A few weeks ago, I was reading a post over at Dungeon’s Master entitled I Wish for a Wish Spell in 4e D&D. It was a really good article, as I have come to expect from those guys, and I enjoy commenting and reading other comments as well. But this time, instead of throwing in my two coppers worth as I usually do, I was inspired to write a post related to their subject matter. Apparently, I wasn’t the only one.
Many commenters seem to think that either the Wish spell should not be introduced to 4e at all or that it should be a ritual or in an artifact, so that anyone can use it. That such an unlimited, powerful spell should not be a Daily power and that the wizards alone shouldn’t have a power that can do just about anything. As I contemplated this, it also got me thinking about the nature of wizards and their place in an adventuring group. With all of the spellcasting classes out there, what does the wizard do that no other spellflinger can do?
Of course, wizards can chuck fireballs or fling lightning bolts, but the true value of a wizard lies in his utility and versatility. If the party needs a barrier to prevent enemies from flanking them; Wall of Fire. If the party needs to turn a contact into a trusted friend quickly; Charm Person. If the group needs to get across a chasm, up a cliff, over a forest or across a continent, a wizard can do that. Ideally, he has access to a spell for nearly every occasion.
That is the beauty of Wish and Limited Wish spells. With these spells the wizard can cast ANY other spell he needs to in response to the current circumstances. So maybe the nay-sayers are right, in that Wish (as written in 3.5e) is too powerful for only a single class to have regular access to. But I do think that wizards, particularly at higher levels, should have a Daily power that allows them to mimic nearly every other arcane spell out there.
Stem-spell Research
So now I’m researching a wizard spell that can do just that. But, of course, there needs to be certain restrictions to said spell. First off the top of my head is that there should be a spell dedicated to each tier. Second, each spell would be at the top level of it’s tier and can replicate any arcane spell up to, but not including, it’s level, Example; the Heroic tier spell would be a 10th level spell and can replicate any arcane spell up to 9th level. This would prevent all other 10th level spells from becoming useless.
Third, unlike Wish spells, these mimic spells cannot replicate any other kind of spells or powers. They are restricted to imitating arcane spells only. In fact, you should only be able to replicate arcane spells that you know, i.e. are in your spellbook.
So now, with these guidelines as a baseline, I suppose I should get around to actually developing these spells. There are still many questions to answer, mechanical details to work out and game balance issues to take into consideration, but I think it’s quite do-able. So stay tuned for any upcoming article featuring these spells (man, I really need to come up with a name for these things).
BTW, if you’re interested in Wish spells for 4e, Kobold Quarterly’s latest issue (#11) has a great article featuring three 4e versions of this classic spell and a few other ways of getting wishes in a 4e campaign. Enjoy.
