If I use Wish to duplicate a concentration spell, does it still require concentration?

Question

The wish spell can (among other things):

duplicate any other 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.

If a spell would normally require concentration, does it still require concentration if I am using wish to duplicate its effect? Or is concentration considered one of the aforementioned "requirements" that the wish doesn't require me to meet?

To be clear, I am only talking about the "basic use" clause of the spell as quoted above, i.e. usage that does not incur the stress described in the last paragraph. It's clear that one could invoke the second clause and wish for "spell X but I don't have to concentrate on it" and hope for DM benevolence, but that's not what I'm asking.

Answer 1

Spells cast using wish still require concentration, if they say they do.

Wish says:

The basic use of this spell is to duplicate any other 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.

The Player's Handbook, p 203 says:

A spell's components are the physical requirements you must meet in order to cast it.

and also on p 203 says:

Some spells require you to maintain concentration in order to keep their magic active. If you lose concentration, such a spell ends.

Spells only do what they say they do. Wish doesn't say it negates concentration, therefore, it doesn't.

You could argue that the definition of "concentration" includes the word "require", and therefore wish says you don't need to meet it. The counter-argument is that concentration is required to keep the magic active, not cast the spell, but wish only addresses requirements to cast the spell, not after it is cast.

Since wish doesn't say anything about after casting a spell, and since spells only do what they say they do, that means that after you've used wish to cast the spell, it behaves like the spell normally behaves, including concentration.

However...

It's wish, darn it. You can just go ahead and wish to cast the spell without concentration.

Wish says:

You might be able to achieve something beyond the scope of the above examples. State your wish to the GM as precisely as possible.

However, you are no longer using wish to duplicate a spell; you are now firmly in the territory of "something beyond the scope of the above examples". Read the fine print, though.

Answer 2

No, it does not.*

As (partly) referenced in Jack's answer, we have relevant sections from the rules describing concentration on p. 203 of the PHB:

Some spells require you to maintain concentration in order to keep their magic active. If you lose concentration, such a spell ends.

If a spell must be maintained with concentration, that fact appears in its Duration entry, and the spell specifies how long you can concentrate on it.

and rules for wish on p. 288–9:

The basic use of this spell is to duplicate any other 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.

All emphasis mine. Note that wish does not make any reference to casting the spell, only duplicating it—which one might interpret as such, but which is by the same token certainly open to interpretation.

In any case, we have the following:

• Wish states that the caster need not meet any requirement in the spell
• The entry for concentration states such a requirement to be found in the description of the spell; that the spell specifies it

It seems to me that the latter point is semantically equivalent with the requirement for concentration being 'in the spell' insofar as we are guided to distinguish 5e's approach of 'plain English'. If you agree with that assessment, then spells duplicated with wish indeed don't require concentration.

*However, if you disagree with the above, then you similarly have the converse conclusion, which you should use at your table.

As a note, for what it's worth to the reader, I imagine that concensus amongst your table on how you approach this kind of judgement is an important factor in having a concordant, conflict-free group, as it hinges on your approach to communication—a crucial component of a game like D&D, and social interactions in general.

Answer 3

No, a spell cast by Wish does not require anything

First, the breakdown of what requirements are in a spell using sources from the PHB.

What attributes are considered spell requirements?

Here's the important bit from Wish, emphasis mine:

any requirements in that spell

Does your spell cost an action to cast? A bonus action? A reaction? How about 1 minute to cast? An hour? 24 Hours? None of this matters. You don't need to meet any requirements. Is the creature or object way out of the spells range? What if the creature doesn't match the spells description for it to be a valid target? None of that matters either, you don't need to meet any requirements.

Since Wish ignores the requirements in a spell, and concentration by definition falls within the spell, Wish would ignore it as well. Concentration is not separate and distinct, it is a core requirement of the spell in question. Since Wish ignores requirements, concentration is no longer a factor.

It would make very little sense for Wish to ignore the sections labelled Casting Time, Range, Components, but then for some reason have an arbitrary distinction about Duration. If it wasn't meant to apply to everything within the spell, it wouldn't say that it does.

Wish is a spell with something very important in its description:

Wish is the mightiest spell a mortal creature can cast. By simply speaking aloud, you can alter the very foundations of reality in accord with your desires.

Duplicating a spell is its basic function, but it does so without needing to meet any requirements in said spell. You can cast Wall of Ice in midair with Wish. You can cast Awaken on a creature with the monster type. You can cast Planar Binding on a Bear. None of the spell requirements matter anymore. As Wish states, it simply takes effect.

It wouldn't be Wish if you weren't altering reality with it. That's the very first thing in the spells effect, and it's not exclusive to the 2nd part of the spell, or it would preface that instead of the entire text. And if it wasn't all inclusive, the wording would have stated that you don't need to meet any requirements to cast the spell. Since it specifies in instead, it's all inclusive.

Finally, there's also something that I've been overlooking. You are not casting a lower level spell when you cast Wish. You are casting Wish. One of the uses of Wish is to effectively duplicate a lower level spell, while ignoring any of the requirements in that spell.

Since Wish does not state you are casting a second spell, concentration is not required to sustain the duplicate effect because the duration of Wish is instantaneous. More importantly, you aren't responsible for sustaining the second spell, Wish is, that's its function. If somebody were trying to dispel the effects of a spell duplicated by Wish, they would be countering a level 9 conjuration spell regardless of the level or school the spell was effectively cast at. The reason for this brings us full circle back to the initial casting. You are not casting the 8th level spell or lower, you are casting a 9th level spell called Wish which can duplicate any 8th level spell or lower as its basic function, devoid of any requirements in the spell it duplicates.