D&D 5E Tiefling preview!

[gyor]

Thanks!

Really that's just the tip of the Ice Berg, mostly focused on the realms, which has an advantage in that thepact Tieflings are descended from the the previous type of Tieflings, which opens up a mix of both type of Tiefling plotlines, plus the FRCG tried to intergrate the new Tieflings into a variety of cultures where they felt it made sense, plus novels like Brim Stone Angels.

Now in the Nentar Vale Setting Tieflings are descended from Humans, not a different race of Tieflings and they're more culturally unified. In the Forgotten Realms there is alot more diversity. Although thanks to the keeping pure factor one parent can have very exotic origins in either settting, a Gold Dragon in human form has a child with a Tiefling which is born a Tiefling, but the dragon parents influence manifests in the form of that Tiefling child growing up to be a Dragon Sorceror and perhaps the influence of the competing Dragon and Infernal natures causes character challenges and development.

 

[gyor]

Another, your mother was captured by a Drow house seeking the secrets of how Tiefling always breed Tieflings. Given a choice of being a slave bred to goblins or being married to one of the Matron Mother's sons you Mother chose to join house Esvisen. With a Drow father and a Tiefling mother you may look like a Tiefling, but your heart is pure drow and you are a proud cleric of Lloth, enduring the weird experiments of your Matron Mother for the greater glory of the drow!

The fact that Tieflings have dark vision, chaotic leaning dispite devilish origins, and a fiendish appearance would mean they're not completely out of place in a drow city.

 

[Incenjucar]

You haven't actually answered the question other than to just state some perceived difference between "old" and "new". I want to hear all of the stories that you can create with the new... and how you might change the 5e tiefling to fit in your world. I couldn't care less about old vs new.

If you can't answer the question, that's fine... but ain't nobody got time for this. PHB hits next month, and I want your ideas.

I was illustrating that they both have a distinct range of stories to tell. One type of tiefling has the legacy of a culture and an entire race branded on their skin, while the other has the more personal, smaller story of an event between their parents. One is a race, with distance but not freedom from its origin, and the other is a most likely seen as the walking manifestation of a very personal and recent taboo with unknown effects. One type has a fallen empire and an essentially failed faith to ponder the value of, the other's daddy was a pit fiend and is probably still around devouring souls somewhere.

 

[Lalato]

I was illustrating that they both have a distinct range of stories to tell. One type of tiefling has the legacy of a culture and an entire race branded on their skin, while the other has the more personal, smaller story of an event between their parents. One is a race, with distance but not freedom from its origin, and the other is a most likely seen as the walking manifestation of a very personal and recent taboo with unknown effects. One type has a fallen empire and an essentially failed faith to ponder the value of, the other's daddy was a pit fiend and is probably still around devouring souls somewhere.

Hey... if you like to limit yourself with this stuff, more power to you. I still feel like you've sidestepped the question asked and decided to answer some other question that someone else asked.

 

[Incenjucar]

Hey... if you like to limit yourself with this stuff, more power to you. I still feel like you've sidestepped the question asked and decided to answer some other question that someone else asked.

I posit that there is a communication failure between us. Could you clarify your question? Also nothing I stated creates a limit. "Etc etc etc" after all.

You stated:

"A better question to ask is... How will you incorporate different tiefling stories and backgrounds in your campaign?

Will devils and other baddies be making pacts or having teh hot sex with the muggles? Will there be crazy magical experiments?
"

I supplied examples of both types of tiefling, but there are infinite options and each campaign is different.

 

[Lalato]

I posit that there is a communication failure between us. Could you clarify your question? Also nothing I stated creates a limit. "Etc etc etc" after all.

You stated:

"A better question to ask is... How will you incorporate different tiefling stories and backgrounds in your campaign?

Will devils and other baddies be making pacts or having teh hot sex with the muggles? Will there be crazy magical experiments?
"

I supplied examples of both types of tiefling, but there are infinite options and each campaign is different.

I understand. What I meant was that it's more interesting to see the "infinite options" than it is to just look at the standard old vs new. I'm willing to bet that what you labeled as "old" school is perfectly viable in 5e. What I'm asking is what will you do to make it viable in your campaign?

Some folks will likely just make the decision to not include them, which is a fine decision to make. But if you're going to include them, and you don't like the 5e default, what will you do to change it? If you do like the default, what kind of stories will it inspire in your campaign world? Thanks for providing one such story.

 

[Incenjucar]

I understand. What I meant was that it's more interesting to see the "infinite options" than it is to just look at the standard old vs new. I'm willing to bet that what you labeled as "old" school is perfectly viable in 5e. What I'm asking is what will you do to make it viable in your campaign?

Some folks will likely just make the decision to not include them, which is a fine decision to make. But if you're going to include them, and you don't like the 5e default, what will you do to change it? If you do like the default, what kind of stories will it inspire in your campaign world? Thanks for providing one such story.

About the same I do for humans, honestly. None of this takes a special effort, it's just "Yeah they exist." unless your campaign needs more detail. Classic tieflings have individual origins, rather than being a full-fledged race, so their stories are fairly specific to that individual, while a cursed tiefling has a culture on top of their race, so their story may involve their culture instead of their racial origin - their culture predates their race, after all.

Some tieflings are obviously tieflings, some are not. Some tieflings have a spiritual taint from their supernatural parent(s), some do not. Some tieflings embrace or fear their origin, others ignore it. Some are treated as monsters, others are treated about as differently as if they had freckles. Tieflings can be born to any other race, and each race or culture of that race will treat such unions differently. There isn't a singular grand story for tieflings in most campaigns, and that's kind of their point.

As for the current ones, if you wanted to give them a different story they could easily be fire genasi or a race of very clever colonial tree shrews that have mastered a joining spell that has some explosive side-effects but largely allows them to act as a singular organism.


Really part of the point of the old tieflings is so a player could make a character who was sort of their own race without needing a whole species of them.

 

[gyor]

"Really part of the point of the old tieflings is so a player could make a character who was sort of their own race without needing a whole species"

I never really thought of the old tieflings that way, at least not exactly, I thought of them as the fiendish Mutants, like a more fiendish X-Men.

Well these are my favourite mechanics for Tieflings even if they are slightly underpowered at certain levels, although I can't get it out of my head that the 5e Tiefling ate parts of the old Tiefling (Darkness), the 4e Tiefling (Fluff and Hllish Rebuke), and weirdly what I would expect the Aasimar would have had in 5e Thaumaturgy (although if they do the Planetouched I can see Aasimar getting Guidance instead as that fit thematically as well).

 

[gyor]

Its driving me nuts not knowing what Hellish Rebuke is like in 5e.

I mean I know how it worked in 4e, but its was an atwill in a different system. Now its like a daily spell, most likely for Warlocks and Tieflings.

So I expect the damage to be higher. I figure its either a potent retalitory blast of flames, perhaps as a reaction, or split between an attack and a retalation.

Or and this is just a feeling, but it could be more like Spiritual Weapon or Flaming Sphere, but more retaliation.

Instead of a sphere of fire or a spiritual weapon, you end up enchanted for 1 minute, anyone who hits you within that minute gets nailed, say 1d8 +Charisma mod fire damage. The warlock verison would scale for more damage in higher slots, but for the Tiefling this would be it. I'm basing this on mixing 4e Hellish Rebuke and 5e Spiritual Weapon. Smaller chance of it being any enemy who ends up beside you, but I think anyone who hits you is more likely. Just a guess.

 

[RoseNDagger]

Just curious why Tieflings have to be evil. Yes they have demon blood, but why can't one struggle against that and follow the path of righteousness?