Warlock Patrons: The Genie

Guide by Sam West, Twitter:@CrierKobold

Whether you saw Aladdin once and knew you needed your own Robin Williams blue super-powered buddy or read the lore around the genies of other worlds and decided to place your lot in with the creatures that can literally grant wishes, warlocks seeking the Genie patron get a robust kit of tools to play around with that makes them rewarding options for almost any table.

Unique to Genie is a bonus sub-subclass you get to pick from when you choose this patron: a specific kind of genie from Dao, Djinni, Efreeti, and Marid based on the earth, air, fire, and water element respectively.

1st-3rd Level: Genie’s Vessel and 1st and 2nd Level Expanded Spells

Genie’s Vessel sets up most warlocks for success, regardless of build. You pick a preferred vessel fitting your specific fantasy, and get two sub features within it: Bottled Respite and Genie’s Wrath.
Bottled Respite is like a personal once per long rest Rope Trick. It can be a panic button you press when about to die and need a quick bunch of temporary hit points something has to break through to reach you, or a cute tool for espionage. On top of that, you can store stuff in here like a Bag of Holding. All in all, a tool anyone can get a lot of mileage out of in a deeply flavorful way.
Genie’s Wrath is a simple buff to attack rolls once a round with damage type reflecting your patrons element. While not as unique, this small damage upgrade adds up over the course of the game, scales with your proficiency bonus, and makes every attack based build just a smidge better. All upside, really.
Expanded 1st Level Spells are determined by your patron’s kind. Every one shares one spell (Detect Evil and Good) and gets a unique other 1st level spell that wildly varies in power and utility, offering a huge breadth of build options to blossom from this single subclass. This pattern repeats for each of the warlock’s normal expanded spell tiers, getting one constant spell and one based on your patron’s kind at each spell level. The options are Sanctuary (Dao), Thunderwave (Djinni), Burning Hands (Efreeti), and Fog Cloud (Marid).
Detect Evil and Good is only going to be worth it on characters who can get access to ritual casting. It's far too niche to justify spell slots on, but if you’re taking Book of Ancient Secrets anyway, this can be a fine addition there.
As far as the kind specific spells, Sanctuary is the clear worst of the bunch, as it doesn’t scale with your Pact Magic spell slot levels as they improve, and is a very niche and hard to use effect.
Thunderwave and Burning Hands both give you a scaling area of effect damage tool that can be critical in the lower tiers; Burning Hands is more damage in a better area, and usually will feel better than Thunderwave, but Thunderwave definitely does enough damage when you don’t have other options and has an occasionally useful knockback.
Fog Cloud is my personal favorite of the bunch; it adds a unique spin to the option that other warlock subclasses don’t get access to, has an hour long duration, and scales with level, all of which are effects and features I look for out of warlock spells. Its not going to be cast all that regularly in the middle to upper tiers, but still can be useful in a variety of circumstances.
Expanded 2nd Level Spells give everyone access to Phantasmal Force, a spell that isn’t going to ever get cast past 4th level with your slots and feel good, and Spike Growth for Dao, Gust of Wind for Djinni, Scorching Ray for Efreetie, and Blur for Marid. Seeing as only Scorching Ray has an up-cast option, you’re probably leaving these behind once you reach 5th level, but up until then, Gust of Wind and Spike Growth offer great utility and control build options that you can weaponize in some fun ways.
Blur is usually quite bad, as it both asks you to be attacked to get its benefits but takes your concentration, meaning it very quickly will get dismissed once a couple of blows actually land.
Phantasmal Force is a fine effect for a 2nd level spell slot, giving you a bonus damaging 1d6 damage a round on a save or die with some mental manipulation conditions, but you don’t ever want to be spending 3rd level or higher spells on this mediocre effect.
Scorching Ray is left as a cool muli-attacking option you can pair with Hex for a fun, explosive nova build. It helps that it also works with Genie’s Respite once, meaning you’re getting a lot of damage overlap on a single spell cast. Up-casting it for more attacks scales it incredibly well with Hex, too, making it a powerful single target nova option in most tiers of play.

4th-7th Level: Elemental Gift and 3rd and 4th Level Expanded Spells

Elemental Gift grants you resistance to a damage based on your patron, but way more importantly, a new bonus action you can use a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus to get a 30 ft. fly speed for 10 minutes. Want to feel like the adept of a powerful Efreeti, raining flames from the sky? Want to feel like the jovial wind spirit floating about as you please? Elemental Gift delivers. It shines brightest typically on ranged characters, as they can easily take advantage of its flight against melee based monsters that may have no way to reach them once airborne. It being a bonus action, though, does mean melee warlocks who’d otherwise get bogged down by difficult terrain, pits, or ledges can float right past them like normal at a very cheap cost.
Expanded 3rd Level Spells offered are Create Food and Water (almost never worth taking) for all, Meld into Stone (Dao), Wind Wall (Djinni), Fireball (Efreeti), and Sleet Storm (Marid).
Obviously Fireball stands out as an exceptional damage option that scales with your Pact Magic slots that most any character will gladly pick up. Sleet Storm is often a tool you like to have for retreats, and can be a way to create a large area of difficult terrain and heavy obscurity in a pinch. It’s hamstrung by its lack of up-cast improvements, but if you’ve got other spells you’re happy to cast regularly already, this is a fine tool to pick up.
Meld into Stone, while deeply thematically rich, is often going to feel like just an extra use of Genie’s Vessel’s Bottled Respite. Another note, though, is that if you’re a ritual caster (which you can be with Book of Ancient Secrets), this can be another ritual spell for your book with a decent enough option you might consider then.
We’re left with Wind Wall, another spell without up-cast improvements, but it does offer you a damaging wall that mitigates mundane projectiles in its entirety, making it a decent spell to keep on hand for specific fights. Concentration also plagues this effect, making it even harder to justify, but a handful of characters can find a home for it on their sheets when playing characters who want a defensive suite of options for diverse encounters.

Expanded 4th Level Spells give all Genie warlocks access to Phantasmal Killer and the kinds each get Stone Shape (Dao), Greater Invisibility (Djinni), Fire Shield (Efreeti), and Control Water (Marid).
Phantasmal Killer is one of the worst 4th level spells in the game, so you’re probably not going to seek that one out. Of the kind specific options, the overall most regularly castable are Greater Invisibility and Fire Shield, which both are incredible boons for melee warlocks. Greater Invisibility costs you your concentration, but can empower every attack you’re making and impose disadvantage on all attacks against you should the creature find the space you’re ending your turns in, making it a decent option for a variety of attack based builds. Fire Shield doesn’t even ask you to concentrate on it, but really wants you to be getting hit to get juice out of it, positioning it as an option for frontline warlocks more so than ranged ones.
Stone Shape is a nifty gimmick that can double as a short ranged Passwall or stone specific Fabricate, but ultimately this spell’s utility is fairly lacking. Control Water comes with a variety of modes that all are only really applicable in water centric games, meaning it's something to consider when sailing the seas on board a pirate ship, and not something you pick up before going to confront a lich in their lair.

8th-10th Level: Sanctuary Vessel and 5th Level Expanded Spells

Sanctuary Vessel is the 10th level Otherworldly Patron feature Genie’s get, and unlike many of the other defensive 10th level options the other subclasses get, is a massive deal. First, you can now bring in up to five other creatures inside your vessel when using Bottled Respite. On top of that already major upgrade, you can take a short rest over just ten minutes. No longer do you need to wait for an hour long break to get your spells back; if you can spare just ten minutes, and consume your Bottled Respite feature, you and all your friends get a free short rest with bonus hit points to boot with all expended hit dice. As a short rest based class, Sanctuary Vessel finally gives you a tool to start casting spells more freely with the comfort of knowing a short rest recharge just is ten minutes away.
Expanded 5th Level Spells come at 9th level, with everyone getting Creation, and the kinds each getting Wall of Stone (Dao), Seeming (Djinni), Flame Strike (Efreeti), and Cone of Cold Marid).
Creation, while nifty, is almost useless. It makes mundane objects. You can just buy mundane objects. You can’t waste your spell slots on something with this little impact. Fortunately, there are some bangers in the kind specific spell options.
Wall of Stone is a great defensive wall tool to get access to, and has a myriad of uses both in and out of combat for constructing defenses and getting advantageous positions. Seeming is the perfect mass disguise for tricky wind mages looking to empower their social deceptions and create grand illusions part of grander plans.
Fame Strike isn’t a meaningful upgrade over Fireball, being worse in almost every way comparatively, but Efreeti didn’t really need a good damaging option here. What did was Marid, and they got Cone of Cold, a Fireball equivalent that will hit like a bus in a massive area. Three out of four of these kind specific options are major assets to pick up if available.

14th Level: Limited Wish and Expanded 9th Level Mystic Arcanum

Limited Wish caps off the Genie subclass with a truly busted feature. Limited Wish lets you every 1d4 days cast any 6th level or lower spell you want. Need a quick revival? You’ve got access to Revivify, no components needed. Run out of gas and need a bit more damage? Why not cast a free Blade Barrier or Conjure Fey? Globe of Invulnerability is a pretty nifty spell that bests a lot of lower level magical effects. Mass Suggestion, Irresistible Dance, and Disintegrate are all amazing 6th level spells, and you can take your pick of the lot to fix whatever situation you’re in. Truly an exceptional feature.
Wish. In addition, there is a secret bonus feature Genie warlocks get: Wish. Wish normally isn’t a warlock spell, but its on their Expanded Spell List, meaning when you pick your 9th level Mystic Arcanum, you can (and should) pick Wish. Most players won’t ever reach that tier, but hey, who doesn’t want access to the best 9th level spell in the game?

All Together

In context, Efreeti stands out pretty far from most of the other options, as its expanded spell list is just a collection of some of the best damage spells in the game any warlock would happily try out. If you intend to go the long game in warlock, Marid’s spell selection including Cone of Cold to top of their utility options like Fog Cloud and Sleet Storm definitely positions them as a great choice as well. Dao is likely the worst, with their only spell of note really being Wall of Stone, but still Stone Shape and Meld into Stone both can help you feel like an earthen warlock, even if their practical applications are a bit lackluster. Djinni are last, and they offer a decent selection of utility options like Seeming and Wind Wall. Not amazing, but offering some decent options at least.

Crucially, outside of the spell selection, the abilities offered by the Genie patron are nuts. Genie’s Vessel gives you a flexible defensive tool that can also work well in infiltration and espionage. On top of that, it just tacks on free damage to your attacks; what’s not to love? Genie’s Gift is a boon to literally any character lacking a fly speed, which is most, Sanctuary Vessel helps address the issues warlocks face with the current rest system while also empowering their Genie’s Vessel to hide more friends, and Limited Wish is utterly unfair. Genie warlocks have a ton of flexibility; you can build basically whatever kind of warlock you want with a Genie patron and have a very good time with a subclass you’ll feel supports whatever direction you’re going in.

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