I’ve been thinking about tieflings recently because of dimension 20 fantasy high, and I’ve been wounding if it’s possible for a person born from a human and demon and they not become a tiefling and if one can are any side effects of this. I’ve been quite curious about and am excited to read your responses
Well, if one parent is an actual demon, it's more common for the offspring to be a cambion than a tiefling. It's also theoretically possible for the offspring to take after their mortal parent, but this is extremely rare. As far as side effects go, it's hard to guess.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
Yep, up to game world. Moreover, Tieflings aren't necessarily a result of a Fiend and a human literally mating. There may be literal pairing of humans and fiends in the family tree, and a Tiefling sometimes is born as a result of that literally down the line. Another possibility is the Tiefling is just the sign that the family has had some business with fiends and Tieflings are a manifestation/consequence of those dealings (i.e. the family's been "marked). In other words, you don't need to literally have a Fiend for a parent to be a Tiefling, you just need to have a family that's somehow been "touched" by fiends.
And so conversely as far as presenting as a "normal" humanoid despite fiendish parentage, there's nothing that says you can't. In fact if you go by the old Omen movies, the big bads may want it that way.
I actually feel like a Fallen Aasimar might more accurately represent the literal child of a demon and a mortal, but 5e doesn't have any in-depth rules about half-fiends. It's easiest to just assume Tiefling, but nothing says that's what it has to be.
Well, if one parent is an actual demon, it's more common for the offspring to be a cambion than a tiefling. It's also theoretically possible for the offspring to take after their mortal parent, but this is extremely rare. As far as side effects go, it's hard to guess.
Aren't there abyssal or demonic Tieflings, as well as infernal ones?
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
A caffeinated nerd who has played TTRPGs or a number of years and is very much a fantasy adventure geek.
Well, if one parent is an actual demon, it's more common for the offspring to be a cambion than a tiefling. It's also theoretically possible for the offspring to take after their mortal parent, but this is extremely rare. As far as side effects go, it's hard to guess.
Aren't there abyssal or demonic Tieflings, as well as infernal ones?
There are. It's just more common for a pure fiend to produce an offspring that's a cambion than a tiefling when they mate with a humanoid. That's true regardless of what type of fiend it is.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
I actually feel like a Fallen Aasimar might more accurately represent the literal child of a demon and a mortal, but 5e doesn't have any in-depth rules about half-fiends. It's easiest to just assume Tiefling, but nothing says that's what it has to be.
In my games an Aasimar can be born from 2 humans that have had ties with a celestial, much in the same way a Tiefling can be born of humans with a infernal connection. Even to the point that if a family has both Celestial and Infernal ties that if twins are born one twin could be Aasimar and the other Tiefling which can be a really good roleplay setup.
I have a player who is wanting to be the direct child of a demon prince. They are a tingling. I'm trying to find the best way to spin it without being game breaking.
That's pretty easy: they're a normal tiefling of whichever type you choose. Either they never inherited anything extra from their abyssal parent or it was somehow stolen from them.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
Yeah, the easiest player option for "result of a fiend/humanoid pairing" is just a tiefling. There were a few books with alt racial traits for tieflings if you wanted to reflect a slightly different lineage, but I don't know how many of those are still accessible post MotM.
Probably worth talking the concept over with the player a little more and making sure you're both on the same page over what they do or don't "get" from their parentage as well. Looking for some super-special extraplanar heritage for their character can be a sign that the player is either actively looking to try and get extra perks from it, or just getting a little wrapped up in a somewhat grandiose backstory. Obviously I don't know the details of this particular situation, just wanted to touch on it for a moment since you were looking to avoid game breaking issues. In general I'd strongly suggest not giving any hard bonuses based on the lineage out of the gate beyond the printed racial ones unless it's something you're letting everyone at the table do at character creation. If you do want to give everyone a little extra room for hard background bonuses, everyone getting one additional starting feat is a common house rule.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
I’ve been thinking about tieflings recently because of dimension 20 fantasy high, and I’ve been wounding if it’s possible for a person born from a human and demon and they not become a tiefling and if one can are any side effects of this. I’ve been quite curious about and am excited to read your responses
Well, if one parent is an actual demon, it's more common for the offspring to be a cambion than a tiefling. It's also theoretically possible for the offspring to take after their mortal parent, but this is extremely rare. As far as side effects go, it's hard to guess.
Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
Yep, up to game world. Moreover, Tieflings aren't necessarily a result of a Fiend and a human literally mating. There may be literal pairing of humans and fiends in the family tree, and a Tiefling sometimes is born as a result of that literally down the line. Another possibility is the Tiefling is just the sign that the family has had some business with fiends and Tieflings are a manifestation/consequence of those dealings (i.e. the family's been "marked). In other words, you don't need to literally have a Fiend for a parent to be a Tiefling, you just need to have a family that's somehow been "touched" by fiends.
And so conversely as far as presenting as a "normal" humanoid despite fiendish parentage, there's nothing that says you can't. In fact if you go by the old Omen movies, the big bads may want it that way.
Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
I actually feel like a Fallen Aasimar might more accurately represent the literal child of a demon and a mortal, but 5e doesn't have any in-depth rules about half-fiends. It's easiest to just assume Tiefling, but nothing says that's what it has to be.
Watch Crits for Breakfast, an adults-only RP-Heavy Roll20 Livestream at twitch.tv/afterdisbooty
And now you too can play with the amazing art and assets we use in Roll20 for our campaign at Hazel's Emporium
Aren't there abyssal or demonic Tieflings, as well as infernal ones?
A caffeinated nerd who has played TTRPGs or a number of years and is very much a fantasy adventure geek.
There are. It's just more common for a pure fiend to produce an offspring that's a cambion than a tiefling when they mate with a humanoid. That's true regardless of what type of fiend it is.
Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
In my games an Aasimar can be born from 2 humans that have had ties with a celestial, much in the same way a Tiefling can be born of humans with a infernal connection. Even to the point that if a family has both Celestial and Infernal ties that if twins are born one twin could be Aasimar and the other Tiefling which can be a really good roleplay setup.
I have a player who is wanting to be the direct child of a demon prince. They are a tingling. I'm trying to find the best way to spin it without being game breaking.
That's pretty easy: they're a normal tiefling of whichever type you choose. Either they never inherited anything extra from their abyssal parent or it was somehow stolen from them.
Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
Yeah, the easiest player option for "result of a fiend/humanoid pairing" is just a tiefling. There were a few books with alt racial traits for tieflings if you wanted to reflect a slightly different lineage, but I don't know how many of those are still accessible post MotM.
Probably worth talking the concept over with the player a little more and making sure you're both on the same page over what they do or don't "get" from their parentage as well. Looking for some super-special extraplanar heritage for their character can be a sign that the player is either actively looking to try and get extra perks from it, or just getting a little wrapped up in a somewhat grandiose backstory. Obviously I don't know the details of this particular situation, just wanted to touch on it for a moment since you were looking to avoid game breaking issues. In general I'd strongly suggest not giving any hard bonuses based on the lineage out of the gate beyond the printed racial ones unless it's something you're letting everyone at the table do at character creation. If you do want to give everyone a little extra room for hard background bonuses, everyone getting one additional starting feat is a common house rule.