Tiefling ancestry question.

[Mark8147]

I'm creating a tiefling Necromancer and was looking for some help with the backstory. I've read that tieflings are descended from "evil" beings but I was wondering if there was one that would tie into my necromancy. Maybe a lich or being tied to the undead and necromancy, who I could be descended from?

[ProsecutorGodot]

Tieflings are written to have the blood of Asmodeus in them but they can be born from a human family with no prior ties to any sort of fiend.

There were abyssal tiefling variants in prior editions but no official version of them in 5E yet. You could be descended from a high ranking devotee of Orcus, cast out from the cult due to your infernal heritage marking you as an agent of the enemy faction.

[Xihirli]

A feral tiefling could be related to Orcus. I’m not familiar with any devils known for using undead in D&D.

All tiefling subraces but Feral are assumed to have some devil blood, while Feral has demon. There’s some complicated stuff about Asmodeus and magically altering bloodlines making his ancestry the most common tiefling type but that’s not really important.

[JackPhoenix]

5e tieflings are descendant from devils, people who made deals with devils, or otherwise influenced by infernal magic. No connection to necromancy. Or demons, for that matter.

Wizardly magic is studied, you don't need any ancestry for it. Anyone intelligent and talented can learn it.

[nickl_2000]

As said above, Orcus is likely the best bet.


In looking through Tome of Foes, I do see that Moloch and Titivilus both have access to casting animate dead at will

[Mark8147]

So I could technically be born from human parents and cast out cos if my appearance? That works really well.

[Mark8147]

As said above, Orcus is likely the best bet.


In looking through Tome of Foes, I do see that Moloch and Titivilus both have access to casting animate dead at will

Moloch actually works in another way as my characters throughout my history of rpgs have been called malicus, and tieflings can take some variant of their ancestors name.

[RedMage125]

So I could technically be born from human parents and cast out cos if my appearance? That works really well.

Depending on which lore you're using, yes. In 3.5e, tieflings were the "fiend-blooded, but not as much as half-fiend". Some of them had much mroe or less pronounced fiendish features than others (a tiefling may look entirely human, but project a sense of "wrongness" or unease about them). It stands to reason that if the fiendish blood were diluted enough, the result would be someone who was more or less human. but if 2 humans with such bloodlines had a child, that child could manifest the fiendish heritage.

Of course, that was before they all had huge horns and a tail like 4e gave us.

In 4e, all tieflings were descended from the noble houses of an ancient empire that made a deal with Asmodeus. In that edition, the "fiendish taint" always bred true. So the child of a tiefling and an elf, or a tielfing and a human...would always be a tiefling.

You could also be the first tiefling in your bloodline, if one or both of your parents were somehow affected by fiendish magic. Maybe it was a curse laid down by a fiend. Maybe one or both of them used to be adventurers themselves, and were exposed to fiendish magic. Maybe your mother was, in her youth, going to be the "virgin sacrifice" of a demon cult, and was saved at the last moment by adventurers, never knowing that fiendish magic had already affected her, and years later, after she married and had a child, the child was born a tiefling...

A lot of possibilities, really, all of which are totally within the confines of how 5e does tieflings.

Ooh, or one of your parents was actaully a cambion (or other tiefling) in disguise, and no one knew. That parent fled when your character was born, fearing that the heritage revealed by the child would reveal their own nature.

[Mark8147]

Ooh, or one of your parents was actaully a cambion (or other tiefling) in disguise, and no one knew. That parent fled when your character was born, fearing that the heritage revealed by the child would reveal their own nature.
I really like that it's perfect!

[Man_Over_Game]

You could also do something entirely different, saying that your body was made after a Reincarnation spell, or made from some infernal deal.

For example, a mother beseeches a "wizard" for a child after being barren for many years. He "provides" her the child, selling part of its soul to an infernal entity as part of a side deal. When the mother gives birth to the child, it's revealed that it is a Tiefling.

Alternatively, a mother loses her child during birth. She offers everything she can to bring him back, and an infernal entity hears this plea. It gives the child a living body of the infernal's own flesh and blood, in exchange for the mother's allegiance.