The reclusive half-elementals known as genasi are little more than legend, and tales told by travelers who claim to have encountered them are often dismissed as outright lies. The genasi are unknown to most people inhabiting the Tyr Region, and for good reason. They make their homes on the tiny islands rising from the vast Silt Sea spreading out to the east, far from the city-states and their trade routes. The genasi have nothing but disdain for civilization, sneering at the sorcerer-kings and their despotic rule. They have no love for the mortal races, and their arrogance is equaled only by their tempestuous personalities. They are a people apart, content to struggle in the swirling dust storms and having no part in the plight faced by the despotic regimes that define the Tyr Region.
Or so people have believed until now. For the first time in memory, the half-elementals have begun an exodus from their hidden redoubts and are now exploring the lands they abandoned years ago. What they seek, and why they have chosen this time to venture into the realms of the sorcerer-kings, no one knows. But their emergence is unmistakable, and those who live along the shores of the Silt Sea wonder if this trickle presages a greater and more terrible flood.
The genasi are often called half-elementals because of their humanlike forms. They are the same size and shape as humans, though they are slightly bulkier, and thus they are mistaken for having human ancestry. Their elemental nature, however, is unmistakable, and the power of the Elemental Chaos bleeds from them through their tempestuous personalities and the manifestations in their flesh.
The genasi in Athas today are descended from ancestors considered “purer” in their manifestations. Stories abound in genasi communities of those predecessors manifesting the elements of air, fire, earth, and water. Mingled bloodlines combined with the ever-changing world have resulted in new elemental manifestations.
Elemental manifestations are what give genasi their distinctive appearance. Instead of hair, all genasi possess a corona corresponding to their elemental heritage. Examples include wreaths of smoke, flames, or crystalline growths.
Genasi also display glowing patterns in their skin, appearing similar to lines and whorls. Soft light in a color associated with a genasi’s elemental manifestation shines from his or her patterns. Genasi from the same tribe have the same color and shape of pattern, which is a useful identifier of origin. Facial patterns are unique to each individual.
Genasi Features
• Ability Score Increase. Your Constitution score increases by 2.
• Age. Genasi mature at about the same rate as humans and reach adulthood in their late teens. They live somewhat longer than humans do, up to 120 years.
• Alignment. Independent and self-reliant, genasi tend toward a neutral alignment.
• Size. Genasi are as varied as their mortal parents but are generally built like humans, standing anywhere from 5 feet to over 6 feet tall. Your size is Medium.
• Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
• Darkvision. Accustomed to life underground, you have superior vision in dark and dim conditions. 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't discern color in darkness, only shades of gray.
• Dwarven Resilience. You have advantage on saving throws against poison, and you have resistance against poison damage.
• Dwarven Combat Training. You have proficiency with the battleaxe, handaxe, light hammer, and warhammer.
• Tool Proficiency. You gain proficiency with the artisan's tools of your choice: smith's tools, brewer's supplies, or mason's tools.
• Stonecunning. Whenever you make an Intelligence (History) check related to the origin of stonework, you are considered proficient in the History skill and add double your proficiency bonus to the check, instead of your normal proficiency bonus.
• Languages. You can speak, read, and write Common and Primordial. Primordial is a guttural language, filled with harsh syllables and hard consonants.
Air Genasi
• Ability Score Increase. Your Dexterity score increases by 1.
• Unending Breath. You can hold your breath indefinitely while you’re not incapacitated.
• Mingle with the Wind. You can cast the Levitate spell once with this trait, requiring no material components, and you regain the ability to cast it this way when you finish a long rest. Constitution is your spellcasting ability for this spell.
Earth Genasi
• Ability Score Increase. Your Strength score increases by 1.
• Earth Walk. You can move across difficult terrain made of earth or stone without expending extra movement.
• Merge with Stone. You can cast the Pass without Trace spell once with this trait, requiring no material components, and you regain the ability to cast it this way when you finish a long rest. Constitution is your spellcasting ability for this spell.
Fire Genasi
• Ability Score Increase. Your Intelligence score increases by 1.
• 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. Your ties to the Elemental Plane of Fire make your darkvision unusual: everything you see in darkness is in a shade of red.
• Fire Resistance. You have resistance to fire damage.
• Reach to the Blaze. You know the Produce Flame cantrip. Once you reach 3rd level, you can cast the Burning Hands spell once with this trait as a 1st-level spell, and you regain the ability to cast it this way when you finish a long rest. Constitution is your spellcasting ability for these spells.
Water Genasi
• Ability Score Increase. Your Wisdom score increases by 1.
• Acid Resistance. You have resistance to acid damage.**
• Amphibious. You can breathe air and water.
• Swim. You have a swimming speed of 30 feet.
• Call to the Wave. You know the Shape Water cantrip. When you reach 3rd level, you can cast the Create of Destroy Water spell as a 2nd-level spell once with this trait, and you regain the ability to cast it this way when you finish a long rest. Constitution is your spellcasting ability for these spells.
