This has kicked off a fierce disagreement between one of my DM buddies any myself:
XGE has a table in "This Is Your Life" that indicates that the only Tiefling parent options are:
Two Humans
Human and Tiefling
Human and Devil
Tiefling and Devil
This omits "Two Tieflings" as a possibility, and if you take this table to be comprehensive, it would indicate that some facet of Tiefling physiology/biology requires a non-Tiefling be involved in order to conceive.
My counterexample is that "Races of Faerun" (a 3.5 Sourcebook) lists Tieflings under Planetouched beings. That section has a paragraph that specifies a Planetouched and another Planetouched can have Planetouched children (only). Admittedly, this is two editions out of date, and the Races were revised, so while this does establish a precedent for Tieflings being able to have kids it isn't exactly conclusive.
I haven't been able to find any definitive rulings regarding this (not surprising, it's an extremely niche corner case), did we miss something somewhere?
Depends on tiffle lore at your table. That said, tiffles are Faerunonically born to bloodlines that have had dealings with devils in the past and/or bloodlines that have made an ancient covenant with Asmodeus. Considering that both parents in a tiffle-on-tiffle childmaking endeavour fulfill both conditions by default? There's no reason two tiffles cannot result in an additional tiffle. There is also, however, no particular reason according to Faerunon that two tiffles Contracting The Stork are going to produce an additional tiffle. Two tiffles could just as easily produce a whatever-else-they-were child, given that tiffledom isn't really genetic.
From my understanding, a Tiefling is just a human that has had their heritage tainted by a pact. It's not that having this devilish aspect makes them infertile if there's too much because they can reproduce with a full-on devil. I don't see why two Tieflings couldn't produce a child.
RAW, it seems they can't. RAI (Rules As Intended) I'd say yes. It's not like WotC doesn't miss things out, doesn't think these things through etc. It's possible it wasn't included either as an oversight or they thought that Tieflings were so rare that it wouldn't happen. The most important aspect is what the DM thinks, though.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
If you're not willing or able to to discuss in good faith, then don't be surprised if I don't respond, there are better things in life for me to do than humour you. This signature is that response.
Somewhere, (I forgor where) there is a full graph on what races can breed with others, and every race and non-player race on the chart can breed with themselves for obvious reasons. It also just makes sense based on tiefling lore that they can.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
This has kicked off a fierce disagreement between one of my DM buddies any myself:
XGE has a table in "This Is Your Life" that indicates that the only Tiefling parent options are:
This omits "Two Tieflings" as a possibility, and if you take this table to be comprehensive, it would indicate that some facet of Tiefling physiology/biology requires a non-Tiefling be involved in order to conceive.
My counterexample is that "Races of Faerun" (a 3.5 Sourcebook) lists Tieflings under Planetouched beings. That section has a paragraph that specifies a Planetouched and another Planetouched can have Planetouched children (only). Admittedly, this is two editions out of date, and the Races were revised, so while this does establish a precedent for Tieflings being able to have kids it isn't exactly conclusive.
I haven't been able to find any definitive rulings regarding this (not surprising, it's an extremely niche corner case), did we miss something somewhere?
Depends on tiffle lore at your table. That said, tiffles are Faerunonically born to bloodlines that have had dealings with devils in the past and/or bloodlines that have made an ancient covenant with Asmodeus. Considering that both parents in a tiffle-on-tiffle childmaking endeavour fulfill both conditions by default? There's no reason two tiffles cannot result in an additional tiffle. There is also, however, no particular reason according to Faerunon that two tiffles Contracting The Stork are going to produce an additional tiffle. Two tiffles could just as easily produce a whatever-else-they-were child, given that tiffledom isn't really genetic.
Please do not contact or message me.
From my understanding, a Tiefling is just a human that has had their heritage tainted by a pact. It's not that having this devilish aspect makes them infertile if there's too much because they can reproduce with a full-on devil. I don't see why two Tieflings couldn't produce a child.
RAW, it seems they can't. RAI (Rules As Intended) I'd say yes. It's not like WotC doesn't miss things out, doesn't think these things through etc. It's possible it wasn't included either as an oversight or they thought that Tieflings were so rare that it wouldn't happen. The most important aspect is what the DM thinks, though.
If you're not willing or able to to discuss in good faith, then don't be surprised if I don't respond, there are better things in life for me to do than humour you. This signature is that response.
Somewhere, (I forgor where) there is a full graph on what races can breed with others, and every race and non-player race on the chart can breed with themselves for obvious reasons. It also just makes sense based on tiefling lore that they can.