How do you portray tieflings?

[Honest Tiefling]

Yes, I am horribly, horribly, horribly biased towards the race. But this thread (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?390675-Why-do-tieflings-have-a-cha-penalty) made me wonder how others portray them.

And I don't give a crap about accurate, I and wondering about interesting, new touches people put onto the race.

[Hazrond]

Honestly, i have never reallyy touched tieflings before, aasimars either, but i havve one concept for a character that i thought would be fun to try, he would be a tiefling who would act like he is the big evil guy, but over time he would get better, a reverse fall in a way.

[ComaVision]

I've only ever seen tieflings and aasimars as PCs. DMing, I really feel no need to create special snowflakes. All my babies are going to be killed by the murder hobos anyway.

[(Un)Inspired]

I tend to portray them like Peter Lorre characters. Slightly misshapen and "off" with kind of a sniveling, unlikable nature. They're supposed to be kinda creepy and unlikable and shaped weird.

[atemu1234]

Depends, really. Good ones often have a chip on their shoulders, evil ones are quite often sociopaths.

[Coidzor]

I don't really do anything particularly new or novel, sadly. Tiefling women tend to have various faux-Russian/faux-Slavic/faux-Eastern-European accents which the men lack and the most common skin tones tend to be red or grey tinted human skin tones, though more exotic ones do happen.

They typically have a desire to prove themselves and gain power, regardless of their morality, so Tieflings rarely live peaceful or quiet lives and almost all of them end up having PC classes. Even the ones that do live peaceful lives are more likely to be raised as Monks rather than live a life as a peasant, both for intrinsic and extrinsic reasons, of course.

[Blackhawk748]

My friends joke that for me, "Male tieflings dont exist", which is kinda true as ive only ever played female Tieflings, and their personalities are incredibly varied. They go from Scions of Law and Good to evil to rival the Abyss, hell i once had one that was basically a REALLY cheery goth girl. Weirded the crap out of the party.

[mephnick]

I'd like to hear some new and interesting ideas as well.

Every tiefling PC I've ever encountered has been the exact same brooding "society doesn't accept me wah wah" special snowflake. It's so boring I actually completely ignore the race as a DM instead of trying to change it. I suppose that's my fault, but I've been conditioned to hate them.

[jedipotter]

A bunch of different types:

Happy Outcast: No one likes them and they just don't care. They are not villains, per say, but they don't do good for society or others. One might have a job as an alchemist, and gets ignored or insulted....until someone needs to buy a potion, but they don't care...

The Sad Outcast They so much want to fit in. They have tried and still try, but always get blocked. They are unhappy and really want to be accepted as ''just a person''. Some are desperate...

The Thug They figure that if ''people don't like them'', they might as well be a thug....

The Dark Seductress Males too...ones that play up their mysterious dark side and use it to their advantage. They can be both good or bad.

The Dark Worker They happily do ''dark'' things for people. They are quite happy living in the ''dark notch''.

The Wanna be Demon they want the power/respect/glory/money or whatnot of true evil power.

The Lost They just have no idea who or what they are...or what they should be.

The follower They leech on to the first, and maybe only, person that ever said ''hi'' to them and follow them to the ends of the Earth.

The Crusader they want to prove to everyone, and themselves, that just as they were touched by evil, that they are not evil....

[Curmudgeon]

They're just people in D&D. I try not to stereotype people.

[WeaselGuy]

The last Tiefling I played (I've played a lot of them, they're one of my 3 favorite races) Was a CN Warlock who basically had no more F's left to give, and was just confident that nothing anybody said or did really had any impact on his way of life.

I played a LN Monk for my first campaign, and he was so self-conscious of how society looked down on him that he bought a hat of disguise and wore it constantly so that people wouldn't know his true race.

[Kol Korran]

Well, I've mostly been in the DMing seat, so they are usually NPCs. I've used tiefligns on two occasions:
1) In a pirate campaign I had, The main are had significant fiendish influence. But I quite dislike having a tielfing as a race- They are the result of a fiendish influence, shouldn't there be orc-flings/ dwarf-flings/ elf-flings and so on? So instead I've made them into +1 template, that could be added most races. Some connection to the wrlocks also exist as the source, and they are better fit for such roles. A link to the relevant page, under fiend-touched, is here. (http://witchlingisles.pbworks.com/w/page/50272934/Templates) I did the same with shifters and Aasimars (though they had a different source than celestial in the campaign).

On the whole they were different, but not that exceptional, though most people kept an eye on them.

2) In the current campaign, The Wrath of the Righteous PF adventure path, I've portrayed them differently. Here the abyss has broken into the world, and uses tieflings as the lowest kind of soldiers for the most part (as most don't have more than 1-2 levels). So they are basically demon cannon fodder for the most, and the majority of their culture is suffused around demon worship.

The party had a choice of rescuing about 200 of them long with their fiendish sorcerers in return for them joining the army. This led to soem great roleplay opportunities in a few respect:
- Play out the deep mistrust, sometimes warranted towards "the enemy".
- The tieflings knew a lot about demonic culture, but also portrayed it with how they dealt with their own army. Their leader (One of the PCs, a human), had to contend with harsh violence, punishment, trying to appease The Dark (TM), and a strict sense of both hierarchy, but back stabbing, where only the strong (not necessarily by arms) rule.
- Their face (Qulin Longshadow, who has a very long shadow that moves of his own accord), was quite a hoot to ply, usually groveling, prostrating himself, Saying "Masssttterr" all the time, aa bit like Golum with Sam in a way.

The party mostly distrusted them, and one plots to their fall. We'll see.

[Michael7123]

I haven't played a teifling yet, but I'm going to very soon. In the dungeon master's guide, it says that tieflings usually have two unusual traits (like red eyes, tails, etc.). This poor bastard got 4. Tail, hair the color of rust/blood red (hard to discribe but looks really unnatural), red eyes, and horns. Growing up, he blatantly stood out.

Tristain been **** on by nearly everyone his entire life, except his mother, who was a prostitute out of necessity. For whatever reason, she decided to raise this kid. She was killed in font him when he was twelve. Since then, he found the cult of Shar (evil Godess of darkness, loss) and found.... an evil version of comfort, I guess? I'm not really sure how to discribe what exactly he found, but he's been a loyal worshiper of her ever since.

I'm going to be playing him as someone who doesn't even think good really exists in the world. Anyone trying to be "good" is doing something for their own oppinion. Full on CE ruthless jackass mode.

My/ Tristain's overall gameplan:

1. Hide Tiefling features. The tail can easily be hidden, the hair can be dyed (currently blond). The horns had to be sawed off, which sucked for him to do, and left nasty scars/ stumps, but those can be hidden under his hair. Contacts haven't realky been invented yet, so he's just gonna have to playoff the red eyes somehow.

2. Pretend to be a relatively decent rouge. Typical chaotic nuetral.

3. If the party is good, periodically pick them off.

4. If the party is evil, work with them for however long I need to.

At least, that's the plan for this campagin. I do have plans for him to be redeemed down the road. If anyone has any better roleplay tips, I'd apreciate it.

Also, nice avatar Honest Tiefling.

[Marlowe]

1) In a pirate campaign I had, The main are had significant fiendish influence. But I quite dislike having a tielfing as a race- They are the result of a fiendish influence, shouldn't there be orc-flings/ dwarf-flings/ elf-flings and so on?

There are.

Elf Tieflings are Fey'ri. Orc Tieflings are Tanarukk. Both are in one (or two) of the Faerun books and are higher LA than Regular (Human) Tieflings. Dwarf and Halfing Tieflings are called Maeluth and Wispling respectively and are in Fiend Folio.

[Kol Korran]

There are.

Elf Tieflings are Fey'ri. Orc Tieflings are Tanarukk. Both are in one (or two) of the Faerun books and are higher LA than Regular (Human) Tieflings. Dwarf and Halfing Tieflings are called Maeluth and Wispling respectively and are in Fiend Folio.

:smallconfused:... :smalltongue: Well, you learn a new thing everyday! I don't have those books, which is probably why I missed those. I just thought that "one template to rule them all, and in the darkness bind them!" would be easier, but I can certainly see the appeal of demonic influence affecting different races differently.

Thanks for the info!

[Taveena]

This is pretty unorthadox (and... well, homebrewed) but...

In an all-mythologies-are-true homebrew setting, the two first demons were Satan and Lilith. Who were both dragons. (Satan being described as a Great Wyrm. Lilith... I can't remember how we ended up with that.) So all tieflings pick up the Dragonblood subtype - as do certain Aasimar descended from the celestial dragons that Satan was before falling - and as dragons are venerated in-setting, both Tieflings and Aasimar gain a charisma bonus - tieflings lose their Intelligence bonus, though. (There are two other sources of Tieflings - Typhon, again a dragon, thrown into Tartarus, still produces spawn which tend to create their planetouched rather more violently, and Gloriana, daughter of Titania, invented the succubus form by being a half-dragon Satyr - throw some dragon wings on a Satyr, you've got a modern Succubus!)

So, yeah. Dragonblooded, venerated tieflings. Sorry if this wasn't what you were looking for, but... well, tieflings in a non-demon loathing society are fun to think about.

[Rainshine]

Firstly, I'd say I generally despise tieflings as a race, mostly for the way certain people I met played them. Goth/I came from hell and am super dark.
Anyways, I have a Tiefling Cohort for one of my characters right now. He wears a long hooded cloak pretty much always, has a hat of disguise, and almost never talks. He has a direct telepathic connection to his employer, allowing him to pass on the results of his prodigious knowledge checks as need be. Basically, he got in a little bit of trouble back at home. There may have been an incident involving some missing items from the largest bank in town. And that one time he got blamed for forging the Imperial's signature. Well. three times. And a few buildings.. OK, districts, that burned down. As is fairly normal, rather than see his talents go to waste with his death, a noble family decided to spend some money to arrange for his disappearance. So he ended up, gainfully employed, worried about the law (and assassins), and with lots of chances to put his otherwise frowned-upon skills to usse.

[A Tad Insane]

A normal person with small little "ticks", especially the good ones. One might be discussing a battle plan then talk about how the blood stains will make pretty patterns on the grass as we swiftly charge those dirty, dirty damned souls who will squirm in hell- I mean the area will have evidence of an attack no matter how quickly we go, so feel free to savor the warmth leaving their hu- ... Actually, Regdar, don't you have a plan?

[Lord_Gareth]

Story Time with Anka Hollowshade
The young woman in front of you isn't human enough to qualify as mortal; her ashy skin might have gotten a pass, but the slim, spade-tipped tail and her three shadows speak of fiendish heritage. None of her shadows stand where they ought to be based on the position of the campfire, and one throttles another, violently, in mute fury.

She lights a cigar and takes a quiet puff while she thinks over your question.

"Not the easiest thing in the Planes t'answer," she finally admits. "What it's like bein' a tiefling, I mean. I mean, I could go on a bit about the complicated fam'ly politics an' the trouble bein' let into decent towns an' such, but somehow I don't think that's what ya mean. Yer askin' about the demons, yeah? The little ones in m'head."

The young woman takes a puff; shadows dance just behind the color in her eyes, like the silhouettes of sea creatures beneath placid water.

"I want ya to close yer eyes fer a minute and imagine somethin' fer me. Imagine that, no matter what the situation is, yer first thought to solve it is always a bad one. Someone insults ya? Yer first thought is to attack. Get asked a question? Y'gotta bite back the lie before ya've even had th'chance ta think 'bout yer answer. An' not doin' all that isn't hard, necessarily, but y'gotta do it all the time. When yer not thinkin', or maybe yer drunk or somethin', things end poorly for people around ya. Y'hurt 'em, not because ya can or to get power or nothin', but 'cause hurtin's in yer nature, somewhere."

She takes the cigar out of her mouth, looking thoughtful and so very tired.

"People notice, y'know? They can see ya hesitate when y'answer questions. They pick up on the little cues that yer thinkin' violent little thoughts. Their minds tell 'em, 'she's tryin' to attack, get safe, get away'. An' when they act nervous and jump around ya, it's a bit...I mean, it gets so tirin', so fast. 's hard fer people ta trust ya wit'out reservations. Even yer friends do the little things people do when they feel unconsciously threatened. They keep a bitta distance from ya. They get tense. They don' even know they're doin' it, 's not their fault."

The young woman's shadows separate, each glaring hatefully at the others, as the cigar goes back into her mouth.

"Y'learn to live wit' it, eventually. Or y'don't, an' ya go nuts or ya go evil. 've got my crap together, sure, but a lotta my fellows, they don't. They didn't have kind people t'raise 'em or good friends to show 'em that things can be d'ffer'nt. They go bad 'cause they're pushed, or 'cause no one offered a hand to help 'em up away from evil. An' that sucks, but 's the way it is. Some prophecies are jus' self-fulfillin'."

She shifts her weight in her seat and sighs.

"I'm goin' ta bed. You get first watch, kick me when 's my turn. But if y'step on my tail again I swear to Hell I'ma stab ya."

[Michael7123]

Story Time with Anka Hollowshade
The young woman in front of you isn't human enough to qualify as mortal; her ashy skin might have gotten a pass, but the slim, spade-tipped tail and her three shadows speak of fiendish heritage. None of her shadows stand where they ought to be based on the position of the campfire, and one throttles another, violently, in mute fury.

She lights a cigar and takes a quiet puff while she thinks over your question.

"Not the easiest thing in the Planes t'answer," she finally admits. "What it's like bein' a tiefling, I mean. I mean, I could go on a bit about the complicated fam'ly politics an' the trouble bein' let into decent towns an' such, but somehow I don't think that's what ya mean. Yer askin' about the demons, yeah? The little ones in m'head."

The young woman takes a puff; shadows dance just behind the color in her eyes, like the silhouettes of sea creatures beneath placid water.

"I want ya to close yer eyes fer a minute and imagine somethin' fer me. Imagine that, no matter what the situation is, yer first thought to solve it is always a bad one. Someone insults ya? Yer first thought is to attack. Get asked a question? Y'gotta bite back the lie before ya've even had th'chance ta think 'bout yer answer. An' not doin' all that isn't hard, necessarily, but y'gotta do it all the time. When yer not thinkin', or maybe yer drunk or somethin', things end poorly for people around ya. Y'hurt 'em, not because ya can or to get power or nothin', but 'cause hurtin's in yer nature, somewhere."

She takes the cigar out of her mouth, looking thoughtful and so very tired.

"People notice, y'know? They can see ya hesitate when y'answer questions. They pick up on the little cues that yer thinkin' violent little thoughts. Their minds tell 'em, 'she's tryin' to attack, get safe, get away'. An' when they act nervous and jump around ya, it's a bit...I mean, it gets so tirin', so fast. 's hard fer people ta trust ya wit'out reservations. Even yer friends do the little things people do when they feel unconsciously threatened. They keep a bitta distance from ya. They get tense. They don' even know they're doin' it, 's not their fault."

The young woman's shadows separate, each glaring hatefully at the others, as the cigar goes back into her mouth.

"Y'learn to live wit' it, eventually. Or y'don't, an' ya go nuts or ya go evil. 've got my crap together, sure, but a lotta my fellows, they don't. They didn't have kind people t'raise 'em or good friends to show 'em that things can be d'ffer'nt. They go bad 'cause they're pushed, or 'cause no one offered a hand to help 'em up away from evil. An' that sucks, but 's the way it is. Some prophecies are jus' self-fulfillin'."

She shifts her weight in her seat and sighs.

"I'm goin' ta bed. You get first watch, kick me when 's my turn. But if y'step on my tail again I swear to Hell I'ma stab ya."

This is great. I'm going to shamelessly use this for an upcoming character. It fits him perfectly.

[atemu1234]

Firstly, I'd say I generally despise tieflings as a race, mostly for the way certain people I met played them. Goth/I came from hell and am super dark.
Anyways, I have a Tiefling Cohort for one of my characters right now. He wears a long hooded cloak pretty much always, has a hat of disguise, and almost never talks. He has a direct telepathic connection to his employer, allowing him to pass on the results of his prodigious knowledge checks as need be. Basically, he got in a little bit of trouble back at home. There may have been an incident involving some missing items from the largest bank in town. And that one time he got blamed for forging the Imperial's signature. Well. three times. And a few buildings.. OK, districts, that burned down. As is fairly normal, rather than see his talents go to waste with his death, a noble family decided to spend some money to arrange for his disappearance. So he ended up, gainfully employed, worried about the law (and assassins), and with lots of chances to put his otherwise frowned-upon skills to usse.

What's wrong with a dark character?

[Blackhawk748]

What's wrong with a dark character?

Nothing, but if someone does it ALL THE TIME it would drive me nuts too. Also if their execution is so ungodly trope ridden its almost painful to watch.

[atemu1234]

Nothing, but if someone does it ALL THE TIME it would drive me nuts too. Also if their execution is so ungodly trope ridden its almost painful to watch.

Tropes Are Tools, Tropes Aren't Bad.

[Coidzor]

I think Blues might actually suit Tieflings better than Goth as far as music and... aesthetic?

Hmm. I'm going to have to ruminate further upon this thought now.

[Marlowe]

They do call Goth "White Man's Blues".

Thus confusing everyone that thought that Rock in general was Blues played by white people. Music writers are funny people.

[Eldan]

Any personality, really.

Very varied bodies, too. Pretty much any body feature that shows up on a fiend can show up in a toned-down form on a tiefling. I've had one with two vestigial crab-arms on his neck. I've had one that looked normal except for a rat's tail. I've had them with any variety of horns, with hooves, with constantly smoking skin, smelling of sulphur, very thin with white-translucent skin, one noticeable bad guy had four eyes, two green, two yellow. Skin tones all over the rainbow.

Remembered a few more. One left ash on everything she touched. It was just always on her skin. The other one had only two fingers and a thumb on each hand and digitigrade legs, but had vestigial wings.