Hey so I'm gonna be streaming Over on twitch at 1200 EST / 1700 GMT if anyone wants to see me get a little too giddy with some Durge evilness...
this post was submitted on 17 Feb 2024
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Baldur's Gate 3
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Baldur’s Gate 3 is a story-rich, party-based RPG set in the universe of Dungeons & Dragons, where your choices shape a tale of fellowship and betrayal, survival and sacrifice, and the lure of absolute power. (Website)
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Wish is the highest level spell in the game. There are predefined things it can do, but because of the open nature of tabletop, it can do just about anything, as long as your Dungeon Master approves it. The spell doesn't exist in Baldur's Gate 3 for the players, since it would completely break any encounter, and because players can't merely tell a computer what creative thing they want to do with it. Also, we never achieve the level requirement to cast Wish in Baldur's Gate. As far as the mechanic behind Vlaakith's usage, they coded it to outright kill you. No rolls to see if you evade, no possibility of response, just poosh! Dead. It's the only time you'll see the spell in the game and you don't know that's what happened at the time.
Edit: if you enjoy fantasy, board games, and adventure, then you should definitely check out D&D! They sell starter packs for $20 that have everything you'd need to play an adventure with a group of friends. D&D 6e, or One D&D as they're calling it is coming out later this year, but I'd stick with 5e, which is the game everyone knows and loves. Hasbro bought Wizards of the Coast a while ago, and they've been displaying typical big corp malarkey and greed. Avoid anything new from them and stick with what is familiar in my opinion.
It should be noted that this should not work. In every version of the game I am aware of, the spell description for wish explicitly calls out wishing an enemy dead as something the spell should not be able to accomplish. The typical monkey's paw that is described as happening when you attempt to wish a person dead is that you are propelled forward in time until after they die, effectively removing you from their lifespan. This is part of the 5e description of wish as well.
Vlaakith is an ancient and powerful enough lich that it is entirely reasonable she has the means to kill a low level adventurer like the protagonist of BG3, even from her safe stronghold on another plane of existence, however, the particular method they chose to have her do it in is explicitly called out as something that is impossible, and shouldn't have been used, if only because it sets a bad example for people who have never played D&D and BG3 is their first experience with it.
Rulewise that makes sense, but Lorewise it's a total crock of shit. Wish is ancient ancient magic built upon the culmination of multiple hyper-advanced magic civilizations such as Netheril and Eaerlann who wielded The Weave and The Art like it was origami, if you assume that it's skill surpasses their level of capability since it chronologically came 100 years after the fall of Netheril who failed to ascend to godhood, then not even ascending to godhood is out of the question. It alters past, present, and future. It is creationism itself.
Wish is a 9th level spell. Archwizards with 10th and 11th level spells (we'll leave out the one overachiever who cast a 12th level spell) find it quaint.
Lorewise, wish is only more powerful than meteor swarm, or Mordenkainen's disjunction, or prismatic sphere, or other 9th level spells because it has a high cost - if we go back before 3rd edition, that cost was aging 5 years. In 3rd and 3.5 it was experience points. In 5th, it's a smattering of minor problems and a 33% chance of losing the ability to cast the spell again. But essentially the concept is always that it takes something of your life or soul or physical fortutide to allow the spell to exceed ordinary 9th level spells.
This means it is ultimately a powerful but limited spell, both in the rules and in lore.