I've reversed my stance on dragonborn and tieflings

[Mercule]

OTOH, many posters on these forums have been arguing in favor of making the flavor text as bland as possible, so it is easy to change. No racial flavor text survives first contact with my own homebrew for example.

I think it may be a case of too much detail. As illustrated below, the concept isn't bad. Just the details/implementation suck.

As I understand it, the Tiefling backstory is
Step One: There is a human empire with greedy noble houses
Step Two: The greedy noble houses say "We want phenomenal cosmic power"
Step Two A: The greedy noble houses subcontract the phenomenal cosmic power to the Nine Hells. Oops.
Step Three: Slaughtering those who oppose them, they perform multiple terrifying devil summonings
Step Four: They're twisted and marked unto the last generation to mark the covenant
Step Five: Kill everyone who isn't them, but fail, ultimately destroying the nation and scattering the survivors.

 

[Fallen Seraph]

My background for my Tieflings while still dealing with bloodlines (in hopes then that mechanics wise won't have to change much) is different. In my world, in the past as people delved deeply into arcane magic, which is called Seeking in my world. Bloodlines began to form, as those touched by the Seeking passed on the trait.

Some began to notice that the bloodlines of those with "rich-blood" began to developed "stains of the Seeking" which are physical traits that develop overtime as their bloodline becomes apparent.

Centuries have passed, and while most of these bloodlines died out during the Collapse, some still remain and occasionally a Tiefling is born when a bloodline in a child is especially strong.

 

[carmachu]

And drows.

Who only became cool when a certain unnamed duel weilding scimitar GOOD drow showed up and then everyone wanted to play drow. Kinda defeats your arguement, when folks want to play angst ridden good guys who suffer for what their evil race does.....

 

[Remathilis]

Why couldn't the PHB have classic races (dwarf, elf, gnome, halfling, half-elf, half-orc, and human) done in as setting-neutral a way as possible?

Classic in what way? Classic to D&D? Which edition? Classic to fantasy? Class to Tolkien? Classic to "they way I remember playing"? All or none of the above?

Bah. Mix it up some. I've done dwarven fighters, elven wizards, halfling rogues and human clerics for ten years now. I've tired of iconic gnome illusionists and half-orc barbarians. Give me a little something new. Even if its eladrin wizards, tiefling warlocks and dragonborn warlords. Get D&D out of "This is how its been since the 70's" and try something new.

 

[Relique du Madde]

Emo doesn't = dark and broody and evil
Emo = whinny and broody

Tiefling and warlocks does not = emo

Get your distinctions correct people.

 

[Cmarco]

I dunno. I like the tiefling. Always have, since Planescape first hit. Besides, nothing says you can't "re-fluff" the tiefling to be more palatable. My world does already feature a now-sundered empire of fiend worshippers, so I figure that the 4e tiefling will fit right in.

 

[coyote6]

FWIW the flavor text mentions small horns and thin tails (kind of like their early 3e/3.5 art), whcih I could dig a lot better. I like the look of the new design, but I don't think it meshes well with the flavor text / intent for the race.

I could deal with the horns iof the tail got smaller, but I would really like to see both reduced.

Interestingly, the DDI Desert of Desolation tiefling miniatures have small horns and thinner tails, and DoD is supposed to be a 4e preview.

 

[Will]

Relique: I think the point is that folks shooting for evil and dark end up whiny broody nitwits.

 

[bowbe]

How can I open a Tiefling brothel in 4E when it is so hard for them to lay on their backs with that fat tail? Why is the tail so big? Was there research done on tail sizes?
QUOTE]

You just described like 99% of the fan submissions we got for Bards Gate.


No Kidding.

I'm beginning to think its high time to create a game called "Brothels and Bordellos" so everyone can get their fantasy ho' on.

Wait... they tried that once didn't they?

Case

 

[JohnSnow]

Interestingly, the DDI Desert of Desolation tiefling miniatures have small horns and thinner tails, and DoD is supposed to be a 4e preview.

See, to me, those tieflings look cool. Diabolical? Certainly, but still cool. And a slight reimagining of appearance is par for the course with D&D races as far as I'm concerned.