I know someone over on ENWorld (I forget who) made a Noble Genie warlock patron for their Al-Qadim conversion. Not sure how it holds up, but I like the idea!
The Eldritch Expansion on DM's Guild has a Genie pact Warlock that gets a variety of abilities based on the elemental type of genie you choose to pact with. I'd say it's very well made.
I’m so happy with the UA one that they came out with and I have a genasi warlock with a genie pack and it’s obviously not the best mechanically but the flavor is amazing
"I wish to be the most badass fighter ever." Okay. Boom. Your the Tarrasque. Most. Epic. Wish. Twist. To build on that... "Daddy, where do Tarrasques come from?" "Well, son, your Uncle Kevin found this djinn lamp..."
My take would be to level drain any other member of the Fighter class (and only the fighter class) to one level lower (in that class) than the PC. Either that or I would turn the fighter into a donkey and change his or her alignment to the nearest evil alignment.
@@JPruinc Heya Pruitt, Watching missed/older WebDM vids today. Found this reply you posted, and I randomly browsed through your channel subscriptions... It made me wonder: have you heard of AJ Pickett? The reason I ask is, personally (obvious bias here), I feel like this channel and AJ's are on another echelon of awesome for D&D content. Just wanted to run that past you. Maybe in the (far?) future a collab would be feasible? It would be like three neutron stars colliding...
That opening flex about the mechanics of capturing a genie has stuck with me forever. You rarely delve into the nitty gritty of mechanical play, focusing more about concepts and role playing. But that bit also shows “oh yeah, we know this game up and down, can play at a level beyond most mortals”, we just find it more fun to explore the conceptual space of D&D
3 years after watching this, I’m finally going to get a chance to let players do this in a game. They have an outline they’re planning to follow, multiple clerics, a Lore bard, some bestow curses, +more and they’re ready to GO. Thank you for all your videos over the years. These older ones still stick with me.
I've always seen genies as quite similar to devils. If you make a pact with a devil, it's going to find any loopholes in what you agreed upon to gain the most for itself and stuff you over, just like a genie is going to pervert your wish so that you're not getting exactly what you wanted.
as far as binding a genie to an object to get wishes, in 3rd edition, in the exemplars of evil book, it states how one of monsters had a ring that a noble djinn was bound to and it could make it follow its instructions up to an hour a day, and it would grant 3 wishes. after the 3rd wish was granted, the genie was released, and returned to its home plane. A dm could use that as a way to bring genies into their game. hope this helps.
lol, didn't disappoint with that intro. I didn't know the specifics on the Gate spell, so that was good to hear. I was thinking I would need to make up some homebrew reason for not letting things get your true name, but here's a 9th level spell that gives you a great reason. I really enjoyed that analysis on how to summon and bind a genie.
Been playing D&D over 20 years, started with AD&D2e then moved into 3.5e. To summon a Fire Genie , AD&D " Ensnarement " was a 7th-level spell, then they made it " Planar Binding." If you don't have the Outsider's True Name, then you end up with a random outsider of the type the spell caster was going for. i.) When summoning an outsider, list the personality traits you want to deal with, and have a bribe ready. ii.) Fire genies could Planeshift at will, so if you piss them off, they will come back at you with renforcements. Best thing to do is have a good protection spells for yourself and Do Not try to trap or trick a fire genie into your biding . Summon the being, bribe them to over look the lost of time you just cause them, and offer them a deal. iii.) Fire genie gain status by the deals they make with mortals. So ask and offer to improve their status in their House and their clan.
I gave my players a wish for Christmas. The cleric used it to silver the ranger's swords mid battle with a bone devil and night hag. He felt he wasted it, but TBH it saved the party
Thinking that with the object bound genie, the binding of the genie has the condition that after granting so many wishes that the binding is undone. Of course then the genie would not want anyone to know anything about that and would want to grant people wishes.
I don't know if you guys look at the comments on these older videos but here recently Wizards added a new UA which gave warlock the Noble Genie patron and it's an alright subclass from just looking at it's base stuff
I know my views on what genies and spirits are will be eternally be influenced by the Bartimaeus Trilogy. They are powerful beings but they don't grant wishes. They use their magic to achieve the task you set them to and that severely weakens them until they return home
A wish spell does not have the ability to control or alter God's. So many times I get players who think learning that spell makes them a God. Well there are REAL God's, and they won't let you undue their will with one spell
I once gave my players a model ship in a bottle that had a genie in it. He had slaves in it with him. The bottle was actually more like a scrying tool. In the actual elemental plane he was sailing around the world so the players could see the ocean too. This was in a planar war campaign and they had to choose a side eventually, but the bottle was made by the wish of a warlock who didnt want the genie held captive(afraid of its anger) but wanted to be able to call on it as an ally. Sometimes the ship was full and livley, sometimes not. Whenever they opened the bottle, theyd be able to have 1 party member say a password to be transported to the ship, then another could say a password to return them. Made for some hilarious situations involving investigating town guards.
I've been watching you for about a month now and have almost watched all your videos. I'm myself new do being a DM, I started in June or July, but it's so much fun to see my players interact in the world that I've created. Your videos really help me come up with new ideas to which monsters (and how) I should present to the players. Keep up the good work!
JPruInc Yes, and I don't have the confident to just make a lot of stuff up as the players do unexpected things, so I try to be as prepared as I can. This leads to a lot of planning before each session, but it's totally worth it.
The best part about being well-prepped for a game is that even if you only use part of what you prepped, you can recycle material for future games. Eventually you'll find you have a whole trove of unused material that you can use on the fly if needed. Next thing you know, you'll be mixing improve and prepped material!
last fight I was in with jinn... they killed the rogue and I gave the last willing one a choice.... die... or use its wish spell to cast revify on the rogue and leave unhindered. Only time our party had access to a wish spell.
The problem I have with wishes in gaming is that as soon as a wish is available, the DM starts metagaming to remove that wish(s) from the group. Suddenly the traps are inescapable, unless you wish out; the "random" encounters get hard set to deadly, unless you wish it not so; every protagonist, or encounter gets ramped up to make you use your wishes on normal gaming activities, so you can't wish for some outrageous treasure.
Hey Guys first of all I find your channel very helpful and it gives some really good insights. I recently played the boardgame Splendor and it gave me an idea of how to incorporate the Genie wish into my campaign. I wanted to share it with you because I think it might inspire you. Setup: After various elementals attacked and ravaged the city in which the players reside, they find a Genie lamp among the treasure. They also find a sort of invitation to the court of the noble genie Iodonis. They figure out that the attack was an attempt to gather gemstones and other wealth in order to gain access to the court of Iodonis. When they rub the lamp they are surprised to see that it doesn't summon a genie per say, but instead open a portal to the a part of the Iodonis realm. Here they are met by his steward, a regular genie, who tells them that they aren't prestigious enough to get an audience (and by audience I mean Wish) from his master Iodonis. They must have proper titles in order to see him. Perhaps, mayor or lord should be good enough. So, I set up the game like Splendor. The PC's have to accumulate prestige by rebuilding the destroyed town. So, instead of building numerous mines and jewelry shops, the game will revolve around city building. New gates, walls, garrison, temples, taverns, etc. Each round is X amount of months in real game. The player who wins, becomes the new mayor/lord/king of the city. With this new title, Iodonis will see that player at his court, and grant him a Wish. Not sure how I will handle what a Wish entails yet. But I will figure that out in due time.
I like to have Genies different in my current world. A genie was a powerful sorcerer who managed to trap his soul to something to live forever. In order to open that something (e.g.locket/chest/casket) you need its name and the knowledge for the ritual. Then it operates as a wraith wizard who only wants to survive. He will try to kill the survivors but if he sees he's going to die he'll devote himself and grant only those wishes that he can cast until he can kill them. You also have to carry the item he is trapped in if you want something so if it's a pillar or a throne then good luck with that.
so the thing that instantly popped into my head about how to limit the number of wishes is have the lamp do a dragon ball, you get a wish or two or three and poof off it goes to some random place for someone else to find.
Binge watched all your videos, and I actually feel ready to roll out my first campaign. Thank you for your hard work Web DM. This is just in time too, I was considering adding a genie to my setting...time to pencil that in.
If you're open to suggestions I'd like to see a video about necromancy. Particularly about how NPCs might react upon hearing that a player is a necromancer or at least practices the magic.
I really like the idea of a Djinn-Pact Warlock! o3o Maybe have them have a lot of spells that are kind of like variations on Thaumaturgy considering the human perception of Genies granting wishes and such e.e
Awesome episode as always! I'm hoping the next adventure revolved around the Djinn with a possible "Arabian Nights" (Amnian Nights since it will be in Forgotten Realms) since there is lots of Djinn art within the monster manual.
I'd like to see them shift focus from the Savage Frontier/Sword Coast, myself. As long as they're going to continue using FR as the default setting, they should use all of it, not just the extreme NW.
I agree, I'm getting tired of everything focusing on Waterdeep and Yartar. Storm King's Thunder seems to push you further north into Ten Towns this time around.
I'm glad for chapter 3 of SKT (shoulda been in SCAG though), and finally feel that new DMs have enough info to run a game set in NW Faerun. Now it's time for a Moonsea Adventurer's Guide for people using AL material and to use a different location for the next AP (would prefer Calimshan to Amn or Cormyr/Sembia).
Would love to see Cormyr, had a lot of fun with some older games in that area and it would be great to use the authority of the Purple Dragon Knights from the SCAG, but also seeing Amn would be awesome, and hopefully they add some Baldur's Gate 2 easter eggs
My Genies tend to be less out right hostile and more subtle manipulators. Case in point, a genie I made convinced the party to not only eliminate a rival but to also use their wishes to benefit the Genie. By the time they figured it out, the Genie's plan was completed and he'd siezed control of his elemental plane. He did however bestow upon them a parting "gift" that wasn't immediately apparent, an immunity to fire and heat. A nice buff that promptly backfired when a party member was frozen and couldn't be defrosted because he was immune to fire and heat. Moral of the story - Don't trust even the nicest Genie.
I'm trying to find an excuse one day to run a megadungeon that's just the inner labyrinthine essence of a genie's mind when the party somehow gets trapped inside of the lamp alongside it... perhaps fending off the genie's creations, selfish wishes, and dreams/nightmares... might require the players to be tripping on shrooms to really get into it, though.
I would give one caviot about wishes. You could wish for the ability to do something outside of your character's class. Like say the ability to cast wish as a warlock (imagine how ruffled your patron might be :-) ), or forever controlled flight in your humanoid form. As something potentially outside an 8th or lower spell effect, it would be genie wish worthy as I would think the strength reduction effect wouldn't affect genies.
Metaknowledge? That doesn't make any sense as a wish. Players roll dice, characters make wishes. Soooo every time your character is playing DnD, they crit every attack roll. Wish has no effect unless the character is rolling a D20.
I've always thought that if i ever get a wish in game the first thing i do is wish that the Tarrasque was more self conscious about how other people think of him. It would either automatically turn me good or evil.
I have a marid who was on the bottom of the totem pole back in the plane if water so they came to the material plane to rule there own underwater city, and is actually the mother of one of my genasi players
I want to get a Noble Genie, combine their Wish/s with a casting of the spell Wish, and acquire a wish-granting item, and cast all of those Wishes, all with the same intent of becoming a God. If half a dozen wishes can't turn someone into a God, I don't know what will.
In your own gameworld, it's your call. In Forgotten Realms, it won't work. Becoming a god was a 12th level spell (Karsus's Avatar) and even that was only temporary. And after a "minor" incident that happened after the first (and last) casting of this spell, magic was from that point in time onwards limited to 9th level and who becomes what god is governed by the overgod Ao.
"concentration are for players only" welp if I had thought of that, the marid I threw on my party would'nt have lost control of the typhoon he created to engulf everyone just because he took poison damage tick form a cut he suffered earlier in the fight
It's an extension of the Monsters and PCs are bound by separate rules theory of DMing. 3e/pathfinder and 4e are two ends of the spectrum, with 5e somewhere in the middle. If (big if) you decide to have monsters ignore concentration or be able to concentrate on more than one spell, then I'd definitely let the players know ahead of time.
I was considering the implications of summoning & binding a genie yesterday and it's not something that you can do by yourself unless you're very high level or manage to find the right spell scrolls. Maybe one day thetr will be rules for making your own scrolls.
I kinda like that it takes more than one caster to summon and bind genies/demons/devils/etc. It means the whole party can get involved instead of sitting around while the caster has all the fun.
Couldn't "Planar Ally" also summon a Genie? I know it's not likely to be able to do so unless the Cleric serves a god in the domain of Luck, but it's still a possibility.
Hey guys big fan, you have helped me out a lot with roleplaying monsters. I'd love to see an episode where you really delve into how to manipulate players with green dragons and devils. I struggle with that and I can imagine quite a few Dms do too. cheers
Manipulating players is a tough one, especially if you have players that don't get into character or whose characters don't have well developed motivations, goals, etc. you've got a few options: dangle mechanical benefits in exchange for the desired behavior, approach the players out-of-game and discuss it with them, or encourage immersive RP by setting an example for the game.
My players don't really get heavily immersed but they still go to acheive character goals. IE they recently fought a Tarrasque that I turned into Godzilla for the Shin Godzilla release last week, and one of my players spent the first 3 turns hunting down the warlocks enthralled NPC to kill him for insulting his character. Said player also signed a deal with a Pit Fiend for weapons but was essentially turned into an assassin for the devil. I guess if you were doing a one shot, where your players came together to do a dungeon crawl against a green dragon, how would you manipulate them? The down and dirty is since they completely failed to defend the city of tokio (jokes galore) and allowed the Tarrasque to destroy it, they are now the laughing stock of epic heroes. I have the encounter planned pretty well but I really want this green dragon to mess with them throughout the one shot and really get under their skin.
If someone used Ifreeti to get a wish to “make me a million dollars” you could turn him into 1,000,000 gold pieces, it’d be interesting because 1. Player Mil would have to roll up a new character 2. Players other than Mil would have to either spend it, keep it, or leave it. Its practically his dead body! 3. Whatever else may come with this.
KingDM6 _ currently our gaming group is set on Dark Sun; one of the peculiarities of Athas is very little metals, wherein the value of moneys are multiplied by 100 (the standard piece is the ceramic 'bit' that's valued equivalent to a mere copper, so every non metallic item is bought with bits, a silver is 10 bits, a gold piece is 100 bits, the absolutely rare platinum piece is 1000 bits for each coin.) So given a tiny bag of gold, characters receive a fortune. Thing is we have to constantly bury our gold and keep the amount hidden or else we attract theives.
After the party goes all the trouble of summoning a Genie, the drunktard of the party steps forward. "I wish.. to share this ale with you." *hands over an ale to the genie* "With this, I wish we can be great friends!" *grabs the shoulder of the genie firmly while chugging down ale* "And I also wish.. that you have a pleasant journey home." *passes out* 10/10, teamplayer.
So I'm thinking about my adventurers going to the City of Brass, and I can't help but wonder about the ecology there. What are the genies up to all day? Do they eat, drink, sleep, etc.? And how hot is it there?
What if you wish the Ifrit free? Would they pervert that wish? 🤔🤔🤔 i did that and the DM had no idea what to do for two weeks and then i just got an ifrit friend that i could summon when my health hit half or lower.
On getting a genie in a bottle for your party, can't you just cast Plane Shift, go to one of the Elemental Planes, and just, you know, find a genie and kidnap it into an iron flask or something? Or maybe even just seduce it? The whole "your wish is my command" thing associated with genies is obviously and inherently romantic if you think about it, implying that they're very emotional and impulsive beings, almost to the point of being ruled by their emotions. So, you could possibly just have one of the more charismatic members of the party seduce the genie into falling in love with them to get that wish they want. That just seems like it would be a whole lot easier than casting like 7 different spells from the Material Plane to summon one.
I get the feeling that you guys are too good of friends, aligned with old married couple status. Good for you. Let the romantic fan fiction be started on this day.
Wouldn't work. I don't remember if it's in the MM or what, but the wish has to be within the genie's power to grant. And that sounds like something only a full-on god could do - not that they would. That's the kind of wish that would have a lot of people getting very angry with you.