- We've got some other
subclasses that were revised
and one of them was The Genie Warlock.
This feels fantastic.
I don't know necessarily
all of the mechanics
that have changed in it,
but you definitely get that
genie flavor at this point.
It's so much to the point of
that you can actually jump
into the vessel and be in
essentially your own demi-plane.
- Yeah, so The Noble Genie,
which is what this subclass
was called originally,
it also received solid
satisfaction scores,
and, in fact, all of these subclasses
that we have returned
to received solid scores
to begin with.
Because just behind the
curtain sort of thing,
if we are doing more work on something
it's because fans let us know,
"We like this thing and
we want to see more."
So when we do a revision, I
think sometimes people think,
Oh, does this mean the first one was bad?
No, it actually means people liked it,
but there were a lot of
questions or concerns,
desires for us to explore
different directions,
and that's what happened
with The Noble Genie.
There was a lot of interest
in the first version of it,
but there was some friction
about certain of the original features.
In the original version of The Genie,
The Genie used their abilities
largely to enhance a companion.
And what we found is that
little bit of storytelling
wasn't clicking for
people for this subclass,
and I think it was a
combination of things.
I think some people just didn't see
how that connection to
your companion was related
to you having a Genie Patron,
and I also think some of our play-testers,
who are used to playing Warlocks,
aren't really signing up
when they play a Warlock
to help other people.
(laughing)
- Can confirm.
- That was not a surprise
to us because we know,
after doing years of public play-testing,
that when people sign up
to play a particular class,
there is a mood and a style of
play they're signing up for.
For example, when people
signed up to play a Cleric,
even if they're not
gonna focus on healing,
usually a part of their
desire to play a Cleric
is a desire to help other people.
That might be to heal them,
that might be to buff them,
to defend them.
Interactivity with your companions
is a big part of being a Cleric.
That is not a core part
of being a Warlock.
And, so, we have found
any time we go too far
in that direction in a
class like the Warlock,
people who really love Warlocks
often will raise a flag
and be like, "Okay, that's a bit much.
"We'd be playing a Cleric or a Paladin
"or even a Druid or a Bard
"if this was the kind of
play experience we wanted."
We also got feedback about The Noble Genie
that people would love to
see more of D&D's Genie types
reflected in the subclass.
People looked at The Noble Genie
and wondered why isn't
there something here
that speaks specifically
to the Dao, the Djinni,
the Efreeti, the Marids.
Could we get something in the subclass
that is specific to each
of those kinds of Genie?
So we took that feedback and we said
we can definitely do that.
And so in this new version of The Genie,
your spell list, your expanded spell list,
is determined by the kind
of genie your patron is.
So, if your patron is a Marid,
you're gonna have different spells
on your expanded spell list
than a Warlock whose patron is a Dao.
And I think people already are
really liking this direction,
which makes sense because it's basically
what the community said they wanted.
And we had fun doing it.
We always enjoy it when we have an excuse
to delve into the fun details
of the D&D multiverse.
We also wanted to definitely
keep the Genie's Vessel,
since genies having a lamp, or an urn,
or a ring, or some kind of
object associated with them.
It's such a big part of the folklore.
We wanted to keep that
but there wasn't a lot of satisfaction
about using that as a tool,
again, to enhance a companion
or to banish people.
And, so, I brought up
in one of our meetings,
Well, why don't you just pop
into the bottle yourself?
And I do admit I was
thinking of I dream of Genie.
(laughing)
Because I grew up watching that show
and, mostly, I always
remembered how just luxurious
the inside of her bottle was,
and I thought, how cool
would it be if as a Warlock,
you had basically portable
little relaxation pad
and then eventually you're even able
to bring your friends in there
and have speedy short rests.
So we were able to turn that
not only into a fun place
where you could chill out
but also, it is, the way we designed it,
we designed it so that the
Warlock and their group
can get into all sorts of shenanigans
because since the Warlock can put themself
into their bottle,
well, then that, bottle
could be given to somebody
and maybe placed on a shelf,
and then the warlock could listen in.
So they'd like it has spanging
uses, infiltration uses.
I think it could end up being
tons of fun in a campaign.
- I'm sensing a theme with you recently
of being able to mail yourself places,
'cause you mailed this bottle, right?
(laughing)
- I think that is an
especially powerful theme
in a time of quarantine.
The desire to be able
to go somewhere else.
- It certainly resonates
more than it normally would.
(laughing)
And have a nice chill out pad.
Is like an Uber tiny hut.
But I also have very similar memories
because everything was in syndication
and I Dream of Jeannie was very
big amongst our syndication,
stuff like that and
Bewitched everything else.
- Bewitched was one of my
favorite shows as a kid.
And so thinking of Bewitched
and I Dream of Jeannie
with their wish-like magic.
I mean, because really,
Jeannie and Samantha
could do virtually
anything with their magic.
That connects back to The Genie Patron
because another thing
fans rightly pointed out
about the previous
version is where's Wish.
So this time we made sure to put Wish
on to this Warlock's expanded spell list.
And then their Capstone Class
feature is now limited Wish,
where they get to essentially wish
for any spell effects they
want up to sixth level
and their Patron will give it to them.
And then we've put in a
variable refresh on that,
or once you do it,
you'll have to wait for an
indeterminate number of days
for this to come back.
We have this kind of multi-day
refresh already in the game
actually in the Cleric,
in their Divine Intervention feature.
And that was sort of the inspiration here,
like we're gonna give you this
unusually powerful feature,
but once you use it,
you'll have to wait a
little longer than normal
for your ability to recharge
so that you can send out
another wish to your Patron.
Well, imagine you might
eventually get very cranky
with this Warlock who's always wishing.
(laughing)
- I like that kind of bridges
a little bit of that gap
between the Divine and whoever
you've made a pact with
and like you said, like,
your god's probably not
gonna get annoyed with you
or may not even be aware of it.
But you're one you made a pact with me,
you start getting a little testy
if you keep on like abusing
this particular power.
I was very excited to see Wish included
and also a limited Wish
which actually reminds me
of the old school days.
So yeah, it's a fantastic redesign.
