Djinni

& djinni
Difficulty	8
Attacks	Weapon 2d8 physical

& djinni
Difficulty	8
Attacks	Weapon 2d8 physical
Base level	7
Base experience	97
Speed	12
Base AC	4
Base MR	30
Alignment	0 (neutral)
Frequency (by normal means)	0 (Not randomly generated)
Genocidable	No
Weight	1500
Nutritional value	400
Size	Medium
Resistances	poison resistance, stoning resistance
Resistances conveyed	None
A djinni: can fly. has a head, a couple of arms, and a torso. is poisonous to eat. does not eat. (*) is not a valid polymorphable form. can follow you to other levels. can pick up weapons and food. can be seen through infravision. never leaves a corpse.
Reference	NetHack 3.6.7 - src/monst.c, line 2604

A djinni (plural djinn), & , is a type of monster that appears in NetHack. The djinni is one of the few monsters in the demon monster class that is not a major demon. Djinn are capable of flight, will pick up and collect items, can be seen via infravision, and can follow the hero to other levels if they are adjacent to them.

A djinni has a single weapon attack, and possesses poison resistance and stoning resistance.

Djinn are poisonous to eat, which primarily comes up if they are digested by another monster.

Generation

Djinn are not randomly generated, and may be peaceful towards neutral heroes. They are not a valid polymorph form or genocide target.

Djinn are primarily generated from either a magic lamp or a smoky potion:

• Rubbing a magic lamp has a 113 + 2n chance of producing a djinni, where n is the number of djinn that have been created in that game—the djinni may vanish immediately, remain behind (as tame, peaceful or hostile), or even grant a wish, with the chance dependent on the lamp's beatitude.
• Quaffing a smoky potion also has a 113 + 2n chance of producing a djinni, where n is the number of djinn that have been created in that game—the odds of a smoky potion's djinni granting a wish, remaining as tame, etc. are equal to those of a magic lamp, and generating a djinni from a smoky potion also affects the odds of a djinni appearing from smoky potions in the future (unlike a magic lamp, whose djinni will always appear when rubbed enough).

Djinn that would be created as hostile through either method still have a chance of being peaceful towards neutral heroes.

Three hostile djinn are generated on the Plane of Air at level creation.

A djinni does not leave a corpse upon death.

Strategy

Early-game heroes will want to be especially sure that any magic lamps they find or any smoky potions that they quaff are blessed in order to minimize the chance of spawning a hostile djinni—while they are not necessarily difficult to fight off in general, many heroes that are only just starting the game are likely to be killed by a hostile djinni's melee attack. A particularly paranoid player may want to save potential wishes from lamps or potions until they are sufficient kitted for such a worst-case scenario—this in turn runs the risk of something else killing the hero before they can even make an attempt at getting their wish.

Though tame djinn can be decent pets with armor and weapons, they are generally loathed by players due to being the result of a "lost" wish.

History

The djinni first appears alongside the magic lamp in NetHack 2.3e.

Origin

Jinn (Arabic: جِنّ‎, jinn)–also romanized as "djinn" or anglicized as "genies"–are creatures that originate in the early religion of pre-Islamic Arabia and other cultures in the west Asian region, and also feature in later Islamic culture and beliefs. Jinn may represent pagan beliefs integrated into Islam: they are neither innately good or evil, but considered subject to God's judgement as humans are, similar to other religions; the Quran also speaks against the practice of worshiping jinn or seeking protection from them, as was done in pre-Islamic Arabian practice. Though past Muslim scholarship was ambivalent towards jinn, contemporary Muslim scholarship increasingly associate the jinn with idolatry, insofar as humans should not rely on created things instead of God their creator.

Jinn are said to be composed of "smokeless fire" and can fly, turn invisible and change into many forms at will, including a human form; they do not usually meddle in human affairs and prefer to live with their own kind, but if injured by someone, they usually seek revenge or possess the assailant's body, refusing to leave until forced to by exorcism. Many people who believe in jinn wear amulets to protect themselves against the assaults of jinn, sent out by sorcerers and witches—it is commonly believed that jinn cannot hurt someone who wears something with the name of God written upon it. There are various types of jinn-like beings in Islamic cultures that are often conflated, including the marid and ifrit.

One Thousand and One Nights contains some of the earliest depictions of genies and other similar beings in fiction–particularly the tale of wikipedia:Aladdin:Aladdin–and bases them on the Persian div rather than the Arabic jinn they are portrayed as in later adaptations. Later popular representations in Western culture, such as the 1704 French translation of One Thousand and One Nights that introduces the term "genie", associated the various beings with wish-granting and inhabiting magic lamps or bottles, which is why the djinn of NetHack can generate from lamps and potion bottles.

The djinn of Dungeons & Dragons make their debut in the 1st Edition monster manual, where they are portrayed as a chaotic good type of genie associated with the element of air. Wild but ultimately benevolent, djinn are the most tolerant of temporary servitude among the genies, and are a stark contrast to the fiery efreet: an efreeti tends towards lawful evil and is often cruel, deceitful and vengeful, and while no genie particularly enjoys being enslaved, efreet also dislike most other forms of servitude and are much more likely to twist the intent of their master's commands while technically adhering to the letter. The marid and dao, genies associated with water and earth, are introduced later in 1st Edition material.

Messages

The following messages can occur when you release a djinni from a magic lamp or a smoky potion:

"I am in your debt. I will grant one wish!"

You get a wish, then the released djinni will vanish.

"Thank you for freeing me!"

The released djinni is tame.

"You freed me!"

The released djinni is peaceful.

"It is about time!"

The released djinni simply vanishes.

"You disturbed me, fool!"

The released djinni is hostile. Due to generation rules, they may still be peaceful for a neutral character.

"Sorry, I'm all out of wishes."

You were chatting to a tame djinni.

"I'm free!"

You chatted to a peaceful djinni.

"This will teach you not to disturb me!"

You to chatting to a hostile djinni.

Variants

SLASH'EM

In SLASH'EM, tame djinn can be given as minions to neutral heroes at experience level 11 or higher via sacrifice or prayer—the chance of obtaining one this way is ¹⁄₉, and increases by another ¹⁄₉ for each level above 11, with the result that it becomes the only possible minion that will be generated for a neutral hero at level 19 or higher. Minions also cannot pick up weapons, meaning that djinn minions will be much weaker in combat compared to ones obtained from other methods, while also lowering the odds that quaffing a smoky potion will produce one.

Deferred features

NetHack-- and SLASH 6, which are precursors of SLASH'EM, add the efreeti, dao and marid from Dungeons & Dragons - their deferred data can still be found in the code of SLASH'EM and SlashTHEM. Of note is that the efreeti and marid are hallucinatory monsters in vanilla NetHack, and some of these genies also appear in other variants.

Each genie is associated with the same element as in Dungeons & Dragons: djinn are tied to air, efreet to fire, marids to water, and dao to earth. They also possess the same weapon attack, and are not randomly generated:

• In NetHack-- 3.0.10, only the djinni can be found in a potion or lamp, and the Elemental Planes do not yet exist, so it is currently unclear how a player can find the other three types, apart from wishing for a figurine or a statue.
• In SLASH 6, any one of the four types can be found in a potion or magic lamp, with the same probabilities of granting wishes, etc. as a djinni in NetHack.

Though each genie has elemental affinities, only djinn are generated on any of the Elemental Planes, where they appear on the Plane of Air.

dNetHack

In dNetHack, notdNetHack, and notnotdNetHack, a candle of invocation can be invoked to summon a djinni for a wish.

The Law quest has a statue of a djinni named "Qadeej, of the Wind Dukes of Aaqa" at the top of the Arcadian Tower where Oona resides—this statue is the only one on the level to not be trapped, and contains The Rod of Seven Parts within.

SpliceHack

SpliceHack adds marids and efreet, and introduces the jann (formerly "desert djinn") alongside them.

Fifteen djinn are generated on the City of Brass at level generation, with two of them peaceful and the rest being hostile.

EvilHack

In EvilHack, monsters can potentially make wishes if they generate a djinni from a smoky potion.

Encyclopedia entry

The djinn are genies from the elemental plane of Air. There,
among their kind, they have their own societies. They are
sometimes encountered on earth and may even be summoned here
to perform some service for powerful wizards. The wizards
often leave them about for later service, safely tucked away
in a flask or lamp. Once in a while, such a tool is found by
a lucky rogue, and some djinn are known to be so grateful
when released that they might grant their rescuer a wish.