Inarguably, Wish is one of the most powerful spells in Dungeons & Dragons. However, it's very common for parties to be unprepared to properly use it once obtained. Whether you're a high-level caster planning to use the spell frequently or a humble beginner who stumbled upon a ring or a magic lamp, understanding how Wish works can make the difference between unbelievable power and ruining the world.

Wish's spell description is long and includes many pit falls that are easy to miss. Understanding the wording of the spell is every bit as important as carefully wording any requests the wisher makes themselves. So what is it that stands between the ninth level caster and their retirement as a demigod?

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Efreeti Bottle

The spell description states that Wish is the mightiest magic any mortal is capable of. It is easy to become so enticed by that power that a reader ignores all the paragraphs that follow, pursuing fantasy wish-fulfillment while ignoring the safest -- and thus most valuable -- options. The most obvious flaw to just wishing for whatever the caster desires is that the spell states that doing so inflicts a stressful fatigue that carries a 33 percent chance of never being able to cast Wish again. Of course, most people who are faced with the prospect of being able to wish for anything will consider wishing for more wishes -- but how can one avoid the risk associated with this spell?

The key comes in the first part of the spell, which states that Wish can duplicate any lower level spell and do so without using any of the spell's listed requirements. Verbal, somatic and even material components are entirely moot when casting a spell through Wish. Additionally, the fatigue and 33 percent loss risk do not accompany the ability to duplicate any lower level spell. This on its own would make Wish the most versatile and valuable spell in the game. A wisher can cast Resurrect or Reincarnate or even Clone without any of the costly components, effectively bending life and death to their whim -- but that's far more the best option.

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The best option to duplicate is Simulacrum, a seventh level spell that creates an almost perfect duplicate of whomever the caster touches -- including the caster themselves. That is where the real key to mastering Wish begins, because with a servile duplicate to perform Wish on the caster's behalf, most of the limitations to the spell become almost meaningless. If a duplicate suffers the 33 percent penalty to never be able to cast Wish again, so what? Just make a new duplicate and let them roll the dice instead. All of the infinite wealth, invulnerability and possibilities of Wish open up to a caster wise enough to use Simulacrum first -- yet it's still possible to misspeak and ruin everything.

Wish's casting time is itself one action and explicitly requires that the requested wish be spoken aloud. This limits any wish a caster can craft to a six second timer, but before any Dungeon Masters breathes a sigh of relief that they don't need to listen to an hour-long monologue detailing the specifics of a player's Wish, they should know that players can find a way around that limitation. Players who are wisely wary of misspeaking or leaving room for interpretation that could cause their Wish to backfire could write out all the details a Wish needs to be an air tight contract. Then, the player simply states "I wish for everything detailed in this document," and can rest assured they did everything in their power to make their Wish go their way.

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Even still, playing with such powers is tricky business. The spell expressly states that "the DM has great latitude in ruling what occurs in such an instance; the greater the wish, the greater the likelihood that something goes wrong." Handing a DM a multi-page document could well skyrocket that likelihood to 100 percent as they seek to punish any player bold enough to assign them homework in a Faustian bargain that could rock the world forevermore.

The more a player pushes their luck the likelier they are to fail, but the best part of Wish is that they don't need to do that at all. Stick to what the spell expressly outlines and you need not be careful what you Wish for.

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