D&D (2024) Fate of the feral tiefling?

[Charlaquin]

No, they have a choice of alternate abilities, including wings.

Winged Tiefling is an independent option from Feral Tiefling. The former replaces your Infernal Legacy trait. The latter replaces your Ability Score Increase trait. You can of course take both if you like. And I see no reason you couldn’t still use the former with the One D&D Tiefling.

 

[Tonguez]

Winged Tiefling is an independent option from Feral Tiefling. The former replaces your Infernal Legacy trait. The latter replaces your Ability Score Increase trait. You can of course take both if you like. And I see no reason you couldn’t still use the former with the One D&D Tiefling.

Feral tiefling gives vicious mockery, enthrall and hellfire too

 

[Aldarc]

Yeah, you've touched on my main issue with Teifling too: the complete exorcism of their true nature as soul sucking hellspawn in favour of persecuted minority.

I don't think that they were ever the former; however, the latter is what made them popular with a lot of minority and marginalized groups.

 

[MonsterEnvy]

Yeah, you've touched on my main issue with Teifling too: the complete exorcism of their true nature as soul sucking hellspawn in favour of persecuted minority.

yeah sure I like the delightful traveller and the angsty goth as much as anyone, but I dont need an entire race of them.
I too want the maddening whispers, psychological terror and flesh rending hellfire

That was never the Tieflings deal, are you thinking of Cambions? Tieflings have always been largely normal folk with fiendish appearances.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

That was never the Tieflings deal, are you thinking of Cambions? Tieflings have always been largely normal folk with fiendish appearances.

That's not quite true.

In 3E, Tieflings were presented as "usually Evil" monsters (literally), that might sometimes, freakishly, be non-Evil, and were only playable optionally with a +1 Level Adjustment (a poorly justified one at that - you can get a hell of a lot more for +1 LA!). The description is quite at odds with that of 2E, which stresses that whilst Tieflings are always dealing with a bit of darkness, most of them are indeed pretty normal. Bizarrely 3E also gave them a Charisma penalty, whereas literally every other edition they've appeared in, including the 2E original, gave them a bonus! I mean basically whoever wrote them for 3E really didn't like them.

So people who started with 3E, or first saw Tieflings in 3E, tend to have an inaccurate perspective of them originally being these, as @Tonguez crudely puts it "soul sucking hellspawn".

But Tonguez and others should realize that is not their origin point. Their origin point is actually more as unfairly distrusted and just the victims of their inheritance. The idea that them being somewhat goth-y is novel in some way is obviously untrue if one reads the original Planescape material. Sheesh, it was part of their appeal, and what got them started on the path to being one of the most popular races in D&D. I mean, that said, the fact that you can lean in to the demonic nature and being a scary bastard is also definitely part of why their appeal is so broad.

 

[Kobold Avenger]

I don't think that they were ever the former; however, the latter is what made them popular with a lot of minority and marginalized groups.

They definitely were the marginalized minority, it's how they were originally conceived in Planescape where they first appeared. As a minority myself, the 2e interpretation is certainly the one I prefer.

And to further connect them to some marginalized groups, another Planescape product back in 1994 outright addresses Tiefling sexuality, and states they tend to be more "experimental", and suggests that many of them are non-binary or intersex.

 

[Aldarc]

They definitely were the marginalized minority, it's how they were originally conceived in Planescape where they first appeared. As a minority myself, the 2e interpretation is certainly the one I prefer.

And to further connect them to some marginalized groups, another Planescape product back in 1994 outright addresses Tiefling sexuality, and states they tend to be more "experimental", and suggests that many of them are non-binary or intersex.

I prefer the 4e one, but that's mainly because it comes with hooks in the 4e implied setting - also I couldn't stand most of the 3e tiefling art - but I don't necessarily think that one is better than the other nor do I think that this is really worth debating.

 

[Mind of tempest]

Yeah, you've touched on my main issue with Teifling too: the complete exorcism of their true nature as soul sucking hellspawn in favour of persecuted minority.

yeah sure I like the delightful traveller and the angsty goth as much as anyone, but I dont need an entire race of them.
I too want the maddening whispers, psychological terror and flesh rending hellfire

you can't play an evil hell sawn in most groups secondly even if you could they would not be in the phb but in the book of edge dimness and stupid evil.

if you tire of the present classics literally just rip off comic hell boy it will add variety instantly.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

And to further connect them to some marginalized groups, another Planescape product back in 1994 outright addresses Tiefling sexuality, and states they tend to be more "experimental", and suggests that many of them are non-binary or intersex.

Yeah I vaguely remember that and thinking it was cool at the time. It's also probably the origin-point of them becoming the unofficial "LGBTQ" race (even though most people playing them now never read that, it's just a cultural radiation from that).

 

[Tonguez]

I don't think that they were ever the former; however, the latter is what made them popular with a lot of minority and marginalized groups.

I’m polynesian, thus also a minority, I certainly dont find comfort in having my marginal status analogized in the form of an infernal taint from the Nine Hells.

But Tonguez and others should realize that is not their origin point. Their origin point is actually more as unfairly distrusted and just the victims of their inheritance. The idea that them being somewhat goth-y is novel in some way is obviously untrue if one reads the original Planescape material. Sheesh, it was part of their appeal, and what got them started on the path to being one of the most popular races in D&D. I mean, that said, the fact that you can lean in to the demonic nature and being a scary bastard is also definitely part of why their appeal is so broad.

thank you Ruin Explorer for touching on the 3e incarnation of Tiefling that did emphasize that they were widely stereotyped as wicked, cruel, and criminal individuals. With many live up to this image.

you can't play an evil hell sawn in most groups secondly even if you could they would not be in the phb but in the book of edge dimness and stupid evil.

if you tire of the present classics literally just rip off comic hell boy it will add variety instantly.

but yeah, much of my distaste for Tieflings comes from the fact that they are shoehorned in for the sake of edginess. The invoke the infernal taint of the Nine Hells and then choose to entirely ignore it so that certain players get to play their angsty edgey hero without having to explicitly recognise the mythic origins.

compare that to the Orc who are still being tagged as Aggressive savage brutes opposed to all thats good, even while the literal spawn of Asmodeus are being embraced as ‘delightful funloving goofs’