Learn all about the Air Genasi
The genasi are descendants of genies that have reproduced with a mortal. Not all genasi have a genie as a parent, some will have been born from 2 genasi parents, others will have dormant genie genes (which is quite a mouthful) from some ancestor that has only materialised with their birth. Whatever the circumstances though, the genasi are art mortal and part genie creatures.
But just as there are different types of genies, there are also different types of genasi depending on their lineage. In the case of the Air Genasi, they are descended from the djinn. With this comes a resilience and an affinity with the element of air; powers they can harness to their own benefit.
What are the Air Genasi?
The Air Genasi are individuals with the blood of the djinn flowing through their veins as well as that of mortals. In some rare circumstances, an Air Genasi can be created through a phenomenon of air elemental power that might affect a mortal offspring, transforming them into a genasi.
With their mixed lineage, the Air Genasi are born with aspects relating to both their lineages. From their djinn aspects, they gain attributes of the elements of the air such as blue skin or the accompaniment of a constant cool breeze. Air genasi tend to be proportionally lighter than most other mortals too. An Air Genasi also gains powers related to their djinn lineage such as the ability to hold their breath, to levitate and a resilience to the powers of the elemental plane of air.
From their mortal parents, an Air Genasi may acquire all sorts of features depending on what kind of mortal the djinn mated with. The genasi child of a an elf might have pointed ears while the genasi child of a halfling might appear shorter. While not common creatures, the genasi that do exist tend to be hugely varied in appearance for this reason.
Like many half-breeds, the Air Genasi often live their lives as outcasts having no true home and with the djinn generally uninterested in raising their own children. Often, the Air Genasi find themselves living on the edges of society, particularly those with more unusual appearances. There are, however, throughout the planes, those that revere creatures of elemental powers and some genasi can find themselves in high regard in such societies. Others do go to their djinn parents to live in the elemental plane of air to serve within a djinn household, though this tends to be rare.
Despite the usual habitations of the Air Genasi, some do find there way into communities of genasi while others live within the large cities where many with an unusual nature are largely not eschewed due to the more cosmopolitan nature of such cities.
Playing D&D as an Air Genasi
As with any race, the Air Genasi have a wide variety of personalities and attributes meaning you can play an Air Genasi however you like. You may however, want to consider aspects of your past and your lineage that shape who you are such as:
- Who are your family? – Are you the offspring of 2 genasi or the child of a djinn. If you’re the child of a djinn, how do you feel about your powerful, but likely uncaring djinn parent?
- How do you feel about your differences? – Chances are, you know few creatures that are similar to you, and even if you came from a community of genasi, you may find yourself among many other creatures that are not like you. How do you view your differences to others? Are you proud of your heritage? Ashamed perhaps?
- How has society treated you? – Where you’ve grown up may affect how you’ve been treated and may impact your personality. Did you grow up among other genasi or were you the only one for miles? How did other people treat you? Did they shun you or admire your differences, or were they indifferent? How did these things impact your outlook on life and your personality? Do you hide who you are or have you overcompensated with a brashness to your personality?
Air Genasi Features in 5e
| Ability Scores | +2 to one ability score and +1 to another or +1 to 3 different ability scores |
| Creature Type | Humanoid |
| Size | Medium or Small |
| Speed | 35ft |
| Traits | Darkvision, Unending Breath, Lightning Resistance, Mingle with the Wind |
| Book found in | Mordenkainen Presents: Monsters of the Multiverse |
If you want to play as an air genasi, your character will have the following traits and abilities:
Air Genasi Traits
Darkvision – You can see in dim light within 60 feet of you as if it were bright light and in darkness as if it were dim light. You can only see colours in darkness as shades of grey though.
Unending Breath – You can hold your breath indefinitely while you are not incapacitated.
Lightning Resistance – You have resistance to lightning damage.
Mingle with the Wind – You know the shocking grasp cantrip. When you reach 3rd level, you know the feather fall spell without requiring components. When you reach 5th level, you also know the levitate spell without requiring components. Once you’ve cast feather fall or levitate, you can’t cast that spell again until you complete a long rest or unless you use an already available spell slot of the same level. You can use intelligence, wisdom or charisma as your spell casting modifier for these spells (you choose when you create your character).
Which classes are good for Air Genasi?
With Monsters of the Multiverse allowing playable races to choose any ability score to improve, the benefits of playing an Air Genasi come down to its traits. Extra movement speed is always handy, but especially for classes that need to be quite mobile like monks, rogues and barbarians. Lightning resistance is useful, but the main benefits of the Air Genasi are their innate spellcasting.
All the spells for the Air Genasi are great. Shocking grasp, levitate and feather fall are all great spells and have fairly universal appeal though some classes will still gain more from them than others.
Best classes for Air Genasi
Rogue
The rogue will get a lot of use out of levitate, especially out of combat where you’ll be able scale buildings easily. In combat, it makes a great escape spell to get out of reach of melee characters. Feather fall is great in an emergency when you fall from those buildings you’ve scaled and shocking grasp is a great alternative for your standard attack. Plus extra speed is important for a rogue.
Bard
As a secondary rogue, bards benefit in similar ways to rogues from the Air Genasi’s innate spellcasting. Although bards do already have spells of their own, they don’t have access to shocking grasp or levitate as standard and will certainly enjoy the additional safety and mobility levitate grants. The extra speed is great for a utility character too.
Warlock
Warlocks have extremely limited spell slots so some extra spell uses are great, especially when they don’t already have access to levitate and feather fall. On top of this, these grant a decent amount of protection for a less tough class. Lightning resistance only adds to this.
Worst classes for Air Genasi
Barbarians gain very little from races that rely on innate spellcasting due to how little they can cast spells as they’re usually raging in combat. Feather fall and levitate do have some uses for them but they are limited. Monks gain less from being an Air Genasi too despite being thematically a good fit. Feather fall is pointless when you already have slow fall anyway. Shocking grasp is also unlikely to be more effective than the attacks you’re already using.
