First house rule: Tieflings have small horns

[Mighty Veil]

My house rule will probably have them with small horns (if any) and no tail.

 

[hong]

I'm going to remove the tiefling tail and horns entirely, and turn them into Numenorean/Mleni Melnie Melneeb Elric ubermensch types. Their angst will derive from how their racial bonuses don't actually match their exalted origins (for PCs anyway).

 

[hong]

Tieflings should have a tail attack, or at least a racial feat that gives them a tail sweep.
Maybe a tiefling weapon/armor with spikes that is attached to their tail.
I wanna use that tail for something.

Tiefling tail cut!

 

[TPK]

I'm going to remove the tiefling tail and horns entirely, and turn them into Numenorean/Mleni Melnie Melneeb Elric ubermensch types. Their angst will derive from how their racial bonuses don't actually match their exalted origins (for PCs anyway).

You know, that's not bad. Melniboneans would be a very good fit for both the fluff and the crunch we have seen thus far. Beautiful, tainted warlocky bastards. Much better than the current batch that currently sit somewhere between monstrous (eyes that glow with hellfire, great big horns) and ridiculous (ginormous floppy tails, mutant bone-beards).

*Yoink*

Now for a less tongue-twisting name...

 

[duke_Qa]

this is imo the best tiefling art that i've seen as of yet. Horns aren't hooked up to her eyebrows(as far as we can see) avoiding that permament elephant-man frown that i dislike on the other pictures.

the tail bothers me very little, even though i prefer those who aren't too big.

in the end, it will be interesting to see if the final tiefling art looks more like this one than the others we've seen as of yet...

 

[Soel]

That's the best O'Connor pic I've ever seen.

I want 2e Planewalker's Handbook style tieflings for my 4e, except I'm gonna cll them Cambions.
(want them all to ber unique, and I don't mind ditching the cambion demons just to swipe the name.)

 

[Immolate]

Since the back-story of tieflings make their infernal characteristics a perversion of their baseline humanity that is inflicted upon them as a reminder of the pact, I think that treating the expression of those traits as if they were some narrow variation of evolutionary development is unnecessarily restrictive. The traits can and should have a certain randomness about them. I believe that the best way to inject unpredictability into physical traits of devilish origin is to allow each player to choose their own.

Remember, DMs, that tieflings and dragonborn are baselined as uncommon. Tieflings avoid gathering into concentrated groups to prevent other races from seeing them as a threat. One tiefling, like one biker, will be noticed, but other people don't flee at the sight of one or organize a mob of pitchfork-wielding townsfolk to chase them off. But imagine yourself pulling into a road-side eatery for a bite, when a hoard of thirty to forty bikers pull up in a swarm, sporting colors and parking in precise rows of gleaming crome and growling power. There are few among us whose survival instincts wouldn't kick it up a notch.

YMMV, and that is the beauty of Dungeons and Dragons, but assuming that you adopt the baseline, tieflings will add color and interest to the makeup of your world without overwhelming it. I don't see any reason to prevent the players from realizing their internal conceptualization of what their tiefling looks like to support their idea of the character overall. Certainly, the most exaggerated cases will result in a great deal of sideways looks and subtle (or not-so-subtle) prejudice, but that is the essence of the joy of playing a non-human character. Keep in mind that your players control only the appearance of their characters. You control the rest.

 

[MadBlue]

I think I'll find some good DiTerlizzi or similar tiefling pictures online, print them out, then paste them over the tiefling art in my copy of the PHB.

People always say this, but does anyone ever do it?

 

[Cirex]

In my opinion, those horns and the tail are a tad too big, like, exaggerating the demonish ascentry. I will leave the option to my players to decide how big their tail is (...) and the horn-style, depending their ancestry. That if anyone decides to play a Tiefling.

 

[Wolfspider]

Tiefling tail cut!

mmmmm