Editing Sha'ir (section)

==AD&D==
In 2e, sha'ir competency is counterbalanced by several things.

Firstly, because all of the power comes from the gen, a sha'ir can only have '''one''' spell to hand at a time, and then their gen has to go and find another spell.

Secondly, a gen can only hold the power for a spell for three turns, after which it loses the spell whether it was cast or not.

Thirdly, retrieving a spell takes time (1d6+level of the spell); this ranges from rounds ("native" spells) to turns ("universal" spells) to ''hours'' (priest spells, foreign wizard spells) -- this is, needless to say, problematic if you're in the middle of a fight.

Fourthly, gens never have more than an 89% chance of retrieving the spell asked for, meaning all that time may be ultimately wasted.

Fifthly, stealing priestly spells via gen may result in divine punishment, which can range from a short-lived bad luck curse to being summoned to an offended god's realm for a personal audience.

Finally, as the sources of a sha'ir's powers, gens are much more high-maintenance than standard familiars; they will direct their masters on personal quests, need time off to sleep and cement bonds with other elementals in order to be at full power, expect praise, and demand a monthly wage to reinforce that they are ''partners'' and '''not''' ''slaves''. Failure to treat a gen as it expects will cause it to grow increasingly unreliable as it rebels against such cruelty, concluding in it summoning a bigger, nastier, high ranked genie as an arbitrator to ''force'' a conclusion, whether that be a sincere restitution or a permanent dissolution of their contract.