Wish — Complete D&D 5e Spell Guide

Table of Contents

• •Quick Answer
• •Overview
• •Stat Block
• •When NOT to Use This
• •Spell Slot Efficiency
• •Pro Tips
• •Common Mistakes to Avoid
• •Usage Tips
• •Rules Notes
• •Synergies
• •Anti-Patterns
• •Tactical Modules
• •Countermeasures
• •Wish in the 2024 Rules
• •Frequently Asked Questions

Quick Answer

Wish is a 9th-level conjuration spell for Sorcerers and Wizards. Its safe use is copying any other spell of 8th level or lower, with no material cost and no other requirements. You can also pick one of a short list of big effects (a 25,000 gp object, a full heal for up to twenty creatures, a reroll, and so on) or ask the DM for something else. Anything other than copying a spell causes stress: necrotic damage whenever you cast a spell before a long rest, Strength 3 for 2d4 days, and a 33 percent chance you can never cast Wish again.

Overview

Wish is a 9th-level spell on the sorcerer and wizard lists. Those classes get their first 9th-level slot at 17th level, and they never get a second one, so Wish competes with every other 9th-level spell for one slot per long rest.

The spell has two halves. The first is reliable: name any spell of 8th level or lower and it takes effect, skipping its requirements, including expensive components. It is the only use that carries no stress.

The second half is open-ended. The SRD lists a set of fixed effects, then lets you state any wish to the DM, and the bigger the request, the more likely it goes wrong. Every use outside duplication triggers the stress described in the Quick Answer.

Stat Block

When NOT to Use This

• •You only need a spell you already have prepared. Cast that spell with a lower slot and keep your one 9th-level slot.
• •You plan to cast more spells today and you are about to use a non-duplication effect. Every spell after it costs 1d10 necrotic damage per spell level.
• •You are making a big, vague request. The SRD tells the DM that bigger wishes are more likely to go wrong.
• •You are about to ask for a magic item. The SRD warns that wishing for a legendary item or artifact might send you to its current owner.

Spell Slot Efficiency

When worth the slot: Copying a spell you don't know, skipping a 1,000 gp or 1,500 gp component, or using a listed effect when the alternative is a party wipe.

When NOT worth the slot: Copying a spell you already have, or asking for a convenience the DM may twist.

Upcasting

Wish has no higher-level effect. It is already 9th level.

Pro Tips

Tip #1: Copy spells that cost money.

Why it works: Wish ignores costly components when it duplicates a spell. Simulacrum normally consumes powdered ruby worth 1,500 gp. Resurrection consumes a diamond worth at least 1,000 gp. Clone needs a 1,000 gp diamond and a 2,000 gp vessel. A duplicated copy needs none of that.

This avoids the mistake of: Spending your 9th-level slot on something a 5th-level slot could do.

Tip #2: Copy spells you never learned.

Why it works: Wish duplicates "any other spell of 8th level or lower," not just spells on your class list. A wizard can duplicate a cleric spell such as Resurrection.

This avoids the mistake of: Treating Wish as a bigger version of spells you already know.

Tip #3: Save the reroll for the roll that decides the fight.

Why it works: One listed effect forces a reroll of any roll made within the last round, with advantage or disadvantage, and you keep whichever result you prefer. If an enemy saves against your best control spell, you can force the save again with disadvantage; if an ally fails a save against a deadly effect, you can give the reroll advantage.

This avoids the mistake of: Taking stress for a reroll on something that did not matter.

Tip #4: Word open-ended wishes like a contract.

Why it works: The SRD says to state your wish "as precisely as possible," gives the DM "great latitude," and says the spell might fail, only partly work, or bring an unforeseen consequence. Short, specific wishes leave the DM less room, and a listed effect leaves none.

This avoids the mistake of: Wishing a villain dead and being thrown forward in time, which is the SRD's own example.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

Thinking stress applies to every Wish

Why it's bad: Stress only applies when you produce "any effect other than duplicating another spell." Copying a spell is free of stress.

Do this instead: Use duplication for routine needs. Take stress only when you need a listed effect or a free-form wish.

Forgetting the stress damage

Why it's bad: After stress, every spell you cast until you finish a long rest deals 1d10 necrotic damage per spell level to you, and nothing reduces it.

Do this instead: Use the non-duplication effect late in the day, or plan to cast only cantrips and low-level spells afterward.

Duplicating a 9th-level spell

Why it's bad: Duplication covers spells of 8th level or lower. True Resurrection and Power Word Kill are 9th level, so Wish can't copy them.

Do this instead: Learn the 9th-level spell itself, or ask the DM for the effect as a free-form wish and accept the stress and risk.

Usage Tips

• •The listed effects (2014): one non-magical object worth up to 25,000 gp and no more than 300 feet in any dimension; up to twenty creatures you can see regain all hit points and lose everything Greater Restoration ends; up to ten creatures gain resistance to one damage type; up to ten creatures gain immunity to one spell or magical effect for 8 hours; or a reroll of any roll from the last round.
• •Stress damage worked example: You use Wish for the reroll, then later the same day cast Fireball at 3rd level. You take 3d10 necrotic damage, an average of 16.5. A 6th-level Disintegrate afterward costs 6d10, average 33. A cantrip is level 0, so it costs nothing.
• •Strength recovery: Roll 2d4 for the number of days at Strength 3. Each day of rest and light activity cuts the remaining time by 2 days.
• •Genies (2024 SRD): The 2024 djinni and efreeti each have a 30 percent chance of knowing Wish. One that knows it can cast it only on behalf of a non-genie creature, takes none of the stress, and can do so three times before waiting 365 days. The 2014 SRD djinni and efreeti stat blocks have no wish feature.
• •Magic items: A Ring of Three Wishes casts Wish once per charge, 3 charges, in both editions. An Efreeti Bottle can produce an efreeti that casts Wish for you: three times on a d100 roll of 91–00 (2014), or once on a d10 roll of 10 (2024).
• •Free-form use from the monster text: The 2014 guardian naga returns to life after 1d6 days, and its stat block says only a Wish spell can stop that. The 2024 version is stopped by Dispel Evil and Good on its remains instead.
• •Related guides: Simulacrum, Teleport, Counterspell, and the spell guide index.

Rules Notes

• •Duplicating a spell of 8th level or lower: "You don't need to meet any requirements in that spell, including costly components. The spell simply takes effect."
• •Casting time of a duplicated spell: Wish takes 1 action. The text does not say whether a long casting time, such as Simulacrum's 12 hours, counts as a "requirement." Treating it as one that Wish skips is a DM ruling, not rules text.
• •Concentration: The text doesn't say whether a duplicated concentration spell still needs concentration. Either answer is a DM ruling, not rules text.
• •The 2014 resistance effect gives no duration. The 2024 text makes it permanent.
• •Stress damage "can't be reduced or prevented in any way," so resistance and immunity to necrotic damage do nothing to it.
• •The 2014 Strength penalty applies only "if it isn't 3 or lower already." The 2024 text says your Strength "becomes 3."
• •The spell has only a verbal component, so a caster who can't speak can't cast it.

Synergies

• •Simulacrum: Duplicating it skips the 1,500 gp ruby component.
• •Counterspell defense: Casting Wish in front of an enemy caster invites a counter. Have an ally ready with their own Counterspell.
• •Reroll plus a save-or-lose spell: Pair the reroll with a spell where one failed save decides the fight, such as Dominate Monster.
• •Instant Health effect: Up to twenty creatures to full hit points, plus every Greater Restoration effect, in one action.

Anti-Patterns

• •Using a listed effect in the first round of a long adventuring day, then casting leveled spells all afternoon.
• •Taking stress for a reroll on a roll that did not change the outcome.

Tactical Modules

• •Raise dead on a budget: Duplicate Resurrection without the 1,000 gp diamond.
• •Emergency reset: Use the full-heal effect when most of the party is near 0 hit points and the fight is still going.
• •Immunity before the boss: Grant up to ten creatures immunity to one specific spell or effect you know is coming, for 8 hours. The 2014 text's own example is a lich's life drain.

Countermeasures

• •Threat: An enemy caster has Wish. Response: Counterspell it. A 2014 Counterspell cast at 9th level stops it automatically; a lower-level one needs a spellcasting ability check against DC 19. A 2024 Counterspell instead forces the caster to make a Constitution save. Fallback: Spread out so a single duplicated area spell hits fewer people.
• •Threat: You suffered stress and the fight is not over. Response: Cast cantrips, which cost no stress damage. Fallback: Let allies carry the damage.
• •Threat: The DM twists a free-form wish. Response: Use listed effects when one does the job. Fallback: After your next long rest, duplicate a spell that repairs the damage.

Wish in the 2024 Rules

The 2024 SRD keeps Wish as a 9th-level conjuration spell for Sorcerers and Wizards with a 1-action casting time and verbal component only. Spell duplication is unchanged: any spell of level 8 or lower, with no requirements and no costly components.

The listed effects now have names and several changed:

• •Object Creation: Same as 2014.
• •Instant Health: Now "yourself and up to twenty creatures," where 2014 said up to twenty creatures.
• •Resistance: Now explicitly permanent.
• •Spell Immunity: Same 8 hours for up to ten creatures. The 2014 lich example is gone.
• •Sudden Learning: New. You swap one of your feats for another you qualify for, unless the old feat is a prerequisite for your other feats or features.
• •Roll Redo: Same reroll effect, now worded as "any die roll."
• •Reshape Reality: The free-form wish. The 2024 text adds that a wish affecting a community, region, or world is likely to attract powerful foes, that a god's servants might intervene in a wish affecting a god, and that a wish that would undo the multiverse fails.

The stress is the same: 1d10 necrotic per spell level until a long rest, Strength 3 for 2d4 days (now "becomes 3"), and a 33 percent chance of losing the spell.

The 2024 SRD djinni and efreeti can cast Wish for others (see Usage Tips); the 2014 stat blocks can't.

Frequently Asked Questions

What does Wish do in 5e?

Wish either duplicates any spell of 8th level or lower, with no requirements or costly components, or creates one of the listed effects (object, mass heal, resistance, spell immunity, reroll, and in 2024 a feat swap). You can also state any other wish and let the DM rule on it.

What are the safe uses of Wish in 5e?

Duplicating another spell of 8th level or lower is the only use that avoids stress. Every listed effect and every free-form wish triggers the stress, including the damage, the Strength loss, and the 33 percent chance of never casting Wish again.

What is the 33 percent chance with Wish?

Each time you suffer Wish's stress, there is a 33 percent chance you can never cast Wish again. Only non-duplication uses cause stress, so copying another spell never risks it.

How much damage does Wish stress do?

After stress, every spell you cast until you finish a long rest deals 1d10 necrotic damage to you per level of that spell. A 5th-level spell deals 5d10, an average of 27.5. The damage can't be reduced or prevented.

Can Wish duplicate a 9th-level spell?

No. Duplication is limited to spells of 8th level or lower. A 9th-level effect would have to be a free-form wish, which carries the stress and the risk that the DM rules against it.

Does Wish need material components when copying a spell?

No. When Wish duplicates a spell, you don't need to meet any of its requirements, "including costly components." Wish itself has only a verbal component.

Can a djinni grant a wish in 5e?

In the 2024 SRD, a djinni or efreeti has a 30 percent chance of knowing Wish. If it does, it can cast it only for a non-genie creature, suffers none of the stress, and can do so three times before waiting 365 days. The 2014 SRD genies have no wish feature. The Efreeti Bottle is the other route: three wishes on a d100 roll of 91–00 in 2014, one wish on a d10 roll of 10 in 2024.

Is the Wish resistance effect permanent?

In the 2024 rules, yes; the text says so. The 2014 text gives no duration for the resistance effect. Treating it as permanent or temporary in a 2014 game is a DM ruling, not rules text.

Citations: SRD 5.1 (2014 rules), SRD 5.2.1 (2024 rules)

Includes material from the System Reference Document 5.1 and 5.2.1 by Wizards of the Coast LLC, licensed under CC BY 4.0.