The Genie Lord
Ziad held aloft the gem, which absorbed the acid arrow just as it was about to strike him. Seeing his opponent's eyes go wide, he gripped the now brightly glowing gem, and extracted that same essence to fuel his next spell. “My turn.”
Ziad, Warlock of the Genie Lord
You have made a pact with a powerful ruler of geniekind on one of the Elemental Planes. The Genie Lord’s concerns encompass a myriad of topics, ranging from those inscrutable to the mortal mind to those that are simple and straightforward. Genie lords compete endlessly against each other, and rivalries between these elemental rulers can engulf entire nations. They aren’t above bribing a rival’s mortal agents to switch sides if they think it will gain them an advantage.
Building a Pact of the Genie Lord Warlock
Warlocks who swear a pact with the Genie Lord are able to manipulate the flow of elements to protect themselves and their allies…or to cause harm to their enemies. Keep the following traits and abilities in mind when building your character:
Genie Lord’s Favor - In addition to learning Primoridal, you also gain a special gem that allows you to absorb elemental power. At 1st level, you can use this gem to absorb a certain amount of elemental damage you would otherwise take. When used in this way, the gem can also be used as a light source.
Release Energy - Eventually, you can unleash the energy stored in this token to increase the damage you deal with your attacks. Additionally, you can now extend the protection of the gem to nearby allies.
Minor Wish - Your relationship with your patron allows you to occasionally twist fate in your favor, empowering you to reroll a single roll and take the better result.
Herald’s Aspect - Your capstone ability allows you to channel the power of your patron into your flesh to temporarily transform into a herald. In doing so, you gain flight, increased magical defenses, immunity to one elemental type, and the ability to empower your attacks with elemental damage.
As a warlock of the Genie Lord, you also gain access to one of three unique pact boons:
Pact of the Blade: Your pact weapon can be imbued to deal acid, cold, fire, lightning, or thunder damage.
Pact of the Chain: Your familiar can take the form of a mephit, which can use its innate spells or breath weapon.
Pact of the Tome: Your book of shadows becomes immune to damage caused by the elements.
With their Genie Lord’s Favor, a warlock sworn to the Genie Lord has somewhat more survivability than others, and can extend that additional protection to their allies. As they increase in power, their Release Energy ability can also deal an impressive amount of damage. Together these two abilities can help make up for a Warlock’s naturally low supply of spell slots. The Herald’s Aspect can transform you into an incredibly powerful force on the battlefield, allowing you to fly above your enemies and rain down elemental death from above. The elemental enhancements to your pact boons also help set you apart from other warlocks, and the ability to change the elements of the Blade and Chain boons means you can always have the most effective one prepared.
There is no right or wrong answer when it comes to picking your race, especially if your gamemaster allows the optional rules variant to customize racial ability modifiers. However, some races may possess certain racial features that grant them an additional edge when it comes to particular classes.
Given their dependency on charisma to power their spells, consider making a dhampir or shade, which both also have innate powers that would work quite well with a warlock. Tieflings are another great choice, as their hellish resistance could be combined with your Genie Lord Favor’s to offer you protection from multiple elemental damage types. In the end, you should pick the race that you’re going to have the most fun playing!
Roleplaying Tips
When roleplaying as a warlock sworn to the Genie Lord, consider how your relationship with your patron might affect how you interact with others. Are you simply a pawn in a greater plan, or does your patron treat you with some greater measure of autonomy? Whether or not others know about your pact might also affect how they treat you. In some campaigns, having a pact with a Genie Lord might be viewed with less concern than those sworn to a Fiend or a Great Old One, but that is something you should speak with your GM about in advance. In any case, your roleplaying should most likely be at least somewhat informed by the motivations of your patron. Are they set on global domination? Regaining control of a particular elemental artifact? Or are they simply looking to restore balance in the elemental planes? Your roleplaying may also be informed by the background that you choose. Acolyte, Archivist, and Collegian are both great choices for any spellcaster, especially if you consider that you might have discovered your patron through research an ancient tome or text. Nomad and Recluse are two other potential options, as perhaps you discovered your patron while wandering a desert or wasteland, making a deal to avoid a slow death by starvation or exposure. As always, whatever path you choose to follow, be sure to ask yourself why it is you’ve sought out the company of an adventuring party, and use that to guide your roleplaying in the future.
How to Access this Content
This subclass was created by our partners at Kobold Press, and it is one of the many available to subscribers, along with others like the Way of the Dragon Spirit or the Elementalist, as well as races such as the Shade or Spindrift Dwarf. Learn about these and others by checking out the rest of our Character Choices series.
Build your own Genie Lord warlock and tell us about it in the comments below or on any of our social channels. Join us on Discord, Reddit or Facebook to meet other members of the community and take your game to the next level, or follow us on Twitter @shardtabletop for regular updates.
