Fire Genasi

I once played in an extended Planescape campaign (2^nd Edition) where I chose a slightly different character race, a half-elemental half-human type creature known as a Fire Genasi. They are a descendant of Efreeti or Fire Spirits who had paired with a human. My character's nickname was Koal, though he had a longer name that the other players never learned to pronounce, and which I can't recall now. Though the four elemental types of genasi always bear some part of their features that undoubtedly marked them as something other than human, the exact feature differed quite a bit. Fire Genasi usually had red or black skin with red hair or sometimes ashen gray. I chose that Koal's skin would be deep black like pitch and his hair would be very light gray. His eyes were dark with red tints and reflected (or shined) red in low light. Personality-wise, like most Fire Genasi, Koal was an arrogant jerk and made several attempts to strike out on his own.

Tonight I was discussing with Nate on the phone the possibility of playing a Fire Genasi in a new online campaign. I was intrigued by this and so was Nate, but I feel it would be important to find a 3^rd edition version of the Fire Genasi to balance correctly. So naturally, my first logical step is to turn to Google.

I wasn't entirely exhaustive in my search, but from what I have found there doesn't appear to be an officially sanctioned version from Wizards of the Coast. There are a few that were posted here and there, but a lot of the sites were down or there seemed to be little interest in the races of Planescape.

First listing I found useful was on Portalkeep.net [site down]. The Google Cache was helpful for what I needed.

Fire Genasi Racial Traits

• +2 Intelligence, -2 Charisma. Fire Genasi have bright minds but are easily angered and poor in dealing with others.
• Medium size humanoid.
• Fire Genasi base speed is 30 feet.
• Control Flame (Sp): Fire Genasi can cause a nonmagical Fire within 10 feet of them to diminish to the level of coals or flare to the brightness of daylight and double the radius of its illumination. This ability does not change the heat output or fuel consumption of the Fire source, lasts 5 minutes, and may be done once per day. they use this ability as a 5th level sorcerer.
• +1 racial bonus on saving throws against all Fire spells and effects. This bonus increases by +1 for every five class levels the Genasi attains.
• Darkvision up to 60 feet.
• Automatic Languages: Common, home region. Bonus Languages: Any (except secret languages, such as Druidic).
• Favoured Class: Fighter.

The one question this result did not answer was whether Fire Genasi have any Level Adjustment for their heritage. The lack of a listing seems to indicate that they do not have one, which seems unusual for this kind of race based on my presumptions.

Here are some other results that I found helpful from a Google Search for "Fire Genasi".

• Quoted above, Portalkeep.net - Fire Genasi [down] [Archived on Google] goes into quite a bit of detail with one full page with everything from history and common names
• Planescape Races [down] [Archived on Google] which does not go into as much detail but gives +1 LA in addition to a +4 on Planar Survival checks
• The Artwork of Amy K. Brown - Fire Genasi - a good artistic representation of the common Fire Genasi encountered in their home plane
• Planetouched Deities (Faerun) - including common deities for Fire Genasi, most likely Tempus as a good choice for Koal
• Wizards.com Community Board - Genasi Revisited - where the capabilities of Fire Genasi in 3^rd edition is discussed
• Planetouched Templates - Planescape fan forum where the capabilities of Fire Genasi in 3^rd edition is discussed