[RPG] Is this homebrew Genie patron for warlocks balanced

balancednd-5ehomebrew-reviewwarlock

This is another Warlock Homebrew I've been working on at my table for a player in an upcoming game. We'll be starting at 5th level in a puzzle heavy dungeon.

I'm fairly sure that at 5th level this is probably going to roll along nicely. How does the balance look at later levels?

My major goal here was to create a Warlock that was not great for level 1 dips but rewarded the Warlock who stuck around till the endgame with their class. I imagine a kind of Aladdin character stuck in a cave with a lamp forming a relationship with their patron, much like the Disney film.


The Genie Patron

Expanded Spell List

The Genie lets you choose from an expanded list of spells when you
learn a warlock spell. The following spells are added to the warlock
spell list for you.

  • 1st: Identify, Absorb Elements
  • 2nd: Maximilian’s Earthen Grasp, Rope Trick
  • 3rd: Lightning Bolt, Remove Curse
  • 4th: Wall of Fire, Polymorph
  • 5th: Cone of Cold, Creation

Genie’s Lesser Wish

Starting at 1st level, you can invoke the power of your patron to
grant you a benefit, depending on the kind of Genie your pact is with:

  • Djinn – As a reaction, add your warlock level to a saving throw that
    you make.
  • Efreeti – As a bonus action, add your warlock level in fire damage to
    a spell or weapon attack roll.
  • Marid – As a bonus action, add your warlock level to a skill check
  • Dao – As a reaction to a creature being attacked, add your warlock
    level to a that creature’s AC until the next round.

You may use the Genie’s Lesser Wish feature once per long rest.

Miraculous Protection

Starting at 6th level, you may use the Lesser Wish feature twice per
long rest. Also, you gain resistance to particular types of damage
associated with your patron:

  • Djinn – Lightning & Thunder
  • Efreeti – Fire & Radiant
  • Marid – Acid & Cold
  • Dao – Bludgeoning, Slashing, & Piercing

Mystical Mobility

Starting at 10th level, you gain increased mobility, depending on the patron you have chosen:

  • Djinn – You gain a flying speed of 15 feet.
  • Efreeti – Your walking speed increases by 10 feet.
  • Marid – You gain a swimming speed of 30 feet
  • Dao – You gain a burrowing speed of 15 feet.

Incredible Power

Starting at 14th level, you may use the Lesser Wish feature a number
of times equal to your Charisma modifier (minimum of 2 uses).
Additionally, choose one of the resistances granted by Miraculous
Protection; that resistance is now an immunity.

At 17th level, you may choose the Wish spell as your 9th level
Mystic Arcanum.

Best Answer

Real busted past level 5

Let's start from the top.

Expanded Spell List - seems alright, but the spells chosen don't seem to thematically fit a genie...? I was expecting more divinations. It's not overpowered, but just seems kinda weird.

Lesser Wish
Djinn: Decent at low levels, upgrades into Legendary Resistance at higher levels. That second part is a problem, especially since later features let you use this up to 5+ times.
Efreeti: Fairly meaningless at low levels, moderately good (but a very resisted damage type) at higher levels. Probably the most balanced of the 4 possiblities.
Marid: Pretty good at low levels - by level 4 it's approximately equivalent to advantage. Unreasonably good at higher levels, as it just lets you auto-succeed on a skill check.
Dao: Mediocre at low levels - by level 5 it's finally equivalent to the 1st level spell Shield. Completely broken at high levels, as a reliable +20 or even just +10 bonus to AC for a full round makes a creature functionally invincible (outside of crits, of course).

The level scaling here is a big problem. Bounded accuracy is a major design tenet of 5th Edition, and adding a reliable +20 or even just +10 to or against die rolls should not be done outside of specific situations - existing cases all shore up major weaknesses of classes, rather than just making good stuff better.
Monks get Deflect Missiles, but cannot meaningfully engage with ranged opponents.
War Clerics get Guided Strike, but are frontliners who never receive Extra Attack.
Storm Sorcerers get Storm's Fury but have to be struck by melee attacks to use it.

Miraculous Protection
Djinn: Thematically appropriate and not unreasonably powerful.
Efreeti: Thematically appropriate and not unreasonably powerful.
Marid: Thematically appropriate and not unreasonably powerful.
Dao: No, No, NO. Absolutely not. No-resource always-on resistance to the most common damage types (bludgeoning, slashing, and piercing) in the game? This would make your subclass broken if it were the only feature. And certainly not as a level 6 feature. Maybe it could be balanced in the Level 14 slot.

Mystical Mobility
Djinn: this is about the right level to get a slow fly speed.
Efreeti: A 10ft walking speed increase is actually very weak for a 10th level feature.
Marid: A swim speed is unremarkable, fairly weak for a 10th level feature.
Dao: Burrow speed is... crazy powerful compared to these other options. On-demand total cover is really good - even more so when combined with the warlock invocation Ghostly Gaze, letting you keep an eye on things even while burrowing.

Incredible Power - Strong mainly because of how good the Lesser Wishes are. Immunity to a damage type is very strong, but as long as you don't let them have it to bludgeoning, slashing, or piercing, it's appropriate for a 14th level feature. But this feature also reads as a bit scattered - most warlock 14 features are pretty self-contained, rather than massively improving previous features. Not overpowered, just kinda weird.