Tiefling

Tieflings were human-based planetouched, infused with the touch with of the fiendish planes, most often through descent from fiends who have bred with humans. Tieflings were known for their cunning and personal allure, which made them excellent deceivers as well as inspiring leaders when prejudices were laid aside.
Although their evil ancestors could be many generations removed, the taint lingered. Unlike half-fiends, tieflings were not predisposed to evil alignments and varied in alignment nearly as widely as full humans, though tieflings were certainly devious. The celestial counterparts of tieflings were called aasimar.

Basic Information

Anatomy

Some looked like normal humans, but most retained physical characteristics derived from their ancestor, with the most common such features being horns, non-prehensile tails, and pointed teeth. Some tieflings also had eyes that were solid orbs of black, red, white, silver, or gold, while others had eyes more similar to those of humans. Other, more unusual characteristics included a sulfurous odor, cloven feet, or a general aura of discomfort they left on others.

Biological Traits

Tieflings were, on average, just as tall as humans, from 5′6″‒6′2″ (170‒190 cm) and weighed just a little bit heavier at 140‒220 lb (64‒100 kg). Tiefling skin was usually human-like in color, though extending past normal human colors into reddish hues as well. Tiefling hair was also often the same color as human hair, though dark blue, red, or purple were common shades amongst the race. Although it was not always the case, tieflings tended to have better reflexes than their human kin. This, along with their natural propensity for hiding and deceit helped to give tieflings a reputation for thievery and duplicity.
Tieflings who had strikingly inhuman features were often killed at birth by their horrified parents or others. Only those tieflings with subtle features or born to someone indifferent to their appearance, either out of acceptance or cruel purpose, were likely to reach adulthood. Those tieflings who did reach adulthood could be expected to age at roughly the same rate. They had life spans roughly 20 to 40 years longer than normal humans.
The physical appearance of a tiefling often depended on the exact ancestry that spawned it, a bloodline that might have remained dormant for generations. Diabolic or demonic tieflings could, besides the common horns and tails, possess a forked tongue, leathery or scaly skin, the smell of brimstone, or unusually warm flesh. Some accounts even held these tieflings to cast neither shadows nor reflections. Some diabolic tieflings also sported goat-like legs or hooves. Tieflings descended from rakshasa might have furred skin or feline eyes. Most tieflings had only one or two of these features.

Genetics and Reproduction

The union of a tiefling and a non-tiefling always produced a tiefling. The union of a half-fiend of one with fiendish blood and a human also made tieflings.

Dietary Needs and Habits

Tieflings were carnivores. They consumed blood, blubber, bone, gristle and meat. They even roasted insects and considered raw bone marrow a delicacy.

Additional Information

Social Structure

Most tieflings were aware from an early age that they were different from others around them, and were given strange urges and desires because of their unusual ancestry. Few tieflings were raised with the love a normal human child might expect to receive and this shaped most of the race into bitter individuals who expected eventual rejection from all whom they meet. While some would follow this path towards evil, others rejected it wholeheartedly and sought to make a good impact on the world around them, sometimes becoming the most heroic characters of all. Few could maintain this discipline, however, and most tieflings fell somewhere between both extremes.
Because tieflings were generally distrusted throughout the world, owing to their fiendish heritage, many were themselves distrusting and self-reliant. Tieflings were also proud and secretive by nature and possessed a dark demeanor. Unfortunately, this only helped to further the reputation tieflings had for being social outcasts and untrustworthy scoundrels. However, members of other races would find that once they demonstrated friendship and trust towards a tiefling, it would quickly be reciprocated in full. Once that bond was forged, it was rarely broken.

Geographic Origin and Distribution

Being the result of fiendish interference with humans, tieflings had no true homeland and were found throughout Toril. The race was particularly common, however, in Mulhorand and Unther before both nations were devastated by the Spellplague, though the latter's population was said to have been vastly exaggerated. Tieflings also once had a large presence in Thay, where many were slaves. Tieflings who were discovered in the land often became pawns in the struggles between Thay's zulkirs, whom they served as assassins, thieves, and spies. The takeover by Szass Tam, however, drove many out of the region.
In the 15th century, tieflings were most commonly found in Narfell, where the race was believed to have first appeared in ancient times, and High Imaskar, though many were also welcome in the Dragon Coast, thanks to the native dragonborns' policy of racial tolerance. Other tieflings allied themselves with the genasi servants of Memnon in Calimshan, where they were a valued addition to the efreeti's war against his rival Calim before Anubus and the Lord's Alliance brought an end to it. Many tieflings were also found along the Sword Coast, particularly in the cosmopolitan Baldur's Gate. In Aglarond, the race was only begrudgingly tolerated as enemies of Thay.

Civilization and Culture

Naming Traditions

Tiefling names fall into three broad categories. Tieflings born into another culture typically have names reflective of that culture. Some have names derived from the Infernal language, passed down through generations, that reflect their fiendish heritage. And some younger tieflings, striving to find a place in the world, adopt a name that signifies a virtue or other concept and then try to embody that concept. For some, the chosen name is a noble quest. For others, it’s a grim destiny.

Culture and Cultural Heritage

Like other races that were the result of the breeding of two or more others, tieflings had no true culture they could call their own. However, there were many archetypal features of tieflings that were not necessarily innate. This includes their attitude regarding their heritage, and while some tieflings embraced it, others were repulsed by it, forging the two most common stereotypes of tieflings.
The former tieflings, who were proud of their fiendish past, were often fascinated by the dark and sinister events that touched the world but were not necessarily evil or inclined to perpetuate them. Some tieflings of this type chose to use their knowledge of evil and their own fiendish abilities to thwart these dark plots and schemes. Others sought to learn more and to emulate these evil deeds.
Other tieflings were ashamed or even frightened of their heritage and wished only to escape the shadow that lurked over them as a result. Some did this by constantly doing good, as though to make up for the evil that begot them. Others instead hid and tried to go unnoticed as they passed through the world, preferring to be ignored and forgotten than noticed and made a target because of their past.
Regardless of their motivations, tieflings often distrusted one another, sometimes even casting the same preconceptions on one another that others did on them. In spite of this, many secretly desired to have another tiefling nearby, if only to experience some small kind of kinship. Some of these tieflings gathered as partners-in-crime, while others were sought out by good tieflings who hoped to redeem others of their race.

Interspecies Relations and Assumptions

Tieflings, in general, didn't get along well with the other races of the world and were slow to trust others of any race, even their own. This animosity that tieflings had for others was taken to its extreme in the case of aasimar, whom tieflings instinctively feared or loathed. Aasimar often had a similar reaction, making it difficult for members of either race to successfully interact with each other. Of all the common races, tieflings felt the most kinship with half-orcs, who were similarly a target of revulsion and hate.

Genetic Ancestor(s)

• Human

Lifespan

90 - 150 years

Average Height

4'11" - 6'

Average Weight

114 - 238 lbs