Tiefling: Difference between revisions

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Since this is 2e stuff, I thought it'd be fair game to post here, since it is obliquely referred to anyway.
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[[File:Tiefling.jpg|400px|thumb|right|How Tieflings looked like prior to 4e.]]
A corruption-touched race from [[Dungeons & Dragons]], with a lineage stretching all the way back to 2e's [[Planescape]] setting, where they were one of the three initially released races for the setting, alongside the [[githzerai]] and the [[bariaur]]. In contrast to their mostly-forgotten kinsfolk, they have had a huge impact on D&D and been quite decently supported ever since, becoming core races in the 4th and 5th editions. It has to be said, this may be due to their fluff being rather supportive of mary sue-players.


One of the recurring themes of Tieflings is that others find them inherently unsettling. They tend to have [[Charisma]] bonuses  (representing either their superior ability to intimidate others or the fact that [[monstergirl|everybody wants to bang the horned chicks]], depending on who you ask).
==2e, 3.x, Pathfinder==
Tieflings are mortals whose lineage is tainted by the blood or essence of a fiend - demon, devil, daemon, whatever - at some remote point in their ancestry. Not an ''actual'' fiend's kid, mind, (those are either alu-fiends or cambion, depending on the gender), but one of their descendants.  Basically, if a humanoid half-fiend has a kid, it'll probably be a tiefling, and after that the fiendish blood can also skip a few generations.  Sometimes, it naturally occurs due to fiendish pacts, either in the pact-ee or their descendants.
In general, tieflings are presumed to be either unable to figure out what sort of fiend was their ancestor, or just inherently prone to fiendish mutation. As a result, their physical displays of fiendhood and their ability modifiers have often had sizeable - we're talking D100 tables, here - random tables to roll on, depending on edition and sourcebook.
That said, there is a little support for more "pureblooded" or "recognizable" tieflings. [[Pathfinder]] has a whole sourcebook called ''Blood of Fiends'' which features not only the inevitable "random tiefling power/appearance" tables, but also details on all of the various kinds of tiefling that can be spawned from specific classes of fiend - demon, devil, daemon, demodand, rakshasa, oni, kyton, etc.  Additionally, tieflings are one of only two non-core races usable in officially-sponsored play (the other being the [[aasimar]]), and are common in-setting around both the nation of Cheliax (whose demon-summoning ways creates lots of them and whose [[Nazi]]-esque human-supremacist social policy discriminates against them) and around the [[Eye of Terror|Worldwound]].  (You, uh... you ''don't'' want to know [[rape|what goes on around the Worldwound]].)
Naturally, this lineage begged for grid-filling in the form of the [[aasimar]] (celestials) and [[genasi]] (elementals), though 3.5 would go another step by adding in "planetouched" races to reflect the outsiders of the Morally Neutral planes too.
Though officially all tieflings can spring from all manner of humanoid races, most writeups tend to either focus on the human tieflings or make it so that the twisting influence of their fiendish blood defines them "more" than their parents being non-fiends. That said, 3.5 [[Forgotten Realms]] did do up the Tanar'rukk ([[orc]]-descended tieflings) and the Fey'ri ([[elf]]/[[succubus]] tieflings).
===The Legendary Tiefling Tables===
The 2e tiefling first appeared in the "Player's Companion" component to the Planescape Campaign Setting boxed set. There, it was handled fairly simply; +1s to Int and Cha, -1s to Str and Wis, Infravision 60 feet, halving damage from Cold, +2 bonus to saving throws versus Fire, Electricity and Poison, and the ability to cast Darkness (15ft radius) once per day. Then "The Planeswalker's Handbook" introduced the legendary Tiefling customization tables, where you sacrifice the spell-like ability, cold resistance and saving throws bonus to make 5 rolls on a D100 Tiefling Abilities table and 1d4 rolls on a D100 Tiefling Appearance table. Gaze in awe at the potential combinations of traits your munchkin special snowflake could have possessed!
====Tiefling Abilities====
01-03: Blur 1/day
04-06: Charm Person 1/day
07-09: Chill Touch 1/day
10-12: Comprehend Languages 1/day
13-15: Darkness (15ft radius) 1/day
16-18: Detect Good/Evil 2/day
19-21: Detect Magic 3/day
22-24: ESP 1/day
25-27: Invisibility 2/week
28-30: Know Alignment 1/day
31-33: Mirror Image 1/day
34-36: Misdirection 1/day
37-39: Pyrotechnics 3/week
40-42: Suggestion 1/week
43-45: Summon Swarm 1/week
46-48: Vampiric Touch 1/week
49-51: Whispering Wind 1/day
52-55: Half damage from Fire
56-59: Half damage from Cold
60-63: Half damage from Electricity
64-67: Half damage from Acid
68-75: Infravision to 120 feet
76-79: +2 Saving Throw vs. Fire
80-83: +2 Saving Throw vs. Electricity
84-87: +2 Saving Throw vs. Poison
88-91: +2 Saving Throw vs. Cold
92-95: +2 Saving Throw vs. Acid
96: +2 Saving Throw vs. Petrification, Polymorph & Paralysis
97: +2 Saving Throw vs. Rod/Staff/Wand
98: +2 Saving Throw vs. Spell
99: Roll twice, rerolling results above 95
00:  Roll three times, rerolling results above 95
====Tiefling Appearance====
01-04: Small horns on forehead
05-06: Small horns on temples
07: Single horn on forehead
08-09: Long, thin face
10: Fangs
11: All teeth are pointed
12: Forked tongue
13–14: Pointed ears
15: Fanlike ears
16: Extremely long nose
17: Very small (almost unnoticeable) nose
18: Extremely long eyelashes
19-21: Red eyes
22-23: Black eyes (no whites)
24: Feline eyes
25-26: Extremely deep-set eyes
27-28: Green hair
29-30: Blue hair
31: Multicolored hair
32-33: Six fingers (including thumb)
34-35: Three fingers (including thumb)
36-37: Black fingernails
38-39: Red fingernails
40-41: Fingers one inch longer than normal
42: Arms six inches longer than normal
43: Legs six inches longer than normal
44-46: Horselike legs
47-49: Goatlike legs
50-52: Goatlike hooves
53-55: Long, thin tail
56-57: Horselike tail
58-59: Lizardlike tail
60-62: Spiny ridge on back
63-65: Spiny ridges all over body
66-68: Hairless body
69-71: Body covered in short fur or long hair
72-73: Body covered in striped markings
74-75: Extremely greasy skin
76-80: Scaly skin
81-83: Leathery skin
84: Small feathers rather than hair on 10-100% of body
85: Green-tinted skin
86: Blue–tinted skin
87: Red-tinted skin
88-89: Special side effect – roll on the Tiefling Special Side Effects table
90-94: Roll twice, rerolling rolls above 89
95-00: Roll three times, rerolling rolls above 89
====Tiefling Special Side Effects====
01-10:  Ashy odor surrounds body
11-15: Sulfurous surrounds body
16-20: Rotting odor surrounds body
21-25: Skin exudes ashy grit
26-30: Body casts no shadow
31-33: Body has no reflection in mirror
34-40: Susceptible to spells such as Spirit Wrack and Cacofiend
41-45: Tanar’ri react toward tiefling as though the tiefling were a baatezu
46-50: Baatezu react toward tiefling as though the tiefling were a tanar’ri
51-60: Presence causes unease in animals
61-65: Presence causes unease in NPCs, reactions at -4
66-70: Prolonged touch withers normal plants
71-75: Fingers treated as claws (1d4/1d3 damage)
76-80: Touch inflicts 1 point of Fire damage due to high body heat
81-85: Touch inflicts 1 point of Cold damage due to cold body temperature
86-90: Odd skin composition results in base AC of 1d6+3
91: Cannot reproduce
92:  Holy water inflicts 1d6 damage
93:  Exposure to direct sunlight inflicts 1 point of damage per round
94: Cannot enter “holy” areas
95: Harmed only by magical or silver weapons
96-00:  Intuitively speaks the language of one fiendish race
==4e & 5e==
In [[4e]] D&D, tiefling popularity was recognized and so WoTC decided to dump one of the less popular player races (or so they thought, anyway), the [[gnome]], and make it a core race. But they figured that a race based on "your granddaddy/mommy was a monster from the Lower Planes" wouldn't really be that common. So, instead, they redesigned their tieflings to be the magically corrupted descendants of an evil empire that embraced diabolism and loyalty to [[Asmodeus]] to hold onto their power. When their empire fell, they were left scattered and corrupted into the tieflings. As part of this, they got redesigned to a more unified look, with reddish skin, glowing eyes, tails and horns, to make them appropriately "devilish", as opposed to the more grab-bag look of editions past.
[[D&D Next]] more or less follows in 4e's footsteps, though it's a bit vaguer on the details as to how they were corrupted and more explicit on the fact that the look of their tails and horns are variable.
Although the [[Warlock]] came out in 3.5, it is 4th edition that has really pushed the tiefling/warlock racial to class matchup.
{{D&D4e-Races}}
{{D&D5e-Races}}
[[Category:Planescape]]

Latest revision as of 23:32, 10 February 2026