Copyright 2008 Wizards of the Coast

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Efreets are drawn from Middle Eastern mythology and Islamic tradition, which say they’re a type of djinn often depicted as evil and associated with death. They’ve been in D&D at least since the days of First Edition as the official fire genies (other elements have their own genies as well). They’re present both on the Monster Manual and on the Monster Vault.

The Lore

Like in most editions, the Efreets in Fourth are fire genies, and are usually evil antagonists. They come from the Elemental Chaos, where their civilization is one of the most ordered things in that chaotic plane.

Efreets are giant-sized humanoids with powerful builds, red skin, and curved horns, part flesh and part smokeless fire. They claim they are the firstborn of the Primordials and as such are the rightful heirs to their domains and creations. That doesn’t mean they worship the Primordials - Efreets don’t really worship anyone but themselves and intensely dislike being placed in any position that even resembles servitude.

There is no such thing as an “efreet commoner”. Every single one of them is a noble with their own title, holdings and multitudes of servants and slaves. Though the number of existing efreets is on the small side, they project an incredible amount of power from their citadels spun from fire and metal. The greatest such settlement is the City of Brass, an oasis of stability in the Elemental Chaos that has stood unchanging since the dawn of time. From there, the Lord of All Efreets rules their civilization.

Efreet houses constantly scheme against each other, and when one of them wins such a dispute they usually take a member of the losing house as a servant and hostage - a fate Efreets consider worse than death. Though they despise servitude, they’re still smart enough to bargain with mortals when doing so brings them some advantage. That’s where the “genies grant wishes” myth comes from!

You see, Efreets don’t actually have the ability to grant reality-bending wishes. They are however fantastically rich potentates with access to large multiversal organizations and epic-level magic, which makes the distinction moot for most mortals.

These elemental nobles also like to organize hunting expeditions to other planes, going after big game such as dragons or other equivalent creatures just for the fun of it. It’s like a British fox hunt on a grand scale, particularly when you remember that fox hunters basically acted like raiding hooligans who wantonly trespassed on people’s properties, trampled their livestock, and threatened complainers with violence in the name of a jolly good bit of sport.

I find the official illustration above to be somewhat innacurate. These efreets should be wearing fantastic fireproof finery instead of these drab loincloths and plain mail.

The Numbers

Most Efreets are early-Epic threats, with some of them going upwards to late-Epic. They’re Large Elemental Humanoids (fire), and they signature traits are a complete immunity to fire and a Blazing Soul aura 1 increases the ongoing fire damage taken by any enemy within. They can also fly and hover. The MM versions have no particular vulnerability to cold, but the MV versions are slowed for a turn when they take cold damage (a trait called Frozen Fire).

Efreets are all highly intelligent and speak Primordial as their primary language. They’re also trained in all the skills you’d expect a society of magically-potent nobles to know.

Let’s look at them in the order they appear on the Monster Manual.

Efreet Fireblade

This Level 22 Soldier has 206 HP. Present in both books, the MV version has a Blazing Soul aura that increases ongoing fire damage by 5, and Frozen Fire. The MM version lacks both of these traits but is still immune to fire. It runs with speed 6 and flies with speed 8 (hover).

In both versions the Fireblade wields a scimitar. Its Reach 2 attacks mark the target for a turn on a hit. It can also throw the scimitar, Jedi-like, as a Ranged 10 attack that can target 2 creatures within 5 squares of each other before returning to the efreet’s hand, marking each of them for a turn on a hit. This recharges on a 4-6.

Finally the Fireblade can execute a Whirling Fireblade Strike that recharges on a 5-6, and targets all enemies on a Close Burst 2. It does scimitar damage plus 10 ongoing fire damage to anyone it hits (save ends).

This monster wants to start its fights by keeping at range and hurling the scimitar, but it can deal with people in melee just fine.

Efreet Cinderlord

The Cinderlord is Level 23 Artillery with 169 HP. It has all standard efreet traits in both versions. Visually the Cinderlord isn’t much different than the Fireblade: a lavislhy-dressed efreet noble with a scimitar. Its powers, however, are quite different.

That scimitar attack is weak for its level even on the MV, but it does ongoing fire damage. Its main ranged attack is a Fire Bolt (range 10 on the MM, 20 on the MV) that does fire damage and ongoing fire damage. It can follow that up with Fan the Flames, a ranged 20 attack that targets someone taking ongoing fire damage. It does a bit of automatic fire damage to the target, and triggers a Close Burst 1 attack centered on the target that target the Reflex of any nearby bystanders and deals fire damage to those it hits.

Finally there’s the Curse of the Efreet, an encounter power that recharges when the Cinderlord is first bloodied. It’s a Ranged attack 10 that somehow targets AC. On a hit it does both immediate and ongoing fire damage (save ends), and strips the target’s fire resistance completely until the end of the encounter (no save!). This targetting AC is an interesting detail. Do the cinderlord’s words of malediction take physical form and stab at you?

Curse of the Efreet makes the cinderlord an excellent addition to any party of all-fire monsters.

Efreet Flamestrider

This Level 23 Skirmisher has 217 HP and all standard efreet traits. The MM version uses a scimitar and the MV version a quarterstaff, but they have similar abilities.

The basic melee attack does physical damage and ongoing fire damage (save ends). It can also use Firery Grasp, a ranged attack that causes a fiery hand to appear and hold the target in place. This targets Reflex, and does both immediate and ongoing fire damage in addition to immobilizing the target (save ends both). The MV version has Range 5, while the MM one has Range 20! This is an at-will power, so I think the MV version is more appropriate for a skirmisher.

The Flamestrider takes its name from its ability to vanish in a puff of smoke and teleport up to 20 squares to appear next to another fire creature. It can do this at-will.

Efreet Pyresinger

We’re climbing up the ranks of efreet nobility here! This MM-only monster is a Level 25 Controller with 233 HP. It has all the standard efreet traits, with its aura increasing ongoing fire damage by 10 instead of 5.

It attacks with a scimitar that also does ongoing fire damage, and Range 10 Fire Bolts that target reflex and do the same. Its Fiery Chains are basically a more powerful version of the Flamestrider’s Fiery Grasp, with Range 10 and the ability to restrain instead of just immobilizing. As a move action, the pyresinger can then slide the restrained target 1 square. This attack recharges on a 4-6.

The pyresinger’s last power is Sheets of Flame, which sings a pyre into being in an Area 3 within 20 squares. The 20-foot tall sheets of flame block line of sight and cause 10 fire damage to anyone who enters or starts their turn in the area. No duration is given, which I think means they last the whole fight. The power recharges on a 4-6, which means there’s a good chance multiply such pyres will litter the battlefield.

As an immediate interrupt, the pyresinger can interpose a Fiery Shield between itself and a ranged attack, taking only half damage from it. The “immediate interrupt” bit means this only happens once per round.

The pyresinger pairs very well with the flamestrider or other similar enemies that can ignore the Sheets of Flame and keep moving through them.

Efreet Karadjin

This big shot is a Level 28 Soldier with 260 HP, present only in the MM. It lacks the Blazing Soul aura, an oversight that can be easily corrected. It’s also not vulnerable to cold.

The karadjin fights with a Scimitar of Horrendous Flame, which does both physical and fire damage alongside a heap of ongoing fire damage and immobilization (save ends both). There’s also an ongoing fire damage aftereffect, which means it takes one save to end the immobilization and two to end the damage. All saves against both effects are at -2. This is the karadjin’s basic attack! Yikes!

As a reaction, the karadjin can perform the above attack against someone who just hit it with a melee attack. And as a minor action, it can order an elemental ally it can see within 10 squares to shift.

Sample Encounters

The Monster Manual has no less than four encounters involving efreets:

  • Level 22: 2 fireblades, 1 flamestrider, and 1 glabrezu. Yes, efreets are exactly the kind of epic spellcaster that would summon and bind high-end demons.

  • Level 23: 1 cinderlord, 3 blood fiends, 1 fire titan. Just make blood fiends demons already! Fire titans might be among the only elemental creatures efreets might respect. A tiny bit.

  • Level 25: 1 pyresinger, 1 great flameskull, 1 marilith, and 2 fire titans.

  • Level 27: 1 efreet karadjin, 1 pyresinger, 1 glabrezu, 2 dragonborn champions, 2 great flameskulls. Wow, someone seriously pissed the Lord of All Efreets off enough for him to send his personal hit squad.

Generally, efreets can be found alongside almost any high-level elemental creature, many of which they keep as slaves. Even before the PCs hit the epic tier, they can find themselves facing the lower ranks of an efreet’s forces.

Final Impressions

I’m sure these details on efreet culture were present in previous editions but this was my first time being exposed to them. I quite like the whole.

I’m also sure someone already made jokes comparing them with devils too, since they have red skin, horns, like fire, and are evil. However, it seems to me that the evil of an efreet is not the cosmic evil of a devil. Rather, it’s the evil of a fantastically wealthy person whose culture prevents them from developing empathy with anyone from a lower social class.

Mostly you still have plenty of reason to punch them, but this opens the possiblity that there are efreets out there who managed to turn out Good anyway, possibly due to converting to worship of a good god. This is both an interesting development and true to the original stories, which often features djinns of all kinds who turned good because they converted to Islam.