So I've been fiddling around, playing myself a little Air Genasi Bard lately when one particular question popped up in my head. Breathing, how does it work?

The immediate and obvious answer is "Air Genasi do not Breathe." This is all well and good but breathing is a lot more complex than that sentence can explain... I suppose the more important question is how does an Air Genasi's body work?

My simple theory is that in a way, an Air Genasi does breathe, but where a human might breathe in, an Air Genasi simply generates air for their body. This allows them to then exhale, generating some degree of sound and thus speaking (or in my case singing). They don't NEED to breathe out, because in the same way their body generates air it can disperse it as well. They have a limit on how much they can create, but it's potent enough that they can exhale a mighty gust (Gust of Wind Power).


Why is this important? First of all, I personally am a musician and intend to write music for my character to be able to sing. One of the most important things in the generation of sound is breathing. If an Air Genasi has to breathe in to speak, then she is limited the same way I am... if she creates air within her body and needs only breathe out, then she has no limit on duration of sound. If, however, Air Genasi make noise by virtue of "wooooh, planar magic" similar to how a Lich might be able to speak despite lacking anything useful, then it wouldn't be such a stretch that she would be able to make multiple noises at the same time, such as harmonising with herself.


Anyway, just figured I'd ask ^_^

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Making harmonies with your own voice is already theoretically possible (albeit very difficult, and it usually sounds pretty bad). The breathing thing isn't going to change that particularly, it'd be just a matter of practice and intense difficulty. However, I like the idea of an air genasi not needing to 'breathe in', and thus being able to produce sound indefinitely. That's something I'd support! Its fitting, and would be neat to see what sort of things you can come up with utilizing that. So my take is that they just don't need to produce air, but they can 'expel' it indefinitely as we normally do.

My guess was that they do indeed produce their own air, internally, via whatever subtle connection they have to the Plane of Air. Same way a Water Genasi might constantly drip water without having to constantly imbibe the amounts they sweat.

The whole "some have a continual gentle breeze about their body" is what points me in this direction. If they're not actively causing the air to flow(blowing, etc), then it's something passive. Now whether it is something internal and innate to their physiology or superficial is something left up to the particular player, I imagine.

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Awesome, that's exactly what I thought was the case. I figured I'd present a couple of extras so that people would go "Nah, that's WAY more logical"

In the case of self-harmonics, I was more talking about two voices at once, as opposed to two notes at once. I might look in to magic to see if I could work something out for that, but not until my character is a bit better at what she does methinks.

Thanks for the responses ^_^

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Some Air Genasi might breathe, too. I would say it's one of the many traits that Genasi will inherit some of, and it's just mentioned separately as a universal thing because it's a big mechanical change. And furthermore, I imagine many Genasi would be used to breathing and choose to breathe (and probably have the same autonomic nervous system that regulates it). Air flowing in and out of you feels good to an Air Genasi. It's just that they might discover they actually don't die even if they stop.

There are many alternatives, but I can see the air-generating answer being viable. It's a little too technical and complex for my tastes.

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