The Mark of Asmodeus
During the Spellplague, Asmodeus consumed the divine spark of Azuth and thereby achieved godhood. Subsequently, Asmodeus and a coven of warlocks, the Toril Thirteen, performed a rite wherein the archdevil claimed all tieflings in the world as his own, cursing them to bear "the blood of Asmodeus." This act marked all tieflings as "descendants" of the Lord of the Nine Hells, regardless of their true heritage, and changed them into creatures that resembled their supposed progenitor. The other folk of Faerûn, unnerved by the appearance of these devil-beings, became suspicious of all tieflings and occasionally hostile to them.In spite of what some people believe, however, Asmodeus exerts no power over his "children," and tieflings today are as free-willed—and willful—as they ever have been. Some do choose to serve the Lord of the Nine Hells and his schemes, while others align themselves with different fiendish factions, or none at all, doing their best to stay out of infernal politics.Since the ritual that spread the curse of Asmodeus a century ago, tieflings have been born on Faerûn that belong to other infernal bloodlines, but those that bear the mark of the archdevil (and their descendants) remain the most numerous examples of their kind by far.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. And to twist the knife, tieflings know that this is because a pact struck generations ago infused the essence of Asmodeus-overlord of the Nine Hells-into their bloodline. Their appearance and their nature are not their fault but the result of an ancient sin, for which they and their children and their children's children will always be held accountable.
Infernal Bloodline
Tieflings are derived from Human bloodlines, and in the broadest possible sense, they still look Human. However, their infernal heritage has left a clear imprint on their appearance. Tieflings have large horns that take any of a variety of shapes - some have curling horns like a ram, others have straight and tall horns like a gazelle's, and some spiral upward like an antelopes' horns. They have thick tails, four to five feet long, which lash or coil around their legs when they get 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. Their skin tones cover the full range of human coloration, but also include various shades of red. Their hair, cascading down from behind their horns, is usually dark, from black or brown to dark red, blue, or purple.
Self-Reliant and Suspicious
Tieflings subsist in small minorities found mostly in human cities or towns, often in the roughest quarters of those places, where they grow up to be swindlers, thieves or crime lords. Sometimes they live among other minority populations in enclaves where they are treated with more respect.Lacking a homeland, tieflings know that they have to make their own way in the world and that they have to be strong to survive. They are not quick to trust anyone who claims to be a friend, but when a tiefling's companions demonstrate that they trust him or her, a tiefling learns to extend the same trust to them. And once a tiefling gives someone loyalty, the tiefling is a friend or ally for life.
A Race without a Home
As offspring of the infernal, tieflings call no place in Faerûn their own, although some places and nations are more tolerant of them than most.In the North, the largest population of tieflings is found in Neverwinter. Since the Ashmadai, a violent cult dedicated to Asmodeus, is also active in the city, mistrust of tieflings isn't unusual even here, since folk never know if a tiefling is a member of the Ashmadai or was drawn to Neverwinter by the opportunity to blend in that a metropolis provides.Small and scattered groups of tieflings are found elsewhere across Faerûn, particularly in cosmopolitan cities (where they can be anonymous to some degree) and in rough and poor settlements that welcome anyone who can help them survive and prosper.Tieflings are common in Calimshan, to the south, where many of them fought for the djinn as mercenaries and now serve other masters with the coin to pay them. In the east, many tieflings dwell in Aglarond—escaped slaves from Thay or their descendants—and in Mulhorand, where tieflings are believed to carry the blood of the ancient Mulhorandi gods themselves.
Lone Faithful
Although many Faerûnian folk believe that all tieflings worship Asmodeus and the Lords of the Nine Hells, the truth is that only a fraction of them do so, but enough are devil- or demon-worshipers to lend the weight of truth to all the rumors and suspicion.Tieflings who revere a god other than Asmodeus often worship deities who watch over and care for outsiders, including Ilmater, Mask, Selûne, Shar, and Tymora. Gods of knowledge, survival, cunning, and warfare are also common attractions for tieflings who value those qualities. Beshaba has tiefling worshipers who consider the accident of their birth as a kind of cruel joke they have chosen to embrace.Equally intriguing and disturbing to followers of some faiths in Faerûn are stories spread by tieflings who claim to have visions in which the gods of Faerûn appear to them modeled in the tieflings' own image. One such is the entity they call the "pale horned goddess of the moon" (Selûne another is the "dark, devilish lady of fortune" (Tymora)—an indication, tieflings say, that one's outward appearance and bloodline are less important to the gods than the heart and soul within.
Basic Information
Anatomy
Tieflings tended to have an unsettling air about them, and most people were uncomfortable around them, whether they were aware of the tiefling's unsavory ancestry or not. While some looked like normal humans, 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.In many other ways, tieflings were similar to humans physically. 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.
Biological Traits
Tiefling Bloodlines
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.In 1358 DR, a warlock coven known as the Toril thirteen performed a ritual that cursed most tiefling lineages—those of demons, devils, hags, and rakshasas, among others—with the "blood of Asmodeus", changing their original lineage with that of the archdevil himself. This was done to make Asmodeus a "racial god", ensuring him enough followers to attain godly powers. After the Spellplague of 1385 DR, when Asmodeus became a god, the magic of the ritual took effect across all of Toril and afterwards most tieflings living in the 15th century DR were of the Asmodean lineage, all having a similar devilish appearance.Prior to Asmodeus's ascension to godhood, the infernal blood could be diluted through intermarriage, but afterward, the union of a tiefling with another race always produced a tiefling child.In the late years of the 15th century, tieflings of other bloodlines began to be born again, but the Asmodean lineage was still the most numerous by a wide margin at the time.
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.
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, and 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 quest. For others, its a grim destiny.Male Infernal Names: Akmenos, Amnon, Harahas, Ekernon, Tados, Kairon, Leucis, Melech, Morthos, Pelaios, Skamos, TheraiFemale Infernal Names: Akra, Anakis, Bryseis, Criella, Ea, Kallista, Lerissa, Makaria, Nemeia, Phelaia, RietaVirtue Names: Art, Carrion, Chant, Creed, Despair, Fear, Glory, Hope, Ideal, Music, Nowhere, Poetry, Quest, Random, Reverence, Sorrow, Torment, Weary
Major Organizations
Those tieflings who were religious were a varied lot, since no god held more sway over tieflings than any other, though Asmodeus, as the lord over the fiendish race of devils, may come close. Most tieflings called on one of the primary gods of their homeland, though there were exceptions. Beshaba, the goddess of bad luck, for instance, appealed to many of the race, owing to tieflings' collective sense of misfortune. Many evil tieflings who channeled their dark emotions into aggression often found themselves in the service of Cyric, as well. Prior to the Spellplague and the god's subsequent disappearance, Gargauth also drew a large number of worshipers seeking vengeance, as did Mask, who gathered tiefling thieves to his church. Shar, like Gargauth, appealed to those with a taste for vengeance.
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 include 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 through 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. Devas 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.
Lifespan
90–150 years
Average Height
4′11″‒6′ (150‒180 cm)
Average Weight
114‒238 lb (51.7‒108 kg)
Body Tint, Colouring and Marking
Skin colors:
- Human skin colors
- Hues of Red
- Blue
- Green
Hair colors
- Red
- Brown
- Black
- Dark blue
- Purple
Distinctions
- Horns
- Tai
- Keen mind
- Alluring
- Fiendish origin
Darkvision
Thanks to your infernal heritage, you have superior vision in dark and dim conditions. You can see in dim light within 60 feet of you as if it were bright light, and in darkness as if it were dim light. You can't discern color in darkness, only shades of gray.
Hellish Resistance
You have resistance to fire damage.
