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Tiefling

2602

Tieflings are the offspring of the planes, as varied as the places they call home. Superficially human, their appearance always betrays them: some sport small horns, other have pointed ears, scales, a cloven hoof, or just a wicked gleam in their eye that never leaves. What they all have in common is a quick temper and a chip on their shoulder. They’re often confused with alu-fiends, erinyes, incubi, and succubi (which they’ll forgive), but never call a tiefling a bastard or a halfbreed. He’ll take it personal-like. Plane-touched is the word, or “sir” or “lady.”

Tieflings prefer dark clothing: a shade of maroon like clotted blood, dark forest green, blue as dark as lapis, and a midnight black that absorbs all light are their favorite colors. Their clothing is almost always a tight-fitting set of leggings, a vest, and tunic, combined with a loose flowing cape or long jacket with tails. They don’t seem to walk so much as slither, and a basher never wants to see one in a rage — the howls are louder than Pandemonium and more dangerous than the Tenth Pit.

Combat: Tieflings are determined, stubborn, wily, and occasionally berserk warriors and talented mages. All tieflings gain a +1 bonus to Intelligence and Charisma, and suffer a -1 penalty to Strength and Wisdom. All tieflings have infravision to 60’ and can create darkness 15’ radius once per day. Mage tieflings prefer spells like burning hands, unseen servant, blur, deeppockets, haste, fear, and domination. Tiefling priests are well known for employing protection from good, enthrall, flame walk, and undetectable lie spells, though the Powers that grant these spells usually remain nameless. All tieflings suffer only half damage from cold and gain a +2 to saving throws versus fire, electricity, and poison.

Because tieflings are not a brawny race, their weapons are light and quick, depending on speed and sharpness to make up for what they lack in weight and raw cleaving power. Despite its fragile appearance, tiefling weaponry is exceptionally deadly, not least because it is often poisoned. Typical weapons include the long sword, stiletto, throwing dagger, long spear, ranseur, hand crossbow, and scimitar. Punch daggers are also popular. Because almost half of all tieflings are ambidextrous, many fight in a two-handed style. Few tiefling warriors carry shields, prefering to rely on a form of well-crafted scale armor made from the hide of Lower Planar vermin.

Player character tieflings can be fighters, rangers, wizards (including specialists), priests, thieves, or bards. They can also follow multi-classed roads: fighter/wizard, fighter/priest, fighter/thief, wizard/thief, and priest/thief. Tieflings can reach level 14 as wizards, 15 as rogues, 10 as priests, and 12 as fighters. Single-class characters can exceed these limits by two levels.

Habitat/Society: Tieflings have no true society of their own; they are the outcasts of the planes, cast out of the Lower Planes, not trusted in the upper planes. Though many of them gather in Sigil, just as many others try to carve out a home in their own planes. They don’t trust others (what orphan does?), but their self-confidence is nothing short of astounding: a tiefling is said to have swum the River Styx because no one told him he couldn’t, and another climbed to the fifth heaven of Mount Celestia before the archons noticed him lurking among the shadows and cast him into the Abyss.

Tieflings have a reputation as great but deceitful lovers. Their fickleness in affairs of the heart is legendary, and seems closely bound to their reputation as tricksters, liars, and frauds. Tiefling gamblers rarely find planars to fleece; they depend on the clueless and the young to line their pockets.

Though tieflings are usually loners, a charismatic and powerful tiefling sometimes gains a small following of like-minded, young tieflings who hope to ride his coattails. These packs are called “schools”, though they teach hard lessons. Each school serves to glorify its founder and protect its members — it does little else. Some schools operate as informal thieves’ guilds, others are mage’s societies, but almost all of them collapse when the founder dies. Some of them are remembered, like the School of Sergory, which has continued in a way, but with most of them even the name dies. Sergory was a master thief and mage, and other schools somtimes take his name to inflate their own importance. How (or even whether) Sergory met his end is dark, and best kept that way.

Ecology: Tieflings are often persecuted by humans and others; “If there’s blame, find a tiefling,” “Don’t ever make a bet with a tiefling,” and “If a tiefling didn’t do it, he was just pressed for time” are common sayings in Sigil. Naturally, this makes tieflings a little defensive around others, but it doesn’t make them band together, as it might for other oppressed races. Good tieflings are doubly committed to their cause, as if trying to make up for the race’s bad reputation.

Tieflings prefer to eat only meat, blood, bone, and marrow, preferably raw. They enjoy balaena blubber, gristle, and even roasted insects, which most races find disturbing. They drink strange concoctions of broth, oil, sulphur, and firewater, though they’ll hoist an ale with any bubber in Sigil if nothing else is available. When meat is unavailable, they can live for short perions on ashes, coal, and other mineral matter.

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