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Message: <blockquote data-quote="I'm A Banana" data-source="post: 6332215" data-attributes="member: 2067">The Turathi tiefling is explicit in what unpleasant thing happened in its ancestry. From the Compendium: The central question with that might very well be "Are you responsible for the sins of your ancestors?" The central question with the PS tiefling isn't that. How you became what you are isn't explicit, because the PS tiefling isn't about ancestors or sin. You clearly are NOT responsible for those sins, because you aren't even conscious of what those sins were or if they were even sins to begin with or if they were who committed them or for what reason. Doesn't matter. Instead, the question is less about setting information and Proper Noun Places, and more about your place in society now. "How do you survive in a world where people are hostile do you because of what you are?"It's just a different narrative. So, not "exactly the same." Wolverine is a mutant in a world hostile to mutants, his heritage and ancestry and who his great-grandfather is isn't really a big part of the story, but how he copes with that world is.  It wouldn't be the same story if instead we talked a lot about the genetic lineage that produced him. I'm inclined to believe that the designers aren't going to waste 250 words in their tightly-packed books for things they think shouldn't really matter. The story they're telling is Akrhosia and Bael Turath and dragonborn and collapse and rebirth and history and lineage. That's not the same story as the PS tiefling's story. Hell, in some ways, it's almost counter -- "orphans of the planes" and the ambiguity over what might be the cause of the tieflings' nature imply that they don't really know WHAT gave rise to them, they don't have a history, they're creatures without much world context. That has a pretty significant effect on how one RPs a character. It'd be more precise to say that I like the original tiefling narrative of being the orphans of the planes. Among the things I like about it is that it resonates with PS themes that I'm fond of (infinte shades of grey because you are literally the spawn of some version of hell but aren't necessarily evil; atypical fantasy because you are marked in the urban centers that centralize the setting; redefining reality because you get to define your own identity and change the biases of society as you gain levels). The changed tiefling narrative just isn't that, so it's not what I'm looking for. Why would there be? The race in PS isn't cohesive or connected by shared history or culture or experience or even abilities, necessarily. It's a term of convenience applied to a group of creatures that share broad traits (that is, being physical manifestations of weird lower-planar aspects). You aren't born into a family of tieflings with volumes of Tiefling History on the shelves, you're just told that your weird little horns make you part of this hated group, so you need to leave now.  And sure, lots of races might fill the "dark lonely outcast antihero" character niche. Drow in FR are a big one. Half-orcs are a classic. Tieflings are the PS take on that. I didn't find "darkly charming" to be a central part of the narrative. It didn't change the essential story, so I didn't mind it. Whether they're charming or not doesn't change the core story of the race as a people of outcasts and societal rejects. The Bael Turath story does change that, and while it's a fine story, it's not the story I'm really looking for when I want to play a tiefling.</blockquote>

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