Tieflings

Alternate Versions

Description

(from Planescape: Monstrous Compendium Appendix I  - 1994 [credits])

​

Tieflings are the offspring of the planes, as varied as the places they call home. Superficially human, their appearance always betrays them: some sport small horns, other have pointed ears, scales, a cloven hoof, or just a wicked gleam in their eye that never leaves. What they all have in common is a quick temper and a chip on their shoulder. They’re often confused with alu-fiends, erinyes, incubi, and succubi (which they’ll forgive), but never call a tiefling a bastard or a halfbreed. He’ll take it personal-like. Plane-touched is the word, or “sir” or “lady.”

Tieflings prefer dark clothing: a shade of maroon like clotted blood, dark forest green, blue as dark as lapis, and a midnight black that absorbs all light are their favorite colors. Their clothing is almost always a tight-fitting set of leggings, a vest, and tunic, combined with a loose flowing cape or long jacket with tails. They don’t seem to walk so much as slither, and a basher never wants to see one in a rage-the howls are louder than Pandemonium and more dangerous than the Tenth Pit.

Tieflings have no true society of their own; they are the outcasts of the planes, cast out of the Lower Planes, not trusted in the upper planes. Though many of them gather in Sigil, just as many others try to carve out a home in their own planes. They don’t trust others (what orphan does?), but their self-confidence is nothing short of astounding: a tiefling is said to have swum the River Styx because no one told him he couldn’t, and another climbed to the fifth heaven of Mount Celestia before the archons noticed him lurking among the shadows and cast him into the Abyss.

​

Tieflings have a reputation as great but deceitful lovers. Their fickleness in affairs of the heart is legendary, and seems closely bound to their reputation as tricksters, liars, and frauds. Tiefling gamblers rarely find planars to fleece; they depend on the clueless and the young to line their pockets.

Though tieflings are usually loners, a charismatic and powerful tiefling sometimes gains a small following of likeminded, young tieflings who hope to ride his coattails. These packs are called “schools,” though they teach hard lessons. Each school serves to glorify its founder and protect its members-it does little else. Some schools operate as informal thieves’ guilds, others are mage’s societies, but almost all of them collapse when the founder dies. Some of them are remembered, like the School of Sergory, which has continued in a way, but with most of them even the name dies. Sergory was a master thief and mage, and other schools somtimes take his name to inflate their own importance. How (or even whether) Sergory met his end is dark, and best kept that way.

Tieflings are often persecuted by humans and others; “If there’s blame, find a tiefling,” “Don’t ever make a bet with a tiefling,” and “If a tiefling didn’t do it, he was just pressed for time” are common sayings in Sigil. Naturally, this makes tieflings a little defensive around others, but it doesn’t make them band together, as it might for other oppressed races. Good tieflings are doubly committed to their cause, as if trying to make up for the race’s bad reputation.

Tieflings prefer to eat only meat, blood, bone, and marrow, preferably raw. They enjoy balaena blubber, gristle, and even roasted insects, which most races find disturbing. They drink strange concoctions of broth. oil. sulphur, and firewater, though they’ll hoist an ale with any bubber in Sigil if nothing else is available. When meat is unavailable, they can live for short perions on ashes, coal, and other mineral matter.
 

Combat: Tieflings are determined, stubborn, wily, and occasionally berserk warriors and talented mages. All tieflings gain a + 1 bonus to Intelligence and Charisma, and suffer a - 1 penalty to Strength and Wisdom. All tieflings have infravision to 60 and can create darkness 15’ radius once per day. Mage tieflings prefer spells like burning hands, unseen servant, blur, deeppockets, haste, fear, and domination. Tiefling priests are well known for employing protection from good, enthrall, flame walk, and undetectable lie spells, though the Powers that grant these spells usually remain nameless. All tieflings suffer only half damage from cold and gain a +2 to saving throws versus fire, electricity, and poison.

​

Because tieflings are not a brawny race, their weapons are light and quick, depending on speed and sharpness to make up for what they lack in weight and raw cleaving power. Despite its fragile appearance, tiefling weaponry is exceptionally deadly, not least because it is often poisoned. Typical weapons include the long sword, stiletto, throwing dagger, long spear, ranseur, hand crossbow, and scimitar. Punch daggers are also popular. Because almost half of all tieflings are ambidextrous, many fight in a two-handed style. Few tiefling warriors carry shields, prefering to rely on a form of well-crafted scale armor made from the hide of Lower Planar vermin.

​

Player character tieflings can be fighters, rangers, wizards (including specialists), priests, thieves, or bards. They can also follow multi-classed roads: fighter/wizard, fighter/priest, fighter/thief, wizard/thief, and priest/thief. Teiflings can reach level 14 as wizards, 15 as rogues, 10 as priests, and 12 as fighters. Single-class characters can exceed these limits by two levels.

​

​

​

(from Planescape Campaign Setting: A Player's Guide to the Planes  - 1994 [credits])

​

In the multiverse, few creatures are of pure lineage, and even fewer are what they seem to be. That's the greatest truth of the tiefling's existence. It's not advisable to ask a tiefling about his or her ancestors, as the answer wouldn't likely be pleasant. Part human and part something else, tieflings are the orphans of the planes. They can be described as humans who've been plane-touched. A shadow of knife-edge in their face, a little too much fire in their eyes, a scent of ash in their presence - all these things and more describe a tiefling. No planar would mistake a tiefling for a human, and most primes make the mistake only once. Tieflings live with both pride and shame of who and what they are. They have no culture of their own, and most are loners, which fits their background. Some slip into the edges of human society, becoming poets and artists who describe the corrupt fringes of the respectable world. Adventurous types often spend their years probing the unexplored edges of the multiverse, be it to survey strange lands or experiment in the forgotten niches of magical science.

Humans don't trust tieflings (and deep inside they fear them), but they remain inexplicably fascinated by tieflings just the same. The plane-touched are often accused of secret plots and awful alliances — mostly without a shred of proof — because of who and what they are. A tiefling learns early that life is unfair and hard. [Their] reaction is to fight back and never let [their] foes see the pain. Other people, even other tieflings, simply aren't viewed as allies and often are automatically considered enemies. A tiefling doesn't take a friend until he learns the measure of his companion, and even then he'll never fully trust anyone. "I watch my own back," is an old tiefling quip. They maintain no hereditary blood-feuds, but tieflings take care of themselves without any thought of others' problems.

​

Tiefling characters gain a +1 bonus on Intelligence and Charisma scores, but suffer a -1 penalty to Strength and Wisdom. Tieflings can be of any alignment save lawful good. They also gain a number of special abilities, based on their mysterious heritage: They possess infravision to a range of 60 feet and have the ability to create darkness, 15-foot radius once per day. Tieflings suffer only half damage from cold-based attacks, and they gain a +2 bonus to all saving throws vs. fire, electricity, or poison.

​

Tieflings can be fighters, rangers, wizards (including specialist mages), priests, thieves, or bards. They may also pursue multiclass options, including fighter/ wizard, fighter/priest, fighter/thief, wizard/thief, and priest/thief.

​

​

(From 5th Edition Player's Handbook - 2014 [credits])

​

“But you do see the way people look at you, devil’s child.”

​

Those black eyes, cold as a winter storm, were staring right into her heart and the sudden seriousness in his voice jolted her.

“What is it they say?” he asked. “One’s a curiosity, two’s a conspiracy—”

​

“Three’s a curse,” she finished. “You think I haven’t heard that rubbish before?”

​

“I know you have.” When she glared at him, he added, “It’s not as if I’m plumbing the depths of your mind, dear girl. That is the burden of every tiefling. Some break under it, some make it the millstone around their neck, some revel in it.” He tilted his head again, scrutinizing her, with that wicked glint in his eyes. “You fight it, don’t you? Like a little wildcat, I wager. Every little jab and comment just sharpens your claws.”

​

— Erin M. Evans, Brimstone Angels

To be greeted with stares and whispers, to suffer violence and insult on the street, to see mistrust and fear in every eye: this is the lot of the tiefling. And to twist the knife, tieflings know that this is because a pact struck generations ago infused the essence of Asmodeus—overlord of the Nine Hells—into their bloodline. Their appearance and their nature are not their fault but the result of an ancient sin, for which they and their children and their children’s children will always be held accountable.

​

Infernal Bloodline. Tieflings are derived from human bloodlines, and in the broadest possible sense, they still look human. However, their infernal heritage has left a clear imprint on their appearance. Tieflings have large horns that take any of a variety of shapes: some have curling horns like a ram, others have straight and tall horns like a gazelle’s, and some spiral upward like an antelopes’ horns. They have thick tails, four to five feet long, which lash or coil around their legs when they get upset or nervous. Their canine teeth are sharply pointed, and their eyes are solid colors—black, red, white, silver, or gold—with no visible sclera or pupil. Their skin tones cover the full range of human coloration, but also include various shades of red. Their hair, cascading down from behind their horns, is usually dark, from black or brown to dark red, blue, or purple.

​

Self-Reliant and Suspicious. Tieflings subsist in small minorities found mostly in human cities or towns, often in the roughest quarters of those places, where they grow up to be swindlers, thieves, or crime lords. Sometimes they live among other minority populations in enclaves where they are treated with more respect.

​

Lacking a homeland, tieflings know that they have to make their own way in the world and that they have to be strong to survive. They are not quick to trust anyone who claims to be a friend, but when a tiefling’s companions demonstrate that they trust him or her, the tiefling learns to extend the same trust to them. And once a tiefling gives someone loyalty, the tiefling is a firm friend or ally for life.

​

Met with Mistrust. Ignorant people tend to be suspicious of tieflings, assuming that their infernal heritage has left its mark on their personality and morality, not just their appearance. The reality is that a tiefling’s bloodline doesn’t affect their personality. They are gifted with magic from the infernal realms but chart their own course in life.

​

Tiefling Names:

Tiefling names fall into three broad categories. Tieflings born into another culture typically have names reflective of that culture. Some have names derived from the Infernal language, passed down through generations, that reflect their fiendish heritage. And some younger tieflings, striving to find a place in the world, adopt a name that signifies a virtue or other concept and then try to embody that concept. For some, the chosen name is a noble quest. For others, it’s a grim destiny.

​

Male Infernal Names: Akmenos, Amnon, Barakas, Damakos, Ekemon, Iados, Kairon, Leucis, Melech, Mordai, Morthos, Pelaios, Skamos, Therai

​

Female Infernal Names: Akta, Anakis, Bryseis, Criella, Damaia, Ea, Kallista, Lerissa, Makaria, Nemeia, Orianna, Phelaia, Rieta

“Virtue” Names: Art, Carrion, Chant, Creed, Despair, Excellence, Fear, Glory, Hope, Ideal, Music, Nowhere, Open, Poetry, Quest, Random, Reverence, Sorrow, Temerity, Torment, Weary

​

Tiefling Traits:

Tieflings share certain racial traits as a result of their infernal descent.

​

Ability Score Increase. Your Intelligence score increases by 1, and your Charisma score increases by 2.

​

Age. Tieflings mature at the same rate as humans but live a few years longer.

​

Size. Tieflings are about the same size and build as humans. Your size is Medium.

​

Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.

​

Darkvision. Thanks to your infernal heritage, you have superior vision in dark and dim conditions. You can see in dim light within 60 feet of you as if it were bright light, and in darkness as if it were dim light. You can’t discern color in darkness, only shades of gray.

​

Hellish Resistance. You have resistance to fire damage.

​

Infernal Legacy. You know the thaumaturgy cantrip. When you reach 3rd level, you can cast the hellish rebuke spell as a 2nd-level spell once with this trait and regain the ability to do so when you finish a long rest. When you reach 5th level, you can cast the darkness spell once with this trait and regain the ability to do so when you finish a long rest. Charisma is your spellcasting ability for these spells.

​

Languages. You can speak, read, and write Common and Infernal.