D&D General The Rakshasa and Genie Problem

[MonsterEnvy]

Less focus on slavery, more on aggressive, militant traders? I mean, at a certain level I kind of want to move some of the elemental genies away from just being Arab pastiches and try to do something different. More recently I thought that it'd be cool to have the elemental traders from the Plane of Fire to be closer to the Hansa in style, with a set of city-states instead a single city. I also thought it would be cute to have the denizens from the Elemental Plane of Fire wear layers rather than less because, well, they aren't going to get hot anyways. Why not have them look like Renaissance Germans?

So basically you don't want Efreet to be Efreet anymore, and just have them be utterly divorced from their origin.

I don't know it seems to me changing an Arabian monster's look to a Renaissance German look would be more offensive than keeping them Arabic like their origin.

 

[MonsterEnvy]

I'll hold out for D&D 6.5 edition, where evil will be removed from the game entirely.

"He's not Evil, he's just a very naughty boy." - Pelor, speaking on Asmodeus.

Well no Asmodeus is still evil. He's a named individual who all have exact alignments. But a random Devil will be typically Lawful Evil, cause the typical Devil is Lawful Evil. The new note is just that there can be some exceptions, as it's not infallible.

 

[Justice and Rule]

So basically you don't want Efreet to be Efreet anymore, and just have them be utterly divorced from their origin.

I don't know it seems to me changing an Arabian monster's look to a Renaissance German look would be more offensive than keeping them Arabic like their origin.

Well, my version specifically didn't call them Efreet, so this entire critique is moot.

 

[MonsterEnvy]

Well, my version specifically didn't call them Efreet, so this entire critique is moot.

So you just don't want the Efreet in the game then?

 

[guachi]

Efreet are bad because that's the way they are described in the Quran. They are basically the bad djinn. A 'good' efreet would likely just be a djinn. Marid are also bad because that's the connotation in Arabic (adj. defiant, rebellious, recalcitrant n. rebel, insurgent, demon, evil spirit, devil).

Marid definitions lifted from my Hans Wehr Arabic/English dictionary. Yes, the best Arabic/English dictionary was originally German.

 

[Remathilis]

I dunno, maybe I could get used to this non-Arabic Efreeti...

 

[Bedrockgames]

Efreet are bad because that's the way they are described in the Quran. They are basically the bad djinn. A 'good' efreet would likely just be a djinn. Marid are also bad because that's the connotation in Arabic (adj. defiant, rebellious, recalcitrant n. rebel, insurgent, demon, evil spirit, devil).

Marid definitions lifted from my Hans Wehr Arabic/English dictionary. Yes, the best Arabic/English dictionary was originally German.

Hans Wehr is the only one I even knew about when I was in school (still have my copy)

 

[MonsterEnvy]

Efreet are bad because that's the way they are described in the Quran. They are basically the bad djinn. A 'good' efreet would likely just be a djinn. Marid are also bad because that's the connotation in Arabic (adj. defiant, rebellious, recalcitrant n. rebel, insurgent, demon, evil spirit, devil).

I recall in the 1001 Nights there were portrayals of an Efreeti and Marid. The Efreeti was malevolent, clever and cruel. While the Marid was even more powerful, aggressive, and mean spirited, but gullible and easy to fool.

 

[Justice and Rule]

So you just don't want the Efreet in the game then?

I might change them into something closer an actual demon, and hint at some sort of relation with Djinns. I think D&D got too hung up on the elemental relationship, to be honest.

Efreet are bad because that's the way they are described in the Quran. They are basically the bad djinn. A 'good' efreet would likely just be a djinn. Marid are also bad because that's the connotation in Arabic (adj. defiant, rebellious, recalcitrant n. rebel, insurgent, demon, evil spirit, devil).

Marid definitions lifted from my Hans Wehr Arabic/English dictionary. Yes, the best Arabic/English dictionary was originally German.

I mean, Marids don't traditionally have a relation to water, right? I know Dao were straight up made up.

 

[MonsterEnvy]

I mean, Marids don't traditionally have a relation to water, right? I know Dao were straight up made up.

Looking it up, they actually do, A raging Torrent to the Efreet's blaze.