Djinni

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Djinn are beings of smokeless fire. They enter the world spontaneously and without explanation, born with a tireless hunger for knowledge and adventure. Djinn have a unique relationship with magic: rather than learning spells from books, their spells come from within, welling up from their fiery core as they gain experience. They draw from that same fiery core to cast spells - for Djinn, magical power and health are one and the same. As elemental beings, Djinn are immune to poison and highly resistant to fire, though cold damage is deeply inimical to them. Since they float through the air without need for legs or feet, they cannot wear boots. Djinn are middlingly competent at most forms of physical combat, but have a particular aptitude for spellcasting. Their Spellcasting skill grants the same level of spell success and power that other species need multiple skills to reach.

Innate Abilities

• Djinn are made of fire, not flesh:
  • Fire Resistance 2: Djinn are highly resistant to fire.
  • Poison Immunity: Djinn are immune to poison.
  • Miasma Immunity: Djinn are immune to miasma and sickness.
  • Cold Vulnerability: Djinn take extra damage from cold.
• Floating: Djinn's gaseous lower bodies allow them to fly permanently, but they are unable to wear boots.
• Extra Vitality 1: Djinn start with +4 maximum HP.
• HP Casting: Djinn use HP instead of MP for all purposes.
  • Djinn have zero MP, rendering any form of MP restoration and the spirit shield ego useless. However, this also renders them immune to the negative effects of the antimagic brand and any other MP-draining effects (such as ghost moths).
• Innate Casting: Djinn are unable to learn spells from spellbooks. Instead, they learn spells as they grow (though Djinn from spellcasting backgrounds still start with all the normal spells from their background).
  • Due to their unconventional approach to magic, Djinn are unable to worship Sif Muna, Vehumet, or Kikubaaqudgha.
  • Djinn use only the Spellcasting skill in order to determine spellpower and success rates of spells.
    • As they do not train spell schools, Djinn cannot effectively use magical staves and weapons of pain as melee weapons (though they will still benefit from magical staves' spell-enhancing effects)

Djinn have a base Strength of 7, Intelligence of 9, and Dexterity of 8 (before Background modifiers).

Preferred Backgrounds

• Warriors: Gladiator
• Warrior-mages: Transmuter
• Mages: Hedge Wizard, Fire Elementalist, Ice Elementalist

Level Bonuses

• +1 Intelligence or Dexterity every 4th level.
• 10% less HP than average.
• +4 willpower per level.
• Djinn receive random spells every odd level starting at XL 3. Spells rise in level as you level up.

Starting Skills and Equipment

Djinn receive the skills, equipment, and spells listed for their background.

Difficulty of Play

Djinn, in a way, simply spellcasting. Players don't have to worry about running out of MP, decide which spell schools to train, or even worry about which spells you get! However, Djinni have to be careful about their HP reserves, especially in dangerous situations where a few HP one way or another could make the difference between life and death. Also, they must adapt to whatever random spells they get, which may not synergize well with their current abilities or the player's playstyle.

Skill aptitudes

The higher the value, the better the aptitude.

Skill	Aptitude	Skill	Aptitude	Skill	Aptitude
Attack		Miscellaneous		Magic
Fighting	0	Armour	0	Spellcasting	11
		Dodging	1
Maces & Flails	-2	Shields	0	Conjurations	11
Axes	-2	Stealth	-1	Hexes	11
Polearms	-2			Summonings	11
Staves	-1	Invocations	0	Necromancy	11
Unarmed Combat	0	Evocations	0	Translocations	11
Throwing	-2	Shapeshifting	-2	Alchemy	11
				Fire Magic	11
Short Blades	-1			Ice Magic	11
Long Blades	-1			Air Magic	11
Ranged Weapons	-2	Experience	1	Earth Magic	11

Strategy

• Djinn that want to cast any significant amount of spells will want to invest not only in Spellcasting, but also Fighting, to give themselves plenty of fuel for their spells. A source of increased regeneration is also useful to have.
  • Makhleb is a particularly good god choice for spellcasting Djinn, due to restoring lost HP on kills.
• Djinn have more reason than most spellcasters to branch out into a hybrid playstyle. Even with a -3 aptitude to Spellcasting, you'll still have plenty of spare experience to put into defensive or weapon skills. Engaging more closely in combat risks taking more damage from enemy attacks than from casting spells, but attacks can be resisted or dodged; burning your own life force to cast spells cannot.

History

• The modern incarnation of Djinn, inspired by the Djinn of old and the Oni species found in some forks of Dungeon Crawl, was added in 0.27.
• Djinn were considered for inclusion in both 0.13 and 0.14, but were ultimately cut before being included in any stable release. The old version had a more conventional approach to learning magic, but used 2 of their EP (HP and MP combined) for each MP spent. They were also subject to several special cases (complete immunity to all forms of fire including hellfire, spell hunger caused magical contamination, only certain methods of channeling worked).