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I have a human fighter who possessed a wish spell scroll. He had an NPC wizard use the wish spell scroll to undo a nasty spell-like effect on one of the other characters. The wizard wants just compensation for casting the wish spell from the scroll, which he could have used on himself.

The fighter got the spell scroll because a different wizard rewarded him with a wish, but he could not decide what to wish for so the spell was scribbled on a scroll. The idea was that a trustworthy wizard, for a nominal fee, could later read the scroll for him when he decided what he wanted to wish for.

Now that the scroll is cast and the wizard who cast it is demanding payment, I can’t find how much this service is worth. I figure it should be listed somewhere and that the fighter would have some idea of a fair price to start negotiations from, but I can’t find any such price list.

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  • \$\begingroup\$ I am not understanding what is wrong with opinion. It is opinion I seek with my question. If it was in the rules I would not need this- but it's not. So far, I find this website tedious, onerous and just- not fun. I am here for fun and entertainment in my free time away from work. People come here for opinion- rules are easy enough to find. Did I mention that I WANT opinion!? That IS the very point. The best Dnd sessions are loose, unpredictable- within bounds, and humorous. Is that not why we play the game? Otherwise we would play board games. Chess anyone? Mercy, my friends. \$\endgroup\$
    – user50952
    Dec 29, 2018 at 2:44
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    \$\begingroup\$ Related FAQ from meta: Why was my question closed as too broad, unclear, or opinion-based? Opinion-based questions don't really fit the StackExchange format, as there's no way to pick a "best" answer. Such questions are more appropriate in a forum or in Role-playing Games Chat (which you have enough reputation to participate in). \$\endgroup\$
    – V2Blast
    Dec 29, 2018 at 2:50
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    \$\begingroup\$ When we close a question as opinion-based, it's not just because it requires an opinion to answer, since almost all questions will need an opinion to answer. This close reason means that answers will be based almost entirely on opinion. In this case, it's because the answerers will need to make a lot of assumptions in order to answer, and at that point we're basically upvoting what set of assumptions we like best and not which answer is best, which doesn't work on this site. \$\endgroup\$
    – DuckTapeAl
    Dec 29, 2018 at 4:00
  • \$\begingroup\$ As far as I am aware, there is no assumed spellcasting economy spelled out or even hinted at in the 5e rules. I can find no evidence to support the claim that "buying and selling spells is common enough" in the base 5e rules, which means that anything regarding costs for spells is assuming a specific setting, a specific economy, and a specific rarity of high-level casters. That's a lot of assumptions to make in an answer, and unless you can clear up some of that ambiguity, this question is likely to remain closed. \$\endgroup\$
    – DuckTapeAl
    Dec 29, 2018 at 4:04
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    \$\begingroup\$ Why the OP thinks the fighter should know the price is tangential, so it’s not worth closing over assumptions in that part, and I’ve removed the contentious statements, replacing them with just an explanation of the OP’s expectation of a price being listed somewhere. \$\endgroup\$
    – SevenSidedDie
    Dec 30, 2018 at 15:59

2 Answers 2

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RAW, there is no answer. From some sources, possibly at least 810 gp

There are two scenarios to cover: stressful Wish casting or not; whether to create some effect, or the Wish is used to duplicate a spell of 8th level or lower. In the case of non-stressful casting, it is clear that the only cost to the Wizard is his time, which can be analogous to the plain old spell casting costs as described in the next paragraph. In the case of a stressful casting, which is likely what the use of a Wish scroll warrants, there is the added risk to the caster that they can never cast Wish again, as well as the penalties they take over a number of days. A caster that can cast such a spell would likely require compensation for their time, meaning paying for a day or more of lost casting, crafting or adventuring time.

We can see that by looking at the answers (and a comment) in this question, there is a suggested formula that fits all suggested spell casting costs as a service.

Instead of monetary value, some sort of quest may be more relevant, as such a high level caster likely has as much gold as they want.

Ultimately, it is up to you what this wizard thinks their time is worth, but there is no hard and fast rule in 5th edition that I am aware of of that governs the cost of spell casting as a service.

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It depends on how the Wish was used

The 5e spell Wish has two principle uses:

  • Duplicate the effect of a spell of 8th level or lower, or
  • Create some other (possibly stronger) effect, and suffer "Magical Backlash" as a consequence.

If you asked the Wizard to use their 9th level spell slot to reproduce the effects of a spell like Greater Restoration, then basically, you got an effect from him for free, without him (or anyone else) needing to provide the 100gp diamond material component; you might owe him an equivalent amount of gp for the convenience, since 100gp is [probably] more convenient to acquire than a physical 100gp diamond, plus perhaps a fee for using his one and only 9th level spell slot for the day, which he might have otherwise been able to put to another use.

Alternatively, he used it to reproduce spells like Lesser Restoration, Dispel Magic, Remove Curse, Mind Blank, or Heal, none of which have any Material components at all, consumed, costly, or otherwise. So you might owe him a small pittance for his time (in addition to the aforementioned opportunity cost of using a 9th level spell slot).

However. It might be possible that instead, the Wizard used the Wish to reproduce an effect that cannot be described by an 8th level (or lower) spell, if the effect placed on you was especially difficult to remove or dispel. In that case, the Wizard suffered 2d4 days of backlash (average 5 days) and suffered a 33% chance of never being able to cast Wish again. That's a tremendous burden and risk the Wizard assumed for the purposes of curing your ailment.

At this point, it becomes contingent on what your DM decides, but what your DM will take into consideration is how generous this Wizard is (are they a Good Samaritan who felt you deserved the help you received and paid no heed to the consequences against themself?) and how much they're willing to suffer the potential consequences of never being able to cast Wish ever again. Under most circumstances though, your debt to the wizard, in this case, would be quite extraordinary.

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  • \$\begingroup\$ I agree with the core statement that how it is used will matter, but I strongly disagree with the idea that it would ever be "a small pittance for his time". This asks a wizard of high enough level to cast "wish" to then use a precious Ninth level spell slot. This would not come at the cost of a pittance. There were guides for the prices of spell services in earlier editions. I do not believe they have been replicated for 5e yet, but the older versions may be a good starting point. \$\endgroup\$
    – TimothyAWiseman
    Dec 28, 2018 at 22:13
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    \$\begingroup\$ Thanks Tim. I had not found a pricing system either, and wondered if I missed something. I will look for an earlier suitable system, or perhaps a home brew solution, having no other choice... As per Xirema, the wish was used to replicate a lower level spell- unfortunately the issue here is timing and availability, hence the more expensive wish is the best option... I thought 2,000 GP might be appropriate- since I recently saw a system where the wizard charges 90 GP per character level and you have to at least be 17th L to cast wish. It makes sense- higher level reflects greater expertise... \$\endgroup\$
    – user50952
    Dec 29, 2018 at 2:27
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    \$\begingroup\$ Since the spell is being cast from a scroll, no material component is needed regardless so I'm not quite sure your material component logic holds up here. \$\endgroup\$
    – Rubiksmoose
    Dec 30, 2018 at 16:52

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