Growing up, we had an audio cassette of stories from the 1001 Arabian Nights, which included Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves, obviously the frame narrative of Scheherazade, and what is probably the most famous of those stories, Aladdin. I was already familiar with the story, I think, when Disney came out with its 1992 animated musical that famously featured Robin Williams in the role of the genie. I was six at the time, so I was pretty much the target audience, and I absolutely adored the concept of genies (and have strong feelings about using the last wish to free any genie - though as an adult I now wonder if it's kind of messed up not to just do that first, on an ethical level).
Anyway, as I got older I did some cursory (really, if I'm honest, Wikipedia-level) reading into genies, and the lore behind them is actually really interesting - essentially, they're another kind of human-like people with free will, but where humanity is (by the traditions from which the folklore comes, including Abrahamic mythos) made of earth, the djinn are made from fire. (Genie is of course an alternate transliteration of "djinni," which is the singular form of djinn. Remember, it's not Latin/Italian, so the "i" at the end doesn't make it plural - in fact, quite the opposite).
In some of the fantasy fiction I've written, rather than having a world of elves and dwarves, the only other "humanoid" race is the djinn, who live deep in a massive desert the size of Eurasia called the Sarona Desert. Human in appearance aside from their blue skin and glowing, fiery eyes (which they hide behind dark sunglasses by tradition), they can easily live in the desert because they don't require water to survive.
Anyway, the Genasi in D&D are the closest you can get to a playable genie race. There's a lot of really interesting built-in lore here, including the notion that your genie parent would, by D&D lore, not have parents (and thus siblings,) meaning any genasi has a parent with no personal experience of being raised in a family.
Genasi were introduced to 5E in the Elemental Evil Player's Companion, as well as within the pages of Princes of the Apocalypse. But the race has generally been considered underpowered. While its +2 in Constitution in theory is useful to anyone, I don't really see a lot of people eager to pick them out.
As such, it's exciting to see that they've gotten some big revisions in Mordenkainen Presents Monsters of the Multiverse.
The following information comes from Nerd Immersion, and while I won't be getting MPMM until it comes out independently in May, I think it's fair game especially given that this is a revision rather than a brand new printing.
The four elemental "subraces" are broken out into essentially their own races, which is especially easy to do because, like all races from here on out, ability score bonuses are now fully decoupled from your race - anyone can choose +2 to one stat and +1 to another or +1 to three different stats (I'll be curious how Humans work in the 2024 PHB).
So, let's compare. Starting with the...
Air Genasi:
EEPC Version: +2 to Con, +1 to Dex, Medium Size, Speed 30 ft. Unending Breath (you can hold your breath indefinitely when not incapacitated,) Mingle with the Wind: (You can cast the levitate spell once per long rest without material components, using Constitution as your spellcasting ability)
MMPM Version: +2/+1 or +1/+1/+1, Medium or Small size, Speed 35 ft., Darkvision 60 ft., Unending Breath (as above), Lightning Resistance, New Version of Mingle with the Wind:
You get Shocking Grasp, then you can cast Feather Fall without material components at level 3, and Levitate without material component at level 5. You can cast Feather Fall and Levitate each once per long rest for free, but you can also spend spell slots of the appropriate level to cast them. You can choose Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma as your spellcasting ability for these when you pick this race.
Ok, so the only way this isn't strictly better is having to wait until level 5 to use levitate. By every other measure, this is better - darkvision, lightning resistance, 35 feet of movement, etc. Fun note is that my Wood Elf Monk was originally conceived as an Air Genasi, but AL rules wouldn't allow it. Now, however, I think that it would be legal, and in this form, he'd be pretty comparably good (they'd both have the higher movement speed).
Ok, moving on, let's look at...
Earth Genasi:
EEPC Version: +2 to Con, +1 to Str, Medium, Speed 30 ft., Earth Walk (You can move across difficult terrain made of earth or stone without expending extra movement). Merge with Stone (You can cast Pass without Trace without material components once per long rest, with Con as your spellcasting ability).
MMPM Version: Your Choice of Stats, Your choice of Small or Medium, Speed 30 ft., Darkvision 60 ft., New Earth Walk (You can now move across difficult terrain of any kind without expending extra movement as long as you're using your walking speed on the ground or a floor). New Merge with Stone (You know the Blade Ward cantrip, and can cast it as a normal or you can cast it as a bonus action a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus per long rest. Starting at 5th level, you can cast Pass without Trace without material components once for free per long rest, but you can also spend 2nd level or higher spell slots to do so again. You choose between Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma as your spellcasting ability for this when you pick this trait).
All right, this is still an upgrade except for having to wait to 5th level for Pass without Trace. You don't get any inherent resistance, but you do get to cast Blade Ward as a bonus action, which can give you brief windows of resistance to "physical" damage. Earth Walk I'd count as a total upgrade over the old version. I think this mostly just suffers in comparison to the other MMPM genasi.
Fire Genasi:
EEPC Version: +2 Con, +1 Int, Medium, Speed 30 ft., Darkvision 60 ft., Fire Resistance, Reach to the Blaze (You know the Produce Flame cantrip, and at 3rd level you can cast Burning Hands this way as a 1st level spell once per long rest. Constitution is your spellcasting ability for these spells).
MMPM Version: Choice of Stats, Choice of Small or Medium, Speed 30 ft., Darkvision 60 ft., Fire Resistance, New version of Reach to the Blaze: (You know Produce Flame. At 3rd level you can cast Burning Hands with this trait. At 5th level you can cast Flame Blade with this trait, and can cast Burning Hands and Flame Blade for free each once a day, or you can spend appropriate spell slots to cast them. You choose Int, Wis, or Cha as your spellcasting ability when you take this race.)
This is kind of interesting: of the original Genasi, Fire seemed the best kitted-out, and it seems it served as a model for the other revisions - including things like darkvision, an appropriate damage resistance, etc. I think this might be a strict upgrade, though, over the old version, even if that upgrade is a little subtler - letting you pick your spellcasting ability, your stats, and I guess your size (though mechanically I don't know if there's any advantage to being small rather than medium).
Water Genasi:
EEPC Version: +2 Con, +1 Wis, Medium, Speed 30 ft plus Swim 30 ft., Acid Resistance, Amphibious (you can breathe air and water), Swim (the aforementioned swim speed,) Call to the Wave (You know Shape Water, and at 3rd level you can cast Create or Destroy Water as a 2nd level spell once per long rest. Con is your spellcasting ability for this feature).
MMPM Version: Choice of Stats, Choice of Small or Medium size, Speed 30 ft, and Swim equal to your Walking Speed. Darkvision 60 ft., Acid Resistance, Amphibious, and new Call to the Wave: (You know the Acid Splash cantrip. At 3rd level you can cast Create or Destroy Water with the trait, and at 5th level, you can cast Water Walk with it, without material components. You can cast each of these once for free per long rest, or you can cast them with spell slots as normal. You pick Int, Wis, or Cha as your spellcasting ability.)
Phew! Ok, this one's a little trickier. The subtle change to your swim speed (equalling your walking speed) is actually great if you're a fast class like a Monk or Barbarian. However, this is the only genasi to actually lose something, in the form of Shape Water. Still, getting Darkvision is nice, as well as Water Walk.
So, overall, what do we think?
My sense is that the general theme - having element-themed spells for each type of genasi - carries over from the original design, though a little more offensive-based. I see what they were going for with Earth Genasi, but I think it would have been cool if they had gone for something a little funkier - for example, Dao Genie Warlocks get resistance to bludgeoning damage. I wonder if that would have been considered too powerful as a racial trait. But I think it could have been cool and less awkward than their "sort of resistant" solution involving Blade Ward (also, they don't get any offensive cantrip like the other three do).
Still, Genasi suffered I think in part from having kind of thin racial traits. Now, I think the general array of things they get really works out quite well, and we might see more Genasi characters in the future (yes I know that the new campaign of Critical Role has two genasi characters, so they might not be so rare after all).
Anyway, I think this also gives you an initial idea of the kind of reforms we're seeing in Monsters of the Multiverse - these are, if anything, a bit on the conservative side. I'm extremely eager to see what changes we'll see to class design in 2024, but I'll have to be patient for that, of course.
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