Fire genasi are usually thought of as hot-blooded and quick to anger, and they have earned that reputation. Mercurial, proud and often fearless, they are not content to sit and watch the world pass them by. Fire genasi have obvious physical traits that mark them as different from humans, and they are often the target of mistrust and persecution. Some fire genasi are able to use their quick wits to turn the tables on their tormentors, while others find that their barbed words only make their foes more angry. Many fire genasi are destroyed as infants by their own parents, who fear that they are demonspawn.
Most fire genasi in Faerûn are descended from the efreet that once ruled Calimshan. Planetouched of this derivation live all over the Lands of Intrigue, and some have travelled away from their ancestral homeland to escape the fear and prejudice that Calishites bear for genies. Chult, the Lake of Steam, and Unther also have a small number of fire genasi, for those lands bear volcanoes that sometimes act as natural portals to the Elemental Plane of Fire, allowing efreet and other fiery outsiders to make contact with humans. A large family of fire genasi-like halflings was known to live in Unther, but the war with Mulhorand has displaced them and their current whereabouts are unknown.
Fire genasi are obviously not fully human, having mostly human features except for one or two exceptional traits related to their elemental ancestor. Some examples of these features are:
Fire genasi are proud of their ancestry and consider themselves superior to normal humans, although the smarter ones don’t make an issue of it. Because the efreet-descended genasi of Calimshan have almost no chance of finding their original elemental ancestor (who have long since been slain, banished or imprisoned when their empire was overthrown), they make no effort to do so and enjoy the gifts that ancestor’s blood has granted them. Fire genasi enjoy the company of their own kind and have been known to form elite groups of mages or fighters that hire themselves out on the basis of their skill and heritage. They have been known to adopt the fire genasi children of human parents as well.
Fire genasi have the same life expectancy and age categories as a human.
History: Most fire genasi in Faerûn are the result of human-efreeti unions that occurred thousands of years ago in Calimshan. These efreet rulers took human lovers, and their half-elemental offspring served their outsider parent as guards, advisors or diplomats, eventually having children of their own, which as often as not were fire genasi. The overthrow of the genies resulted in a great slaughter and scattering of all the planetouched in that land, and since that time those people carrying the bloodline of efreet have mixed with humans in other lands. Now fire genasi of these bloodlines might be of any human race, and many do not resemble the people of Calimshan at all.
Fire genasi who originate in other lands have no common history, as their bloodlines are rare and unassociated occurrences.
Outlook: The fire genasi are a proud people, knowing that they are born of great genies. They prefer to dress elegantly and flamboyantly, reveling in their differences and advertising their superior taste and abilities. Fire genasi respect their pure elemental kin, and most treat efreet and other large fire outsiders with a great deal of courtesy and respect, both out of a sense of the creature’s power and as a subtle gratitude for their own bloodline-granted talents. Because of their high opinions of themselves, fire genasi often elect themselves the leader and spokesperson of a group, even if they have no particular talents in those areas.
Fire genasi are impatient and don’t take well to pursuits that require a lot of time and study. They like to travel, if only to escape the presence of their enemies or people who frustrate them. Fire-genasi enjoy collecting treasure, preferring jewellery to bags of coins.
Characters: Fire genasi make smart fighters, but many follow the barbarian’s path instead, because it is easier and espouses the heat of bloodlust. More fire genasi become sorcerers than wizards, even though their natural talents would indicate otherwise. Fire genasi would much rather talk about themselves than other people, and that and their own short tempers make them poor bards. The rare fire genasi who feels the call of the paladin is often the hot-headed, take-no-prisoners sort who risks losing control.
Favoured Class: Fighter. The mayhem of combat is easy for someone born of fire to understand.
Prestige Classes: Fire genasi have no particular favourites among the warfare-oriented prestige classes. Many become arcane devotees of fire deities, especially Kossuth.
Society: Fire genasi are competitive among their kind, but their rivalry is rarely lethal. Even two fire genasi of radically different alignments or philosophies are capable of putting down their swords for a talk on elemental nature and comparative histories, and should they come to blows they are more likely to ask for and grant mercy than slay each other outright. Although they have hot tempers, arguments between fire genasi quickly burn out, although their allies or minions might suffer the smoldering after-effects.
Other than this friendly banter, fire genasi often go for years without seeing one of their own kind. Descended from beings who have strong and close (if argumentative) society, fire genasi still have a tendency to collect in groups when circumstances allow. Children raised by two fire genasi parents see a wide range of emotions in their parents, from phenomenal passion and epic poetry to screaming matches and thrown furniture. This is accepted as normal, and they are taught that a life not lived vigorously is not worth living.
Language: Fire genasi share no racial language, although some learn Ignan for the sake of cultivating an exotic air. A fire genasi usually learns the language of her parents and other languages spoken in her native region.
All fire genasi are literate, except for barbarians.
Magic: Magic with the Fire descriptor is the obvious place to start, and that in turn means spells from the schools of Conjuration and Evocation.
Spells and Spellcasting: Because they have such good saving throws against fire spells and effects, a fire genasi spellcaster can risk stunts that no other spellcaster dares try, such as centring a fireball on herself. The disparity between Intelligence and Charisma means that most fire genasi arcanists will be wizards, not bards or sorcerers. Their (fireproof) spellbooks are often page after page of fire spells.
Religion: Fire genasi have no common racial deity. Since fire genasi clerics must choose deities that grant the Fire domain, all fire genasi clerics worship Gond, Kossuth or Talos. Because they are impatient, quite often a fire genasi will advance a short while as a cleric and progress in another class thereafter. Those who are not devout enough to be clerics worship fire deities or martial deities.
Traditionally, few fire genasi worshipped Gond, for he represents the skill of crafting, which requires too much patience for their liking. However, a number of fire genasi have discovered the wonders of smokepowder weapons and now worship the Wonderbringer for the creation of this device. These zealous fusiliers are often hired to guard shipments of the magical explosive.
Kossuth is a favourite among fire genasi, for he represents the apex of the element that grants them their special gifts. They revere his fiery aspect rather than his purification aspect. Kossuth shows no unusual favour toward his fire genasi worshippers.
Talos, the Stormlord, welcomes any worship involving destruction, and some fire genasi enjoy the destructive aspect of their nature so much that Talos is the only clear choice for them. His faith is very popular among fire genasi sorcerers.
Relations: Fire genasi consider themselves above all other races but accept humans because of their own human blood. Dwarves, gnomes and halflings are too short to be taken seriously, elves are too focussed on the long-term consequences, and half-orcs are too stupid. Earth genasi are too slow to act, water genasi too dispassionate, air genasi too flighty and aasimar and tieflings too morose. Fire genasi quickly become impatient with the “failings” of other races and rarely make friends with anyone but humans or other fire genasi.
Equipment: Fire genasi prefer weapons such as rapiers, scimitars, falchions and bladed polearms. They have no traditional equipment or armour.
Animals and Pets: Fire genasi prefer pets that are fast and heat-tolerant, such as desert lizards. Some sorcerers who live in the wastelands near Calimshan have found how to acquire a tiny monstrous centipede or tiny monstrous scorpion as a familiar. Such familiars are treated in the same way as the hairy spider familiars.
Regions: Calimshan, Thay, Unther
Source: Races of Faerûn (Page 116), Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting (Page 19)
Your character can be either male or female.
Every player character starts as an adult. You can choose or randomly generate your character’s age. If you choose it, it must be at least the minimum age for the character’s race and class (see Table: Starting Ages). Your character’s minimum starting age is the adulthood age of his or her race plus the number of dice indicated in the entry corresponding to the character’s race and class on Table: Starting Ages.
Alternatively, refer to Table: Starting Ages and roll dice to determine how old your character is.
| Adulthood | Intuitive1 | Self-Taught2 | Trained3 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 15 years | +1d4 (16—19) years | +1d6 (16—21) years | +2d6 (17—27) years |
1 This category includes barbarians, rogues and sorcerers.
2 This category includes bards, fighters, paladins and rangers.
3 This category includes clerics, druids, monks and wizards.
With age, a character’s physical ability scores decrease and his or her mental ability scores increase (see Table: Aging Effects). The effects of each aging step are cumulative. However, none of a character’s ability scores can be reduced below 1 in this way.
| Middle Age1 | Old Age2 | Venerable3 | Maximum Age |
|---|---|---|---|
| 35 years | 53 years | 70 years | +2d20 years |
1 -1 to Strength, Dexterity and Constitution; +1 to Intelligence, Wisdom and Charisma.
2 -2 to Strength, Dexterity and Constitution; +1 to Intelligence, Wisdom and Charisma.
3 -3 to Strength, Dexterity and Constitution; +1 to Intelligence, Wisdom and Charisma.
When a character reaches venerable age, the DM secretly rolls his or her maximum age, which is the number from the Venerable column on Table: Aging Effects plus the result of the dice roll indicated on the Maximum Age column on that table, and records the result, which the player does not know. A character who reaches his or her maximum age dies of old age at some time during the following year, as determined by the DM.
The maximum ages are for player characters. Most people in the world at large die from pestilence, accidents, infections or violence before getting to venerable age.
Choose your character’s height and weight from the ranges mentioned in the appropriate race description or from the ranges found on Table: Height and Weight. Think about what your character’s abilities might say about his or her height and weight. A weak but agile character may be thin. A strong and tough character may be tall or just heavy.
Alternatively, roll randomly for your character’s height and weight on Table: Height and Weight. The dice roll given in the Height Modifier column determines the character’s extra height beyond the base height. That same number multiplied by the dice roll or quantity given in the Weight Modifier column determines the character’s extra weight beyond the base weight.
| Gender | Base Height | Height Modifier | Base Weight | Weight Modifier |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Male | 4’ 10" | +2d10 (5’ 0"—6’ 6") | 120 lbs. | ×2d4 (124—280 lbs.) |
| Female | 4’ 5" | +2d10 (4’ 7"—6’ 1") | 85 lbs. | ×2d4 (89—245 lbs.) |
Source: Player’s Handbook (Page 109)