Unearthed Arcana Unearthed Arcana October 2017: Fiendish Options

So a bunch of fiendish subraces but only a point of ABS besides Charisma moved to other skills and some Legacy spells swaps, plus some cult spells and features.

It doesn't do much for my game.

 

[Guest 6801328]

Want to talk about what abilities they should have? Sure, lets do it....(etc.)

Great post.

It's funny but I didn't at all react to these options as a simplistic ("lazy") form of sub-races. In fact my reaction was more "Uh-oh...now people are going to want six variants of Drow and six variants of Rock Gnome..." and so on. I can see that if what you really wanted was a full sub-race like, well, Drow or Rock Gnome, you might find this disappointing.

On the other hand, they've done that already. This is an interesting experiment.

I like that it sticks with the basic framework for Tieflings (+2 Cha, a resistance, a cantrip, and two daily spells) but lets you pick the version that works best for whatever concept you have in mind.

 

[Chaosmancer]

I do like the flavor of the archdevils we get. I didn't know that Levistus focused on deals with those facing inescapable fates. That is a really useful bit of lore. Or Glasya who supposed to be involved with "familial bonds" but whose blessings can be turned against siblings. That's an interesting phrase for Asmodeus' only child to be involved with.

That sort of thing can never be wasted on me.

 

[Mephista]

Great post.

Thank you

In fact my reaction was more "Uh-oh...now people are going to want six variants of Drow and six variants of Rock Gnome..." and so on. I can see that if what you really wanted was a full sub-race like, well, Drow or Rock Gnome, you might find this disappointing.

Huh. Never thought that way myself. Wouldn't people ask for more subraces than to redo existing subraces?


Also, as an aside? I'm soooo tempted to just make Aasimar a tiefling subrace in my game that gets Wisdom, Guidance, DayLight and lesser restoration, then swap out for necrotic resistance. They'd fit right alongside Zariel's paladin themed subrace. Actually, I think that another WIS tiefling (cleric, druid) would be good to have as a whole... I mean, there are Ashmedai clerics, after all, and Fierna's the only WIS tiefling... I mean, heck, Dispater would make a good cleric tiefling with some tweaking, and there are knowledge and trickery subdomains they could use, and Dis is well known for being encased in armor....

 

[Guest 6801328]

Huh. Never thought that way myself. Wouldn't people ask for more subraces than to redo existing subraces?

Yes, but in the absence of more full-developed sub-races I could see them wanting "flavors":

"Can't I PLEEEEEASE have a Wood-elf with +1 Cha instead of +1 Wis? I mean, Tieflings get to pick their second stat...."

"Yes? Ok, now, instead of being able to Hide in dim light, how about...."

 

[Mephista]

Yes, but in the absence of more full-developed sub-races I could see them wanting "flavors":

"Can't I PLEEEEEASE have a Wood-elf with +1 Cha instead of +1 Wis? I mean, Tieflings get to pick their second stat...."

"Yes? Ok, now, instead of being able to Hide in dim light, how about...."

I have actually had people ask to swap out the high elf's bonus stat for Charisma instead of Intelligence. Mostly because they wanted to do a high elf valor bard, and took Prestigitation for the cantrip. I saw no reason to disallow something so small.

If someone wants to rewrite an entire subrace like that, then they get smacked upside the head and told that's just a new subrace, and then to go write one up if that's what they really want. I'm pretty flexible with new material, as long as its not too complicated. Complicated things get a nope.

 

[Guest 6801328]

I have actually had people ask to swap out the high elf's bonus stat for Charisma instead of Intelligence. Mostly because they wanted to do a high elf valor bard, and took Prestigitation for the cantrip. I saw no reason to disallow something so small.

If someone wants to rewrite an entire subrace like that, then they get smacked upside the head and told that's just a new subrace, and then to go write one up if that's what they really want. I'm pretty flexible with new material, as long as its not too complicated. Complicated things get a nope.

One thing that often gets lost on these boards is that some people happily homebrew (or have DMs who are very flexible) and others either simply enjoy playing within the confines of official rules and/or play Adventurer's League. For the latter the specifics of what becomes official is important. (In fact, I'm always somewhat surprised when folks in the first group get hot & bothered by the charops/rules debates here. Why do you care how WotC does it if you can just do your own thing?)

 

[Mephista]

*shrugs* Well, if we're in adventure league, then no one's going to be swapping out the drow spells, anyways. Either way, I'm still happy for more tiefling options.

While I'm not sold on tieflings being the magic-race, I'm not exactly opposed to it either. I'd like to see another WIS splat for doing a cleric, and revise a few of these subraces (dispater, mammon, probably levi too). Overall, I'd happily play Zariel, Glasya and Fierna tieflings as is. Glasya, especially, I'll probably use for my new default for most classes - that extra dot of dex is pretty tasty, and those spells are always handy to have, while the phb tiefling is pretty much a very specific warlock style.

 

[MechaTarrasque]

I do like the flavor of the archdevils we get. I didn't know that Levistus focused on deals with those facing inescapable fates. That is a really useful bit of lore. Or Glasya who supposed to be involved with "familial bonds" but whose blessings can be turned against siblings. That's an interesting phrase for Asmodeus' only child to be involved with.

That sort of thing can never be wasted on me.

Given that Asmodeus has been around forever, it makes me wonder if she has always been an "only child". I could see a very GoT like campaign where a tiefling member of the party was Assy's kid, and his "dear sister" Glasya is half heartedly trying to kill the him (and the party), based on her suspicion, until the middle of the campaign, when the suspicion is confirmed, and she tries to kill him in earnest.....

 

[tuxedoraptor]

these are pretty awesome, Just since we are using the pathfinder universe we just renamed them and modified them to fit our world. Zariel is now moloch and grants legacy of malbolge: blade ward as a cantrip, absorb elements as the first spell (one a day, at second level) and heat metal as the second. They get +1 charisma +2 constitution. If anyone wants the rest, just message me.

 

[Odunayo]

They have already tested out Abyssal Tieflings as a subrace (very Chaotic): these are more subtle variations on the Infernal theme, and could probably be handled best with a chart...