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Planar Humans = Outsiders?

Soel

First Post
Going by the strict definition of an Outsider,Tiefling being part-fiendish thing (outsider) and part human (or other mortal race) just doesn't seem like it should qualify for outsider status in and of itself. Why should it have a unified body and soul? Same goes for many of the partial races like Genasi, Aasimar...

I know, semantics mainly, but I'm wondering about the in-game effects...Would a new type or subtype be desirable? How about removing the outsider status entirely, and would this by itself be worthy of an adjustment to LA?

Mind you, I'm running a 3.5 planar-based game, with a lotta color from 2e Planescape. I remember when tieflings were human and something else. Later they were 1 quarter fiendish blooded. I still have problems with the tieflings actually being a race on their own. (just how long will the fiendish blood run through their bloodlines?) Maybe the answer is a template (but not those half-fiendish/half-celestial ones.)
 

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Li Shenron

Legend
UltimaGabe said:
It's much more than that, though. Being born somewhere else doesn't change your race- it might change your views, and your diet, and maybe how you speak, but nothing can change your race, short of getting new parents. If two people from Cincinatti go down to Zimbabwe and get married and have children, their child will end up physically the same as if he was born in America, won't he? Same skin tone, same genes, same everything. He might talk a little different, and sure, he might end up with a tan, but he's still human, and he's still American (though that doesn't really mean anything). Just because a person is born on another plane doesn't mean he's soulless, can fly, is immune to things his parents aren't immune to, and is proficient with all simple and martial weapons. That's just silly. After all, what's so different about him? He's still born of the same parents, and is physically the same. So why would he be of a different type? Living among vermin wouldn't turn him into a bug, would it? Would living in the City of Brass turn him into a Fire Elemental? Creature type is a heck of a lot more than just where a person was born.

I thought in fact that the question was intended about "a human race from hell", not simply a human who was born during a trip of her parents, in which case I think she shouldn't even be extraplanar at all (maybe, on a DM's strict initiative, it could have a special mark tied to the story).
 

Shemeska

Adventurer
Soel said:
Going by the strict definition of an Outsider,Tiefling being part-fiendish thing (outsider) and part human (or other mortal race) just doesn't seem like it should qualify for outsider status in and of itself. Why should it have a unified body and soul? Same goes for many of the partial races like Genasi, Aasimar...

They're native outsiders, not outsiders. They still have a soul/body duality by virtue of their mortal blood.
 


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