Janni

I've never quite known what to do with elemental outsiders (AKA genies) such as the Janni. I've used intelligent elementals in a few different ways over the years. They range from normal ancestries one might have as a neighbor, to aliens foreign to the experience of the average person in a particular world. This has given me an occasion to give it some more thought, though.

Elementals are a staple of fantasy tabletops; you're almost guaranteed to run into one in the first few levels of a new game. To a certain degree, their omnipresence can make them seem a bit... Mundane? This doesn't have to be the way, though!

To that end, if you find the occasion to do so, I recommend deploying elementals of all kinds—including the Janni—as a way to flesh out some of the more planar aspects of your setting.

The Janni itself is a pretty standard "humanoid" (but not with the humanoid trait!) statblock. What it lacks in offensive ability at level 4, it is rife with narrative options.

The Janni has access to a suite of arcane innate spells—most notably plane shift—that make them the perfect creature to bring a low to mid-level party into one of the elemental or astral planes. Consider this when you think about adventure design—a janni spurned could trap a party in one of the elemental planes, entirely out of their element! (hah)

Overall, as the only elemental that is not aligned to one of the four traditional elements, the janni can add an easy mechanical in for narrative elements within your story. Consider what elemental societies and cultures may be like. Perhaps you can have a janni trade empire or diplomatic organization between the elemental planes!

Overall, take what the janni has to offer mechanically, and make it yours within the narrative—a core tenant of what we do here.

- Reece

Hook 1 (Max) - The King of Elements

A flamboyantly dressed young man sits atop a pile of valuables brought to him by his subjects, inspecting an ornate chalice. His skin is in a state of constant flux, changing from one color to another. He throws the cup aside and turns to his officers gathered before him.

"This is a good start. But we're going to need a lot more."

This draws an immediate response from one of the soldiers.

"We are already risking it as is! The baron is sure to take notice if we take even more."

The man merely shrugs and returns to his inspection of the pile.

"Then make sure he doesn't. Even if he does, what does it matter? Once I claim my birthright, no one will stand up to me." He pauses, placing a hand on the sword at his hip. The sheath seems to be shifting faster than his skin, almost vibrating with untapped power. "Now, is there anything else?'

"No, oh King of Elements."

Hook 2 (TJ) - Elemental Envoys

The Elemental Planes used to be in disarray. The Material Plane served as a battlefield for all of the Elemental Lords to air their grievances, of which they had many. Considering the ley lines don't allow travel directly between elemental planes, the Material Plane was caught in the crossfire of any and every conflict the Elemental Lords brought to bear.

After one particularly destructive battle, the denizens of the Material Plane concocted a plan. As the go-between for the Elemental Planes, the Material Plane had access to a bit of every type of elemental magic. Pressing this advantage, Material Mages created beings with the powers of every elemental plane, yet at home in none. The Elemental Envoys were born. This corps of jann serve to mediate the squabbles between the Elemental Lords, finally bringing a modicum of peace to the Material Plane.

When a group of envoys go missing while within the Plane of Fire, the balance between planes and the resulting tentative peace is immediately threatened.

Hook 3 (Reece) - Elerental

It's quite uncommon for denizens of the elemental planes to willingly interfere in the goings-on of the material plane. More often than not, mages of all kinds use the services of lesser elementals to perform simple tasks or act as allies in battle.

Uli'oknama'ar, an enterprising janni merchant, has decided that this use of elemental assistance is exploitative—unless of course he is involved in the particulars of the transaction.

Conveniently for Uli, his long-time lover and confidant Niil is a contract demon who has spent a long time teaching Uli the particulars of both magic and planar law.

Unfortunately for everyone else within 500 miles of Uli's center of operations, if they are to attempt to summon or use the assistance of an elemental, they are instead greeted by Uli himself or one of his many bureaucratic assistants. His organization "negotiates" a rate that the mage must pay in order to summon the desired elemental. They, naturally, take their cut in order to fund the operation of their network.

This "Elemocracy" as they call it is an annoyance to just about everyone who tries to use summoning magicks. The local mages guild is looking for someone to rectify the situation, or at least strike a more permanent deal with Uli and Niil.

Elemental, Water

 The water elementals in the bestiary include living waterfalls, quatoids, tidal masters, brine sharks, and elemental tsunamis. Most of them are either penalized for not standing in water, or have abilities that benefit from being in open water. While you *can* stick one of them in a pool and have your players surprised and scared, encountering these in the open sea (or, you know, on their home plane of water, that is... all water?) makes for so much more drama.

The Untari jungle is known for its many streams and waterfalls, but any attempt to map their locations is futile, as they appear to be changing places. Indeed, the jungle is a place of thinning, where the material plane meets the plane of water, and the many living waterfalls who keep crossing over find it very fun to move the streams and rivers around. However, they are very shy and secretive about it, and if mortal eyes see them in action, they might grow violent.

The Angulii pass, a stretch of sea between Northlandia and the polar ice caps, is known for its treacherous waters. Many terrible aquatic beasts lurk here, but among the most feared are entire schools of brine sharks. These elementals are said to jump dozens of feet up into the air, dragging sailors with them and plunging them into the cold depths of the ocean. Some of the more experienced sailors claim that offering them fresh water might keep them off - while others dismiss it as dangerous and wasteful superstition.

The Blue Brothers were the twin tidal master guardians of Akhtana Archipelago. One day, a group of small, octopus looking elementals appeared and whispered something into the brothers' ears. The brothers immediately nodded and then left into the deep, never to be seen again.
As the Calamity, an elemental tsunami that visits once every fifteen years, approaches, the islanders must choose: will their strongest and most capable try to stand against the Tsunami themselves, or shall they go on a quest to try and find their lost guardians?

Elemental, Mephit

 Think of every hammy and cheesy sidekick to the villain from your favourite childhood cartoon. Now channel them all into a little imp with delusions of grandeur, and you got yourself a mephit. While all are true neutral, they are most often used by minions by other elementals and casters - and a good chunk of those your players will be encountering are certain to be evil. Bestiary 1 brings us four flavours - air, earth, fire, and water.

Ser Georgio D'Anunnzio the Third, Slayer of Beasts Large and small, is a brave air mephit knight. While he claims to be recruiting squires to help him slay a mighty cyclops, he has no real chance against the giant. Despite cooking for, cleaning after, and generally being subservient to his squires, he will still claim to be the leader of the band. If the cyclops is slain, he will also claim the kill - going so far as to challenge any false claims with a duel, although if the duel is accepted he is sure to flee.

Dirty Douglas is an earth mephit known in mage circles for being a highly effective assassin. The tiny murderer's method of operation is gliding through the earth to ambush the victim, tripping them to the ground, and then using a garrote to finish the job. Adventurers who slight the (easy to slight) Guild of Mages Supreme might end up having to deal with him.

The Song of Waves and Pyres is an annual event held in the neutral astral plane city of Foreverspyre. The ancient tradition dates back to when the planes of Water and Earth were in open conflict - but nowadays, a symbolic arena battle for prestige takes place instead. The only participants on both side are respective planes' mephits - and both groups are notoriously good at cheating. Fire mephits usually resort to hidden evocation scrolls and an occasional infernal pact, while water mephits' favourite tactic is to recruit other outsiders and even mortals, using magic to disguise them.

Elemental, Fire

 The fire elementals are so inspiring, that this writeup is already longer then their description in the book. Still, the actual stat blocks actually give us some fun stuff to work with - those stat blocks including the cinder rat, elemental inferno, living wildfire and salamander.

Space pirates of the Nebulon Reach use conjured cinder rats to efficiently sabotage enemy ships. Cinder rats are conjured right into the ventilation systems of space-faring vessels, and their fetid fumes, while not overly toxic, replace fresh air overtime. Some spaceships have taken to hiring teams of halflings, gnome and other small races - these teams are trained to squeeze into the vents and fight the extraplanar vermin.

Unlike other creatures of elemental fire, salamanders can't actually see through thick smoke. This can be very useful to planar travelers, who can sometimes bribe elemental wildfires or other sentient denizens of the plane of fire to help them hide their locations as they traverse the evil salamanders' domain.

Universitas Arcanum, the premier mage school, has a long list of forbidden summons for its conjuration class. While most creatures on the list made it there for their corruptive influence, the elemental inferno is on the list for a simpler reason - it's only purpose to exist is to burn and destroy. However, some younger, more radical mages are looking to challenge several rules of the institution, among them the inclusion of elemental infernos on the forbidden list - but for all their academic pedigree, the mages also feel they aren't good at debates, having spent their lives as reclusive hermits. They are now looking for a lawyer, or really anyone good with words, to take up their case with the high council

Elemental, Earth

This group of golem-lites includes the living landslide, sod hound, stone mauler, xorn, and elemental avalanche. They also need almost no introduction, as "behemoth made of earth and rubble" is just such a common trope across all media.

The Transrealm Shadowbank Corp is the largest chain of banks in the world(s), ran by a shadowy cabal of seven primal dragons. The dragons' rival has recruited several teams to strike at several of those banks, breaking their reputations as impenetrable. The easiest of those includes jumping through an unstable portal to a demiplane strongly aspected to earth - where gems are kept, and sod hounds alert their living landslide handlers when any single one of the precious stones is moved but a millimeter. 

A group of daring thieves have pulled off the impossible - managing to steal a precious diamond from one of the vaults of the Transrealm Shadowbank Corp. Unfortunately, just as they return to the material plane, closing the portal behind them, a hungry xorn appears, and with him some stone mauler thugs. The three-legged gem eater proposes a trade for the diamond, but his companions disposition clearly states that no is not an answer.

Birkenbock mountain is home to a grumpy old elemental avalanche. Unknowingly, when old ladies living on its slopes talk about keeping quiet not to cause an avalanche, they aren't talking about natural avalanches - instead, Ol' Slide is particularly fond of his peace and quiet. Those in the know will sometimes leave offerings in the form of scrolls of silence or similar magical trinkets, and just sometimes, they might unexpectedly stumble upon a gem, or a hidden cave filled with treasures, when traversing the mount.

Elemental, Air

 And so, our week of elementals begins, with the air elementals - including the elemental hurricane, invisible stalker, living whirlwind, the mighty storm lord, and the zephyr hawk.

Griefholme, the city of light and magic, is a place where magic is so commonplace that day-to-day life of most citizens relies on it. One of the many unconventional uses of conjuration is a bounded elemental hurricane that is let out into the streets at night - doing a job of hundreds of servants with brooms within mere minutes. While the creature is under strict orders never to initiate a fight unprovoked, it has taken to its duty very seriously, and will aggressively defend the hygiene of the city.

Whisper is an invisible stalker with a vendetta. Having been called to perform terrible deeds by a rogue necromancer one too many times, he plans to execute the mage. To that end, he has given the necromancer the location of some ancient treasure, hidden on a solitary, faraway mountaintop - but also failed to mention that said mountaintop is an elemental vortex point, notable for being the spawning grounds of large numbers of aggressive young living whirlwinds. However, Ol' Joe the Necromancer wouldn't risk his own life - instead sending naive young adventurers after the treasure, with promises of rewards sure to be broken.

Hush Featherstep is an ancient storm lord noble. In his youth, hush was an avid falconer in his home plane of air - and even in his old days, his trustiest companion, a zephyr hawk named Swyft, had been at his side. Unfortunately, these days Hush's sight has grown weak - and when Swyft goes missing while on a hunt on the material plane, Hush must turn to some mortals for help. All of the signs point towards the bird-like elemental flying straight into a massive storm brewing on the horizon.

Efreet

While i kind of hate the "hehe, every wish gets corrupted" trope that seems so popular in the hobby, and even consider it a symptom of a greater issue - namely, the players vs GM mentality - if you really like those? Use Efreeti, its implicitly in their nature to corrupt wishes to their own gains.

Aggagni the malik has a very specific choice of victims. His army of spies, scouts and turncoats is present across the world. Whenever a sorcerer with a fiery blood, someone aspected to a fire breathing dragon, or a cleric worshiping one of the fire gods makes their first kill, Aggagni appears before them offering to fulfill a single wish. While he will rarely straight up corrupt the wish (unless insulted during the exchange), if a wish can somehow help him advance the construction of his fortress-city, he will take the opportunity. Once Granjipoor, the scourge of Mortals is complete, Aggagni plans to launch a full-scale invasion of the material realm and crown himself its god-emperor.

An immortal monster from the realms beyond is ravaging the world. Only magic as powerful as the wish spells can even allow it to die, though it would still take a heroic deed to actually slay it. The gods have abandoned the mortals, as they gave up hope long ago. As a group of warriors and mages prepare for their last stand against the foul beast, a devil and an efreet appear before them. The devil offers them a wish in exchange for their souls. The efreet smiles from ear to ear and says he will grant them a wish that will to exactly as they ask. As the sounds of wanton destruction draw ever closer, the heroes must choose.

Even without the wishes and fireballs, an efreet is a tough combatant. An efreet rogue's favourite way to loot is an overly elaborate prank. Several years ago, he decided to put an alarm spell on an ornate old lamp. When someone touches the lamp, the efreet dimension doors to appear before them, using some smoke and mirrors tricks to make sure the finder believes he was truly stuck in the inanimate object. If the victim is alone, he slays them outright and takes their belongings - but he much prefers meeting groups. In such a case, he spends a few days filling the ears of the finder (his faux "master") with tales of jealousy and betrayal - and when the group inevitably starts a fight, he uses it to disappear with their treasures, as well as the lamp. Then he places the lamp somewhere for the next poor suckers to find, and the cycle starts anew.

Djinni

The friendliest and most sociable of geniekind, the djinni make for phenomenal social encounters that push forward the point that you're not in Kansas anymore.

A deaf djinni is disaster engine, as the residents of New Dervishire recently found out. A venerable and gentle-natured being, Angharadd promised each resident of the newly founded colony three wishes - and he has been hard at work making them come true. Unfortunately, his hearing is damaged - and his will is literal. After several mishaps, the least of which is a man who became incredibly good at overcoming large turtles, a group of emissaries are sent to the old genie to beg him to ask twice. However, the noble elemental refuses to admit he has made a mistake - and if pushed, can become violent.

A group of bounty hunters have been hunting for their nemesis for ages. Their hunt, a legendary quest that has been sang about in taverns across the entire world, has taken them across the elemental planes. Finally, they catch up to their quarry in the Netherworld. As they draw to a close, a djinni vizier appears. Out of sheer need for amusement, he offers to fulfill up to seven wishes - but for every wish that someone in the group is granted, one will be given to their nemesis as well.

A sad looking djinni found sitting by the road offers a group of adventurers a wish fulfilled if they get him back the platinum ring he is bound to. The ring, he says, was stolen by a master thief then sold, and is now in the possession of a mighty noble of the Svalyaki line.
In truth, the djinni is not able to grant wishes to mortal, and was never bound to the ring - instead, it is a mighty artifact capable of visiting great harm upon one of the efreeti. The djinni has a plane shift ready to go as soon as the adventurers bring him the ring - but if they see through his lies, or try to one-up him in any way, he will haunt them for the rest of their lives.