So, I'm working on a homebrew ruleset and I'm currently in the process of figuring out some Planetouched races, starting with Tieflings. For their racial traits, I've got a few different ideas on what I should do, but am ultimately uncertain.
1. I could just group each type of Fiend together for their subraces, with Devils, Demons, and Yugoloths each getting their own Tiefling subrace, like OneD&D is doing. Of course, I'd be switching out some resistances and spells. For example, Abyssal Tieflings would have Lightning Resistance and Yugoloth Tieflings would have Acid Resistance, but all Tieflings can choose to change that Resistance out for Poison instead. To include the spells from MToF, each subrace gets a table with spells to choose from. The problem with this is that there ends up being a lot of overlap with these tables.
NOTE: The Winged variant would be an option for all subraces.
2. I could say screw spell tables and do subraces for each possible Fiendish Ancestor, but there are SO MANY FIENDS... I'd have to do a book for Fiendish parents alone, lmao. I could include some in the supplement and be like "for more, refer to THIS supplement." Upside: it would also allow me to create variant features where the Tieflings could have abilities other than spells that reflect their Fiendish Ancestor.
3. I could also say screw subraces and make it a fully customizable race to tailor different Fiendish possibilities, with one spell table, a group of damage resistance choices, and then maybe add Variants if I want.
I'm open to suggestions, by the way, if you think I should do something else entirely.
This is just me, but flavored versatile subraces seem like an option. For example, make a subrace for the main fiends: Demons, Devils, Yugoloths, and Hags. Make them customisable (i.e spell lists to choose from, different physical features, skills, resistances), and if people want to do a more obscure fiend for aesthetics (Rakshasa, Barghest) allow for some more customisation.
If the lore of your world is that these tieflings are blood desendents of fiends then you can rule out a lot of them as possible parents simply because of anatomy (there's not going to be and Mezzoloth-human hybrids walking around), in fact how likely are any of them? Does your world have demons, devils and yugoloths walking around everywhere?
Eh... there are already 12 Tiefling subraces, plus you could choose for each of those subraces whether you want to be Winged or to swap the CHA boost for a DEX boost (assuming you're not just using the Tasha's "everyone gets whatever ASI they want" rules).
I think changing the Fire resistance to a different element does enough to give variety if paired with existing subraces. They've got a lot of thematically appropriate spellcasting built into the subraces, so you could create just about anything you want with a bare minimum of homebrewing.
If the lore of your world is that these tieflings are blood desendents of fiends then you can rule out a lot of them as possible parents simply because of anatomy (there's not going to be and Mezzoloth-human hybrids walking around), in fact how likely are any of them? Does your world have demons, devils and yugoloths walking around everywhere?
I'm not homebrewing this for my setting though. I'm homebrewing it to better reflect lore and lore possibilities.
This is just me, but flavored versatile subraces seem like an option. For example, make a subrace for the main fiends: Demons, Devils, Yugoloths, and Hags. Make them customisable (i.e spell lists to choose from, different physical features, skills, resistances), and if people want to do a more obscure fiend for aesthetics (Rakshasa, Barghest) allow for some more customisation.
But this is just my idea. Also open for feedback.
Hags are Fey tho. Only Night Hags are Fiends.
I feel like doing subraces for those groups is the most simple option for me to pick, but even Fiends within those groups can be varied, which is part of what makes me hesitate.
Eh... there are already 12 Tiefling subraces, plus you could choose for each of those subraces whether you want to be Winged or to swap the CHA boost for a DEX boost (assuming you're not just using the Tasha's "everyone gets whatever ASI they want" rules).
I think changing the Fire resistance to a different element does enough to give variety if paired with existing subraces. They've got a lot of thematically appropriate spellcasting built into the subraces, so you could create just about anything you want with a bare minimum of homebrewing.
Yeah, after seeing how many subraces MToF has just for singular Archfiends, I decided to merge them all into one subrace for Devils, with a spell list they could choose from that includes the spells given to them by the Archdevil subraces in MToF. Eventually though, when doing spell lists for Yugoloths and Demons, I started seeing a lot of overlap and realized that the way I was going about it had flaws too.
Just to clarify, the ASIs across all races are a bit different in my supplement. Most non-hybrid races have a set +2 and then a choice between two +1s, to reflect previous lore (for example, Wood Elves can choose either STR or WIS). Hybrid races have ASIs that reflect the races they combine. Planetouched tend to be the same way. In the case of Tieflings, they have customizable ASIs, with the caveat that they must have at least a +1 in either DEX or CHA.
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So, I'm working on a homebrew ruleset and I'm currently in the process of figuring out some Planetouched races, starting with Tieflings. For their racial traits, I've got a few different ideas on what I should do, but am ultimately uncertain.
1. I could just group each type of Fiend together for their subraces, with Devils, Demons, and Yugoloths each getting their own Tiefling subrace, like OneD&D is doing. Of course, I'd be switching out some resistances and spells. For example, Abyssal Tieflings would have Lightning Resistance and Yugoloth Tieflings would have Acid Resistance, but all Tieflings can choose to change that Resistance out for Poison instead. To include the spells from MToF, each subrace gets a table with spells to choose from. The problem with this is that there ends up being a lot of overlap with these tables.
NOTE: The Winged variant would be an option for all subraces.
2. I could say screw spell tables and do subraces for each possible Fiendish Ancestor, but there are SO MANY FIENDS... I'd have to do a book for Fiendish parents alone, lmao. I could include some in the supplement and be like "for more, refer to THIS supplement." Upside: it would also allow me to create variant features where the Tieflings could have abilities other than spells that reflect their Fiendish Ancestor.
3. I could also say screw subraces and make it a fully customizable race to tailor different Fiendish possibilities, with one spell table, a group of damage resistance choices, and then maybe add Variants if I want.
I'm open to suggestions, by the way, if you think I should do something else entirely.
This is just me, but flavored versatile subraces seem like an option. For example, make a subrace for the main fiends: Demons, Devils, Yugoloths, and Hags. Make them customisable (i.e spell lists to choose from, different physical features, skills, resistances), and if people want to do a more obscure fiend for aesthetics (Rakshasa, Barghest) allow for some more customisation.
But this is just my idea. Also open for feedback.
Studded Leather: He does exactly what I do
Natural Armor: But better
If the lore of your world is that these tieflings are blood desendents of fiends then you can rule out a lot of them as possible parents simply because of anatomy (there's not going to be and Mezzoloth-human hybrids walking around), in fact how likely are any of them? Does your world have demons, devils and yugoloths walking around everywhere?
Eh... there are already 12 Tiefling subraces, plus you could choose for each of those subraces whether you want to be Winged or to swap the CHA boost for a DEX boost (assuming you're not just using the Tasha's "everyone gets whatever ASI they want" rules).
I think changing the Fire resistance to a different element does enough to give variety if paired with existing subraces. They've got a lot of thematically appropriate spellcasting built into the subraces, so you could create just about anything you want with a bare minimum of homebrewing.
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I'm not homebrewing this for my setting though. I'm homebrewing it to better reflect lore and lore possibilities.
Hags are Fey tho. Only Night Hags are Fiends.
I feel like doing subraces for those groups is the most simple option for me to pick, but even Fiends within those groups can be varied, which is part of what makes me hesitate.
Yeah, after seeing how many subraces MToF has just for singular Archfiends, I decided to merge them all into one subrace for Devils, with a spell list they could choose from that includes the spells given to them by the Archdevil subraces in MToF. Eventually though, when doing spell lists for Yugoloths and Demons, I started seeing a lot of overlap and realized that the way I was going about it had flaws too.
Just to clarify, the ASIs across all races are a bit different in my supplement. Most non-hybrid races have a set +2 and then a choice between two +1s, to reflect previous lore (for example, Wood Elves can choose either STR or WIS). Hybrid races have ASIs that reflect the races they combine. Planetouched tend to be the same way. In the case of Tieflings, they have customizable ASIs, with the caveat that they must have at least a +1 in either DEX or CHA.