D&D 5E Tell me about your tieflings

[MiraMels]

This week I started a new campaign, as a DM, and during character creation I discovered that a player and I had very different assumptions about what tieflings were (origins, characteristics, aesthetic, status of their soul, etc.) We got on the same page eventually, but in doing so I read up on tieflings across the editions, and discovered they've been a lot of things over the years.

In 2nd and 3rd edition, tieflings were "planar mutts" of the fiendish variety. No two were exactly alike, from their physical characteristics, to the circumstances of their creation.

In 4th edition and 5th edition, tieflings are proper race, kinda. They were humans transformed by some ancient act of Great Magic that involved the devils, and any child that has at least one tiefling involved in their creation will also be a tiefling. (Or at least, that's the story in the Dawn War setting; the Realms tieflings got updated to this model via Asmodeus' Pact Primeval, and that tidbit survived the transition from 4th to 5th.) Regardless of the setting differences, these Tieflings all have a common origin, similar physical characteristics, and a shared history.
Personally, I prefer the "common origin" tieflings because it helps keep my settings Lower Fantasy, with far less planar traffic to account for, and a simplified cosmology.

That said, I'm less interested in talking about my preferences, and more curious about yours. So, tell me about your tieflings! Do you use them? Do you like them? What's their story at your table? (Did I get anything wrong about the tiefling canon?)

 

[Sunseeker]

All tieflings (and similarly all "touched" races like dragonborn, damphir, genasi, aasimar, etc...) vary greatly based on their ancestry. I draw heavily from Pathfinder's "Blood of..." series for inspiration and always allow my players to define any characteristics that are non-mechanical in nature, or included in existing allowable mechanics. EX in the SCAG book Tieflings have variants that include bat wings, but no other styles. I see no reason why they can't be bird-like, scaly or whatever provided there are no alterations to the mechanics. I like the variety and I like to allow my player's imagination to roam freely when creating and playing their character and I will lean in that direction whenever given the option.

 

[Caliban]

In my home campaign, there are two main groups of Tieflings, with others cropping up in the population from time to time due to recessive genes matching up.

The first group comprise the ruling families of the island kingdom of Schaden. Also known as the Isle of the Lich King. Their origin dates back to the mortal days of their king - he was a warlock who made a deal with a fiend, then later made a new bargain for powers beyond those granted by the Warlock class. He became king, he protected his people, and as part of the new bargain, every ruling family had one or more of their children also make pacts. The large number of warlocks among the ruling elite, all making pacts with the same Fiendish patron had an unintended side effect. Their children started being born with fiendish traits.

Eventually all the noble families were predominantly tieflings, with fewer human children being born every generation. Each family has their own distinct look, but at the same time they have a certain familial resemblance to each other as well. And the Warlock King eventually became a Lich King, ruling over them all to this day.

The second main group of Tieflings in my game are all one family - a noble family that fled Schaden while the Lich King was still stabilizing his power base. They did not like the terms of the bargain the Lich Kings patron would force upon them, but in order to protect themselves instead entered into a bargain with a different Fiendish patron. They only refer to their patron as "Grandfather" and now all members of the main family line are Tieflings, and many of them become warlocks -all with Grandfather as their patron. Family lore has it that "Grandfather" takes a more "hands on" approach to his extended family, often attributing any fortune or windfall as his doing - and likewise any unfortunate events that befall their enemies are also the work of Grandfather.

They rule a duchy in the human kingdom they fled too. They have a somewhat unsavory reputation - they are known to accept all manner of monstrous humanoids as servants and minions. They are also rumored to run a criminal network that stretches across several kingdoms. But they always pay their tithes on time and the king never has to worry about monster intrusions making it through their territory.

 

[iserith]

I just use whatever lore the players who create tiefling characters come up with.

If nobody takes one, then I don't worry about it. I haven't seen a tiefling PC in a while.

 

[Shadowdweller00]

I use kind of a combination of both. In some of my homebrew world settings there are races of tieflings. Individual tieflings may be born, possess a bit of fiendish blood as per standard planetouched, or gain tiefling-like characteristics from fiendish pacts or curses - even in settings where bloodlines exist. Hereditary tieflings tend to have common morphological characteristics.

 

[Zardnaar]

More or less don't use them. They are not exactly banned but they have not yet been picked.

I saw one in 3.0 maybe and once in 5E with a group of randoms.

 

[Miladoon]

Currently, Tieflings are the offspring of a sleeping immortal bound forever in an ancient monolith that has recently been removed from a dark entity's treasure trove. Impregnated by the Great Old One prior to her imprisonment/sleep, she woke up mighty feisty.

If it is any consolation, half-orcs came from the same monolith. Different immortal. Hey what does the GOO care?

 

[Ath'kethin]

Tieflings to me represent the nadir of the "edginess" D&D was desperately trying to cash in on in the 90s as an attempt to meet the World of Darkness style games on their own terms.

I have never seen one played, ever, and have had no use for them as NPCs. They are not an allowed race in my 5e campaigns, and no one has chosen to play one in any of the AL games in which I've participated (or any Pathfinder Society games either, for that matter).

 

[Caliban]

Tieflings to me represent the nadir of the "edginess" D&D was desperately trying to cash in on in the 90s as an attempt to meet the World of Darkness style games on their own terms.

I have never seen one played, ever, and have had no use for them as NPCs. They are not an allowed race in my 5e campaigns, and no one has chosen to play one in any of the AL games in which I've participated (or any Pathfinder Society games either, for that matter).

Weird. I play a Tiefling Warlock in Adventure League and have thought about starting a Tiefling Bard (Edward Van Hellsinger).

One of the PC's in my home game is a Tiefling (Fighter/Warlock) from the noble family in the human kingdom. (Other PC's are an Aasimar Monk, and an Elf Wizard/Bladesinger - used to also have a Gnome Wizard, Halfling Rogue, and Triton Cleric, but scheduling conflicts caused them to have to drop out.)

I've also used a few Tieflings as NPC's, as they are part of a major plotline.

Not saying your doing it wrong or anything. Just that for me, they are simply another option for race and I have no problem playing them if I come up with an interesting character concept.

 

[pming]

Hiya!

"All of the above". When someone makes a tiefling for my game, they can come up with a reason/back story, I add/modify it, they change their idea, I add in my own 2 coppers, they switch something around, I say cool, they say cool, and we're off to the races.

In my 5e campaign, most tieflings played (I think there's been maybe 4 played since 5e came out) have gone with a more "recessive gene" sort of idea; someone in the characters deep, dark family history, someone knocked up/got knocked up by an extra-planner baddie or someone/thing with enough of a connection the said bad guys (e.g., powerful warlock, high-level cleric, anti-paladin, etc). I think one of those four was a "My dad is a devil" type of tiefling.

As for procreation for the whole "tieflings as a race" idea...I don't like it. Same thing with half-elves and such. I go by a more 1e take on that; if a half-whatever has sex with anything else, the offspring will be a human. I liken it to the whole "humans are durable and adaptable". I figure this may as well start with conception. So a half-orc and a half-elf, will have a human. A half-elf and an elf, will still have a human...one reason why there are so many humans then any other race.

Now, tieflings...they're a bit different. They don't play by the same rules (most extra-planner bad guys don't!). So, with tieflings, they are more a "tainted bloodline for all time" kind of thing. Theoretically, someone could have two, three or more generations 'skipped', and then blammo!...out pops a bundle of joy with bright red skin, cat eyes, horn nubs, and a tail. Surprise!

^_^

Paul L. Ming