DnD 5E Spell Spotlight: Wish

Author: pandaniel

Today we will be looking at wish, potentially the greatest spell in D&D 5th Edition.

Wait? What? You literally just called it a trap spell?

Wish is great. You can wish for anything! Well, uh, almost. There are a few, uh, provisos, a couple of quid pro quos. This is what makes wish such a double-edged sword. The spell starts off with: 

This is incredible, for three primary reasons. These are:

The Speed

Instead of the normal casting time of the spell we copy, it takes effect as part of the action we used to cast wish. This means that spells that normally require a long period of time to cast can now be used in combat. For example, you could instantly erect a mighty fortress on the battlefield, because why not? Another more practical option would be Mordenkainen’s private sanctum, allowing you to shut down enemies who make use of teleportation. This way, enemy spellcasters with misty step no longer have a way of escaping your forcecage microwave.

The Cost (or Lack Thereof)

Duplicating spells can be done without providing any material components, even if they have a gold cost. This makes spells that are normally expensive and eat into your budget inconsequential. The most obvious beneficiary is simulacrum, granting you a duplicate for free. School of Necromancy Wizards may now make frequent use of the create magen spell, negating the hit point reduction thanks to their 10th level subclass feature. 

The Scope

You get to select the effects of any other 8th level spell or lower—not limited to your own class’s spell list. This adds options to classes normally lacking in certain areas, most notably the Sorcerer, but Wizards too can benefit from spells like animal shapes, using it to turn all their animate dead skeletons into CR 4 beasts.

Wish is truly an amazing option, maybe even the best option of any spell in the game. No day should go by where your 9th level spell slot is not used if you have wish known, its versatility is unmatched.  

Sadly, the spell description does not end there. It continues by listing several alternatives, and then ends with this clause: 

This is the biggest trap in the entire game, even bigger than find traps, and the reason for the headline. 

Chancing the loss of one of the best spells in the game? Truly preposterous.

Before we get started and show some great spells to duplicate using wish, we first want to talk about a common misconception about the spell.  

Requirements for spells, as previously stated, do not have to be met. At a glance, this seems like a fairly open and shut case. “Great,” you might think. “Free spells! I’m a level 17 Wizard. I deserve this!” Unfortunately, this phrasing fails to account for a certain subset of spells: spells that do not consume a costly component, and use this component for further points described in their spell descriptions. 

An example in clone:

The spell normally requires a vessel to be cast. However, due to us using wish to cast this spell, this is no longer the case. What happens now? Does wish magically materialize this component for you? Or maybe a variant of the vessel without a cost attached? Some other spells that fit in this category are magic jar, temple of the gods, and contingency. This is something to talk about with your DM. Remind them that no matter how they adjudicate the matter of this mysterious component, you are still always going to be able to cast the spell. The question is simply in what fashion they operate in regards to costly but non-consumed components. Would casting magic jar via wish create a container of your own choosing or do you still have to supply your own? It’s good to know these things beforehand, and it’s also good form to let your DM know of your intentions and plans ahead of time so they don’t feel pressured to make a quick decision for the sake of keeping the game moving. 

So, now that you truly understand the phenomenal cosmic powers that wish puts in the grasp of your hands, what should you use it for? A lot of the following options have been listed in one of our author’s personal blog, FormofDread, made by Haen the Heretic, but have been further detailed here.

One last thing of note:

Dunamancy spells are available through wish!* 

_{*if your game features content from Explorer’s Guide to Wildemount}

You simply duplicate any other spell of 8th level or lower, it doesn’t have to be on a class’ spell list, unlike Bard’s Magical Secrets. This means you can choose to cast any of your duplicated spells at 8th level, which we take as a base assumption.

During Downtime

One can accomplish nigh anything with wish and a bit of downtime, or rather time not spent adventuring. We’ll start by listing options that are normally better to use on days you aren’t busy fighting BBEG’s and such, as there will be better options for such days. However, some of these options might still be worth casting in combat, or to rest cast, depending on the situation.

Clone

You can duplicate any creature in existence. This is not a spell the psionics would tell you about. You can help to prevent not only your own death, but the entire party’s to boot. This is truly a “TPK killer” when you can cast it on all your fellow party members, and brings them all one step closer to immortality, as a bonus.

Conjure celestial

Sure, a celestial ally can be fun, but that is not the reason for this being on the list. We summon a couatl, which has the ability to magically polymorph into a humanoid or beast that has a challenge rating equal to or less than 4. We command it to use its Change Shape ability to polymorph into a lycanthrope and infect us with its “curse,” of which the rules can be found in the Monster Manual on page 207.

Lycanthropes typically feature the Regeneration trait or immunity to bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage from nonmagical attacks that aren’t silvered, which easily nullifies the vast majority of monster attacks, even at higher levels. Among all options, the wereraven is the best option, as you also acquire a non-concentration fly speed as well as the previously mentioned Regeneration.

Find greater steed

Find greater steed is a fantastic spell normally only available to Bards (via Magical Secrets) and Paladins. Paladin, the class that actually has this spell on its spell list, definitely gets the short end of the stick, getting it 3 levels later than Bards. Nonetheless, this spell is a great way to add mobility to yourself or a party member and add more creatures that can soak damage in combat. If you combine this use of wish with simulacrum, you can get your entire party steeds to ride. You can learn more about this spell in our Spell Spotlight: Find (Greater) Steed.

Find familiar

Similar to the above, and also worthy of an entire article. It is quite likely you have this spell already, except if you are a Bard or Sorcerer, in which case it is a great use of wish. 

They can easily provide value without using your action or requiring any significant upkeep, so there’s no reason not to get yourself a familiar if you can afford to cast the spell.

Create homunculus

Another spell that generates permanent minions is create homunculus. This one is a little bit improved compared to an actual familiar, because it has an infinite telepathic range. For options on how to use them, once again refer to our Spell Spotlight: Find Familiar.

You can technically increase its hit points by reducing your own hit point maximum and using your Hit Dice, but this isn’t very worthwhile. However, if you have ways to circumvent this downside, such as by being a School of Necromancy Wizard, you can make your homunculus rather bulky if you are willing to use up some Hit Die.

Create magen

Another summon added to the list, this time from the adventure Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden. Create magen is not as powerful as a simulacrum, but you can still create yourself a new ally.  The best options for this are the galvan magen and the hypnos magen.

Creating a magen ally reduces your maximum hit points by it’s CR, which for one summon is not a big deal, but if you want to create an army this could at some point become a problem. 

Again, the School of Necromancy Wizard has the fix for this, and synergizes well with this spell. This is the true capstone for this Wizard subclass. Another option is getting a friend to cast aura of life on you before casting this spell.

Magic jar

This is one of the most complicated spells in the game, deserving at least its own article to even attempt to unpack it. To put it simply, this spell is about acquiring a fresh, new, permanent body from the friends you encounter along the way. It can not only improve your physical stats and passive traits, but also lets you access new innate abilities. It can be as simple as possessing a drow house captain with a neat bonus action ability or duergar despot for its immensely powerful multiattack, or it can be as elaborate as possessing a dragon in its humanoid form to take advantage of its Change Shape ability and gain access to many other stat blocks in the game, with different set ups to negate its downside entirely.  

Planar binding

Make an ally with this spell, or your own personal army. The options opened up with this and 180 days of servitude are quite large, especially if you combine it with true polymorph. The other upside of using this with wish is that you don’t need any setup like a magic circle as you only use an action to try to bind them. This can even be done mid-combat, if you are feeling particularly lucky.

Plane shift

Plane shift is normally limited by its material component. But no more! Enjoy the City of Brass, or take a deep dive into the Elemental Plane of Water! You get this same option through true polymorph at the same level when choosing creatures who can cast the spell without components, but hey, options are nice. You can also go to a different spot on the plane you are already on by first casting rope trick, making this into a reliable version of teleport.

Resurrection

No more is the fate of your allies in the hands of your more divine casters! Now you too get to bring back creatures from the dead, for free! This is similar to clone, but with less prep time. This can obviously also be used during adventuring.

Glyph of warding 

This spell has a costly material component and requires the casting of an additional spell as part of it—however, the costs can be mitigated by the casting of wish. The main use of this spell for a player is placing them at strategic locations, such as inside portable spaces like a Genie’s Vessel, bag of holding or demiplane spell. Upon triggering the glyph, you can then activate the spell(s) and give you or your allies a desired spell effect without using any spell slot or concentration.

Symbol

The potency of this spell is rather straightforward. You get to bypass its 1 minute casting time with wish, to set a glyph and its specific trigger before getting yourself out of the glyph’s radius and letting it detonate on enemies. You can pick from its list of effects that target different saving throws, and they will typically remove creatures within from the fight completely on a failed save. Notably, Stunning, Insanity, and Hopelessness are the staple choices, targeting Wisdom, Intelligence, and Charisma respectively. 

If you and any ally near the spell are under the effect of mind blank, you don’t even need to worry about being affected by the Insanity or Hopelessness effects. 

“Base-building”

As a last note for downtime activities, if you have an entire year of downtime there are a variety of spells that can be made permanent by casting them at the same spot for an entire year. These include: Galder’s tower, teleportation circle, druid grove, temple of the gods, mighty fortress. 

If you have an entire year of downtime and you have 9th level spells, you basically have won the game anyway, but these options are quite cute and can be an inspiration for worldbuilding.

In Combat

During adventuring, or in combat, your priorities are different to when you are not. As with the previous section, these are spells that will typically be better in combat than outside of it, but feel free to play around with them during downtime or as a rest cast option.

Antipathy/sympathy

Antipathy/sympathy affects a gigantic area (an up to 200-feet cube) which allows for two wildly different, but both useful, applications. For the first, you can force creatures to make a save for frightened, without a repeated save. If they get 60 feet away, or lose sight of the target, it ends, but they are once again frightened if they can see it or get close enough again. 

The other use forces creatures to clump up and makes them unable to move away, which should allow you and your party to set up and place areas of effect perfectly.

While out of combat, you can instead place the effect on an object to carry it around, since the spell lasts for 10 whole days. You can make multiple items for each creature type, and keep the items covered up so that you don’t unintentionally affect those not hostile towards your party. 

Dark star

Dark star is a spell that is normally only accessible to the practitioners of Dunamancy, but through wish (almost) everything is possible. This spell works nicely as a disruptive area of effect, since the area becomes difficult terrain, it blocks sight and can stop spells from being cast with verbal components. It has both a huge radius and a far range, and damages anyone inside. This will ruin an enemy mage’s day, and can be quite a good combination with forcecage to microwave them, as a lot of ways they could otherwise teleport out rely on spells they can no longer use (either because of the sight requirement, or verbal components). Additionally, casters won’t be able to cast dispel magic to dispel dark star from within, as it also relies on verbal components. Plus, who doesn’t want to drop a magical black hole on their foes?

Druid grove

Druid grove is normally a spell that requires 10 minutes to cast, but with the power of the wish spell, it can be cast as an action, allowing for usage in combat. As the different effects created by druid grove are ignored by any creatures you designate when you cast the spell, you can blanket a battlefield with a host of effects that disrupt your enemies in a massive area of effect (up to a 90-foot cube) while yourself and your allies can proceed through unimpeded.

The Solid Fog creates one-way heavy obscurement as well as severely reducing the movement of hostile creatures through the area. This is basically a non-friendly fire, non-concentration version of the fan favorites fog cloud, sleet storm, and plant growth you can recognize from our builds. You additionally get two more effects which aren’t as strong, but can still be great in combat. Additionally, if an enemy spellcaster were to try to use dispel magic, they can only dispel one of the effects at a time. 

The spell is limited in that it can only be used in outdoor and underground areas, so buildings and other structures are not allowed, but this is not a major concern. Second, while the Solid Fog is very powerful, it only extends up to 10 feet high, making it not as impactful against flying enemies. But even so, this spell is an incredibly useful battlefield control spell that is worthy of wish replication.

Hallow

Another spell which can affect a giant area is hallow. It usually has a 24 hour casting time, which wish changes to be usable in combat. An area up to a 60 feet radius is affected. Celestials, elementals, fey, fiends, and undead can’t enter the area, which basically transforms the area into a giant antilife shell. Additionally, creatures can’t be charmed, frightened, or possessed by these creatures when they are in the area, which would remove any dominate effects on the party.

You also get to choose a second effect, with the big gun options being Energy Protection, Energy Vulnerability, Fear, and even Silence. Resistances are never something to say no to, and the Fear ability makes affected creatures unable to move at all within the area. Energy Vulnerability makes those creatures with tough shells easier to crack, and Silence can situationally be good to shutdown enemy casters.

This spell also allows you to permanently remove enemies using banishment or maze. When banishment and maze end, their target(s) are returned to the space they left or, if it is occupied, in the nearest unoccupied space. If at that point in time the ability to travel to that spot is no longer available for them, they would be stuck in another plane. As previously stated, hallow stops certain creatures from entering the area, even through planar travel.

Mirage arcane

This is Minecraft’s worldedit in D&D 5E. Not much else to say than that. There is an incredible leeway with this spell, and it’s probably the strongest illusion spell in the game, next to simulacrum. It is normally impossible to cast this mid-combat due to its 10 minute casting time, but of course wish changes this.

You can drown the enemies in lava, create mazes, or just make yourself a castle.

This spell is notoriously fickle in its power depending on the DM, and as such we’ll go into more detail about this and other illusion spells in a future article.

Forbiddance

This spell can totally alter the battlefield. You create a ward of up to 40,000 square feet of floor space with a height of 30 feet. This ward blocks magical travel into the area, and damages creature types of your choice every time they enter the area for the first time on their turn, or start their turn there. You can also make sure allies don’t take this damage with a password you can designate.

As with hallow, you can permanently remove enemies.

This spell usually takes 10 minutes to cast, and requires 1,000 gp worth in materials, so wish is quite the game changer in the way you use this.

Mordenkainen’s private sanctum

Another way to influence how a battle is fought, Mordenkainen’s private sanctum. This spell affects a cube as small as 5 feet to as large as 100 feet.

You get a little bit more control over what exactly this area does than forbiddance, but it can also block magical travel. Most other options are self-explanatory, but a standout is that it can block divination sensors, and creatures inside can’t be targeted by divination spells.

As with hallow and forbiddance, you can permanently remove enemies.

This spell also usually takes 10 minutes to cast, but wish makes this an action.

Temple of the gods 

The last featured spell of the “big control area you are not supposed to instantly conjure in a fight” archetype. This spell allows you to create what is essentially a box (up to 120 feet on each side) on the battlefield that enemies have difficulty entering, creatures of your chosen type first need to make a Charisma saving throw against your spell save DC, and if they fail they can’t enter the temple for 24 hours. This is similar to forbiddance and Mordenkainen’s private sanctum, with the key differences being that it can block travel beyond just teleportation and planar travel, but has a chance to fail. If creatures do enter it, they get a -1d4 penalty to attack rolls, saving throws and ability checks. 

It also has the handy divination blocking effect.

Lastly, It augments your healing spells. This is especially strong if you and your friends consume some goodberries after a battle, as it turns each berry into a 2HP heal at minimum—if the caster has a level in Life Domain Cleric, that can be 50HP of healing for a level 1 slot, 60 if your Wisdom is 14.

This would originally never be usable in combat with a casting time of 1 hour, but it can be incredible by using it with wish.

Forcecage

Forcecage as wall of force’s bigger brother is too an encounter ender, be it through divide and conquer, or by completely trapping off an enemy for an hour with no save  attached. (Hey! See, wish is the best trap spell!) This spell is worth using 8th level slots for, and if you can’t normally cast it, definitely still 9th level ones.

Pass without trace

Pass without trace might be a surprisingly low level spell to be on this list to some people, however its power is way better than what its level suggests. Pass without trace mechanically functions like a better time stop, as it works for your entire party, potentially through multiple encounters, and without constraints on the types of actions. With it, you basically guarantee surprise for you and your party members, as most enemies will not even come close to your Stealth checks. If you have a Druid or Ranger in your party, sure, let them do this instead, but do not undervalue this spell—surprise basically gives you extra turns over the surprised enemies, and extra turns only become stronger the stronger your party gets. 

Maze

Maze, like forcecage, can temporarily get a creature out of the fight without any saving throw. Forcecage is usually just fine for this use case, but against those very special creatures that you need to get rid of, but have ways out of a forcecage, this is a great alternative. Creatures with a negative modifier in Intelligence, such as the Tarrasque, are stuck in the maze for its entire duration. As stated above, you can combine this with effects that block planar travel to remove the affected creature permanently.

Rest Casting 

As previously stated, no day should go by where wish is not used if you don’t have a better use for your 9th level slot. If you didn’t find an opportunity to use this slot in your adventuring day, there will always still be some uses before you finish your long rest.

Aid

35 hit points to 3 creatures is not shabby, even in Tier 4. Oftentimes you will find a better use for wish, but when you don’t, why not aid your allies? Heroes’ feast, described below, is a preferable option, but if you have a party member who can do this already it won’t be a necessity.

Heroes’ feast

A perfect way to start the day: free and all inclusive breakfast. Heroes’ feast is a nice and simple buff for your party, one that they shouldn’t be doing without in late Tier 4. If the acquiring of a 1,000 gp gem encrusted bowl was somehow still an issue, it no longer is now.

Simulacrum

If you don’t have a simulacrum at the end of the day, you might as well get a new one. You can pretty much copy anyone, as you don’t need to meet the usual requirements of pieces of a creature’s body. 

You can even use this spell in the middle of combat against the BBEG (if they are a beast or humanoid), to get yourself a mini BBEG that fights on your side.

Usually you are better off casting simulacrum with a 7th level spell slot, using the actual spell, to copy yourself, as it can then still cast 9th level spells, but this won’t always be possible, albeit through component restraints, or time. This can, however, also be subsided by copying one of your caster buddies instead.

Animal shapes

Combine this with animate dead, tiny servants or an ant colony to create your own army at dawn, as simple as that. If you have a familiar from a Pact of the Chain Warlock in your party, with Investment of the Chain Master, this is also a valid option. Some standout options are giant coral snakes for their stun, or bristled moorbounders (if Explorer’s Guide to Wildemount content is not allowed at your table, giant vultures) for their good damage.

We’ve tried to hammer in that using wish for something that allows you to lose the ability to cast wish is terrible. However, some of the listed options that don’t have the ability to be monkey-pawed are quite good. 

So, Tabletop Builds, make up your mind! Do I wish for these options?!

Well, it is complicated. Not that complicated actually, but there is an additional step involved. At this point, if you are a Wizard or Bard, you should have simulacrum as part of your repertoire. This spell will be our pathway to success. By using simulacrum without having expended our 9th level slot, we can have our simulacrum cast wish in our stead! You aren’t your simulacrum (something which Adventurer’s League houseruled to actually be the case), and thus if it loses the ability to cast wish, that doesn’t hurt you at all. You can go a step further by having a new simulacrum do the same thing, as that one will not be the same as one of the prior ones. This may be too strong in some groups, but if you have made it to Tier 4 and you are still playing the game—chances are that your DM can handle it.

Another way to accomplish this in a lesser controlled manner is through magical items. An efreeti bottle or ring of three wishes (used by your familiar or another ally without the ability to cast wish normally) will do the same trick.

One of the best listed options is wishing for permanent resistances, generally just Bludgeoning/Piercing/Slashing, which will stack because the duration of wish is instantaneous. Another fun but entirely impractical option is to wish everyone in your party besides someone who can cast time stop immune to the spell, which would basically give your entire party sans the caster extra turns in combat without the constraints that time stop normally gives to the caster.

Some magical curses, i.e. feeblemind, and geas, can be cured through a variety of spells, including wish. However, never, ever, ever wish to cure these spells! Instead, use wish to duplicate any other spells that can be used as a cure. This way you can make sure you don’t lose your ability to cast wish. 

It just seems incredibly out of place (or perhaps incredibly in-line, depending on your point of view) from the designers to include wish in the list of cures, as who in their right mind would take the chances at losing this spell when the ability to duplicate the others for the same purpose is right there? Some module specific things can only be cured by a wish, in which case it might actually be worth using for (if you are attached to characters), but preferably you do this through a simulacrum or magic item instead.

The knowledge that wish is powerful is not groundbreaking. However, hopefully this article has given a better insight into how it is actually powerful, rather than the monkey paw option full of legalese bickering that it’s often portrayed to be.

We hope having read this article can help you get greater mileage out of this spell in the future, both in combat situations and outside of your usual adventuring.”