Hey, everyone. I need a bit of help creating a character for a new D&D group I'm in. Basic story is that she's a partially freed genie who is slowly gaining her abilities back so that she can exact revenge on the people who forced her to make wishes for all those years. Backstory aside, I'm having trouble figuring out what to do mechanically with her to make her abilities more genie like. I thought sorcerer because meta magic and Draconic Resilience and Wizard for the savant, extended list of spells, and ability to regain spell slots on a short rest. The issue comes on later levels. I made a few higher level characters with the Wizard/Sorcerer combo and the only real way you can get up to higher level spells is if one of the two levels is extremely low in comparison.
Essentially I need to know which of the two classes can get me more genie like abilities. I know both can eventually get me the Wish spell which is end-goal. To start, they're a 3/2 sorcerer/wizard. That way they can get the best start of both classes. I know more meta magic equals more flexible spellcasting for her, but at the cost of spells that might do that flexibility by themselves. I also know doing more wizard than sorcerer means that the amount of sorcery points I have basically makes it a two time use unless I want to convert some of my spell slots into sorcery points. I just need ya'lls help determining which would make them a better immortal wish granter.
Goals are essentially:
Has to include a bit of meta magic for flexibility.
Has to have the biggest flexibility of spells possible.
Has to have some way to regain larger amounts of spell slots during short rests.
Has to get to the Wish spell.
What do ya'll think about the character idea, btw? I love making nuanced characters that fit into their abilities.
I thnk if I were your DM I's say keep it single classed Sorcerer BUT (and this is the bit that might not be popular among other DM's) I'd give your Sorcerer the spells attached to the Genie Warlock patron as bonus/free spells so you gain some additional flavour spells that reflect the type of genie you want to eventually be AND also add on True Polymorph tot he Sorcerer spell list for you as it is the best/easiest way of achieving your goal.
Sadly this will only mean regaining spell slots ona long rest unless you wanted a few levels of warlock to regain the pact magic every short rest.
Edit, if you go the Warlock/ Sorcerer route then flavour the genie patron more a reconnecting with the elemental plane you were originally from and rebinding yourself to it. Due to the need to cast a level 9 spell you'll need to be at least level 17 to get a good chance at doing it, so single classed sorcerer might be hte best option.
I appreciate your answer! It's actually really clever, but I'm trying to stay away from homebrewing the character so the DM has less of a reason to mechanically say no to it. I think the most I can ask for is the "enter the lamp" feature from the Genie Warlock patron, but even that might be pushing it.
I think giving the former genie character genie characteristics is really smart, and if I were DMing, I'd totally agree! The regaining spell slots on a short rest is pretty important to me, honestly because I've never played with this group before and I want to play my spellcaster safe. I'm not sure how frequently we long rest. Plus, wizards get to prepare spells, so I can always fling something different out; that's kinda why I multiclassed in the first place. To try to get the most flexibility; I really love the Minor Conjuration feature, because it really gives me a "genie from Aladdin" feel. There isn't a "limit" to how often you can do that, so in addition to a minor illusion spell and a couple other conjuration spells, at a level 5 character, she can already emphasize her points by conjuring tiny glowing objects.
I've been having a think about a build for this but it boils down to what do you want most?
Assuming the plan for the campaign is to get to level 20, if you are set on the sorcerer/wizard multiclass then you need to decide which is the main one. If you want to cast wish yourself then you'll need one of those get to level 17 and dipping 3 levels into the other class isn't particularly beneficial.
For example wizard 17 / Sorcerer 3:
Going max 17 levels of wizard mean you miss out on your spell mastery (an at will option for a level 1 & 2 spell) and signiture spell abilities (two level 3 spells castable once per day without using a spell slot).
3 levels of Sorcerer gets you your first origin ability, 3 Sorcery Points and 2 meta magics. When you are the top levels those probably won't do too much for you.
Going Sorcerer 17 / Wizard 3:
Going for max 17 Sorcerer means you lose out on the final origin ability (admittedly not that good of one for Draconic) and you lose out on the Sorcerous Restoration feature (regain 4 sorcery points every short rest).
3 levels of wizard would mean you'd be able to ritual cast level 1 & 2 rituals and gets you the minor conjuration feature you mentioned BUT your arcane recovery ability would be limited to restoring a max of 2 levels of spell slots (also remember arcane recovery is once per day when you finish short rest not every short rest).
So from a purely game mechanic point of view multiclassing does somewhat nerf the character, which is a shame because I kind of like the idea.
You could use the new "Meta Magic Adept feat" which give two meta magic options and 2 Sorcery Points, its not much but might be enough to add a bit of flavour.
Otherwise you need some basic homebrew.
You can ask your DM if they would allow you to homebrew a spell. Specifically a lvl 6 version of polymorph that would allow you to turn into an elemental, this would enable you to polymorph into the chosen genie form (as they are elementals) at level 11, I could see this being ok but you might not be allowed their innate spell casting. The spell itself functions as per the level 4 polymorph spell so there would be very little work needed to implement it. As polymorph is on both Sorcerer and Wizard spell lists it'll slip into whatever build you end up doing. In this instance I would encourage you to be very upfront with the DM and draw their attention to the fact that Genie are elementals as they may not realise it, also limit it to taking the form of the genie you used to be, so if you were an efreeti you can only adopt the form of an efreeti, no switching to djinn, marid or dao...although persoanlly i love the marid genie so why would you want to be anything else?
Just had another idea but it does mean getting a legenedary level magic item, and that would be obtain a spell scroll of wish to do the deed. That way you could go for whatever combo of levels you wanted but you have a chance of the spell failling depending on how your DM interprets the wording in the DMG.
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Hey, everyone. I need a bit of help creating a character for a new D&D group I'm in. Basic story is that she's a partially freed genie who is slowly gaining her abilities back so that she can exact revenge on the people who forced her to make wishes for all those years. Backstory aside, I'm having trouble figuring out what to do mechanically with her to make her abilities more genie like. I thought sorcerer because meta magic and Draconic Resilience and Wizard for the savant, extended list of spells, and ability to regain spell slots on a short rest. The issue comes on later levels. I made a few higher level characters with the Wizard/Sorcerer combo and the only real way you can get up to higher level spells is if one of the two levels is extremely low in comparison.
Essentially I need to know which of the two classes can get me more genie like abilities. I know both can eventually get me the Wish spell which is end-goal. To start, they're a 3/2 sorcerer/wizard. That way they can get the best start of both classes. I know more meta magic equals more flexible spellcasting for her, but at the cost of spells that might do that flexibility by themselves. I also know doing more wizard than sorcerer means that the amount of sorcery points I have basically makes it a two time use unless I want to convert some of my spell slots into sorcery points. I just need ya'lls help determining which would make them a better immortal wish granter.
Goals are essentially:
What do ya'll think about the character idea, btw? I love making nuanced characters that fit into their abilities.
I thnk if I were your DM I's say keep it single classed Sorcerer BUT (and this is the bit that might not be popular among other DM's) I'd give your Sorcerer the spells attached to the Genie Warlock patron as bonus/free spells so you gain some additional flavour spells that reflect the type of genie you want to eventually be AND also add on True Polymorph tot he Sorcerer spell list for you as it is the best/easiest way of achieving your goal.
If you haven't got the books with the Genie warlock patron in it here's the UA: https://media.wizards.com/2020/dnd/downloads/UA2020_SubclassesRevisited_0512.pdf the spells are on page 2.
Sadly this will only mean regaining spell slots ona long rest unless you wanted a few levels of warlock to regain the pact magic every short rest.
Edit, if you go the Warlock/ Sorcerer route then flavour the genie patron more a reconnecting with the elemental plane you were originally from and rebinding yourself to it. Due to the need to cast a level 9 spell you'll need to be at least level 17 to get a good chance at doing it, so single classed sorcerer might be hte best option.
I appreciate your answer! It's actually really clever, but I'm trying to stay away from homebrewing the character so the DM has less of a reason to mechanically say no to it. I think the most I can ask for is the "enter the lamp" feature from the Genie Warlock patron, but even that might be pushing it.
I think giving the former genie character genie characteristics is really smart, and if I were DMing, I'd totally agree! The regaining spell slots on a short rest is pretty important to me, honestly because I've never played with this group before and I want to play my spellcaster safe. I'm not sure how frequently we long rest. Plus, wizards get to prepare spells, so I can always fling something different out; that's kinda why I multiclassed in the first place. To try to get the most flexibility; I really love the Minor Conjuration feature, because it really gives me a "genie from Aladdin" feel. There isn't a "limit" to how often you can do that, so in addition to a minor illusion spell and a couple other conjuration spells, at a level 5 character, she can already emphasize her points by conjuring tiny glowing objects.
I've been having a think about a build for this but it boils down to what do you want most?
Assuming the plan for the campaign is to get to level 20, if you are set on the sorcerer/wizard multiclass then you need to decide which is the main one. If you want to cast wish yourself then you'll need one of those get to level 17 and dipping 3 levels into the other class isn't particularly beneficial.
For example wizard 17 / Sorcerer 3:
Going max 17 levels of wizard mean you miss out on your spell mastery (an at will option for a level 1 & 2 spell) and signiture spell abilities (two level 3 spells castable once per day without using a spell slot).
3 levels of Sorcerer gets you your first origin ability, 3 Sorcery Points and 2 meta magics. When you are the top levels those probably won't do too much for you.
Going Sorcerer 17 / Wizard 3:
Going for max 17 Sorcerer means you lose out on the final origin ability (admittedly not that good of one for Draconic) and you lose out on the Sorcerous Restoration feature (regain 4 sorcery points every short rest).
3 levels of wizard would mean you'd be able to ritual cast level 1 & 2 rituals and gets you the minor conjuration feature you mentioned BUT your arcane recovery ability would be limited to restoring a max of 2 levels of spell slots (also remember arcane recovery is once per day when you finish short rest not every short rest).
So from a purely game mechanic point of view multiclassing does somewhat nerf the character, which is a shame because I kind of like the idea.
You could use the new "Meta Magic Adept feat" which give two meta magic options and 2 Sorcery Points, its not much but might be enough to add a bit of flavour.
Otherwise you need some basic homebrew.
You can ask your DM if they would allow you to homebrew a spell. Specifically a lvl 6 version of polymorph that would allow you to turn into an elemental, this would enable you to polymorph into the chosen genie form (as they are elementals) at level 11, I could see this being ok but you might not be allowed their innate spell casting. The spell itself functions as per the level 4 polymorph spell so there would be very little work needed to implement it. As polymorph is on both Sorcerer and Wizard spell lists it'll slip into whatever build you end up doing. In this instance I would encourage you to be very upfront with the DM and draw their attention to the fact that Genie are elementals as they may not realise it, also limit it to taking the form of the genie you used to be, so if you were an efreeti you can only adopt the form of an efreeti, no switching to djinn, marid or dao...although persoanlly i love the marid genie so why would you want to be anything else?
Choice of race could also flesh out a few bits, you have the Genasi available which will give a few benefits and there are few homebrew feats that might flesh this out a bit as well (see here: https://www.dndbeyond.com/homebrew/feats?filter-name=Heritage&filter-description=&filter-author=BadEye&filter-author-previous=BadEye&filter-author-symbol=23611187&filter-rating=-13). But as they are hombrew, again you'd need to pass these through the DM, the genie heritage feats are not that powerful so should pass muster.
Edit to previous....
Just had another idea but it does mean getting a legenedary level magic item, and that would be obtain a spell scroll of wish to do the deed. That way you could go for whatever combo of levels you wanted but you have a chance of the spell failling depending on how your DM interprets the wording in the DMG.