I'm currently developing a character concept for a Moon Druid I'll be playing in Storm King's Thunder soon, and I've been thinking about going with a Water Genasi.
So far, so good, until I googled pictures for "genasi druid" and stumbled upon the picture of a fire genasi below, which matches the lore text in the Elemental Evil Player's Companion.
The more human-looking have fiery red hair that writhes under extreme emotion, while more exotic specimens sport actual flames dancing on their heads.
The image (original URL):
Now, as badass as this looks, I can't help but wonder – how does this guy sleep? I mean, anything he rests his head on will inevitably catch on fire, unless he does it dwarf-style and sleeps on stone. So what, he has to use fire retardant pillows?
Is there any lore from previous editions – or 5e lore that I've overlooked – that explains how fire genasi with flaming hair sleep?
(For example, something that states "a fire genasi's flaming hair is magic and doesn't ignite stuff".)
Best Answer
Their hair isn't necessarily actually fire.
Looking back to earlier editions of the game, D&D 3e's Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting describes the fire genasi's hair as flame-like, but not necessarily made of actual fire:
The art in that book shows them with hair that resembles fire, but again, it may simply be that they have hair which looks somewhat like fire.
Indeed, the quote you give merely says that genasi with actual fire for hair are quite rare. Such a character would logically shed light like a torch, which isn't a standard feature of the genasi as statted, suggesting that most player character genasi do not actually have flaming hair.
However, such a creature would need to use fire-resistant material to build their pillow. Historically, according to the Wikipedia entry on pillows, the ancient Chinese developed ceramic pillows, while ancient Egypt may have used stone pillows. Many ancient peoples simply used their arm as a pillow.