Immortality - Half-Fiends??

[Anders]

Are half-fiends immortal?

According to the example half-fiend in MM the half-fiend gets the native outsider subtype (and therefore needs to breathe, eat, drink and sleep), but it isn't mentioned if the half-fiend looses its ability to live forever (unless killed of course).

In Frostburn, the half-fiend harpy Azediel is mentioned as an immortal creature.

Can you all please help me sort this out?

Are half-fiends immortal (that is, they can live forever).

 

[ThirdWizard]

I'm fairly sure that Native Outsiders don't live forever. At least I know that Aasimar and Tieflings do not (they use the human aging rules IIRC). I would say that a half-fiend lives as long as the base creature, probably, although I don't think there's anything official on the matter.

 

[Alzrius]

There's no hard-and-fast rule that I know of.

It's commonly accepted across all editions of D&D (though I don't think 3(.5)E has out-and-out stated it) that creatures like demons, devils, and angels all live until they are killed.

However, there are also examples of Outsiders (ones without the Native subtype) that still grow old and die, such as the wildrens or shadowswyfts from the Planar Handbook. Add into that that half-fiends and -celestials are a mix of mortal and Outsider, and it's very hard to say.

On the one hand, you've found goodcircumstantial evidence that creatures with the half-fiend or half-celestial template will live until they're killed. On the other hand, since the Native subtype implies a "strong connection to the Material Plane", and since it seems to imply their mortality by saying they need to eat and sleep like mortals, you may just want to use the base creature's aging tables.

Ultimately, it's not firmly stated, so it's your call.

 

[Shemeska]

What the kitten said

I generally just extend the lifespan some from the base critter given the influx of celestial/fiendish blood. For a half-fiend human I'd use elf lifespan as a base and then perhaps move it up from there a bit.