordk.gaimiz6881]

So the list of things you can do in the wish spell (other then replecating a spell and the custom wish) can also be cast without worry? 'cause you said yes then you said no...i am thoroughly confused.

[@ClassicDura]

Everything he started saying about the interactions between players and dm's still persists to this day tho xD

[@MetaMdad]

I think it's best to give the wish a 33% chance of passing without fail, 33% chance of the DM getting to choose who actually gets the wish, 33% chance of the wish failing nothing happening and The Wizard getting exhaustion, and a 1% chance of getting severe low back and never be able to cast it again.

[@El_Chico_des_Galos]

I would wish to know all of the spells on the wizard’s spell list