What are Tieflings good at?

[cmbarona]

I love the idea of tieflings, flavor-wise. But I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around where and how they can be effective mechanics-wise. As I'm sure a great many of you have noticed, they simply lack the synergies needed to excel in a lot of classes and builds. Many people call them the weakest of the PHB races, and as I tried to build a number of characters with them, I'm starting to agree. Perhaps it's just that they lack a number of appropriate options for maximizing their effect, which will be handled better in later sourcebooks; however, this is nor a useful argument for those who only own the PHB.

Whatever the case, I pose the question for powergamers everywhere:

How can Tieflings be effective?

 

[Thanee]

This is my opinion on what race is good for what class summed up...

LEADER       Dragonborn   Dwarf    Eladrin     Elf    Half-Elf  Halfling    Human   Tiefling
             +---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+
Battle       |         |         |         |         |         |         |         |         | Battle
Cleric       |  ++/+   |  ++/+   |    -    |    0    |    0    |    -    |   +/0   |    -    | Cleric
             |         |         |         |         |         |         |         |         |
             +---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+
Devoted      |         |         |         |         |         |         |         |         | Devoted
Cleric       |    0    |  ++/+   |    -    |  ++/+   |    0    |    -    |   +/0   |    -    | Cleric
             |         |         |         |         |         |         |         |         |
             +---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+
Inspiring    |         |         |         |         |         |         |         |         | Inspiring
Warlord      |   ++    |    -    |    -    |    -    |    +    |    0    |   +/0   |    +    | Warlord
             |         |         |         |         |         |         |         |         |
             +---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+
Tactical     |         |         |         |         |         |         |         |         | Tactical
Warlord      |    +    |    -    |    0    |    -    |    0    |    -    |   +/0   |    +    | Warlord
             |         |         |         |         |         |         |         |         |
             +---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+

DEFENDER     Dragonborn   Dwarf    Eladrin     Elf    Half-Elf  Halfling    Human   Tiefling
             +---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+
Great Weapon |         |         |         |         |         |         |         |         | Great Weapon
Fighter      |   ++    |    +    |    -    |    -    |    0    |    -    |   ++    |    -    | Fighter
             |         |         |         |         |         |         |         |         |
             +---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+
Guardian     |         |         |         |         |         |         |         |         | Guardian
Fighter      |    +    |    +    |    0    |    0    |    0    |    -    |    +    |    -    | Fighter
             |         |         |         |         |         |         |         |         |
             +---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+
Avenging     |         |         |         |         |         |         |         |         | Avenging
Paladin      |   ++    |    +    |    -    |   0/-   |    +    |    0    |   +/0   |    0    | Paladin
             |         |         |         |         |         |         |         |         |
             +---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+
Protecting   |         |         |         |         |         |         |         |         | Protecting
Paladin      |   ++    |    +    |    -    |   0/-   |    +    |    0    |   +/0   |    0    | Paladin
             |         |         |         |         |         |         |         |         |
             +---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+

STRIKER      Dragonborn   Dwarf    Eladrin     Elf    Half-Elf  Halfling    Human   Tiefling
             +---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+
Archer       |         |         |         |         |         |         |         |         | Archer
Ranger       |    -    |   0/-   |    +    |   ++    |    -    |    +    |   +/0   |    -    | Ranger
             |         |         |         |         |         |         |         |         |
             +---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+
Two-Blade    |         |         |         |         |         |         |         |         | Two-Blade
Ranger       |   +/0   |    +    |    0    |   +/0   |    -    |    -    |   +/0   |    -    | Ranger
             |         |         |         |         |         |         |         |         |
             +---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+
Brawny       |         |         |         |         |         |         |         |         | Brawny
Rogue        |    +    |    -    |    0    |    0    |    -    |    +    |    +    |    -    | Rogue
             |         |         |         |         |         |         |         |         |
             +---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+
Trickster    |         |         |         |         |         |         |         |         | Trickster
Rogue        |   0/-   |    -    |    +    |  ++/+   |    0    |   ++    |    +    |    0    | Rogue
             |         |         |         |         |         |         |         |         |
             +---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+
Deceptive    |         |         |         |         |         |         |         |         | Deceptive
Warlock      |    +    |    -    |    0    |    -    |   ++    |    +    |    +    |   ++    | Warlock
             |         |         |         |         |         |         |         |         |
             +---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+
Scourge      |         |         |         |         |         |         |         |         | Scourge
Warlock      |    0    |    +    |    0    |    -    |   ++    |    0    |    +    |    +    | Warlock
             |         |         |         |         |         |         |         |         |
             +---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+

CONTROLLER   Dragonborn   Dwarf    Eladrin     Elf    Half-Elf  Halfling    Human   Tiefling
             +---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+
Control      |         |         |         |         |         |         |         |         | Control
Wizard       |    -    |    0    |  ++/+   |    +    |    -    |    -    |   ++    |    +    | Wizard
             |         |         |         |         |         |         |         |         |
             +---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+
War          |         |         |         |         |         |         |         |         | War
Wizard       |   0/-   |    0    |   ++    |   +/0   |    -    |    -    |   ++    |   ++    | Wizard
             |         |         |         |         |         |         |         |         |
             +---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+

Legend           ++ perfect match     + good match        0 alright           - no good match

Bye
Thanee

 

[Piratecat]

Thanee, nice chart.

 

[Mr. Teapot]

Primarily, they're good Warlocks. By default, they are ironically best at the Fey Pact warlocks, but by focusing on Fire and Fear powers (Hellfire Blood, man) they can be good at any Pact.

That's the only class so far where they get bonuses to both a primary and secondary stat. They'll weirdly make good Bards when PHBII comes out.

Then they're pretty good (get bonus to primary stat) at Paladin, Wizard, and Artificer. And they get a bonus to a secondary stat for some other classes (Clerics, Rogues, both kinds of Warlords, Barbarians).

 

[yesnomu]

They make rather excellent Wizards, especially if you use plenty of Fire powers. The +2 Cha means you don't need to spend any points on it for Spell Focus.

 

[Nifft]

Thanee's chart has the right of it.

Tieflings are the only race IMHO that covers every role well.

Striker: Cha-based Warlock. Excellent.
Controller: Wizard. Use lots of fire.
Defender: Paladin; quite decent.
Leader: A most excellent Warlord.

Cheers, -- N

 

[DracoSuave]

Tieflings make VERY decent Paladins.

1) You get a bonus to a relevent stat.
2) You have an encounter ability that triggers off being attacked. Defenders get attacked. Therefore you'll use your encounter ability. It is also based off your primary stat.
3) Bloodhunt is awesome.
4) Fire resistance is more defense, tho narrow.
5) Bloodhunt is awesome.

As well, they make -very- decent Warlords of all four builds. You're the only race that's actually optimal for Resourceful Warlords, and regardless, the feat that turns Infernal Wrath into a 'everyone gets combat advantage against that enemy' counter-blast of awesome. But regardless, you don't NEED Martial Power to make them good because:

Bloodhunt makes Tieflings a lot more viable. It seems like '+1 to a condition' which is situational, until you realize it's +1 to half of all attacks that don't involve minions. That's not bad, not bad at all. It's hard to factor into builds tho, because you don't add it in constantly. So people go 'I'd rather a +1 all the time' without realizing that such a thing does not exist.

 

[Mal Malenkirk]

They are very solid wizards and warlocks.

But to me, they are great charismatic paladins. I mean, great. Ironic, I know, but it might be their best class and they might be the best race for it.

Next PC I make is a tiefling paladin.

Pros

+2 to charisma
+2 to Int (so I can use Dex as my dump stat and still have solid reflex defense)

+1 to bloodied foe

Infernal wrath (which keys off charisma, your primary stat). To use infernal wrath you need to get hit first. This happens all the time to a defender. It's their job!

A tiefling charismatic paladin using wrath on a bloodied foe is one point to hit ahead of a bloodied dragonborn charismatic paladin. And he'll do more damage on that attack.

Resist fire. Much more useful for a defender because now you give options to your wizard. When placing his flaming shpere he can pretty much ignore you if it will allow him to tag another monster. If push come to shove, he can also include you in the area of a fire spell if it will allow him to hit at least one more monsters. Your resistance to fire makes the tradeoff worthwhile.

Yes, charismatic tiefling paladin rule!

 

[Gort]

Thanee's chart has the right of it.

Tieflings are the only race IMHO that covers every role well.

Striker: Cha-based Warlock. Excellent.
Controller: Wizard. Use lots of fire.
Defender: Paladin; quite decent.
Leader: A most excellent Warlord.

Cheers, -- N

What, are you forgetting humans all of a sudden? And tiefling warlords really aren't that good since they don't have a strength bonus, which is the basis of pretty much all of their powers.

 

[Mal Malenkirk]

They are pretty good warlord. The best tactical warlord, IMO, and competent inspiring warlord (though in that role the DBs are untouchables).

If the foe is bloodied, their lack of a +2 to STR is pretty much negated. If they can use infernal wrath (and Warlord, like paladins, have an easy time qualifying) they also more than negate their lack of a STR bonus. Since fight rarely last more than 5 rounds, they routinely negate their lack of STR bonus 40 to 60% of the time.