Was a "divine wish" spell ever mentioned in any published game materials?

Question

Official or unofficial materials. Not necessarily a spell available to players; it could be a creature or item ability. Various people from the AD&D 2nd edition up to Planescape (primarily 90's) seem to remember such a spell, but I have not been able to find any TSR materials or endorsed / published materials with such a spell.

Answer 1

I've heard this rumour come up before, and, being curious, followed it to its source: Page 79 of AD&D's Manual of the Planes. (This is the only origin my research turned up, but there may be others I'm not aware of.)

This page specified that Wish spells are actually granted by the nearest deity with the ability to do so, and that that deity was free to interpret or refuse to grant the wish as they saw fit. This detail rarely comes up on the Prime, but if you happen to be on an outer plane, knowing which gods make their kip locally could be a matter of life and death.

In any case, while this didn't remove the 'Wish' spell from the wizard spell list, it did tie it to the whims of the gods, making it distinctly more "divine" in nature than most spells wizards have access to. This led to many players thinking of Wish as a "divine spell."

It's worth mentioning that the term "divine magic" didn't mean "spells that only priests can cast" until Dungeons and Dragons Third Edition. In earlier editions, the spells that priests could cast were called "priest spells." The term "divine magic" just meant "magic somehow associated with the divine," and so could be used to describe the few wizard spells that explicitly called on divine power.

Answer 2

The published 2nd Ed. Spelljammer module "Under the Dark Fist" includes wishes granted by a pantheon of gods upon being freed from imprisonment. Although the module does not give these a distinct name, the text makes clear that these wishes are substantially more powerful that standard wishes. From the text:

Each member of the party is granted a wish by the freed gods. This can be for anything up to divine ascension as a demi-power (if the PC decides to retire his character, of course). The DM should chose (sic) this moment to help focus the PCs in their future aims, now that they have reached a turning point in their adventuring careers. They might desire a new spelljamming ship, or clues about the legendary Spelljammer itself. A special trademark power can be assigned as well, like invisibility at will. For campaign balance, try to avoid giving anything more powerful than a demi-power ability to any PC at this time. And above all, do not permit the PCs to change any aspect of the previous adventure's events. The gods themselves fear for the ramifications of such an action.

The "Chest of the Aloeids" published in Dungeon magazine may also have had a "divine wish" as a reward, with some suggested enhanced scope of effect (because of its direct fulfillment by Greek gods). Don't know if you consider that "official" enough for your purposes. Again, will provide details if I can find my copy.

"The Chest of the Aloeids" (by Craig Barrett) does mention a divine wish (italicized in the source, indicating a specific spell of that name), but in the setup, not as a reward, serving as the plot device that sets up the scenario. The following description is provided:

A divine wish is an extremely potent version of a wish spell, possible only to the ruling god of any specific mythos. It alters reality in an extreme way, with absolute certainty and without any detrimental effects to the god who grants it or to the person who uses it. Because of its potency, however, the divine wish must be worded with special care to avoid unwanted side effects. Ruling gods are generally reluctant to use such power even for themselves, let alone grant it to someone else. No mortal will ever receive a divine wish. If an immortal has a legitimate reason to ask for a divine wish, there is only a small chance that it will be granted. The divine wish takes the form of a simple token (a plain ring, for example) that vanishes when the wish is used.

Answer 3

I do not have my books handy, but I think that in BECMI DnD, at the Master rank (black book, levels 26-36), there was a Wish spell available to clerics and wizards. Both spells were basically the same Wish spell, even with the same writing if I remember correctly.