Tiefling

Tiefling

Bloodline	Half Bloods
Origin	Arch-Fiends of Mictlān
Language	Common, Mictlānian
Reputation	Feared, mistrusted

“The Gods chose to spare the life of half fiends, they say. To preserve the half that was mortal, they say. I am sure the tieflings, whether fiendish or not, are grateful for this kindness. Are they not?”

• Dimbaal Noretso Grim, Old Storyteller

To be greeted with stares and whispers, to suffer violence and insult on the street, to see mistrust and fear in every eye: this is the lot of the tiefling. Their appearance and their nature are not their fault, but the result of an ancient transgression - for which they, their children, and their children’s children will always be held accountable.

Description

A tiefling’s infernal heritage has left a clear imprint on their appearance. Tieflings have large horns that take a variety of shapes: some curl like a ram’s, others rise straight and tall like a gazelle’s, and some spiral upward like an antelope’s. They have thick tails, four to five feet long, that lash or coil around their legs when they are upset or nervous. Their canine teeth are sharply pointed, and their eyes are solid colors - black, red, white, silver, or gold - with no visible sclera or pupil.

Skin tone and hair vary by bloodline: Rangda’s line tends toward purplish skin, Mara’s toward blue, and Asmodeus’s toward red. Their hair, cascading from behind their horns, is usually dark - black or brown shading to deep red, blue, or purple.

Personality

A tiefling’s bloodline does not, in truth, shape their personality or morality to any great degree - but few outsiders believe this. Shopkeepers watch their goods, the town watch shadows their steps, and demagogues blame them for strange happenings. Years of dealing with such mistrust leave their mark. Some tieflings choose to live up to the wicked stereotype; many more are virtuous; most are simply, acutely aware of how the world responds to them. A tiefling who survives a youth of suspicion often learns to overcome prejudice through charm or intimidation.

Society

Culture

Language

Tieflings speak, read, and write Common alongside Mictlānian, the tongue of hell, spoken by fiends and the creatures of the abyss.

Interracial Relations

People are reflexively suspicious of tieflings, assuming their infernal heritage marks their character as surely as it marks their flesh. The discrimination is rarely earned, but it is near-universal - a constant pressure that shapes how tieflings move through the world and how they regard those who judge them.

Subraces

There are three distinct tiefling lines, each carrying the blood of a different Arch-Fiend. The three Arch-Fiends - Rangda, Mara, and Asmodeus - are documented separately and would each warrant their own page.

Rangda Tieflings

Rangda, the Queen of Dark Magic, sired a line with a natural affinity for the dark arts. Her descendants are drawn to forbidden knowledge and the manipulation of mind and magic.

Mara Tieflings

Mara, the Father of Temptation, sired a line gifted at using charm and persuasion to sway, manipulate, and control others.

Asmodeus Tieflings

Asmodeus, the Strategist, sired a line marked by foresight and preparation - tieflings who plan ahead and ready themselves for any situation.

History

Origins

Tieflings are counted among the Half Bloods - the offspring of magical creatures and mortals. Their origin lies in the demonic invasion of the world. As the gods drove the fiends away, the fiends left one last “gift” behind: they bred with mortals and created the tieflings, half-fiends. The gods discovered this and were about to destroy the abominations when the crying prayer of a desperate mother stopped them - she prayed that her son, who was half demon, would grow up to be half person too. The gods relented, sparing the tieflings and letting them choose who they would become. To balance the scales, the gods then gave the world the Hochlings (then called Aasimar), half-celestials, so that just as there were races cursed by evil, there would be races blessed by good.

Appendix

See Also

• Hochling - the celestial counterbalance to the tiefling line
• Bloodlines of Thelemar

Notes

• The three Arch-Fiends (Rangda, Mara, Asmodeus) are candidates for their own Deity/Fiend pages.
• Game mechanics (ability bonuses, granted spells, resistances) were intentionally omitted from this worldbuilding page.

Sources & Attribution

• Primary lore: editions/5e-2014/species/tiefling.md (Traveler’s Guide, heading chain Half Bloods → Tiefling), author TrueMichato.
• Origin myth: editions/5e-2014/world/bloodlines-of-thelemar.md (The Half Bloods).
• Superseded original: content/General/Tieflings.md (backed up at content/private/_originals/General/Tieflings.md).
• Art credit (not embedded): “The Adversary” by Tyler Jacobson.

Races

Races

Bloodlines

Children of the Empire	Children of the Empire
Half Bloods	Dragonborn Hochling Tiefling Dendulra Descathi Genasi Nyuidj
Twisted Races	Gnolls Tengu Kobold Tabaxi Bugbear Goblin Hobgoblin Loxodon Centaur Changeling Firbolg Goliath Half-Ogre Kenku Minotaur Satyr Tortle Yuan-Ti
Peoples of the New World	Bejorn Canidae Caprini Felixpes Grung Leonin Lizardfolk Ludai Reepicheep Thanoi

Link to original