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View Full Version : Optimization No Stars Required; A Wish Handbook (WIP)



Shame
2018-05-11, 11:21 PM
No Stars Required
A Wish Handbook
(Disclaimer: Birthday candles, wells, wishbones, dandelions, and rainbows are also unnecessary.)

https://images7.alphacoders.com/639/639613.png

(Original thread can be found here http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?558365-Need-help-making-a-Wish-handbook&p=23058744#post23058744 but I'd like to move the discussion to this thread. Linking it for those who'd like to see it.)

Hello all! Welcome to my very first guide. Are you excited? Because I am! In this guide we'll be talking about the most versatile spell in the game, Wish. (Previously I had thought that title belonged to Minor Illusion, until I realized Wish could be used to cast Minor Illusion!) However, before we begin I'd like to talk a little bit about why I love Wish so much and think that anybody who can take it should strongly consider taking it. Or if you don't care then please feel free to skip to the table of contents.

So why Wish? Simply put; its because its one of the few spells that stays fresh. In an ideal group, everybody gets their moment in the spotlight. When a caster uses one of their few high level spells, that's their moment. That's their time to shine, their chance to really have an impact and maybe even tip the scales of the encounter. The right spell in the right place can create moments so awesome they're talked about for years to come. So why would you make your high level spells one-dimensional? The first time you Psychic Scream and end the encounter by exploding the heads of every baddie in sight? Badass. The 10th time? Meh. This isn't to say that Wish is the only 9th level spell that can stay interesting, True Polymorph is just one example of another spell that's only limited by your creativity.

Table of contents:

About The Guide
The Spells
Using wish for something besides spell replication?
Dealing with Wish (For GM's)
Credits


About the Guide
Due to the fact that using Wish for anything besides spell replication has severe drawbacks, the meat of it will be about spell replication. As for what spells to replicate, they will be broken up into the following categories. (Disclaimer: I feel like theres better names for the categories out there. Feel free to suggest alternatives.)

Classics: These are the spells that you can always fall back on thanks to their versatility and reliability.

Silver Bullets: What these spells lack in versatility, they make up for in sheer power. One of these spells at the right moment can straight up end an encounter.

Stinkers: These are the spells you don't want to cast with Wish, but sometimes you've got to. Spells that will never be cast normally because nobody in their right mind would choose to take them, or maybe they're just low level spells who's function cant be replicated by higher level spells. Either way, they'll save your ass sometimes so don't feel too bad about needing to fall back on one of these.

Cheese: Consult with your DM first. This category was originally going to be about little things you could do to get lasting value out of your Wishes. I was hoping for some wholesome, family friendly, practical optimization tricks until Asmotherion came along and took things too far. Unless you're at a table that encourages this sort of thing, I'd steer clear of it. Wishing for your GM to let you get away with these isn't worth the necrotic damage.

As much as I'd like to color code everything and make the guide prettier by sprinkling those colors throughout, breaking everything up into sections removes the need for that. At the moment, most of the spells on here are coming from reading handbooks for the different spellcasters and grabbing their highly rated spells of 6th level or higher. Since those lists are made with spell cost in mind, there's bound to be some gems that I miss. If you feel a spell is in the wrong section, please let me know.

Shame
2018-05-11, 11:22 PM
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Shame
2018-05-11, 11:24 PM
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Shame
2018-05-11, 11:25 PM
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Shame
2018-05-11, 11:27 PM
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And that's it for post reservations. Sorry for the current lack of useful info in the guide. It will be fleshed out in the coming days. (I'm going to be quite busy but I should have no problem finding time to the point of having some good info)

Unoriginal
2018-05-12, 04:23 AM
Sorry if I sound contrarian, but Wish is not really something you can optimize aside from the obvious.

You said you were much more familiar with 3.X than 5e, right? Because the two systems differ on fundamental levels, and that has an effect on what Wish is.

Shame
2018-05-12, 09:28 AM
Sorry if I sound contrarian, but Wish is not really something you can optimize aside from the obvious.

You said you were much more familiar with 3.X than 5e, right? Because the two systems differ on fundamental levels, and that has an effect on what Wish is.

Fair point. But let me try to make my intentions more clear. In short, I like making lists for this sort of thing. But instead of going off on my own and keeping my findings to myself, I thought it could be cool if I were to try getting other people involved then turn our findings into a pretty little guide. This is really intended more as a list, but I use the term "handbook" because I feel that its closer to what this is going to end up looking like. But really, I just want to make a list of spells to use with Wish. If it goes well I'd even like to make a section on keeping Wish as fun as possible, but maybe that wouldn't work out.