Khayal: Genies From The Shadowfell?

the mighty jinn the solemn dao the callus a freight and the enigmatic marid the four primary members of the genie race are born on the elemental planes of existence when a wandering soul bonds with the essence of one of the four elements the jinn are born on the wind destined to rule the plane of air tao are born in the stone and rock within the plane of earth a freight come to be amid the burning heat of the fire plane and marid emerge from the waves of the plane of water however there is a fifth outcome not known to most very rarely a soul will fail to bond with any element and find itself drifting in solitude as is often the case with such lost souls it may end up in the shadowfell and when that soul bonds with the essence of shadow something truly remarkable happens hello and welcome to monster of the week the only show on the internet that goes over your favorite old school d d monster lore ecology plot hooks encounter design and ultimately converts those creatures into 5th edition dungeons and dragons by the end of this video i hope you'll have a whole new appreciation and understanding of today's monster which is none other than the kale so what exactly is a kale well despite the sound of its name it is indeed not a cruciferous leafy vegetable it is however an obscure oft-forgotten genie they first appeared in the tome of magic which was printed in 2006. i went over the contents of this book at length in my word archon video and much like the word arkhan this is the one and only appearance of this monster in all of d history which means that the only official artwork we have is this now that is how a gentleman holds a sword as the intro of this video alluded to when we talk about genies the first thing most people think of is this guy the jinn which of course is a genie aligned with the elemental plane of air the other three primary genies are usually next in line for consideration but altogether there are actually eight different genies printed throughout d d's history now i've already done a video about the jam which are genies comprised of all four elements into one but you've also got the qurashi which are genies aligned with the element of ice tasked genies which are kind of their own weird thing and of course the kale which in stark contrast to the jan are genies which align with shadow now in the great wheel cosmology the plane of shadow or the shadowfell is considered to be the absence of just about everything including the four elements and it is among the shadow of all things forgotten that the kale reside there is a ton to unpack about this creature their society and what they have to offer to a dungeon master who wants to include them in their game so to start things off let's talk about their relationship with the other genie races and where they fit in the genie family tree now as elemental beings aligned with the element of shadow they're somewhat of a contradiction they are regarded by the rest of genie kind as outsiders or other and this is an outlook that even the kale hold of themselves because of this they don't really have much of a relationship good or bad with any of the other genie races the one exception being the jan jan live on the material plane and as i mentioned they are genies aligned with all four elements now the kale are extremely hostile towards them fighting what the original text refers to as a hidden war against the jan which has been going on for eons why do they fight this war we simply just don't know but if i had to guess at the very least on a cosmic scale their elemental nature is completely opposed to one another the jan of course are beings of all elements while the kale our void made sentient souls bound with shadow something the kale do have in common though with the other genie races is that lovable arrogance and a tendency to look down on most mortal races true to form the kale consider themselves above all mortal races and they will gladly tell you to your face that they are superior now this might not be too off base for an interaction with a genie but one thing that runs red through kale society is their penchant for deception they consider lying to be a fine art and a well-crafted lie is thought of as something to be appreciated they take great joy in deceiving lesser beings just for the hell of it sometimes and as such they are consummate liars however there is another tradition within their culture that serves to punish those who fail in their deception if a kale is ever presented with irrefutable proof that they have told a lie they will be bound in service to the individual who caught them and forced to perform some type of deed on their behalf like other genies the especially powerful members of their race are able to grant wishes so in some cases being caught in a lie might mean that the kale has to grant a wish to the person who caught them and of course in the event that the individual is not of noble genie blood and isn't able to grant wishes they may simply be forced to take on some task assigned by their temporary master personally i feel like if i ever caught a kale and a lie it would be delightful to summon them for a tea party but that's just me i 100 included that line just to do this photoshop joke and i have no regrets about the whole situation but regardless of their assigned task the kale is sure to be angry about it and even seek vengeance on those who bind them into service using this method something else of note here is that this predisposition towards lying does not extend to their own kind they truly think nothing about deceiving a mortal or even a member of one of the other genie races however they almost never lie to one another i mean i guess society has to function somehow speaking of kale society they make their home in the city of onix which of course is located in the shadowfell and this city is a truly fascinating location it is described as a sprawl of twisting towers which stretch out in all directions paying no mind to the laws of architecture or physics in this mc escher-esque metropolis there are essentially two main districts the outer district where the city's marketplaces bustle with all manner of races and travelers and the central district which is off limits to everyone but the kale the city itself is ruled over by the king of shadows a seat always occupied by an exceedingly ancient and powerful kale lord the central part of this city from which the king rules is called the grand palace of endings and if you don't think that's the coolest ever i don't know what to tell you now in kale society the king of shadows formally holds the title of malik they're often referred to as grand malek so-and-so however their domain is not limited to the onyx city for the kale empire stretches across all of the shadowfell there are plenty of other towns and cities which are all ruled by kale lords who hold the title of emir and each of these lesser lords of course is beholden to the true king of shadows the malik of the onyx city so ultimately just to summarize what we've learned so far we have a shirt genie race that occupies the shadowfell has an entire city and society there a penchant for telling lies and tons of room for interpretation regarding their history do you guys smell that that smells like a viable d d monster to me so now that we have a general understanding of who the kale are and where they come from i want to go over its actual abilities mechanics and how i converted it into 5th edition from 3.5 as always my 5th edition stat block is linked in the description below so if you do ultimately decide that you want to use this monster everything you'll need to run it in your game is right there also if you are enjoying the video thus far please consider leaving a like a comment or even subscribing if you're new here because boy howdy does it help me out a whole bunch now let's move along and talk about kale are swift and confident combatants they truly believe with every fiber of their being that they are superior in all things to most other creatures and that should be reflected in how they fight now it should come as no surprise that to a kale the concept of a fair fight is simply laughable they are more than willing to use every tool in their arsenal to great effect so just what kind of abilities do these shadow genies have well let's take a look clocking in with a challenge rating of 11 they are on the same power level as the other genies found in the monster manual they can of course make a few scimitar attacks every round which is nothing particularly special but they do also have access to the sneak attack trait which works exactly the same way as the rogue class feature of the same name if they're able to get an attack in against a creature when they have advantage or when that creature is in melee range of another creature allied to the kale they get to add 4 d6 damage to the attack roll this ability of course only functions once per round and it is great for the first round of combat but unless you have a way to truly capitalize on it you might run into some trouble but don't you worry our friend here has plenty of ways to make it happen for starters the kale has access to the darkness spell which normally isn't that big of a deal but due to its eyes of the dark trait it can actually see through the magical darkness it creates that's going to be very helpful in combat but during the lead-up to an ambush the kael has a few other useful spells not the least of which is passed without trace for those of you watching who have never played a ranger pass without trace grants the user and any of their allies within 30 feet a flat plus 10 bonus to stealth checks considering the kl has a plus nine to stealth that means on a natural one the genie is going to come away with a 10 total and its average is going to be a 20. hey that's pretty good when it comes to raw damage potential those snake attacks are going to be central to the kale's path to victory along with some of the other spells in its arsenal of course now the final thing i want to talk about on the kale stat sheet is its umbral state ability every genie has one sort of big action they can take that is in tune with their elemental nature for an example of what i mean let's look at the ginny's ability called create whirlwind it's a being of elemental air and it does a big thing that involves manipulating air the kale is capable of using an action called umbral state to essentially become a living shadow for up to one hour at a time while in this state the genie is incorporeal meaning it can pass through solid objects and it gains resistance to all non-magical damage and it imposes disadvantage on any attack rules made against it now this might all seem really really good which it definitely is but the one glaring weakness on the kale stat block is the fact that they're vulnerable to radiant damage this means that at any moment they're liable to be just deleted by a paladin who gets a lucky crit and decides to smite but there are ways around this another of the spells i chose to include on the kale's spell list is shadow of moil which grants resistance to radiant damage along with a few other protective benefits because at the end of the day the kale is certainly not as beefy or as deadly as any of the other genies in a toe-to-toe fight but by using its skills in a clever way it has potential to be the deadliest member of the entire genie family now let's talk about how to actually use the darn thing [Music] anytime you're using a genie in a game of dungeons and dragons you have a ton of options at your fingertips personally i love genies i tend to use them frequently in my games and i think that any of the tropes which work for the gin or the a freit can work just as well for the kale but of course with a shadowy twist the original monster entry also mentions that the kale might offer to assist a mortal or group of mortals who have impressed it in some way with their deceptive nature maybe the party manages to pull off some type of grand heist stealing some kind of valuable magic artifact from a highly protected vault if you're running dragon heist and looking for a follow-up this plot hook is for free now once the heist is over they find themselves face to face with a kale who has decided to honor them by granting them service in its latest scheme perhaps the kale even set up the whole thing as some sort of weird audition what i mean by that is maybe the genie themselves placed this valuable treasure inside the vault hired some guards set up some traps and then spread word far and wide about this treasure awaiting for a group of thieves talented enough to take it for themselves then he finds the culprits and offers them a job maybe even allowing them to keep the thing they stole as the first payment if you want to do something a little bit more political i could see an adventure taking place almost entirely within the city of onix maybe the party gets wrapped up in some genie politics for one reason or another or maybe the party's even chasing down a villainous kale relating to something that happened on the material plane and they learn once they get to the onyx city the only way to really stop them is to catch them in a lie and maybe they do but now they have to prove it so they take the kale to court in the city and they have to prove that they were lied to in front of a jury of the kale's peers and if they are successful they can bind that creature into their surface and hopefully undo whatever damage was done back on the material plane if you want to involve some other genies maybe the party gets caught up in a conflict between the kale and the jan they might have to unravel some type of sinister kale plot maybe the jain aren't even aware of it and they have to convince them that this threat is real and even if you decide not to use them as the focus of an adventure or a campaign anytime a party is traveling through the shadowfell having an encounter with a kale could be something really interesting and i think it will leave an impression on your players for sure i love the idea of the onyx city just as a location and i think some kl npcs would be a really great fit for any game taking place there i also feel it's worth mentioning that with tasha's cauldron of everything we now have the pact of the genie as an option available to warlocks so maybe consider instead of just the four typical genies which are already available allowing your warlock to make a pact with the king of shadows or some other powerful kale genie in terms of how that works mechanically i would give them a different spell list that has spells all shadowy in nature and while we're on the topic of player options what about shadow janasi i mean if we have elemental gennasie for all the other elements aligned with genies it makes sense that there might be a shadow janasi born as the result of some dormant kale blood somewhere in their lineage right well you don't have to imagine it because i love this idea so much that i went ahead and included rules for both a kale warlock spell list and the shadow janasi in the google document so definitely be sure to check those out as well but all in all that's basically everything i've got for you today as i mentioned there is a link in the description of this video that will lead you to my fifth edition conversion of this monster along with all the rules for shadow genoci and the expanded spells also if you are one of my lovely patrons you will find the 5th edition monster manual style stat block over on the patreon page if you're not already a patron please consider checking it out because you get a fancy snap block once a week and it helps me eat food speaking of patrons it is time for patron of the week thank you very much to randy wells i deeply appreciate your patronage and thank you for watching i hope you enjoyed the video today and be sure to leave a comment with your kale plot hooks and ideas i cannot wait to see what you all come up with also if you do have a monster recommendation for a creature you'd like to see show up on this channel in the future either leave a comment or tell me about it on discord or get at me on twitter and who knows you might just see that creature show up on monster of the week but that is all for today so until next time [Music] do [Music] so [Music] you

Channel: Dungeon Dad

Views: 100,778

Keywords: How to play Dungeons and Dragons, dungeons and dragons lore, dungeons and dragons combat, d&d lore, d&d story, d&d online, d&d basics, d&d battle, dnd monsters, d&d monsters lore, dnd monsters explained, dnd monsters for level 1, d&d game breaking monsters, best d&d monsters, d&d cool monsters, creepy d&d monsters, d&d 5e custom monsters, classic d&d monsters, Dungeon Dad, Monster of the Week, D&D 5e, Dungeons and Dragons 5E, aj pickett, mr rhexx, D&D explained, homebrew

Id: tr2917ppALQ

Length: 17min 53sec (1073 seconds)

Published: Fri Apr 08 2022