D&D 5E Tiefling preview!

[CasvalRemDeikun]

Now that's interesting. No sub-races? It's uncertain what the next page might hold, of course, but the ability score bonuses feel "complete."

It would have been nice if there was a Demonic subrace that got +1 to Constitution instead of Intelligence. Maybe a few other trait differences. Overall, there isn't much that I disagree with here.

 

[I'm A Banana]

Next page, no great change in my outlook.

I do think it's pretty interesting that they have a racial ability that "levels up" (at least up to level 5). Might be a useful thing to crib for doing more monstrous races in the future.

I feel people are again complaining about the orange slice in their free drink. The looks have no effect on how the tiefling plays in your campaign. What I would have preferred is some story meat like variant tiefling abilities - even without any mechanical benefits (but those might be on the next page).
E.g.
56 - You can talk to snakes and read what their skins say.
57 - You can see ethereal beings and invisible spirits.
58 - Your touch turns holy water into regular water.
Etc.

I don't like the 4e tieflings either but there's one picture of them I really like:
View attachment 62734

A) That is good artwork of an (IMO) ridiculous lookin' critter. I hope the 5e Flumph artwork is that good.

B) Appearance totally has an effect on gameplay. Not impossible to change, but the effect is there.

C) Yeah, a table of little bits like that would be cool.

The word people should be considering is "CORE".

A) Of course there's no fun police who will force you to play something you don't want.

B) Default Effects can still be a problem ("alternates" or "variants" are considered "special")

C) If only Basic is Core, then no tiefling is core, so they shouldn't have to worry much about selecting one true tiefling to be core.

 

[Porter Williams]

I will throw in as someone who loved the 4E Tiefling, likes the picture presented here, and also really digs the book that quote came from (Brimstone Angels, great book!). That particular image is the main character from those books by Erin Evans, Farideh, a Tiefling warlock. You can tell by the silver and gold eyes.

That being said, I'm not completely thrilled by the stats of the Tiefling presented here. I'll totally play them, though.

 

[Obryn]

I'm not happy, nor do I like the art. But I find the level of agreement in the thread disconcerting - where are the pro voices?

Why bother? I mean, really.

Racial fluff is about the most mutable thing in D&D, and pretty much invariably the first thing tweaked in any home campaign. This is another "heart and soul of D&D" or "being right on the Internet" issue. Which is to say, I think arguing about it is pretty dumb. Don't like it? You don't even need any rules changes, for pete's sake. This doesn't even rise to the level of "second wind" when it comes to tweaking the game.

 

[Lalato]

I like both the 4e Tiefling and the 2e Tiefling. So no problem for me on this.

The art is OK. I don't have a problem with the visible brush strokes. I do have a problem with the super model pose. That tells me nothing about a character, unless that character is someone that walks the runway for Valentino.

 

[Xodis]

I'm Canadian. I'm using the form of measurement accepted by 95.7% of the world.

Yet 0% of the world using this measurement have even been to the moon....

 

[Remathilis]

Actually, the stats look pretty decent for a generic tiefling.

Ability scores: + to Int and Cha matches 2e and 4e, Majority rules.
Darkvision: Matches the classic Infravision of the original Tiefling
Fire Resistance: Matches 4e's. While 2e had 1/2 cold (and +2 to fire/electric/poison) and 3e had FCE 5 resist, this seems like a decent replacement. Half-damage from fire attacks is probably more useful than minor bonuses to a bunch of them.
Infernal Legacy: Thaumaturgy is an interesting choice (giving yourself strange appearances and manifestations? Yes please!) Hellish Rebuke (is a spell?) is most likely a nod to 4e, while darkness is a nod to the 2e and 3e era ones. Best of both worlds.

In addition, the racial stats seem to disconnect from the appearance (no prehensile tails or horn-gores) meaning re-skinning them as plane-touched with a hint of fiendish blood seems trivial.

 

[Savage Wombat]

Why bother? I mean, really.

Racial fluff is about the most mutable thing in D&D, and pretty much invariably the first thing tweaked in any home campaign. This is another "heart and soul of D&D" or "being right on the Internet" issue. Which is to say, I think arguing about it is pretty dumb. Don't like it? You don't even need any rules changes, for pete's sake. This doesn't even rise to the level of "second wind" when it comes to tweaking the game.

I disagree - because I like to play with miniatures. Esoteric races are harder to customize to your vision of the character.

But it's not a dealbreaker.

 

[Anthraxus]

I'm actually starting to come around on 5E, but somewhat displeased by the Tiefling art(concept, along with the execution), as well as the infernal background on the Race...

Big fan of the Planescape Tiefling here. Big non-fan of the massively(massively!)-horned 4E ones.

 

[Remathilis]

I'm actually starting to come around on 5E, but somewhat displeased by the Tiefling art(concept, along with the execution), as well as the infernal background on the Race...

Big fan of the Planescape Tiefling here. Big non-fan of the massively(massively!)-horned 4E ones.

The stats themselves work fine for PS tieflings (with a light bit of refluffing) and I wager a book devoted to the planes will touch on other types of tieflings.

What is also nice is that it looks like you could replicate the customization of the 2e Planeswalker's Handbook: just choose a different resistance (cold, electric, poison, necrotic) and pick different spells (Cantrip and two 2nd level spells) to replace Thaumaturgy/Hellish Rebuke/Darkness. Swap Infernal for Abyssal and your all set.