Tiefling

PC Statistics

ECL: 1

Ability Score Adjustments: +2 Dex, +2 Int, -2 Cha

Favored Class: Rogue

Special Abilities:

Darkvision
Hardiness vs. Cold: Tieflings have a resistance to cold of 5.
Hardiness vs. Fire: Tieflings have a resistance to fire of 5.
Hardiness vs. Electricity: Tieflings have a resistance to electricity of 5.
Darkness: Tieflings can cast Darkness once per day as a sorcerer of their level.
Skill Affinity (Persuade): +2 racial bonus to Persuade checks.
Skill Affinity (Hide): +2 racial bonus to Hide checks.

Overview

Tieflings are a rare and unusual people on Avlis. Tieflings are mortals who, through some quirk of their background, possess demonic characteristics. Although tieflings are varied, these characteristics most frequently manifest in the form of horns that protrude from the skull, long tails, fanged teeth, forked tongues, and skin tones considered unusual by most surface dwellers such as reds and purples. In addition to these visible characteristics, tieflings are known to have certain other traits that mark them as touched by the demonic.

Description

On the surface of Avlis, tieflings are an extremely rare and comparatively recent occurrence. The appearance of tieflings on the surface seems to have coincided with the end of the Red Star crisis and the Remaking. The origins of surface tieflings are unknown and hotly debated. It is believed that that rare individuals found themselves suddenly changed after the world was Remade. It is believed by some scholars that these people always had some demonic influence in their heritage, which, they claim, was activated by the unique circumstances of the Red Star crisis and its resolution.

However, in the Underdark of Avlis, tieflings have been a known and accepted, if still rare, phenomenon for many centuries. Most mortal cultures of the Underdark are familiar with the idea that, now and then, an individual will be born with demonic traits. Some Underdark cultures see this as a sign of favour or a mark of a special destiny. Others see it as a regrettable but ultimately benign quirk of living in such close proximity to the warping influence of the Demon Lords.

Personality

Tieflings are as varied as the societies in which they live. They are found in small numbers all over the surface of Avlis and in the Underdark, in all walks of life. The touch of the demonic inherent in tieflings does not appear to affect their personality in a serious way, although some may claim that tieflings are more hot-tempered and fickle than others.

Relations

As a new and rare phenomenon, tieflings on the surface are treated more as a curiosity than anything. Many surfacers are used to living alongside the varied and various peoples of Avlis.

In the Underdark, tieflings are engaged in the same struggle for survival, advantage, and advancement as the other peoples of the deep. While some groups and cultures may view tieflings as blessed by the Demon Lords, this does not translate into a widespread phenomenon—nor one that is respected by many of the truly powerful.

Alignment

Any, although Underdark tieflings tend to be Evil.

Society

Surface Tieflings have no society of their own, living as they do among the varied cultures and nations of the surface. Some surface tieflings have a tendency to want to seek out and find others of their kind, to better understand themselves.

Religion

Any.

Language

Tieflings speak the languages of the cultures they were raised in, along with any others they have learned.

Naming Conventions

Tieflings are named according to the cultures they were raised in, although some have marked the discovery of their tieflingdom by adopting a new moniker to match their changed appearance.

Adventurers

Some surface tieflings are drawn to adventure, seeking to understand and discover more about themselves, or to test their changed natures and capabilities. Generally, tieflings have as wide a range of reasons for choosing the adventurer’s life as any other people of Avlis.