Magical Powers of Efreet

[mgtremaine]

I was flipping through the M&T and then the Deeper Delving book last night and I started thinking about the wording of the Efreet....

EFREET: These creatures are similar to the Djinn, but their basis is in fire and they tend to be Chaotic. Their fabled home is the City of Brass. They are enemies of the Djinn. The Efreet are otherwise like Djinn, with damage scored equal to that done by a Giant (two dice, 2-12 points), and they can carry up to 10,000 Gold Pieces weight. In addition they can create a Wall of Fire and they can be- come incendiaries. They will serve for 1001 days.

What strikes me is the lack of magical powers added to the simple words "The Efreet are otherwise like Djinn".

DJINN: All Djinn are aerial creatures and have not the powers typically credited to them in fairy tales. They fight as Giants with a -1 as far as damage is concerned, thus doing from 1-11 points of damage when hitting. They can carry up to 6,000 Gold Pieces in weight, walking or flying (the latter for short periods only). They can create food which is nutritionally sound. They can create drinkable beverages. They can create soft goods and wooden objects of permanence, but metallic items last but a short time when created by them (the harder the metal the shorter its life), so that Djinn-Gold lasts but one day. They can create illusions which will re- main until dispelled by touch or magic, and they need not concentrate upon the illusions to maintain them. They can form a whirlwind 1" base diameter, 2" top diameter, and 3" in height which otherwise is like that of an Air Elemental. Djinn are also able to become invisible or assume gaseous form.

Does this mean other magical powers are implied? Thoughts?

-Mike

[Deleted]

Efreet can do everything Djinn can except where contradicted by the Efreet entry; they carry more weight, do more damage, etc.

[mgtremaine]

I was hoping I'd hear your insight on this.... aha as I suspected. Thanks!

-Mike

[strangebrew]

I would interpret the Wall of Fire as replacing, not complementing, the whirlwind ability... but that seems perhaps a bit obvious.

[talysman]

Well, yeah, the whirlwind and gaseous form abilities of the djinn are their "airy" powers that are contrasted with the wall of fire and incendiary abilities of the efreet ("fiery" powers.) The powers they share in common are great strength, flight, possibly invisibility, and the item and illusion creation powers... and if you think about it, it's obvious that their powers were selected so that they can grant "old school" wishes (services, rather than alterations of reality.)

You could take the shared powers and call them "magic giant powers" and apply them to new concepts. For example, frost giant + magic giant powers = Jotun from Norse mythology (like Utgardloki.)

[austinjimm]

How 'bout the "incendiaries" effect. I assume that's a Chainmail reference rather than a description of his political activity. Range? AoE? Damage? Anybody know off hand? As I recall, when it came up in my game I made it 2 or 3d damage (can't remember now) within 10 or 20 feet. Did I get close?

[waysoftheearth]

Chainmail says:

the Balrog can immolate any normal figure it touches during its move or melee.

But the Efreet's ability could just as easily be derived from the Balrog's incendiary ability as it appeared in the 1st-3rd prints of OD&D Vol 2 (before it was excised):

...when fighting fantastic opponents they attack in two ways each turn: The normal attack is with a magical sword of +1 value, and if the Balrog immolates (any score of 7 or better on two six-sided dice, check each turn of melee) it also attack with its whip. If the whip hits the Balrog drags the opponent against its flaming body, doing two dice of damage!

This was also amended in the Correction Sheet which was bundled with the 2nd and 3rd prints:

Vol 2, Page 14, line 24: "doing two, three or four dice of damage (depending on size)!" Referring to the Balrog description.

Balrogs and Efreet are both 10 HD monsters, but the Balrog was also 75% magic resistant and occurred in groups of 1-6.

[Deleted]

And lemme tell you, six Balrogs were a handful!

And their treasure isn't really all that great, considering.

[talysman]

Sept 18, 2013 12:29:00 GMT -6 @gronanofsimmerya said:

And lemme tell you, six Balrogs were a handful!

A while back, I wrote up a bunch of vermin/nuisance monsters I called "Mites" that looked like 1-inch tall adventurer types but acted like (and had the brainpower of) insects. This comment makes me want to do Balrog Mites.

They wouldnt have much treasure, either.