Playing Tieflings

[Warpiglet]

Gang,

Just wondered if anyone has experience playing a Tiefling. I see the new book will have some variety and I have always been interested in the characters/lords/princes in the 9 Hells/Abyss.

I have interest in playing a tiefling to a point. My main sticking point is...

a giant tail. How do you interact with society while you have a giant tail? I like the exorcist creep out factor--thaumaturgy, hellish rebuke and darkness. I like the new tiefling feats in xanathars...

but a giant tail? I dunno. At least scag allows for smaller horns. Giant ram horns did not do it for me either...

How the hell do you play something so unusual in a "normal" campaign? If you have done so, what is it like? Has anyone heard about official options to alter their appearance further?

 

[Paul Farquhar]

It depends on how normal your normal is. If there are dragonborn wandering about town then folk may not look twice at a dude with a tail.

 

[MonsterEnvy]

Some Tieflings don't have tails. Though they could have somthing else that makes them look odd like Goat legs.

 

[Cornpuff]

Depends on what tracks as normal for your campaign. Most adventuring worlds include dragons, revenants, and devils, so a tail isn't gonna be that big a thing. And if so, you can work with the DM for a thinner tail or no tail.

 

[iserith]

My go-to tiefling character is Hex Arcana, a son of Dispater and entertainer-warlock, who is traveling the world in search of his golden fiddle which was stolen from him in a rigged fiddling contest. The winner of the contest also called him a hurtful name. He wears a big belt buckle that says "Don't Mess With Hexes." Hex has a disgusting imp familiar named Sh*tshow who is a liability as much as he is useful. Sh*tshow can play the jug with three X's on it.

He collects souls as he seeks his fiddle and can't return to Hell without both. Hex values his friends though and doesn't mess with their souls because he typically needs them for protection against those who don't cotton to tieflings or the like.

 

[BookBarbarian]

Gang,

Just wondered if anyone has experience playing a Tiefling. I see the new book will have some variety and I have always been interested in the characters/lords/princes in the 9 Hells/Abyss.

I have interest in playing a tiefling to a point. My main sticking point is...

a giant tail. How do you interact with society while you have a giant tail? I like the exorcist creep out factor--thaumaturgy, hellish rebuke and darkness. I like the new tiefling feats in xanathars...

but a giant tail? I dunno. At least scag allows for smaller horns. Giant ram horns did not do it for me either...

How the hell do you play something so unusual in a "normal" campaign? If you have done so, what is it like? Has anyone heard about official options to alter their appearance further?

Does a tail seem more disruptive than being 2 feet taller than most adventurers? Or being crotch height to a human? Or having a face that shines so bright you have to hide it behind a mask?

It's weird compared to a human society, but a blended D&D society might not even bat an eye at it.

 

[Warpiglet]

My go-to tiefling character is Hex Arcana, a son of Dispater and entertainer-warlock, who is traveling the world in search of his golden fiddle which was stolen from him in a rigged fiddling contest. The winner of the contest also called him a hurtful name. He wears a big belt buckle that says "Don't Mess With Hexes." Hex has a disgusting imp familiar named Sh*tshow who is a liability as much as he is useful. Sh*tshow can play the jug with three X's on it.

He collects souls as he seeks his fiddle and can't return to Hell without both. Hex values his friends though and doesn't mess with their souls because he typically needs them for protection against those who don't cotton to tieflings or the like.

that is some entertaining stuff. but does he have a giant TAIL?!

 

[Warpiglet]

Does a tail seem more disruptive than being 2 feet taller than most adventurers? Or being crotch height to a human? Or having a face that shines so bright you have to hide it behind a mask?

It's weird compared to a human society, but a blended D&D society might not even bat an eye at it.

true. We definitely are more human-centric than typical.

I think the other issue I don't necessarily LIKE the idea of a giant tail or giant horns. I am OK with clearly infernal traits like weird eyes or small horns, but the big stuff is too Anime for my brain's palate.

I have no problem with the social repercussions or penalties. I just don't like a giant tail or horns. I do like thaumaturgy, weird looks from the public and playing a good guy with a bad reputation...

 

[MechaTarrasque]

Maybe the tiefling had an accident/injury and the tail was amputated; make it a cursed wound or something like that so that it would take a wish spell to restore the tail.

 

[iserith]

that is some entertaining stuff. but does he have a giant TAIL?!

Yep, he would use it to play the washboard. It wasn't quite prehensile enough to play the spoons.