Sometimes people fuck genies.
It’s gross, and it’s shameful, but there it is. And when it happens, they make horrible, affront-unto-god genie babies. Or, as they prefer to be called, “Djinn Kin.”
The skin of a Djinn Kin is tinted some unnatural color; green, blue, red, purple; so at least it’s easy to tell them apart from the rest of us. Their body temperature is also significantly higher than a proper human’s, such that it’s uncomfortable to touch one for very long. Not that any decent person would want to touch one anyway.
Djinn Kin have a d4 hit die, and they advance as specialists for experience gain and saving throws.
At first level, and each time a Djinn Kin levels up, they can make a single Wish. Their wishes must be phrased in the terms of the game world, without reference to mechanics or metagame materials. It is a desire put into words by their character, and should reflect that.
As with any wish, the referee should act in good faith. Discuss openly the outcome of the character’s wish. Be receptive to refinements of its phrasing, and suggestions for its potential effects. The referee always has the final word on when the discussion is over, and what the effects will be. However, a Wish should be a player’s blank check to make something awesome happen, not an excuse to fuck the player over.
Likewise, players should view a Wish as a blank check to make something awesome happen, not an opportunity to make themselves game-breakingly powerful. Infinite money, invincibility, more wishes, if those’re is the sort of things you wish for, you’re an asshole. Why not just wish to “win” D&D? All you’re doing is creating a situation where the referee has to figure out how to ‘beat’ you just so the game can continue.
Wish for a great big beard of iron twine that will protect you from oncoming attacks. Wish that every creature you encounter will view you as a member of its own race. Wish you could punch with the force of a battering ram. Wish that no blade could ever touch you. Wish to be able to see in every environment as though it were a brightly lit room. There’s a universe of cool possibilities.
Anyway, that’s Djinn Kin. I’ve had this idea on my mind for ages now, and wanted to share it with you. But there’s really not much to say about the thing. It’s a class that gets wishes ever level. So you also got a little rant about the proper use of the Wish spell, plus some specially commissioned art from my brother Ronnie Whelan, and the post still clocks it at under 500 words.
This is a fucking awesome class.
also very serendipitous, because a player was asking about a Wishmaster class a few days ago and I had no idea what to do for them.
That’s great! You’ll have to tell me how it works out.
It’s a tough class to test, since it’s really more of a “build your own class” option, which depends on the player’s creativity and how much the referee will allow a wish to accomplish. None the less, knowing how it goes would be a treat for me.
Hey man, the campaign’s still in progress but it’s been about a year so I thought I’d get back to you about this. First of all, my player’s multiclassing with Arnold K’s “Really Good Dog” class, so it’s a wish-granting talking dog named Wishbone. He teaches children to read. 10/10 success, it was his first D&D character ever and what a first it is.
As for how it played, since it’s leveling slower and has other class features it’s not a pure test, but he has made some wishes and I liked what he did with some of them. He’s careful to try to wish for new abilities, like instead of wishing away a curse, he wished that he could lick them away with happy puppy love. New saving throw allowed, with a cool-down of an hour. Brilliant.
He has used it to solve some dungeon puzzles, and he keeps some around to use for revivals, which are otherwise impossible in my setting, so he’s being very frugal with them. But he’s having fun and the class seems to be a success. The scarcity of the class feature curbs abuse really well.