Genies are one of the many patrons that Warlocks can form a pact with inDungeons & Dragons. They’re often portrayed as tricksters and don’t really have set alignments. They might form a pact with a mortal for any number of reasons, but whatever they are, it will not be obvious.
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Genie warlocks are solid magical attackers who get some elemental bonuses. With the right combination of spells, pact boons, and other class features, you can focus entirely on attacking or make a support build, making it a good option for players who want some versatility.
The Best Stats For A Genie Warlock
Charisma is your main spellcasting stat, so it’s always a safe investment. Otherwise, use the following chart to determine what you’d like to invest in.
Benefit
Charisma
Charisma is the main spell casting stat, so you want it to be as high as possible to give your spells more oomph and make them harder to resist.
Constitution
Constitution determines HP, so increasing it will also increase your survivability. For spellcasters,a higher constitutionmeans you’re more likely tosucceed in your rolls to keep your concentration for your spellsup.
Strength
Used for melee weapon attacks, so it is especially good if you have the Pact of the Blade feature. Otherwise, it’s a good dump stat.
Dexterity
Determines your armor class, so another way to increase your survivability by making you harder to hit. It’s especially good since magic users don’t usually wear armor.
Intelligence
If you take wizard spells through certain feats, you’ll use intelligence to cast spells. It’s also acommon saving throw for spells from other magic users, but you can also make it a dump stat if you’re not worried about that.
Wisdom
If you take druid or cleric spells through certain feats, you’ll use wisdom to cast spells. Many attacks from other spell casters also use wisdom for saving throws, but you’re able to also make it a dump stat if you’re not worried.
Choosing Your Patron As A Path Of The Genie Warlock
Now that you have your stats set, you can decide on your patron. Genie warlocks havefour different types of geniesthey can form a pact with, including thedao, djinni, efreeti, or marid.
The patron you choose will determine what spells you get as you level up and give you an elemental resistance starting at sixth level. Make sure you decide becauseyou cannot change this later.
Here is a chart detailing the spells and resistances you’ll get from each genie type.
Associated Element
All
Detect Evil and Good, Phantasmal Force, Create Food and Water, Phantasmal Killer, Creation, Wish
-
Dao
Sanctuary, Spike Growth, Meld Into Stone, Stone Shape, Wall of Stone
Fog Cloud, Blur, Sleet Storm, Control Water, Cone of Cold
Cold
Genie’s don’t have a set personality you must adhere to, but when designing your patron, talk with your Dungeon Master aboutwhy they are making a pact with you and what your warlock can offer them.
Genie Warlock Class Features
You’ll get various features as you level up, with some more useful than others. Here are the genie class features you’ll receive and how best to use them.
Genie’s Vessel
When creating a patron decide what their vessel is. Think, of the genie’s lamp from Aladdin (the Disney movie), although it doesn’t have to be a lamp. All that matters is that there’s some compartment to go inside.
Size doesn’t matter, either.In fact, smaller is better because it’s easier to keep on you while you’re running around adventuring. you may even keep your genie in a ring on your finger, something you’re not likely to lose.
You can eitheruse the vessel offensively and have it boost your attackordefensively by entering it to rest. However, you will be kicked out if you die or the vessel is destroyed.
While there is a time limit based on your proficiency bonus, by default, that’s multiple hours,so it won’t come up in combat.For roleplaying, while you’re inside your vessel, you can hear everything that’s going on as if you were in the room.
This is perfect if you need to hide or want to eavesdrop; justmake sure no one else is around when you’re forced out.
You can leave objects in your vessel as well, basically giving you a free bag of holding unless your vessel is destroyed.
You can’t destroy your vessel yourselfto drop the items inside on enemies. The objects will reappear in unoccupied spaces.
If you do manage to lose your vessel, or it’s destroyed, you may take an in-game hour to summon a new one.
Elemental Gift
Elemental Gift is the feature thatgrants you resistance based on your patron, but it also gives you the ability tohover up to 30ft in the air as a bonus action.
It’s flashy and can be used to be intimidating in roleplay, butprobably not that useful unless you’re specifically focusing on ranged attacks and can hit enemies on the ground.The resistance is always nice, though.
If you need mobility,it’s better to just cast the third-level spell Fly,as this feature doesn’t let you actually move.
Sanctuary Vessel
You and your party (so long as there are only five extra people) canenter your vessel and get a short rest as long as you spend ten minutes in thereonce you hit tenth level.
On top of that, if they want to heal, they canadd your proficiency bonus to their hit die rolls.You never know when a single hit point will be the difference between victory and a total party kill, so once you gain this feat,it’ll be best to just take short rests inside your vessel from that point on.
you may’t put anyone in your vessel on their own; you have to be with them for them to enter.
Limited Wish
The fourteenth-level capstone ability of the genie warlock is pretty impressive: you can ask your patron tocreate the effect of any sixth-level spell or lower with a casting time of one action.
You do not need any materials, spell slots, or even to know the spell already. The spell can be chosen from any spell list. The wording is vague, so you’ll have to talk it over with your DM and be sure to clarify the following:
While this is potentially game-breaking, the downside isyou don’t automatically regain use of it on a long restlike most features. You have to roll 1d4 after using it, and the number on the die determines how many long rests you must take to use it again.
Why Should I Play A Genie Warlock?
Like with an actual genie, the limits to what you may do with a genie warlock all come down tohow creative you want to be in interpreting the rules.
You could hide objects in your genie’s vessel, kidnap someone (provided someone else can carry the vessel away), and provide extra healing to your party.
Limited wish is worded in such a way that, if your DM is ok with it, you can cast a sixth-level spellwithout concentration.
Even if the DM isn’t charitable to that reading, you’re able to cast any spell from any list, like heal, mass suggestion, or revivify, to name a few.
This class is best forsomeone who knows a lot about spells and is willing tobe a little pedantic on the wording. You will have lots of versatility and can fill multiple roles depending on what your party needs.
Which Pact Boon Should I Take
Since the genie warlock is pretty versatile as far as warlocks go,you may combine this with any pact boon and make it work.Here are the benefits of each.
Benefit Description
Pact of the Tome
You can getthree extra cantrips from any other listthat don’t count against your number of cantrips known, allowing you to have more variety in your magic options.
Pact of the Blade
You cansummon a melee weapon in your hand as an action, you gain proficiency in it, and it counts as magical for resisting non-magical attacks. You’ll have an easier time with close-range fighting this way.
Pact of the Chain
You cancast the spell find familiar as a ritual, giving you a familiarwho can act on your turn and attack with you. You also get a little pet to join you on your adventures.
Pact of the Talisman
While wearing your talisman, you canadd 1d4 to an ability check you failed. Great for turning potentially disastrous failures into successes.
These can all further be improved with certain eldritch invocations.
Which Eldritch Invocations Are Best For A Genie Warlock
In exchange for having fewer spell slots of lower levels, warlocks get eldritch invocations, which can expand their abilities.
You shouldtake invocations that allow you to either improve your pact or improve your eldritch blast cantrip.
Eldritch Invocations
Requires Eldritch Blast
Agonizing Blast, Grasp of Hadar, Lance of Lethargy, Eldritch Spear, Repelling Blast
Far Scribe, Gift of the Protectors, Book of Ancient Secrets
Requires Pact of the Chain
Investment of the Chain Master, Gift of the Ever-Living Ones, Chains of Carceri, Voice of the Chain Master
Requires Pact of The Talisman
Bond of the Talisman, Protection of the Talisman, Rebuke of the Talisman, Aspect of the Moon
Best Spells For A Genie Warlock
It’s a running joke that warlocks always spam Eldritch Blast, and that’s becauseit’s a very good cantrip that you should always have.
If you want to use spells other than Eldritch Blast, here are some others you should consider when playing this class.
Ninth Level
What Are The Best Species For A Genie Warlock
Here are the benefits of some of the best species for a genie warlock. Note that Mordenkainen Presents: Monsters Of The Multiverse allows you to choose where you want to place your stat increases at your first level. This means you will choose what you want instead of using the assigned increases below for each species in the Player’s Handbook.
Benefits
Human
If you’re a regular human, you can get a flat increase to your stats for free, allowing you to keep a well-rounded build if you want to play a jack-of-all-trades character. Alternatively, you can play a variant human to get an extra feat for free, offering you some nice bonus abilities.
Elf
A boost to dexterity to raise your armor class is always nice because mages don’t usually wear armor, but even more useful is the ability to be immune to being put to sleep via magic, meaning you won’t have to worry about an annoying condition that is very common, and you get some extra spells with certain sub-species like High and Dark elves.
Half-elf
The boost to charisma is good because you use charisma for both spell casting and determining your spell save DC, so you want it to be as high as possible. Like with elves, you also get an immunity to being put to sleep via magic.
Dragonborn
This species your charisma to make your spells stronger, plus you get extra resistance, allowing you to take less damage from more types of magical attacks. Furthermore, your breath weapon gives you an extra attack option once per long rest.
Tiefling
You’ll get a boost to charisma to be a stronger caster, and you’ll also get resistance to fire damage, so this is extra nice if you didn’t pick an efreeti for your patron. You can also get access to other spells to expand your spell list.
Genasi
For genasi, the elemental resistance and access to extra spells are nice. However, the most fun part is that since genasi are descended from genies, your patron can be your great-great-great grandpa if you want a fun dynamic.
Best Feats For a Genie Warlock
Here are some recommended feats if you opt to use that feature instead of increasing your stats.
War Caster
Allows you to cast spells instead of making melee opportunity attacks and gives you an advantage on checks to keep up concentration spells. You can also cast spells with somatic components while holding your pact weapon.
Elemental Adept
Allows you to ignore resistances when casting spells of a certain damage type. It works best if your patron is a djinni, efreeti, or marid.
Metamagic Adept
Allows you to learn two Metamagic options from the sorcerer class and grants two sorcery points. Take quickened spell so you can attack and enter your vessel on the same turn.
Crossbow Expert
You won’t use most of the benefits if you don’t have a crossbow, but it’s still beneficial because you do not receive penalties when casting ranged spells against nearby enemies.
