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Genasi
Those who think of other planes at all consider them remote, distant realms, but planar influence can be felt throughout the world. It sometimes manifests in beings who, through an accident of birth, carry the power of the planes in their blood. The genasi are one such people, the offspring of genies or other powerful elementals and mortals.
Genasi Traits
- Size: 1
- Speed: 5
- Bonus Languages: Primordial
Choose what elemental plane you are connected to:
- Air Affinity
- Speed: +2 (Strider)
- Critical Winds: Whenever you get a critical success, you can choose one creature or object within 5 yards. The target makes a Strength roll. on a failure, you push the target up to 5 yards away from you.
- Earth Affinity
- Natural Defense: +3
- Health: +5
- Critical Tremors: Whenever you get a critical success, you can choose one creature or object within 5 yards. A target creature makes an Agility roll; on a failure, it falls prone. A target object takes 1d6 damage.
- Fire Affinity
- Flaming Strikes: Your attacks with melee weapons deal an extra 1d6 damage as you envelop them in flame.
- Critical Spark: Whenever you get a critical success, you can choose one creature or object within 5 yards. The target makes an Agility roll. On a failure, it takes 1d6 damage.
- Water Affinity
- Strong Swimmer: You gain the Swimmer trait for your movement, allowing you to use your full speed in water.
- Flowing Like the River: You gain the Slippery trait for your movement, stopping foes from getting free attacks when you leave their range.
- Water Breather: You are immune from suffocation when underwater.
- Critical Flow: Whenever you get a critical success, you can choose one creature or unsecured object within 5 yards of you. A target creature makes a Strength roll. On a failure, or if you target an object, you pull it up to 5 yards toward you.
- Metal Affinity
- Armored Defense: +1
- Health: +2
- Critical Strike: Whenever you get a critical success, you can choose one metal object within 5 yards of you. If the targeted is held by a creature (including weapons or worn armor), they make a Strength roll to maintain control of the item. On a failure, they take damage equal to the weapon as it strikes them or 1d6 damage if it is armor or another held item. If you target a free-standing object, choose a creature within 1 yard of the object, they must make an Agility roll to avoid being struck by the metal object, taking 1d6 damage on a failure.
- Wood Affinity
- Health: +5
- Arms of Vines: Your movement gains the Climber trait, allowing you to climb at your full speed.
- Critical Grasp: Whenever you get a critical success, you can choose one creature within 5 yards of you. The creature makes a Strength or Agility check, and on a failure is held by vines that appear around them until the end of their next turn.
Genasi Novice Path
Level 1 Genasi
Suggested Attributes: Strength 11, Agility 10, Intellect 10, Will 12
Natural Defense: 10
Health: 14
Languages: Common, Primordial (from ancestral trait) Tradition: One (See Elemental Tradition) Spells: Two novice
- Elemental Tradition You gain a tradition depending on your Elemental Connection:
- Air: Aeromancy
- Earth: Geomancy
- Fire: Pyromancy
- Water: Hydromancy
- Metal: Conjuration or Technomancy
- Wood: Animism
- Elemental Augmentation You gain an additional benefit depending on your Elemental Connection:
- Air You are immune to Suffocation.
- Earth Your movement score gains the Burrower trait.
- Fire You do not take damage from touching fire.
- Water You can squeeze into a space a quarter of your size, as opposed to the standard half of your size. You suffer none of the squeezing drawbacks when squeezing into a space half of your size.
- Metal You are immune to the Frightened affliction.
- Wood You are immune to the Poisoned affliction.
- Elemental Boon You gain a boon on certain rolls depending on your Elemental Connection:
- Air: You roll with 1 boon when using your Aeromancy magic.
- Earth: You roll with 1 boon when using your Geomancy magic.
- Fire: You roll with 1 boon when using your Pyromancy magic.
- Water: You roll with 1 boon when using your Hydromancy magic.
- Metal: You roll attacks with 1 boon when using a metal weapon.
- Wood: You roll with 1 boon when using your Animism magic.
Level 2 Genasi
Health: +4
Bonus Damage: +1d6
Tradition: One
Spells: Two novice
- Elemental Recovery: You can use an action to heal half your damage total. Once you use this talent, you lose access to it until after you rest. You then gain the following benefit depending on your Elemental Affinity:
- Air: Your movement gains the Fly trait until the end of your next turn. If you are still in the air at the end of your next turn, you will fall as normal, but do not take damage.
- Earth: You become immune to damage from ordinary sources until the end of your next turn.
- Fire: Flames burst from you to fill a Size 3 space centered on you before dissipating. Each object in the space takes damage equal to twice your level, and — if flammable — catches fire. Each creature in the space other than you takes damage equal to your level and makes a luck roll. On a failure, the creature takes extra damage equal to your level and catches fire (luck ends).
- Water You end the held, impaired, on fire, poisoned, and prone afflictions if you have them. Then you become immune to those afflictions until the end of your next turn.
- Metal: Metal spikes extrude from your body, dealing damage to any adjacent creature equal to your level. If you are held or grabbed, that condition ends and you deal additional damage equal to your level to the creature that held you. These spikes remain until the end of your next turn and until they retract, any creature making a free attack against you takes damage equal to your level before making that attack roll.
- Wood: Choose one other creature within 5 yards, that creature ends one affliction affecting them and heals 5 damage.
Level 5 Genasi
Health: +4
Spells: One expert
- Elemental Form: You gain one of the following based on your associated elemental affinity:
- Air: You can use this talent to gain the fly and hover tags for your movement for 1 minute. Once you use this talent, you lose access to it until after you rest. You are also permanently immune to fall damage.
- Earth: You permanently burrow at full speed. You can also use this talent to become insubstantial for the purposes of moving through earth or stone for 1 minute. If this effect ends while you are inside of a solid object you will be ejected to the nearest empty space. Once you use this talent, you lose access to it until after you rest.
- Fire: You can use an action to cover yourself with flames that do not harm you or your possessions for 1 minute. While wreathed in flames, you deal 1d6 damage to any creature that starts its turn within 1 yard of you or moves to enter this 1 yard radius on their turn. Once you use this talent, you lose access to it until after you rest.
- Water: Your movement permanently gains the Water Walk trait, allowing you to walk across liquid as if it was difficult terrain. You can use an action to gain the Squeeze (1 inch) trait for your movement, allowing you to squeeze through openings as small as 1 inch as you temporarily convert your body to water. Once you use this talent, you lose access to it until after you rest.
- Metal: You permanently gain Natural Defense +1. You can use an action to turn your body to metal, granting you +2 Armored Defense for 1 minute. Once you use this talent, you lose access to it until after you rest.
- Wood: Your movement permanently gains the Strider trait. You can use an action to enable you to meld with and pass between plants. For 1 minute, you, once per turn, touch a plant an expend 1 yard of movement to appear next to another plant you can see. Once you use this talent, you lose access to it until after you rest.
Lore
Elemental Origins
The Elemental Planes are often inhospitable to natives of the Material Plane: crushing earth, searing flames, boundless skies, and endless seas make visiting these places dangerous for even a short time. The powerful genies, however, don’t face such troubles when venturing into the mortal world. They adapt well to the mingled elements of the Material Plane, and they sometimes visit—whether of their own volition or compelled by magic. Some genies can adopt mortal guise and travel incognito.
During these visits, a mortal might catch a genie’s eye. Friendship forms, romance blooms, and sometimes children result. These children are genasi: individuals with ties to two worlds, yet belonging to neither. Some genasi are born of mortal–genie unions, others have two genasi as parents, and a rare few have a genie further up their family tree, manifesting an elemental heritage that’s lain dormant for generations.
Occasionally, genasi result from exposure to a surge of elemental power, through phenomena such as an eruption from the Inner Planes or a planar convergence. Elemental energy saturates any creatures in the area and might alter their nature enough that their offspring with other mortals are born as genasi.
Heirs to Elemental Power
Genasi inherit something from both sides of their dual nature. They resemble humans but have unusual skin color (red, green, blue, or gray), and there is something odd about them. The elemental blood flowing through their veins manifests differently in each genasi, often as magical power.
Seen in silhouette, a genasi can usually pass for human. Those of earth, metal or water descent tend to be heavier, while those of air, wood or fire tend to be lighter. A given genasi might have some features reminiscent of the mortal parent (pointed ears from an elf, a stockier frame and thick hair from a dwarf, small hands and feet from a halfling, exceedingly large eyes from a gnome, and so on).
Absent Parents
Genasi almost never have contact with their elemental parents. Genies seldom have interest in their mortal offspring, seeing them as accidents. Many feel nothing for their genasi children at all.
Some genasi live as outcasts, driven into exile for their unsettling appearance and strange magic, or assuming leadership of savage humanoids and weird cults in untamed lands. Others gain positions of great influence, especially where elemental beings are revered. A few genasi leave the Material Plane to find refuge in the households of their genie parents.
Genasi Lands
As rare beings, genasi might go their entire lives without encountering another one of their kind. There are no great genasi cities or empires. Genasi seldom have communities of their own and typically adopt the cultures and societies into which they are born. The more strange their appearance, the harder time they have. Many genasi lose themselves in teeming cities, where their distinctiveness hardly raises an eyebrow in places accustomed to a variety of different people.
Those living on the frontier, though, have a much harder time. People there tend to be less accepting of differences. Sometimes a cold shoulder and a suspicious glare are the best genasi can hope for; in more backward places, they face ostracism and even violence from people who mistake them for fiends. Facing a hard life, these genasi seek isolation in the wilds, making their homes in mountains or forests, near lakes, or underground.
Some lands have permanent genie members of society, these lands are uncommon but feature many more genasi.
Genasi Names
Genasi use the naming conventions of the people who raised them.
Genasi Subtypes
Air
As an air genasi, you are descended from the djinn. As changeable as the weather, your moods shift from calm to wild and violent with little warning, but these storms rarely last long.
Air genasi typically have light blue skin, hair, and eyes. A faint but constant breeze accompanies them, tousling the hair and stirring the clothing. Some air genasi speak with breathy voices, marked by a faint echo. A few display odd patterns in their flesh or grow crystals from their scalps.
Earth
As an earth genasi, you are descended from the cruel and greedy dao, though you aren’t necessarily evil. You have inherited some measure of control over earth, reveling in superior strength and solid power. You tend to avoid rash decisions, pausing long enough to consider your options before taking action.
Elemental earth manifests differently from one individual to the next. Some earth genasi always have bits of dust falling from their bodies and mud clinging to their clothes, never getting clean no matter how often they bathe. Others are as shiny and polished as gemstones, with skin tones of deep brown or black, eyes sparkling like agates. The most arresting have fissures in their flesh, from which faint light shines or a coating of tiny crystals.
Fire
As a fire genasi, you have inherited the volatile mood and keen mind of the efreet. You tend toward impatience and making snap judgements.
Nearly all fire genasi are feverishly hot as if burning inside, an impression reinforced by flaming red, coal-black or ash-gray skin tones. The more human-looking have fiery red hair that writhes under extreme emotions while more exotic genasi feature actual flames dancing up their heads. Fire genasi voices sound like crackling flames, and their eyes flare when angered. Some are accompanied by the faint scent of brimstone.
Water
The lapping of waves, the spray of sea foam on the wind, the ocean depths—all of these things call to your heart. You wander freely and take pride in your independence, though others might consider you selfish.
Most water genasi look as if they just finished bathing, with beads of moisture collecting on their skin and hair. They smell of fresh rain and clean water. Blue or green skin is common, and most have somewhat overlarge eyes, blue-black in color. A water genasi’s hair might float freely, swaying and waving as if underwater. Some have voices with undertones reminiscent of whale song or trickling streams.
Metal
As a metal genasi, you have a very tight grip on your emotions, making you seem cold to others. This does not mean you are slow to react, metal genasi can easily change themselves to adapt to any situation they may face.
Earth genasi often have smooth metallic flesh, dull iron skin spotted with rust, shiny gold skin that reflects in the sunlight, rough uneven ore with spots of sunlight. Rarely gems can be found in their body.
Wood
The growing of grass, the creeping of vines, the living forest—all of these things call to you. You are most at home in nature.
Most wood genasi look have thick, green hair and have skin that looks and feels like bark. Plants around them will grow towards them and they can be mistaken for adharita. A wood genasi will smell of nature and flowers can sprout from different parts of their body.