Loader image
Loader image
Back to Top

Blog

Nerdarchy > Dungeons & Dragons  > Are 5E D&D Tieflings Misunderstood or Soul Eating Hellspawn?

Are 5E D&D Tieflings Misunderstood or Soul Eating Hellspawn?

Dungeons and Dragons -- The Dastardly Dungeon Crawl
Willing Suspension of Disbelief Creates an Immersive RPG Experience

Hello Nerdarchy Fans and fellow gamers. Nerdarchist Ted here to talk Dungeons & Dragons races, specifically the tiefling. This devilsh race made its debut in Planescape and those who did not really play in that setting got to see them make a rise into the standard Player’s Handbook, or PHB as we all lovingly refer to it as, in fourth edition D&D. The tiefling is a humanoid with demon or devil blood or who has a infernal heritage depending on the edition being played.  Fiends like these are typically evil and tieflings sometimes face prejudices because of this heritage. Creatures and potential allies might question where their loyalties are going to lie. Are they going to assist you or profit from your demise? These are the risks every one has to face as views from the outside if you are playing a tiefling in 5E D&D.

Tieflings in 5E D&D

The build up to 4E D&D was pretty amusing as we got to watch some funny interviews with various characters, like the tiefling video above.

D&D 5E tieflings queer

A tiefling descended from Levistus and one descended from Zariel, as seen in the fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons Mordenkainen’s Tome of Foes. [Image courtesy Wizards of the Coast]

The tiefling made it back into the 5E D&D PHB. Tieflings in previous editions blatantly said they were descended from offspring of either demons or devils and humans. The initial half fiend diluting the demonic blood in their veins over the generations. So it would seem the child of a half-fiend would be a tiefling and the child of a tielfing is another tiefling.

It is said they have a perception of being evil and thieves so most townsfolk would not trust them and growing up tieflings develop a thick skin about it and either move on or charm or intimidate people to see their way. I see this as a really cool roleplaying opportunity. Tieflings get +1 Intelligence and +2 Charisma. This makes them very good sorcerers or bards, but how cool would it be to play a tielfing paladin? They get the Charisma for it and you can get peoples’ goat when they offer mistrust and you throw it back in their face by making them feel guilty about it.

Another possibility is to play an alternate class and use the guise of a paladin, hard at times, but yank up those ranks of Deception and convince people you are and really have fun with it. Having resistance to fire, access to a couple of spells over your first handful of levels and getting access to Infernal as a base language offers for some very interesting sessions.

Your paladin could very well be on a mission to kill the progenitor of his own bloodline for all the havoc he caused on this plane.

Whatever your build you will most likely get access to all sorts of cool roleplaying scenes because of your unusual race. This is always a favorite of mine to be apart from the norm.

Tieflings in D&D make for wonderful NPCs. They could be a contact in the thieves guild. They could be a suspect in a case the party is trying to solve. They could easily be the major villain. Perhaps this major villain is trying to impress the progenitor of the blood line. This would work excellently well if the previously mentioned paladin was a member of the party. A sibling or relative on each side of the equation can also make for fantastic stories and wonderful campaigns.

So tieflings, a bizarre race with a nasty past however you want to roll it and doomed to stereotypes unless you work hard against it. So give me your cool tiefling story in the comments below or why you like them so much. [NERDITOR’S NOTE: More ideas for roleplaying tieflings in 5E D&D here.]

Nerdarchist Ted saying until next time, stay nerdy my friends.

Share
Ted Adams

The nerd is strong in this one. I received my bachelors degree in communication with a specialization in Radio/TV/Film. I have been a table op role player for about 20 years 17 of which with the current group. I have played several itterations of D&D, Mutants and Masterminds 2nd and 3rd editions, Star wars RPG, Shadowrun and World of Darkness. I am an avid fan of books and follow a few authors reading all they write. Favorite author is Jim Butcher I have been an on/off larper for around 15 years even doing a stretch of running my own for a while. I have played a number of Miniature games including Warhammer 40K, Warhammer Fantasy, Heroscape, Mage Knight, Dreamblade and D&D Miniatures. I have practiced with the art of the German long sword with an ARMA group for over 7 years studying the German long sword, sword and buckler, dagger, axe and polearm. By no strecth of the imagination am I an expert but good enough to last longer than the average person if the Zombie apocalypse ever happens. I am an avid fan of board games and dice games with my current favorite being Quarrios.

No Comments

Leave a Reply