[h2]2. THE SHA'IR (Noble Genie Patron)[/h2]
Sha'irs are the famed genie ambassadors and binders of Zakhara. In 5th edition they are warlocks who take The Noble Genie as their patron at 1st level, and furthermore must take Pact of the Chain at 3rd level to appease their gen familiar. Foremost of the of Noble Genies are the four rulers of geniekind:
- Caliph of the Djinn, Husam al-Balil ben-Nafhat al-Yugayyim, Master of the Clouds and Son of the Breezes.
- Great Khan of All Dao Kabril Ali al-Sara al-Zalazil, Fountain of Wealth, Atamen of the Mountain's Roots, the Stone Sultan.
- Grand Sultan of the Efreet, Marrake al-Sidan al-Hariq ben-Lazan, the Lord of Flame, the Potentate Incandescent, the Tempering and Eternal Flame of Truth, the Most Puissant of Hunters, Marshall of the Order of the Fiery Heart, the Smoldering Dictator, the Crimson Firebrand.
- Great Padishah of the Marids, Kalbari al-Durraf al-Amwaj ibn-Jari, the Keeper of the Empire, the Pearl of the Sea, the Mother of Foam, the Maharajah of Oceans, Emir of All Currents.
Genie Lore
Starting at 1st level, your Noble Genie patron has taught you the Primordial language, and grants you advantage on all checks to recognize the works of geniekind, such as genie illusions, spells, curses, and genie prisons.
Gen Servant
Starting at 1st level, your Noble Genie patron teaches you the
summon familiar spell (which doesn't count against your number of spells known) and you can cast it as a ritual. The Noble Genie grants you a gen, a small elemental familiar who helps council you about genie kind and provides you with spells. Your gen familiar resembles a tiny degenerate version of the kind of genie your patron is (dao, djinn, efreet, or marid); these are called daolanin, djinnling, efreetikin, and maridan respectively. Its statistics can be approximated using a Mephit of the appropriate type: Dust mephit for daolanin, smoke or steam mephit for djinnling, magma mephit for efreetikin, and mud or ice mephit for maridan. Gen tend to be Neutral in alignement, though they often take on the alignment of their master.
Any time you witness or research a spell of a level you can cast, as a bonus action you can send your gen familiar to retrieve the spell for you. How it achieves this is up to the gen (and the terms you set out for it), but at your next short rest your gen returns to you with the spell which you may add to your spells known. Keep track of how many spells your gen retrieves over your adventuring career. The maximum number of retrieved spells you may have is equal to your Charisma modifier + your proficiency bonus, reflecting the limit of your gen's abilities. If you wish to send your gen to retrieve further spells, you must sacrifice one of the spells you already know to the gen which it uses as a bargaining tool in its elemental negotiations for the new spell you seek.
Elemental Protection
Starting at 6th level, you gain protection against elemental attacks, including those from elemental creatures or spells of flame, sand, sea, or wind. You have advantage to your saving throws against such attacks. This also allows you to survive on any of the Inner Planes without the need for spell protection.
When your gen familiar is at your side, you gain resistance to damage from spells of its corresponding type; sand and earth-based damage for daolanin, wind and air-based damage for djinnling, fire-damage for efreetikin, and sea and water-based damage for maridan.
Genie Binding
Starting at 10th level, you can call a genie to magically bind it to its word, and you can craft a genie prison.
Call a Genie: You learn the
conjure elemental spell if you don't know it already, and you can use the spell to summon a genie of the type you choose (or by name, if you know a genie personally). Doing so breaks the normal limit on the summoned elemental's challenge rating. However, the genie is not necessarily friendly and its service must be won thru some combination of persuasion, threats, blackmail, payment, promises, and favors. Whatever terms of the agreement you come to, the genie is magically bound to uphold them.
Craft a Genie Prison: Gain proficiency with one form of artisan's tools if you don't have such proficiency already. With these tools you can fashion a genie prison which requires 20 days of work; the end product is worth 100 gp. After fashioning the prison, you must use it within 10 days or its magic expires. While within 100 ft of a genie you can see, you may take an action to trap them in the prison; the genie makes a Charisma saving throw against your warlock spell save DC. Success means the genie remains free, knows who just tried to trap it, and the same prison cannot be used against them for 24 hours. Failure means the genie is trapped within the prison until the prison is shattered or the genie is released in a manner defined by you at the time you imprison it.
Common conditions for releasing a genie from a prison include:
- The genie will be an end entered servant of whoever liberates it from the prison for a period between 100 to 1,001 days.
- The genie will grant three wishes within its power to whoever next summons it from the prison.
- The genie will remain imprisoned until a period of time elapses, up to a maximum of 100 years.
- The genie will remain imprisoned until a certain event you define comes to pass.
- The genie will remain imprisoned until a certain type of individual touches the prison (e.g. an honest thief).
The maximum number of imprisoned genies you may have at any given time is equal to your Charisma modifier. Furthermore, imprisoning a genie is considered a hostile act and can earn you bad blood among other genies of the type you've imprisoned, not to mention the undying loathing of the individual genie you imprisoned.
Inner Planar Travel
Starting at 14th level, you can perform a 10 minute ritual to planeshift to a known site on an Inner Plane of your choice; you and your companions appear at the new site at the end of the ritual, and you incur a level of exhaustion. If you don't name a known site, then you appear in the border region of the intended Inner Plane. You must take a short or long rest before using this feature again.
[h2]Sha'ir Eldritch Invocations[/h2]
Friend of the Jann
Prerequisite: 5th level, Noble Genie patron
When in the desert or other forlorn lonely place, you can call on the jann (a lesser genie) for assistance once per day. A single jann will arrive within an hour, usually flying invisibly, but sometimes in an alternate form or rising on the back of a camel; it is friendly and will provide shelter, guidance thru the desert, and protection should you be attacked. If you want more from the jann you will need to curry its favor with gifts. Occasionally your janni allies may call on you for help in return.
Genie Overtures
Prerequisite: Noble Genie patron
You can request the presence of a genie whose name you know by performing a 10 minute ritual during which you must offer a gift pleasing to that particular genie. If the genie deigns to answer your summons, they may appear in their corporeal form or as a disembodied voice. The genie is under no obligation to you, is free to act according to its nature, and is not subject to being oath bound (you must be 10th level and cast conjure elemental with more formal proceedings to bind a genie).
Great Ambassador of Geniekind
Prerequisite: 15th level, Noble Genie patron
Your reputation precedes you among geniekind, and you may request an audience with one of the four rulers of geniekind once per month. When you request the audience, usually you do so thru an intermediary such as your gen or an allied/bound genie; within a week, a procession of the ruler's followers comes to escort you to the ruler's court. The ruler will meet with you personally, provide counsel as per a
contact other plane spell, hear your pleas, and negotiate terms. While in its court, both you and the ruler are subject to the Bond of Salt, the 3 day code of guest hospitality common among Zakharans and genies alike.
Tasked Genie Bond
Prerequisite: 10th level, Noble Genie patron
You have bound a tasked genie to serve you for a year and a day, with certain agreed upon conditions. The tasked genie acts as your personal bodyguard, food-taster, and steward, in addition to whatever other tasks are within the terms of your contract.
