The Genie Redesigned

Preparation

As always when writing an encounter, I did a lot of research on the Genie to make sure I got it right when building out their mechanics. Genies-- or Djinn-- varied in their description from demon-like entities to tricksters (almost like Fey) to pure elemental beings. Regardless of the source I listened to, one thing was immensely clear-- Genies aren't magical; they are magic. What a human wizard could do with decades of study, a genie could do just like they were flexing a muscle. It's part of their arcane anatomy.

To capture this feel, I wanted to fuck with the very core of the Spellcasting with a set of extremely powerful metamagic-like abilities that can not only effect your genie's spells, but their enemies' spells. Make their fireball 10ft wider in radius so they accidentally blow up themselves. Redirect a Finger of Death to hit one of their allies. Really, really punish their spellcasters for trying to use magic against a being of pure arcana.

Things you should know

Both encounters have a spell that create Heavily Obscured Areas. In those areas:

• You cant target each other with spells or abilities that say they "target a creature you can see"
• Treat a creature in the smoke as blind, and everyone else is blind to it (ergo, advantage AND disadvantage on attacks, which cancel out)

Click for more!

You've never had a Djinn like these.

All Genies can be given the following template to make them feel more unique and "powerful" without actually changing their CR. This is partly because it scales with CR, and partly because CR measures stats-- not difficulty.

It will definitely make the fight Spicier though!

Phenomenal Power Template

The Genie is given the following powers.

Passive Abilities

Reality Warp. After the Genie and one or more other creatures roll a d20 at the same time (usually due to making the same Save or Check), it can force one creature that it can see to make a Wisdom Save against the Genie's Spell Save DC. On a failure, the Genie swaps the results of their roll with the creature who failed the save.

Reactions

Bend the Arcane. When a spell is cast by a creature that you can see, you may Nudge the spell as a reaction.

If the spellcaster is unwilling, they make make a Wisdom Save against the Spell Save DC of the Genie. On a successful save, the spell is cast normally.

Nudging

Some abilities may allow you to Nudge a spell. When you would nudge a spell, you may apply one of the following effects, depending on what kind of target the spell had. If the spell has multiple AoEs or attack rolls, you may only effect one of them.

If the spell effects a cone, line, cube, or radius

• Make the 10ft larger or smaller.
• Move the point of origin of the spell by 5ft, or rotate it 45 degrees (from center to corner, or corner to center of the tile the caster is in)

If the spell has an attack roll, you may

• Force the attack to target a creature adjacent to its original target.
• Force the attack to miss.

Cooking the Necroxi

When Rolling Initiative. Everyone rolls initiative at the same time, so you can use your Reality Warp to put yourself at the top of the turn order, which I recommend! It doesn't cost anything to do, and will immediately unsettle your players as they are tipped that this fight will be unlike any they've faced.
Round 1. Spirit Shroud is a nice bonus action spell. Use it, and then fly above an opponent to hit them with you Scimitar. If all three hits land, that's a whopping 12d6+6+3d8 damage, and they can't heal until the start of your next turn, making it great for keeping players down.

Round 2. Use Shadow of Moil as an action, and position yourself near the enemy.

Since your opponent can't see you, they can't target you with any spells that target "a creature you can see". That means spell casters can only use AoEs against you, and you're standing next to as many of their allies as possible-- so you're not only making them target themselves, you can use Reality Warp to force yourself to pass the save and make a party member fail.

Also, dim light becomes darkness around you now, so unless there's a source of bright light near you, anyone within that 10ft radius of you also can't be targeted with spells. You have blindsight though, so you aren't treated as blinded-- meaning you have advantage on all attacks, and they have disadvantage on all attacks against you.

On top of all that-- if they do manage to hit you with an attack while within 10ft of you, it'll return 2d8 damage to them. What a fun spell!

Round 3. Since you have advantage on attacks, let's use it. Either Death's Claw (if you're not missing much health) to do more damage, or use Reap Soul to heal up!

Round 4. Now that you're topped off again, consider using Negative Energy flood. It'll be a single, high damage spell that doesn't require concentration. It's a classic spell, and won't force you to drop your Shadow of Moil if you still have it.

Round 5+. You've blown through all your spells at this point, but that's a good thing! Makes your party feel the unique playstyle of the monster. You're out of tricks though-- just fly above them and use Reap Soul until you get low, and Plane Shift out.

Reactions. Don't actually nudge every single spell. Ask yourself ahead of time; is it worth it? If the spell has multiple attack rolls (like scorching ray), it doesn't actually help much. It might deflect one shot? Meh. Ask yourself what you can gain. If you can include one of their party members into the AOE, or negate the spell for you entirely-- use it! Otherwise, wait. Even if you don't end up using Bend the Arcane-- you can save your reaction for an Attack of Opportunity.

Click for more!

Note on Maps

Have this fight in a small room....
20ft radius, or 40ft by 40ft by 30+ft high.
This may sound like nonsense, but put a BIG torch (5ft by 5ft) in the center of the map, about 10ft off the ground. Trust me.

Cooking the Solajin

Round 2. Fly up as high as possible, then Sickening Radiance. Since we're having this in is a small room, they can't leave it, meaning they'll need to get you to drop your concentration. But you're in the air, so only ranged attacks can get you.

Round 2. Fun fact: Sanctuary is a bonus action, and not concentration. So we're going hit them with our Solar Scimitar for max damage, then use Sanctuary as a bonus action. Now if they want to hit you with a spell or attack, they'll have to pass a wisdom save first!

Round 3. We can't attack because of Sanctuary so weirdly enough, we're going to Pyrotechnics on that big torch (after all, it's not an enemy). The 20ft radius smoke bomb effect is super interesting because, unlike Shadow of Moil, it's not Concentration. It lasts for 1 minute, or until a strong wind blows it away. Now we're heavily obscured!

Now, they can basically only hurl AoEs at you, or make attack rolls with disadvantage. Since they're hurling AoEs, we can use Bend the Arcane to make sure that it also hits some of them, and Reality Warp to make sure we pass our saves.