Djinni 5e: Storms, Whirlwinds and What the Rules Say About Wishes

A djinni is a CR 11 Large Elemental, a genie of air, with AC 17, 161 hit points (218 in 2024), a 90-foot fly speed, immunity to lightning and thunder, and three weapon attacks a turn. Its signature move is Create Whirlwind, a column of wind that traps whoever it catches. The 2024 version hits much harder, adds a 120-foot thunder bolt that knocks targets prone, turns the whirlwind into a 20-foot-radius storm that deals 6d6 thunder a turn, and gains Magic Resistance. Only the 2024 stat block mentions wishes: a 30% chance the djinni knows the Wish spell.

Table of Contents

• •Djinni Stat Block (2014)
• •The Djinni in the 2024 Rules
• •Djinni Wishes: What the SRD Says
• •How the Djinni Fights
• •Running a Djinni Encounter
• •How Players Beat a Djinni
• •Djinni Encounter Ideas
• •Frequently Asked Questions

Djinni Stat Block (2014)

The SRD 5.1 djinni:

Three scimitar attacks at +9 deal 12 slashing plus 3 lightning or thunder each. The whirlwind is a 5-foot-radius, 30-foot-tall cylinder it can place within 120 feet. A creature that enters it makes a DC 18 Strength save or is restrained, and the djinni can spend its action to move the whirlwind up to 60 feet, carrying the trapped creature along. It deals no damage. It is a way to take one enemy out of the fight or drag them somewhere bad.

It is chaotic good in 2014, and its spells are mostly travel and hospitality: Create Food and Water (it can make wine), Tongues and Wind Walk three times a day; Creation, Gaseous Form, Invisibility, Major Image, Plane Shift and Conjure Elemental (air elemental only) once a day. Thunderwave is at will. When it dies, its body becomes a warm breeze.

The Djinni in the 2024 Rules

SRD 5.2.1 keeps CR 11 and adds the Genie tag.

The whirlwind became an area weapon. A 20-foot radius covers a typical party standing together. Each creature in it (or that it moves into) makes a DC 17 Strength save; on a failure it is Restrained, moves with the whirlwind and takes 21 (6d6) thunder damage at the start of each of its turns. It repeats the save at the end of each turn. The djinni moves it 20 feet at the start of its turn without spending an action.

It can fight at range now. Storm Bolt lets it stay 120 feet up and still attack three times.

It comes back. Elemental Restoration: a djinni killed anywhere but the Elemental Plane of Air re-forms there in 1d4 days with full hit points. Killing it on the Material Plane is a setback for it, not an ending.

Djinni Wishes: What the SRD Says

The 2014 SRD djinni has no wish ability. Stories of djinn granting three wishes to whoever frees them are folklore and Monster Manual material, not SRD rules.

The 2024 SRD gives it a Wishes trait, and it is narrower than the legend:

• •There is a 30 percent chance a given djinni knows the Wish spell.
• •If it does, it can cast Wish only on behalf of a non-genie creature who communicates a wish it can understand.
• •When it casts Wish for someone else, the djinni suffers none of the spell's stress (the necrotic damage on later spells, Strength 3 for days, and the 33 percent chance of never casting Wish again).
• •After three such wishes it can't do it again for 365 days.

Nothing in the trait says the djinni must grant a wish, or that freeing it earns one. Whether it agrees is a story decision. The efreeti has the same trait in the 2024 rules, word for word.

How the Djinni Fights

Altitude is armor. With fly 90 and hover, a 2024 djinni can sit 100 feet above the party and throw three Storm Bolts a turn. Against AC 18 it hits on a 9 (60%), about 23 damage a turn, and it knocks Large or smaller targets prone, which wastes half their movement to stand. Note that attacks against a prone creature from more than 5 feet away have Disadvantage, so a djinni bolting one target three times hurts its own later bolts. Spread the bolts, or bolt once and then dive in: melee attacks within 5 feet of a prone target have Advantage. The 2024 rules only spell out moving between attacks for the Attack action, not Multiattack. DM ruling, not rules text: let the djinni move between its three attacks, as the 2014 rules allowed for any action with several weapon attacks.

Storm Blades for damage. Three Storm Blades deal 19 each, about 34 a turn against AC 18. The 2014 scimitars average 15.5 each, about 28 a turn.

Whirlwind first. Open with Create Whirlwind on the densest group. The whirlwind needs Concentration, and the djinni's Constitution save is +6, so it keeps it through most hits. Restrained characters have Disadvantage on attacks and Dexterity saves; in 2024 they also take 21 thunder a turn. In 2014, use the action to move the whirlwind 60 feet and carry its prisoner off a cliff edge or over water.

Leave when bored. Gaseous Form, Invisibility and Plane Shift (1/day each) are its exits. A djinni that is losing, and has no reason to stay, leaves.

Running a Djinni Encounter

One djinni (7,200 XP) against four characters:

A djinni with two air elementals (10,800 XP) is Moderate for four level 11 or level 12 characters in 2024, and Deadly under the 2014 group multiplier. Our encounter calculator uses the 2014 Dungeon Master's Guide guidelines.

A djinni is often more interesting as a negotiating partner than as an enemy. It is good in 2014 and neutral in 2024, it speaks Auran (Primordial in 2024), and it has Tongues to talk to anyone.

How Players Beat a Djinni

• •Don't use lightning or thunder. It is immune to both. Fire, cold, force and radiant work normally.
• •Break its Concentration. The whirlwind ends when Concentration does. A wizard's Magic Missile forces three Constitution saves (DC 10 each). In 2014 it also ends if the djinni loses sight of it, so a Darkness cast around the whirlwind frees everyone inside.
• •Escape the whirlwind. In 2014, an action and a DC 18 Strength check frees one creature. In 2024 the trapped creature repeats its DC 17 Strength save at the end of each turn.
• •Ground it. A djinni can't bolt you from above if you're indoors. Fight it in a cave or a building and it has to come to melee.
• •2024: expect Magic Resistance. Save-based spells face Advantage. Attack-roll damage is more reliable.
• •Banish it home. Banishment on an Elemental sends it back to its plane if the spell lasts the full minute. Its Charisma save is +9 in 2014, only +5 in 2024 (with Advantage from Magic Resistance).

Djinni Encounter Ideas

The guest who won't leave. A djinni has taken up residence in a merchant's tower and is hosting feasts every night with Create Food and Water (wine included). The merchant wants it gone. The djinni says it was invited and has a contract to prove it.

The wish broker. A 2024 djinni knows Wish and has two uses left before its 365 days begin. Three factions want those wishes. The djinni will grant them to whoever convinces it, and the party is hired by all three.

The storm on the pass. A whirlwind has stood over a mountain pass for a week, pulling travelers in. The djinni maintaining it is waiting for one specific caravan. Everyone else is collateral.

Frequently Asked Questions

What CR is a djinni in 5e?

The djinni is CR 11 (7,200 XP) in both the 2014 and 2024 rules. It has AC 17, 161 hit points in 2014 and 218 in 2024.

Can a djinni grant wishes in 5e?

Only in the 2024 rules. The SRD 5.2.1 djinni has a 30 percent chance of knowing Wish, can cast it only for a non-genie creature who asks, suffers none of the spell's stress, and can do it three times before waiting 365 days. The 2014 SRD djinni has no wish ability.

What is the djinni immune to?

Lightning and thunder damage, in both editions. The 2024 djinni also has Magic Resistance (Advantage on saves against spells and other magical effects).

What's the difference between a djinni and an efreeti?

Both are CR 11 genies with AC 17. The djinni is an air genie (fly 90, lightning and thunder) and good or neutral; the efreeti is a fire genie (fly 60, fire) and lawful evil in 2014, neutral in 2024. The djinni controls the battlefield with a whirlwind; the efreeti relies on burning blades and Hurl Flame.

What happens when a djinni dies?

In 2014 its body turns into a warm breeze, leaving its equipment behind. In 2024, if it dies outside the Elemental Plane of Air, it dissolves into mist and re-forms on the Plane of Air in 1d4 days with all its hit points.

Stat blocks: System Reference Document 5.1 (2014) and 5.2.1 (2024), Wizards of the Coast, CC-BY-4.0. Tactics, encounter math and ideas are Loreify's own.