D&D 5E What is the point of material components when Wish exists?

[FormerlyHemlock]

What it tells me is that the concern is theorycraft based on little experience with 5E. No wonder it doesn't make sense to you--you know better because you've played 5E a lot! The guy will figure things out eventually after some more experience, presumably.

 

[Xvartslayer]

Post #15 in this thread may be illuminating if you want to know where GhostofChristmasPast is coming from. Looks like an old gamer learning a new edition.

Real, not sarcastic, question: why would this be an "old school" thing? From 3e and beyond Wish kind of became Limited Wish, and the ambiguous and open ended nature of Wish was eliminated from the character side of the equation. Or so it seems to me.

 

[MechaPilot]

I have no real issue with Wish allowing one to cast without components: components really should be nothing more than flavor anyway, and giving them a monetary value feels sort of cheap to me. I recall once running a game where the raise dead spell required as its material component "tears of a virgin widow." You should have seen the look my players gave me when that came up as the result of their research.

 

[Byakugan]

Awee...a theoretical thread where both Simulacrum and Wish got discussed and nobody pointed out the infinite Wish loop.

I am disappointed.

 

[FormerlyHemlock]

Real, not sarcastic, question: why would this be an "old school" thing? From 3e and beyond Wish kind of became Limited Wish, and the ambiguous and open ended nature of Wish was eliminated from the character side of the equation. Or so it seems to me.

He mentioned psionics and I immediately thought "AD&D". I had forgotten that psionics also existed in the in-between editions that I never played (3E and 4E). So on reflection, he may or may not be as old school as I had originally assumed.

 

[FormerlyHemlock]

Awee...a theoretical thread where both Simulacrum and Wish got discussed and nobody pointed out the infinite Wish loop.

I am disappointed.

Nobody feels the need to point it out because it's already well-known.

 

[Prism]

Well our OP has packed up and left the site after not getting the answers they wanted so I guess that's that then.

 

[Kalshane]

I realize it's a moot point, since the OP took his ball and went home, but I personally don't see why a character that is near the pinnacle of their craft can't circumvent the usual rules of magic once per day (and we see similar aspects in the Signature and Favored Spell abilities). The character could also expend the same amount of energy to demolish a small village from a mile away, step outside the time stream for half a minute or transform into just about any creature he can think of, among other things. Expending that same energy to save himself on the cost of a bag of diamond dust or whatever seems trivial in comparison.

 

[JustTom]

Has anybody even read the spell text? YOU DON'T LOOSE WISH AFTER YOU USED IT TO CAST ANOTHER SPELL.

The word is LOSE not LOOSE.

Second, sure you can cast wish to avoid the material component costs of a lower-level spell, but in doing so you avoid the use of any other 9th level spell. Any wizard who has made it to the 17th level is going to have both some pretty powerful enemies AND enormous wealth. Spending 1500 GPs on material components is probably a pretty good tradeoff for having the flexibility of using your 9th level spell slot on something else.

 

[TwoSix]

The word is LOSE not LOOSE.

I guess sometimes it's better to spend your hours learning the dictionary better than learning rules to roleplaying games you don't actually enjoy.