D&D 5E Clash of the Titans' Djinn as playable race?

pukunui · Jan 22, 2020

Hi guys,

I'm preparing to run the Greek-themed Odyssey of the Dragonlords campaign. I told my players that Clash of the Titans was a pretty good representation of theme and the like, and that if something would feel out of place in that movie, it would probably feel out of place in the Odyssey.

That prompted one of my players to ask if he could play a race based on the djinn in the movie. They are Arabian-themed sorcerers who, it is claimed, replace their body parts with "wood and dark magic".

The oldest one seen in the movie looks like this:

IIRC, some of the others looked more human with just bits of wood and stuff on them.

Warforged seems like it might be a good racial chassis (with just a visual reskinning, as it were) and a spellcasting class.

Anyone got any other/better ideas?

Salthorae · Jan 22, 2020

pukunui said:
Warforged seems like it might be a good racial chassis (with just a visual reskinning, as it were) and a spellcasting class.

Not really for the race...

Warforged seems like the best way to represent something like that with 5e mechanics.

I'd probably lean to Warlock with the new Noble Genie Patron to double down on the djinn theme for their spellcasting, though any could work. I could also see re-skinning the Draconic Sorcerer to be Genie blooded sorcerers with some re-skin of abilities.

Bitbrain · Jan 23, 2020

I just watched this classic movie film last week, and I’ve no memory of these guys.

oh, wait, you mean the remake...

Um, yeah, Warforged seems like a decent substitute.

pukunui · Jan 23, 2020

Yeah, the remake.

The thing is, looking into it a bit more, some of the other djinn in the movie aren't as woody as their leader. It lends some truth to one of the in-movie statements that they replace their flesh with wood as they age / receive wounds / etc.

Having them be a human with dragon sorcerer reskinned as djinn with the dragon scales being woody bits might work to a certain extent.

I've also suggested to the player, though, that they just use the djinn as inspiration for a unique-looking warforged rather than trying to recreate the actual race in the movie.

pukunui · Jan 23, 2020

We’ve agreed we’ll just use the warforged race as a chassis, but he wants to remove the not needing to eat, drink or breathe trait.

I know it’s mostly just a ribbon, but I feel like I should replace it with something. Maybe darkvision?

Quartz · Jan 23, 2020

How often does not needing to eat etc come into play? Not very often IME. So Darkvision which is used frequently is a huge replacement.

pukunui · Jan 23, 2020

Quartz said:
How often does not needing to eat etc come into play? Not very often IME. So Darkvision which is used frequently is a huge replacement.

Not needing to eat (or drink) might not come up much. Not needing to breathe might come up a little more often, as you can't be affected by any airborne poisons or whatever. And you don't have to worry about holding your breath underwater. And the like. In some campaigns, that could be as useful - if not more so - than darkvision.