Tiefling Species Details
Tieflings are either born in the Lower Planes or have fiendish ancestors who originated there. A tiefling (pronounced TEE-fling) is linked by blood to a devil, a demon, or some other Fiend. This connection to the Lower Planes is the tiefling’s fiendish legacy, which comes with the promise of power yet has no effect on the tiefling’s moral outlook.
A tiefling chooses whether to embrace or lament their fiendish legacy. The three legacies are described below.
Abyssal
The entropy of the Abyss, the chaos of Pandemonium, and the despair of Carceri call to tieflings who have the abyssal legacy. Horns, fur, tusks, and peculiar scents are common physical features of such tieflings, most of whom have the blood of demons coursing through their veins.
Chthonic
Tieflings who have the chthonic legacy feel not only the tug of Carceri but also the greed of Gehenna and the gloom of Hades. Some of these tieflings look cadaverous. Others possess the unearthly beauty of a succubus, or they have physical features in common, with a night hag, a yugoloth, or some other Neutral Evil fiendish ancestor.
Infernal
The infernal legacy connects tieflings not only to Gehenna but also the Nine Hells and the raging battlefields of Acheron. Horns, spines, tails, golden eyes, and a faint odor of sulfur or smoke are common physical features of such tieflings, most of who trace their ancestry to devils.
Tiefling Traits
Creature Type: Humanoid
Size: Medium (about 4–7 feet tall) or Small (about 3–4 feet tall), chosen when you select this species
Speed: 30 feet
Darkvision
You have Darkvision with a range of 60 feet.
Fiendish Legacy
You are the recipient of a legacy that grants you supernatural abilities. Choose a legacy from the Fiendish Legacies table. You gain the level 1 benefit of the chosen legacy.
When you reach character levels 3 and 5, you learn a higher-level spell, as shown on the table. You always have that spell prepared. You can cast it once without a spell slot, and you regain the ability to cast it in that way when you finish a Long Rest. You can also cast the spell using any spell slots you have of the appropriate level. Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma is your spellcasting ability for the spells you cast with this trait (choose the ability when you select the legacy).
| Legacy | Level 1 | Level 3 | Level 5 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abyssal | You have Resistance to Poison damage. You also know the Poison Spray cantrip. | Ray of Sickness | Hold Person |
| Chthonic | You have Resistance to Necrotic damage. You also know the Chill Touch cantrip. | False Life | Ray of Enfeeblement |
| Infernal | You have Resistance to Fire damage. You also know the Fire Bolt cantrip. | Hellish Rebuke | Darkness |
Otherworldly Presence
You know the Thaumaturgy cantrip. When you cast it with this trait, the spell uses the same spellcasting ability you use for your Fiendish Legacy Trait.
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Posted Jul 18, 2026I'm creating a Tiefling character, and I was wondering : Is it possible for there to be a hybrid between Tieflings and other races (Like a Human/Tiefling hybrid). They would only have some of the looks of the other race, none of the powers, and all of the regular powers of a Tiefling. Would that work?
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Posted Jul 20, 2026There's nothing in the official rules about that, so it's a question for your DM. I suspect the majority of DMs would have no problem with this; this sort of thing is called "flavor" and is very common.
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Posted Sep 6, 2026I third this
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Posted Sep 7, 2026The tieflings were reworked to fix that. Their leveled spells can be cast with spell slots, as per Fiendish Legacy's description: "When you reach character levels 3 and 5, you learn a higher-level spell, as shown on the table. You always have that spell prepared. You can cast it once without a spell slot, and you regain the ability to cast it in that way when you finish a Long Rest. You can also cast the spell using any spell slots you have of the appropriate level."
Also, each legacy gets a offensive cantrip as its bonus cantrip (and fairly solid cantrips at that), something that I haven't seen on any other species. Each cantrip's damage is on par with the dragonborn's Breath Weapon, they have the same scaling as the dragonborn's Breath Weapon, and, while all of them are single-target attack rolls and can't normally replace an attack, they can be used endlessly. I also personally wouldn't call the spell list of any of the tiefling's legacies mediocre. Ray of Sickness and Hellish Rebuke deal respectable amounts of damage, Darkness (probably the worst spell of the bunch IMO) is a nuisance at worst since Darkvision can't penetrate magical Darkness (though the spell can very easily be circumvented by moving, like, 20 feet), you've already noted the usefulness of False Life and Hold Person, and Ray of Enfeeblement is really good despite requiring a Con save.
That said, do I agree that the tiefling works best on a mage, and that a bonus skill proficiency would be nice (personally, I'd go with a single skill proficiency chosen from Deception, Insight, Intimidation, Performance, Persuasion, Sleight of Hand, or Stealth).
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Posted Sep 8, 2026Ah I meant that unless you are playing a class with spell slots the benefits of the species given spells become minor. I don't mean "worthless because you can't cast them with spells." Which as you correctly stated would have been an incorrect statement, I meant "worthless unless you have spell slots to make use of them." I mean 0-2 spells a day (2 only from level 5) is just meaningless. If you have the extra spell slots it becomes decent, but I feel like it really pigeonholes them into the spellcaster role if you really want to make use of the main species trait.