Genie, Dev

This creature looks like a tall, powerfully built humanoid with dark skin, a long curly beard and vaguely demonic features. It is dressed in a turban, cape and long sleeveless tunic; it also wears a round helmet and carries a large black staff. It radiates such an evil aura you feel you can almost perceive it with your eyes.

Monster Encyclopaedia II: The Dark Bestiary
Author J. C. Alvarez
Series Monster Encyclopaedia
Publisher Mongoose Publishing
Publish date 2005

Dev genies are the very embodiment of evil, their essence tied to it as other genies are tied to the elements; they are probably the oldest force of evil in the universe. When Creation was begun, the gods assigned genies to guard over the elements; to embody light and goodness they chose devas; to represent darkness and sin they created devs. Devas evolved, migrated to the upper planes and became the celestial orders known as angels and archons; dev genies should have become devils and demons and populated the lower planes. However, devs never left the mortal plane and remained tied to the ancient evil of earth; modern fiends had to appear and evolve separately, probably derived from devas and angels themselves. Dev remained as genies, primitively tied to evil as though it were an element. They still linger in the ancestral dark places of the world, the oldest force of evil remaining on the Material Plane.

Dev genies speak Abyssal, Aquan, Auran, Common, Draconic, Ignan, Infernal and Terran.

Genie, Dev
Large outsider (Evil, Native)
Hit Dice	13d8+65 (123 hp)
Initiative	+7
Speed	50 ft. (10 squares), Fly 100 ft. (average)
AC	25 (-1 size, +3 Dexterity, +13 natural), touch 12, flat-footed 22
Base Attack/Grapple	+13/+23
Attack	+3 unholy staff +21 melee (1d8+12) or poison Whip +19 melee (1d4+7 plus poison)
Full Attack	+3 unholy staff +19/+14/+9 melee and +19 melee (1d8+9 and 1d8+6) or poison Whip +19/+14/+9 melee (1d4+7 plus poison)
Space/Reach	10 ft. /10 ft. (15ft. with Whip)
Special Attacks	Evil focus, harmful aura, poison Whip, sneak attack +6d6, spell-like abilities, unholy staff
Special Qualities	Damage reduction 10/good, Darkvision 60 ft., greater aura of evil, Low-Light Vision, immunity to acid, cold and poison, resistance to electrical 10 and fire 10, Spell Resistance 31, telepathy 100 ft.
Saves	Fort +13, Ref +11, Will +11
Abilities	Strength 22, Dexterity 16, Constitution 20, Intelligence 20, Wisdom 16, Charisma 20
Skills	Concentration +21, Craft (any one) +21, Diplomacy +23, Disguise +21, Escape Artist +19, Hide +21, Intimidate +21, Knowledge (Arcana) +21, Listen +19, Move Silently +21, Sense Motive +19, Spellcraft +23, Spot +19
Feats	Cleave, Improved Initiative, Power Attack, Stealthy, Two-Weapon Fighting
Environment	Warm deserts and underground
Organisation	Solitary
Challenge Rating	14
Treasure	Standard
Alignment	Always neutral evil
Advancement	14-26 HD (Large), 27-39 HD (Huge)
Level Adjustment	–

Combat

A favourite tactic of dev genies is to tempt and taunt their enemies, even in combat. They are not above striking a deal, offering power to an enemy in exchange for peace, which they always prefer to conflict even if their opposition is significantly weaker than themselves ‘ a living, corrupted soul is much more useful to them than a dead one.

Evil Focus (Su): Devs are so utterly evil it translates in everything they do. Any weapon, spell or natural attack used by a dev counts as both evil and epic for the purposes of overcoming damage reduction. Furthermore, a dev casts all spells with the evil descriptor at +1 caster level and with a +2 bonus to their save DC. Finally, any evil spell cast by a dev always works as if affected by the Empower Spell feat, without modifying its effective spell level.

Harmful Aura (Su): This ability grants a dev a +4 bonus on all attack and damage rolls against good creatures, plus any good extraplanar creature damaged by a dev’s offensive spells, natural attacks or weapons must succeed at a Will save (DC 21, Charisma based) or be immediately sent back to its home plane. Finally, the touch of a dev genie works as a dispel magic effect, at caster level 20th, against any spell or magical effect with the good descriptor.

Poison Whip: This black leather +1 Whip is fashioned to appear as a living serpent. It works in all respects as a +1 Whip, except that a creature successfully damaged by it is poisoned – injury DC 22, initial and secondary damage 2d4 Constitution. The weapon has a hardness of 6 and 11 hit points. A poison Whip works as a normal Whip in the hands of any creature that is not a dev genie, although it radiates an overwhelming aura of evil.

Sneak Attack (Ex): A dev genie has sneak attack exactly as if it was an 11th level rogue.

Unholy Staff: This black, rune-covered quarterstaff has a +3 enhancement bonus. It deals an additional 2d6 points of damage against good-aligned targets and it counts as an evil weapon for the purposes of overcoming damage reduction. It bestows two negative levels on any good-aligned creature attempting to wield it; these negative levels never results in actual level loss but they cannot be removed by spells such as restoration; they are only removed as soon as the creature lets go of the unholy staff.

Spell-Like Abilities:

• At will – bane (DC 16), bestow curse (DC 18), desecrate, detect good, Detect Magic, detect thoughts (DC 17), doom, gaseous form, invisibility (self only), magic circle against good, polymorph (self only), true seeing, unholy blight (DC 21);
• 3/day – Dispel Good (DC 22), doom, permanent image.
• 1/day – blasphemy (DC 24), miracle (granted to evil-aligned non-genies only).

Caster level 14th for evil spells; caster level 13th for all other spells. Save DCs are Charisma based and include a +2 bonus on all spells with the evil descriptor.

Greater Aura of Evil (Su): This works as a normal aura of evil, except that it can actually be sensed by normal means – any creature can immediately perceive a dev genie is evil without the shadow of a doubt. A dev always emits an ‘overwhelming’ aura for the purposes of detect evil spells. This is perhaps why other fiends replaced dev genies in the lower planes – these primal beings never discovered that evil must always remain hidden to be successful.