Deep Dive - The Djinni
With such a deep history, the Djinni are well known outside the context of Dungeons & Dragons, and might even owe some of their popularity to One Thousand and One Nights. Genies are powerful, supernatural beings in Arabic folklore, and are thought to have originated as a pagan belief. While Djinni are simply genies in our own history, for Dungeons & Dragons they are a very specific type of genie who controls a major Inner Plane known as the Plane of Air. They are free-spirits who hate any type of confinement, whether real or perceived and are not strictly evil unlike many of the other genies.
Jinn, or genie, have shown up in a huge amount of popular culture from Supernatural to Pee Wee’s Playhouse, and from Mega Man to Dragon Rider (1997), the Djinni has shown up in a huge variety of places. Sometimes they are evil, sometimes cruel, but in every instance, they are a supernatural force to be reckoned with. This can be a very exciting creature if our own pop culture proves anything, so we jump into Dungeons & Dragons, excited to see everything about the Djinni and their exciting take on it!
As a side note, before we begin, there was a lot of confusion across the editions on how to spell Djinni, Jinn, Djinns, or Djinn. We decided to stick solely with Djinni even though Djinni signifies a singular tense whereas Djinn was thought to be more plural tense. We apologize for our grammar on that and choose to go with using Dungeons & Dragons 5th edition’s Djinni.
OD&D - Djinn
No. Appearing: —
Armor Class: 5
Move: 9/24
Hit Dice: 7+1
% in Lair: Nil
No. of Attacks: 1
Damage/Attack: 1-11
Treasure: Nil
White Box Set, 1973 TSR Inc.
The Djinni first appears in the White Box Set - Book 2: Monsters & Treasures (1973) and immediately our hopes and dreams are dashed as the first statement about these creatures is that they are not the wish-granting entities we were hoping for. We shouldn’t get too sad though, for the Djinni are still magnificent creatures with plenty of great abilities we so rarely see in this edition.
Djinni can fly and walk, which may not be super exciting, but they are just as fast as a dragon, which is pretty impressive. When being a material being in a material world gets to be too much for the Djinni, they have a special ability that allows them to change into a gaseous form. If they simply just want to disappear but don’t want to drop the book they’re reading, they can also go invisible whenever they want. Along with their flying ability comes the power to generate a medium-size whirlwind, which is pretty neat. While it takes a round to build it up and disperse it, it can be used to sweep away all creatures of 2 hit die or less… which means 2nd level characters are going to be affected and, well, maybe it isn’t that dangerous for seasoned adventurers.
The description goes on to state that Djinni fight as giants, but what does that mean exactly? Giants like to slam things with their fists and are described as catapults that carry around a bag of rocks to throw at people. Assuming a Djinni doesn’t carry around rocks in its pockets, though it might have 6,000 gp for some reason, they will punch you like a giant with a -1 penalty, doing 1-11 damage on a hit, or 2d6 - 1 damage. Dice notation hadn’t yet been a thing at this point.
If you don’t upset a Djinn to the point where they feel the need to punch you or fling you around in a whirlwind, you’ll find out that they can be impressive party hosts since they can create quite tasty food. With any good meal, you’ll need a refreshing drink, and the Djinni can also create some alcoholic beverages. It sounds like they can be quite the life of the party, so why not make friends with a Djinni instead of trying to kill it?
Food and drink aren’t the only things that the Djinni can make, as they can create soft and wooden goods that last forever… we guess this is like their version of granting wishes so long as the only thing you wish for is food, cloth, and wood? No definition of soft goods is provided, so one can only assume that such items could range from soft fluffy pillows to a set of fine clothes. You might be disappointed that your new best friend can only create beautiful clothes and pudding, but the Djinni can also create metallic objects. Unfortunately, they are not permanent, and the harder the metal created is, the shorter its lifespan is. A Djinni can create gold, but it only lasts for a single day, so as the old saying goes, spend it if you got it because you can’t take it with you - and then get out of town as fast as possible as you are about to have a very upset city. We can only assume that disappearing gold coins was Gary Gygax’s way to screw with his players, but that’s just us being crotchety.
The final ability for the Djinni is that they can cast illusions that target hearing and sound, at the same time, as much as they want. Which is pretty useful into tricking people into liking you, but that with the fact it creates fake gold just paints the Djinni in a bad light. They just create the illusion of wealth around them, and then skip out of town before anyone realizes that everything is fake and the Djinni is just a con artist.
Basic D&D - Djinni
Armor Class: 5
Hit Dice: 7+1
Move: 90’ (30’) Flying 240’ (80’)
Attacks: 1+special
Damage: 2-16 (fists) or 2-12 (whirlwind)
No. Appearing: 1 (1)
Save As: Fighter: 14
Morale: 12
Treasure Type: Nil
Alignment: Neutral
The Djinni appears in the Holmes Box Set (1974), followed by the Moldvay/Cook Expert Rules (1981), and in the BECMI Expert Rules and Companion Rules (1983). The one thing that all three editions agree upon is that the Djinni is wicked smart, independent, and unconstrained… oh, and that it's a genie. The Holmes Djinni lifts its wording from OD&D with a few clarifications like the whirlwind attack now deals damage to creatures who aren’t instantly swept aside, and killed, by the Djinni’s attack. Also, they can carry double their 6,000 gold weight limit for 3 rounds before they get tired, which isn’t that impressive.
This whirlwind damage carries through all three of the Basic versions, answering the question of how much a whirlwind hurts when it slams into you. Though in the latter two versions for the Lesser Djinni, we’ll get there, it does take 5 rounds to actually get in and out of whirlwind form, and at that point - why even bother? You’ll just be standing there getting smacked around by swords, magic missiles, and more while you try to proclaim the immense amount of pain that everyone is heading for once you get spinning fast enough.
While the later versions do get a bit better for the Djinni, as plain old weapons no longer hurt them and you need a fancy +1 weapon or have an arsenal of spells to throw at them, they do drop off on their utility and abilities by quite a bit. Now, the Djinni only has its normal 7 powers and their uses per day are drastically changed from unlimited to three times a day. As a reminder, those powers are: create food and drink, create metallic objects of temporary duration based on hardness to a maximum of 1000 lbs, create permanent soft goods and wooden objects to a maximum of 1000 lbs, become invisible, assume gaseous form, or form itself into a whirlwind as previously mentioned above. While the Djinni can still create illusions, that’s not really as good as the real thing.
While the Djinni doesn’t have much new going for them, we are introduced to the Lesser Djinni and the Greater Djinni. Everything we’ve talked about so far has been focused on the abilities of the Lesser Djinni and provides a solid understanding for their greater versions. These Djinni are the rulers of the Djinni, with the most powerful among them being the rulers on the Elemental Plane of Air and are known as pashas. These beings appear as especially large Djinni, have all the same powers that they can use as often as they want, and can cast lightning bolts, finger of death, wish, cloudkill, water to gas, and weather control. The most important thing to focus on this is that they can cast wish! Though they can only do it for others and not for themselves, which is fine by us seeing as how we can’t cast wish.
These Greater Djinni only travel to the Material Plane when Lesser Djinni cry out after being harmed or mistreated by others, which seems a bit of a wuss move. It’s the Djinni’s fault for making illusions and tricking people, if they can’t handle consequences, they shouldn’t be getting themselves in trouble!
To add insult to injury, even if you were able to “kill” a Djinni, there is no corpse to loot as it immediately returns to the Plane of Air. This is problematic seeing as how the Djinni carries on them up to 6,000 gold pieces, and if we are going to go to the trouble of beating one of them up, we should at least get to rob them after a job well done!
AD&D - Djinni
Frequency: Very Rare
No. Appearing: 1
Armor Class: 4
Move: 9”/24”
Hit Dice: 7+3
% in Lair: Nil
Treasure Type: Nil
No. of Attacks: 1
Damage/Attack: 2-16
Special Attacks: See below
Special Defenses: Nil
Magic Resistance: Standard
Intelligence: Average-High
Alignment: Chaotic good
Size: l (10 1/2’ tall)
Psionic Ability: Nil
Monster Manual, 1977 TSR Inc.
The Djinni appears in the Monster Manual (1977) with just a few tweaks to its abilities. The term Aerial Plane replaces the Elemental Plane of Air, but they are effectively the same place, which we will get to. The big flashy attack for the Djinni remains the whirlwind, which takes 1 round to form, 1 round to damage, and then 1 round to dissipate.
We aren’t experts at AD&D but we feel like the three rounds necessary to hit people with a whirlwind for 2d6 damage, and killing anyone with 2 hit die or less, isn’t a great trade-off, especially as it can just punch you for 2d8 damage once per turn. If you have a whole army with you, the Djinni can move 24”, which is either 240 feet while you are in a dungeon or 240 yards if you happen to be outside. That can be quite the devastating blow to an army, so it definitely has some niche uses, though we have to wonder how many armies are waging a war on a Djinni.
Some of its other abilities get fancy new titles but essentially remain the same. Food is now nutritious, and beverages are wine or water, but each can only feed up to 12 people. When it creates its soft, wood, or metal items, the limitations on the amounts are adjusted to fit within the terms in the version's rules. Illusions remain, as does turning into a cloud of gas and going invisible. It does get the new ability to wind walk, but that is just how it turns its body into cloud-like vapors.
The Djinni are lucky enough to travel the Elemental Planes, as well as visiting the Astral Plane whenever they want. All of this, along with their time spent on the Material Plane, makes them quite the wanderers. There is some information about the societal structure within the Djinni culture, as they are ruled by a Caliph, along with a series of various nobles who serve it. Noble Djinni are more powerful than their common counterparts and are as strong as the efreet, with 10 hit dice, additional 1d8 punching damage, and an even more deadly whirlwind that does 3d6 damage.
At long last, we finally get to the main reason we are hunting for the Djinni, they can now grant us a wish, three of them to be exact. Djinni can be captured, but it is a challenging thing to do, which is left to the DM to determine how exactly do such a thing. Once you capture one, a kind and benevolent master can coax more out of a captive Djinni, while a cruel jerk won’t motivate them to do more than the bare minimum. There is a 1% chance that a captured Djinni will be a noble type, having the ability to grant three wishes. It’s a minuscule chance, but some chance is better than none at all. Upon granting the third wish, the Djinni is set free, and you gotta hope you were nice to them or your army is very, very, very far away. While the text states nothing about what happens upon gaining its freedom, we imagine it’s probably not too happy about being forced into servitude.
The Djinni make a grand appearance in the Manual of the Planes (1987) where we learn about their elemental home plane, known as the Plane of Air, as well as their society and castles. The Djinni settle on earth motes that make their way to the plane, building beautiful castles and buildings of cloud-like materials and soaring structures. They are ruled over by a series of caliphs who oversee all Djinni within two days of travel of their castles. They are at war often with the forces of the Dao and Efreet, who hate the Djinni and dislike their good-aligned nature, though the Marid, of the Plane of Water, will at least trade with them without trying to kill them.
As a small side note, the Djinni and Efreet are the first genies to be featured in this edition’s Monster Manual while the Dao and Marid must wait until the Fiend Folio (1981). This has no real barring, but if you are ever in a trivia quiz about obscure monsters released in 30-year-old Monster Manuals, you can now impress the rest of your group with your useless knowledge!
Manual of the Planes, 1987 TSR Inc.
2e - Djinni (Genie)
Climate/Terrain: Air
Frequency: Very rare
Organization: Caliphate
Activity Cycle: Day
Diet: Omnivore
Intelligence: Average to highly (8-14)
Treasure: Nil
Alignment: Chaotic good
No. Appearing: 1
Armor Class: 4
Movement: 9, Fl 24 (A)
Hit Dice: 7+3
THAC0: 13
No. of Attacks: 1
Damage/Attack: 2-16 (2d8)
Special Attacks: See below
Special Defenses: See below
Magic Resistance: Nil
Size: L (10 1/2’ tall)
Morale: Elite (13-14)
XP Value: 5,000; Noble: 11,000
Monstrous Compendium Volume 1, 1989 TSR Inc.
The Djinni next shows up in the Monstrous Compendium Volume One (1989) and is reprinted in the Monstrous Manual (1993). The Djinni now fall under the genie classification, which includes such creatures as the dao and efreeti. They are the second weakest of the genie, with the dao being of equal strength and the jann being the weakest. That does not mean the Djinni are not to be feared, as these creatures from the Elemental Plane of Air and are still a force to be reckoned with. On the Plane of Air, these majestic genies live luxuriously on floating islands. Each island is anywhere from a few 1,000 yards across to a few miles filled with tall spires, large buildings, and are ruled by a sheik, with various nobles assisting them.
Monstrous Manual, 1993 TSR Inc.
The caliph is near the top of the Djinni social structure and they rule over all djinni estates within two days travel of its home, with all the sheik within that radius owing allegiance to it. While we don’t recommend attacking Djinni estates, if you do decide to capture yourself a genie to get a few wishes, they have a messenger chain that will alert the caliphate and all the neighboring islands who will send out large numbers of troops to hunt you down. Hopefully one of your wishes is to leave the Plane of Air alive.
Nothing too exciting changes for the Djinni’s and its mechanical abilities. The most interesting change is made to the Djinni’s whirlwind ability and made it slightly better than three rounds and then that’s it. The whirlwind retains all the destructive force it had previously but now lasts as long as the Djinni wants and goes where ever the Djinni wills it. We love how the text states that the whirlwind moves at the Djinni’s whim, as it has that cat toying with a mouse feeling to it. Also, the Djinni can ride around on a whirlwind if they so desire. Seventy feet in the air is a much better vantage point for it to watch the winds buffet you to death. If you’re on friendly terms with the Djinni, it can even take you and 5 or your closest medium-sized friends along for the ride. If you can fly yourself, whether through wings or magic, the Djinni pity you, viewing your reliance on such methods a bit pathetic, which seems a bit much seeing as how they need a whirlwind to fly.
If you are hoping to capture a Djinni, the act of catching and capturing one is still up to the DM, all we know is that it should be difficult. You still want to be nice to it so it will do nice things for you, which is kind of weird if we are being honest. If we get captured, we don’t really care how nice you are, you still captured us when all we wanted to do was go home to play Dungeons & Dragons with our friends. We’re going to be jerks regardless of how you treat us, though the Monster Manual states that Djinni will treat you as you treat them. Be nice, they’ll be nice. Be a jerk, they’ll do everything they can to screw up your plan and get you killed.
If you can catch a Djinni, there is a tiny chance you'll catch a Noble Djinni, about one percent, and then you’ve hit the jackpot. These Djinni won’t do anything but grant you three wishes, and upon granting the third and final wish, they are then free and run off into the sunset on their whirlwind.
Land of Fate, 1992 WotC
2nd Edition also introduces the Al-Qadim campaign setting with the Al-Qadim: Arabian Adventures and Al-Qadim: Land of Fate (1992) sourcebooks that provide ways of playing in an Arabic setting. This area is called Zakhara and is located on a peninsula on the continent of Faerun, blending the One Thousand and One Nights stories with a more cinematic focus towards it. Throughout all the texts within this campaign setting, the Djinni appears, bringing a bit more information to flesh them out.
In the Land of Fate, the Djinni are given a bit more information on their society as well as how they interact with mortals. They are ruled over by the Great Caliph, Commander of the Four Winds, Defender of the Heavens, Master of the Air, and other titles to let you know that he isn’t someone you want to mess around with. Most Djinni are easy-going and pay little heed to strict rules or societal structures as they find that to be too confining. Even their existing rules are a bit too restrictive for most of them and so they will travel from the Plane of Air to the Material World where they will journey through the expanse of the desert to relax and unwind on their vacation.
Land of Fate, 1992 WotC
If they stumble across some mortals, they may play a few pranks on them, though they make sure to not be too cruel in case the creature has some sort of connection to the Great Caliph that they don’t realize. This is especially true for powerful individuals, like sultans or kings and so they make sure to keep their tricks to themselves at that point. The Djinni often travel across the desert to talk to their cousin genie-kin, the jann, with who they have a great relationship. They don’t share this relationship with the others, though they are at least respectful of the marid. The dao and efreeti are immediately attacked, especially if the Djinni has conned some adventurer to help them kill their sworn enemies.
Monstrous Compendium Al-Qadim Appendix, 1992 TSR Inc.
The Monstrous Compendium Al-Qadim Appendix (1992) introduces us to the beings known as the gen and the Noble Djinni. The gen are small elemental genies, each a smaller version of the more powerful genie in their world. The air gen are known as the Djinnling and serve special mages in the Land of Fate, the Sha’ir. They are part familiar, a part conduit for elemental magic, and the Sha’ir cannot use spells without the wind gen, so while they are small in stature, their importance is huge.
There is also a stat block and a detailed description of the elusive Noble Djinni. They are more powerful than we originally thought, with stats and abilities that dwarf the common Djinni. Their spell-like abilities are more terrifying, as a Noble Djinni also has at their disposal gust of wind at will, cloudkill once per day, control weather once per week, and airwalk on up to seven other creatures once per day. Once per year, a Noble Djinni can cast windtomb, which is a horrifying spell in case you were hoping we meant misspelled tome. When cast on a living creature, they are entombed, entering a suspended animation state similar to a temporal stasis spell, meaning you stop aging and life continues on without you until someone gets you out. Just in case you are thinking of trying to counterspell any of these, you should know that Noble Djinni magic is cast as if at the 20th level of ability. This windtomb appears like a swirling mass of air and if you try to breach it, you are just tossed aside like you are fighting a tornado. Only the Noble Djinni who created the windtomb can disperse it, so you might want to find some gems or something to bribe them.
Noble Djinni travel with quite the entourage and we recommend not getting in their way. When on the Plane of Air, they are always accompanied by up to 40 common Djinni who act as their courtiers, soldiers, fan-bearers, minstrels, grooms, and servants. When they are found on the Material Plane, Noble Djinni prefer to fly, a sight that is terrifying as their whirlwind and dozens more roar across the desert sands. If that is not possible, they will be carried by either an elephant, camel or a rich palanquin carried by four servants. Touching the ground is beneath them, and their feet will never touch the ground on purpose. They are proud and pompous beings, demanding that they be treated in a fashion that aligns with their noble status. All of this is not to say they cannot be captured, but you better have some powerful magic at your disposal as there are no physical means to enslave a Noble Djinni. They will grant three wishes to their master, but they are set free after the third wish and you better hope they don’t hold a grudge.
Secrets of the Lamp, 1993 TSR Inc.
Also, in the Al-Qadim setting is the Secrets of the Lamp (1993), a sourcebook for adventures in the land of Al-Qadim as well as providing detailed information about the genie. We know that the Djinni hate the efreeti with the passion of a thousand white-hot suns, but now we find out the reason behind that hatred. The efreeti will take Djinni as slaves, which really ticks them off as one can imagine, though the Djinni might also take mortal slaves so, a bit of a double standard there. The Djinni will take every opportunity to harm the efreeti and work with anyone seeking to do so, even tricking them if it's required. The Djinni also have servants of air elementals, brass dragons, giant eagles, and other flying creatures who reside in the Plane of Air, and will often rely on their allies to help them when it comes to attacking the dao and efreeti.
We also have a name to go with the Great Caliph, Husam al-Balil ben Nafhat al-Yugayyim, Master of the Clouds, and Son of the Breezes. Quite a mouthful! His palace is the Citadel of Ice and Steel located on the Plane of Air, and he only leaves to go hunting or bring a bit of mischief to the Land of Fate. From here, he rules over the other Djinni freeholds spread out in his elemental plane. He is constantly surrounded by a group of his courtiers, from dancers and entertainers to supplicants and petitioners. His court also includes up to 400 jann and as many as 100 common Djinni, all at his command.
Monstrous Compendium Annual Volume One, 1994 TSR Inc.
Our last type of Djinni appears in the Monstrous Compendium Annual Volume One (1994) and is one of the tasked genies. Tasked genie are genies who have been doing one job for so long, that their form has morphed and augmented itself to best fill that role and do their duties. The most common form of tasked genie that a Djinni could become are the Administrator Tasked Genie, the Deceiver Tasked Genie, and the Messenger Tasked Genie. The Administrators are in charge of ensuring that organizations and governments continue functioning to their best extent, and it is thought that they all come from the same family of Djinni or marid genies as they all refer to each other as family, claiming that they have a cousin, brother, or sister that can help pull strings in their various governmental functions to keep things moving for those who beseech, and bribe, them for help.
Monstrous Compendium Annual Volume One, 1994 TSR Inc.
The Deceivers are servants of the Noble Djinni who use deception and lies to help their masters. They must be constantly given tasks or else their idleness leads them to begin rumors and lies about their masters, causing many issues for the Noble Djinni who oversee them. They are often used to create disinformation attacks on other Noble Djinni or to cause mayhem for the efreeti and dao. Our final tasked genie are the Messengers who once only served the Djinni but now serve every genie equally. They flit from plane to plane, delivering messages to all genie with little care for politics. They have a short lifespan, at only 10 to 15 years, but they are in constant movement and hate not having a task at hand.
Monstrous Compendium Annual Volume One, 1994 TSR Inc.
Our final book for this edition doesn’t bring in any new Djinni but simply adds more information on the Djinni in the Plane of Air. The Inner Planes (1998) focuses on each of the elemental planes and how they function in relationship to the other Inner Planes, as well as the Outer Planes and the Material Plane. The Djinni can, of course, be found on the Plane of Air, and live in mostly independent freeholds ruled by the caliphs, sheik, sheriffs, and maliks. The Djinni are at almost constant war with not only the efreeti and dao, but also cloud and storm giants who think they should rule the Plane of Air. Many believe that the Djinni are too arrogant, making it so that they seem to be fighting almost every inhabitant of the Plane of Air, which makes it rather problematic to actually deal with them. They are open to visitors to their realm but expect everyone to treat them with the proper respect that they believe they deserve.
3e/3.5e - Djinni
Large Outsider (Air, Extraplanar)
Hit Dice: 7d8 + 14 (45 hp)
Initiative: +8
Speed: 20 ft., (4 squares), fly 60 ft. (perfect)
Armor Class: 16 (-1 size, +4 Dex, +3 natural), touch 13, flat-footed 12
Base Attack/Grapple: +7/+15
Attack: Slam +10 melee (1d8+4)
Full Attack: 2 slams +10 melee (1d8+4)
Space/Reach: 10 ft./10ft.
Special Attacks: Air Mastery, spell-like abilities, whirlwind
Special Qualities: Darkvision 60 ft., immunity to acid, plane shift, telepathy 100 ft.
Saves: Fort +7, Ref +9, Will +7
Abilities: Str 18, Dex 19, Con 14, Int 14, Wis 15, Cha 15
Skills: Appraise +12, Concentration +12, Craft (any one) +12, Diplomacy +4, Escape Artist +14, Knowledge (any one) +12, Listen +12, Move Silently +14, Sense Motive +12, Spellcraft +12, Spot +12, Use Rope +4 (+6 with bindings)
Feats: Combat Casting, Combat Reflexes, Dodge, Improved Initiative
Climate/Terrain: Elemental Plane of Air
Organization: Solitary, company (2-4), or band (6-15)
Challenge Rating: 5 (noble 8)
Treasure: Standard
Alignment: Always chaotic good
Advancement: 8-10 HD (Large); 11-21 (Huge)
Level Adjustment: +6
Monster Manual, 2003 WotC
The Djinni appears in the Monster Manual (2000/2003) and well, we aren’t saying that 3rd edition mailed it in, but the Djinni don’t have much going for them in this edition. We can take some solace that only the Djinni and the efreeti show up in the first Monster Manual, while the dao and marid have to wait until… well, they don’t actually show up in any of the five Monster Manuals but instead show up in the supplement book, Manual of the Planes (2001), which isn’t great. But at least the Djinni is special enough to make it!
Almost everything remains the same as the previous version, with the terms and numbers being adjusted to fit 3e, and in fact, a lot of the wording is just lifted from the previous editions. As a running theme, the only real change comes from the whirlwind. Djinni find melee combat beneath them and prefer to use their magic in combat, which means they are going to use their whirlwind whenever possible. If they use their whirlwind so it is touching the ground, you don’t only have to deal with a sentient whirlwind trying to kill you, but also you have to deal with the cloud of debris that heavily obscures the whirlwind and all creatures inside of it. Let’s say you are brave and not scared of a sentient whirlwind, if you are struck by it, you are then picked up and suspended in powerful winds, automatically taking damage every round. You can take your normal turn at this point, but you can’t move inside of it unless you want to try and break free of the whirlwind, but you aren’t a wuss. Instead, you can stab the whirlwind and try to kill the Djinni that way, which only imposes a -2 penalty on your attack roll and nothing else. We would’ve thought that wind was a bit harder to hit than that, but we haven’t been able to conduct our The Wizard of Oz LARP yet to experiment.
The Djinni next show up in the Manual of the Planes, where it goes over their role in the Plane of Air and how they live quite opulently. Each Djinni stronghold houses up to 30 Djinni, otherwise, it is stocked with servants, pets, or guardians who protect their Djinni masters as much as possible. They are still ruled over by a sheik, who may or may not be a Noble Djinni, who still grants up to three wishes, and still rely on each other if they are ever attacked. One weird thing about the Djinni is that many raise livestock, but mostly horses for racing, which seems like the wrong creature you want racing through the Plane of Air when a roc or griffon might be a better option. Then again, Djinni find creatures with wings to be offensive because they have to work so hard to fly while the Djinni just do, which is anathema to their lifestyle and relationship to the wind and air.
There isn’t much else in 3rd edition, but one thing worth sharing is in The Lost Empires of Faerun (2005) which tells the story of the noble Djinni Calim and his empire in the southern lands of Toril. Claiming the lands where modern-day Calimport stands, Calim defended his empire from dragons, the dao, and marids, defeating them all. He negotiated with the neighboring dwarves and elves to solidify the borders of his land. The land prospered until the arrival of the efreeti Memmon. The two fought, decimating the lands and killing countless genies and various humanoids that had the bad luck of settling in and around Calim’s empire. Eventually, the nearby elves had had enough, and they used their combined magic to disembody both Calim and Memmon, binding their essences to the sky and earth, respectively. They continue to fight in this state even today in the Calim desert, a part of Calim’s ancient empire that was once fertile plains, but now is only a wasteland of burnt sand. Elven wards prevent the two genie lords from leaving the Calim Desert, but that doesn’t prevent them from continuing their eternal struggle against one another.
4e - Djinni (Thunderer)
Level 20 Artillery
Large elemental humanoid (air) / XP 2,800
Initiative +16/ Senses Perception +16; blindsight 10
HP 146; Bloodied 73
AC 32; Fortitude 34, Reflex 32, Will 32
Immune disease, poison; Resist 15 thunder
Speed 6, fly 8 (hover)
Action Points see rage of storms
Scepter (standard; at-will) ✦ Weapon Reach 2; +27 vs. AC; 3d8 + 2 damage
Rage of Storms (free, when a critical hit damages the djinn thunderer; encounter) ✦ Thunder Close burst 2; +25 vs. Reflex; 3d8 + 12 thunder damage, and the thunderer pushes the target 5 squares. Effect: The thunderer gains 1 action point.
Imperious Thunder (standard; encounter) ✦ Thunder Area burst 2 within 20; +25 vs. Reflex; 2d8 + 9 thunder damage, and the target takes ongoing 10 thunder damage (save ends). Miss: The target takes ongoing 10 thunder damage (save ends).
Thunderburst (standard; at-will) ✦ Thunder Area burst 2 within 20; +25 vs. Fortitude; 2d8 + 9 thunder damage, and the target is dazed until the end of the djinn thunderer’s next turn.
Zephyr Step (minor; recharge ⚅) ✦ Teleportation The djinn thunderer teleports 20 squares.
Alignment Unaligned / Languages Common, Primordial
Skills Insight +21
Str 26 (+18) | Dex 23 (+16) | Wis 23 (+16) | Con 20 (+15) | Int 21 (+15) | Cha 19 (+14)
Equipment scepter (mace)
Monster Manual 2, 2009 WotC
Relegated to the Monster Manual 2 (2009), we can take some solace since we get 4 types of Djinni… and all the other genie, except for the efreeti, are screwed over. A quick bit of new lore is established, as we find out that the Djinni was allied with the primordials during the centuries-long conflict against the gods known as the Dawn War. Upon the primordials defeat, the gods turned their ire on the Djinni, imprisoning many of them to this day in towers, mirrors, lamps, and other lowly relics.
Monster Manual 2, 2009 WotC
The four Djinni featured in this book are the Thunderer, Stormsword, Windbow, and the Skylord. The Thunderer, as you can probably ascertain from the name, use thunder as their primary attack. They dislike fighting in the melee and will teleport far away from their enemies and call on storms to destroy them. The Stormsword is the opposite and actually wants to be in melee, using a special ability to pull enemies closer to it so it can cut through them with its scimitar. While the Stormsword does have the ability to hit you from far away, it only does so to pin you in place so that it rushes you and begins attacking you with its scimitar.
Monster Manual 2, 2009 WotC
After you’ve defeated those two, you still have to worry about the Windbow who also likes to stay far away and pepper its enemies with its bow. It can knock back its opponents or go into melee where it smites down with the power of thunder and wind. If you somehow find the will to keep fighting the Djinni after this, there is one more to defeat, and they are the worst of the bunch. The Skylord is focused on battlefield control and summons sandstorms, hail, elements, and more to buffet and disorient its opponents. If forced to fight it swings its storm staff, bashing its opponents with the power of wind as it moves further away behind its front line of Djinni fighters.
Monster Manual 2, 2009 WotC
In the supplement The Plane Below - Secrets of the Elemental Chaos (2009), we get some new lore about what the Djinni was all about before the Dawn War rocked the multiverse. Before the Dawn War, they were creatures of great intellect, loved fine art, and lived noble lives, capable of crafting everything and anything of pure beauty out of the Elemental Chaos. The Djinni was the most advanced of the genie races, living the high life in the massive sky cities amongst the clouds. A majority of these magnificent palaces were destroyed during the Dawn War or afterward by the vengeful gods who they warred against. These castles' ruins can still be found floating aimlessly throughout the plane, crumbling after centuries of neglect.
The one city the survived this fate was the First City. After the war, the gods expelled all of its citizens, and it now floats aimlessly and abandoned. The Djinni believe that if they can find the city, and release one of the many imprisoned caliphs, it will return them to their former glory, undoing the damage done by the gods and allowing them to release all the imprisoned Djinni scattered throughout the planes.
The Plane Below - Secrets of the Elemental Chaos, 2009 WotC
This book also features Sirrajadt, the Vengeful Storm, a Djinni who is the last of an ancient and crumbling noble house. He thirsts to destroy the gods and mortals who worship them, vowing to destroy them all. He frees Djinni only to increase the size of his army, so that he can continue his wars against the efreeti and gods. He doesn’t believe in the First City and thinks anyone trying to release all the Djinni by using the First City are delusional at best. We are also presented with the Cloudstalker, a Djinni who specializes in attacking foes while they are unaware. The Cloudstalker lashes out from cover, bashing their enemies aside and then they turn into a cloud, hoping to confuse their enemies so they can sweep in and attack again when they least suspect it.
Player’s Companion - Heroes of the Elemental Chaos, 2012 WotC
Our last Djinni shows up in the Player’s Options - Heroes of the Elemental Chaos (2012) which features the Djinnling! You might remember these gen servants from 2nd edition where they travel with a sha’ir, a type of elemental wizard that a player character can become. While the sha’ir is a type of wizard and they have a lot of their feats and abilities, they have a few wizard abilities exchanged for more control over the elements. One of those trade-offs is that they get a gen servant, like a Djinnling, who travels into the Elemental Chaos every day when you rest and brings your elemental powers to you at the start of the next day. These familiars have a variety of different powers like the Djinnling can move creatures near it and push them further away from it.
We mentioned earlier that the Djinni aren’t as screwed as the dao and marid, so we will briefly mention why it sucks to be one of those genie. Those two genie don’t show up in the sourcebooks but brief mentions and don’t gain stat blocks until Dungeon #199 (February, 2012) where they have to share 6 pages about their history, stat blocks, and motivations in the Elemental Chaos. While 4e might not as been good for the Djinni like 2e was, it could always be worse.
5e - Djinni
Large elemental, chaotic good
Armor Class 17 (natural armor)
Hit Points 161 (14d10 + 84)
Speed 30 ft., fly 90 ft.
STR 21 (+5) | DEX 15 (+2) | CON 22 (+6 ) | INT 15 (+2) | WIS 16 (+3) | CHA 20 (+5)
Saving Throws Dex +6, Wis +7, Cha +9
Damage Immunities lightning, thunder
Senses darkvision 120 ft., passive Perception 13
Languages Auran
Challenge 11 (7,200 XP)
Elemental Demise. If the djinni dies, its body disintegrates into a warm breeze, leaving behind only equipment the djinni was wearing or carrying.
Innate Spellcasting. The djinni's innate spellcasting ability is Charisma (spell save DC 17, +9 to hit with spell attacks). It can innately cast the following spells, requiring no material components:
At will: detect evil and good, detect magic, thunderwave
3/day each: create food and water (can create wine instead of water), tongues, wind walk
1/day each: conjure elemental (air elemental only), creation, gaseous form, invisibility, major image, plane shift
Multiattack. The djinni makes three scimitar attacks.
Scimitar. Melee Weapon Attack: +9 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 12 (2d6 + 5) slashing damage plus 3 (1d6) lightning or thunder damage (djinni's choice).
Create Whirlwind. A 5-foot-radius, 30-foot-tall cylinder of swirling air magically forms on a point the djinni can see within 120 feet of it. The whirlwind lasts as long as the djinni maintains concentration (as if concentrating on a spell). Any creature but the djinni that enters the whirlwind must succeed on a DC 18 Strength saving throw or be restrained by it. The djinni can move the whirlwind up to 60 feet as an action, and creatures restrained by the whirlwind move with it. The whirlwind ends if the djinni loses sight of it.
A creature can use its action to free a creature restrained by the whirlwind, including itself, by succeeding on a DC 18 Strength check. If the check succeeds, the creature is no longer restrained and moves to the nearest space outside the whirlwind.
Monster Manual, 2014 WotC
The Djinni shows up again, and this time with much fanfare in the Monster Manual (2014). Not only are they more powerful than in previous editions, a rare thing for most of the monsters we look at, but they get a decent amount of lore that paints them in a mostly positive light. They are still from the Plane of Air and live in castles of splendor and wonder, complete with fabulous works of art, opulent gardens, and fountains on this plane. They feast on fine wines and succulent foods, so if you can get an invite to a Djinni party, we recommend going. They are described as handsome and muscular, with blue skin and dark eyes. Their dress is fancy, made of silk and other rich fabrics.
This edition returns their whirlwind, though now they don’t become the whirlwind, but simply create one that they can control, but there isn’t much reason to do so. All it does is restrain creatures instead of bludgeoning them to death, it's pretty handy against single creatures but against a party of adventurers, might as well turn invisible and wander off. Even against a single creature, it can be a pain as they have no ranged attacks available to them, so it’s a bit of a weird ability for the Djinni who don’t want to get physical with other creatures and see combat as below them.
Many of the same abilities from the first editions still show up, they can make food, make shiny metal objects with set durations for each type of item you create, wind walk, and more. They can even conjure an air elemental, shoot off a wave of thunder, and can now determine if you are a good or evil creature, so that’s handy when you aren’t sure if the horrifying creature in front of you is an aberration, celestial, elemental, fey, fiend, or undead, though you don’t know specifically what they are, which is super helpful.
Looking at the lore of the Djinni, we learn that Djinni don’t like being slaves but they’ll accept it as a matter of fate. How you treat the Djinni is important, for being kind, bribing, and all forms of flattery work well on our vain friend. This is how they treat their slaves and see it as how all of those enslaved should be treated. What’s odd about this edition is that it doubles down on the ideas that all genies are slavers, providing more information that the Djinni are the kindest to their slaves and treat them well, so long as they continue to be good slaves and tell the Djinni how awesome they are. Did we mention that the Djinni, and other genie, are complete narcissists who demand that their slaves tell them how great they are constantly?
It goes further than that as they find religious folks completely intolerable. While they don't hate the gods, they don't recognize them as the supreme authorities. They act with respect towards them, but find the mewling worship of mortals tiresome... unless that constant mewling is directed towards them. They really like to hear how awesome they are, over and over. It's said that the praise of 200 slaves is music to them. This edition has a real fascination with making these genies just horrible creatures to deal with.
Since great wizards can summon and bind them through their magic, they don’t have to be kind to get the Djinni to do what they want. As you can imagine, Djinni are not very fond of wizards, as they can be unkind and demanding masters. Please don’t keep the Djinni bound too long, as they will become resentful, and an angry Djinni is not a Djinni that is good for your health. If you dare betray a Djinni, look out, as its wraith knows no bounds, its lust for vengeance only satisfied by your painful death. Besides, if you are looking for a wish granting genie, it’s going to take a while as only a very rare few ever have that ability.
The Djinni have little to do in 5th edition, but it does show up in the adventure Princes of the Apocalypse (2015) where it is toiling away and rebuilding an ancient dwarven city, a task given to it by its cruel masters. It’s a shame that such an interesting being doesn’t make more appearances in this edition, even just showing up as a random encounter in something like Tomb of Annihilation (2017) or Dungeon of the Mad Mage (2018) would have at least given it a bit more depth for this edition.
The last thing we will leave you with on the Djinni is a weird thing that this edition introduced, which is how genies are created. When someone dies, and their soul has such a strong bond to an element, it can go into the Inner Planes where it will merge with the elements there. Once it does so, in very rare situations, it might create a genie. That's it. No getting down to make babies, as genies can't make more of their kind. They just have to hope someone really loves breathing air and somehow get their soul to merge with the elements of their plane.
The poor Djinni have appeared throughout Dungeons & Dragons though it always seems to be in the shadow of the efreeti, or not shown much respect at all. While you may get some wishes out of the creatures, it’s not a likely outcome. If you do find yourself confronted by a Djinni, just make sure to treat them nicely and remember to talk about how awesome they are, they’ll probably not pick you up in a whirlwind and chuck you across the desert then!
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