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At some point in his life, every tiefling realizes that he is different from those around him, and that there is something strong, dark, and fierce lurking within him that doesn’t crouch within his neighbors’ souls. The blood of another plane runs hot through his veins, and the instincts of his fiendish ancestors call to him across the generations. A tiefling is a creature of two worlds: the one into which he was born and the older, crueler, and stranger one that marked him. A few tieflings, upon grasping this difference, embrace it wholeheartedly, diving into lives of corruption with searing certainty that their fiendish natures make them greater than those who surround them. Some even seek ingress to their ancestral plane in hopes that their inhuman forebears might show them favor. However, most tieflings are unwilling to completely abandon the human cultures in which they were raised. They often spend their lives feeling the pull of their fiendish heritage and longing to fit into the society around them.
No two tieflings look alike; the fiendish blood running through their veins manifests inconsistently, granting them an array of fiendish traits. One tiefling might appear as a human with small horns, a barbed tail, and oddly colored eyes, while another might manifest a mouth of fangs, tiny wings, and claws, and yet another might possess the perpetual smell of blood, foul incenses, and brimstone. Typically, these qualities hearken back in some way to the manner of fiend that spawned the tiefling’s bloodline, but even then the admixture of human and fiendish blood is rarely ruled by sane, mortal laws, and the vast flexibility it produces in tieflings is a thing of wonder, running the gamut from oddly beautiful to utterly terrible.
Description
Description
Simultaneously more and less than mortal, tieflings are the offspring of humans and fiends. With otherworldly blood and traits to match, tieflings are often shunned and despised out of reactionary fear. Most tieflings never know their fiendish sire, as the coupling that produced their curse occurred generations earlier. The taint is long-lasting and persistent, often manifesting at birth or sometimes later in life, as a powerful, though often unwanted, boon. Despite their fiendish appearance and netherworld origins, tieflings have a human’s capacity of choosing their fate, and while many embrace their dark heritage and side with fiendish powers, others reject their darker predilections. Though the power of their blood calls nearly every tiefling to fury, destruction, and wrath, even the spawn of a succubus can become a saint and the grandchild of a pit fiend an unsuspecting hero.
"By the Pit, I can think of no lower sentient creature! They may have the blood of fends running in their veins, yes—but what kind of fends, and how many? Most are vermin, a mishmash of the dregs of the evil Outer Planes. Some may carry the proud blood of Hell, but the rest are nothing but scum. Dangerous lowlifes, inveterate cheaters, predatory grifters always looking for their next—what? Who told you... well, never mind. I suppose it must be admitted that they’re also thrilling lovers. The taste of transgression alone nearly makes their company bearable.” – Jilia Bainulus, mayor of Kintargo
Racial Traits
Alignment and Religion
Alignment and Religion
Despite their fiendish heritage and the insidious influence of prejudice, tieflings can be of any alignment. Many of them fall prey to the dark desires that haunt their psyches, and give in to the seduction of the whispering evil within, yet others steadfastly reject their origins and actively fight against evil lures and the negative assumptions they face from others by performing acts of good. Most, however, strive to simply find their own way in the world, though they tend to adopt a very amoral, neutral view when they do. Though many creatures just assume that tieflings worship devils and demons, their religious views are as varied as their physical forms. Individual tieflings worship all manner of deities, but they are just as likely to shun religion all together. Those who give in to the dark whispers that haunt the psyche of all tieflings serve all manner of powerful fiends.
Despite their fiendish heritage and the insidious influence of prejudice, tieflings can be of any alignment. Many of them fall prey to the dark desires that haunt their psyches, and give in to the seduction of the whispering evil within, yet others steadfastly reject their origins and actively fight against evil lures and the negative assumptions they face from others by performing acts of good. Most, however, strive to simply find their own way in the world, though they tend to adopt a very amoral, neutral view when they do. Though many creatures just assume that tieflings worship devils and demons, their religious views are as varied as their physical forms. Individual tieflings worship all manner of deities, but they are just as likely to shun religion all together. Those who give in to the dark whispers that haunt the psyche of all tieflings serve all manner of powerful fiends.
While many uneducated residents of the Inner Sea region assume all tief ings are demon- or devil-worshipers— and tiefling sorcerers and oracles may perpetuate that stereotype by embracing their fiendish origins to access magical powers—tiefling religion is as varied as that of any other race.
Sarenrae’s status as the great redeemer means that tiefling worshipers are not only accepted within her fold but held up as triumphs, and most good-aligned churches are willing to take in tieflings whose intentions are pure. That sense of love and acceptance—from both a god and one’s peers—holds an appeal as powerful as divine magic itself for many tiefling clerics, and if it also means that their former tormentors in the community have to shut their mouths or face the church’s wrath, all the better. Other tieflings choose religions that take them down paths far from judgmental eyes, such as the magical study of Nethys, the personal enlightenment of Irori, or a hermitic communion with Gozreh.
Yet as is so often the case, the rumors about tieflings have a grain of truth, and many of those cast out by society find their way into evil churches. Cults dedicated to Lamashtu and other demon lords see a tiefling’s heritage as a mark of favor, and while Cheliax may look down on tieflings, the church of Asmodeus itself has no such compunctions. Those forced to steal to survive often turn to Norgorber, and while not actually evil, Calistria encourages tieflings to strike back at those who’ve wronged them.
Relations
Relations
Tieflings face a significant amount of prejudice from most other races, who view them as fiend-spawn, seeds of evil, monsters, and lingering curses placed upon the world. Far too often, civilized races shun or marginalize them, while more monstrous ones simply fear and reject them unless forced or cowed into acceptance. But half-elves, half-orcs, fetchlings and—most oddly—aasimars tend to view them as kindred spirits who are too often rejected or who don’t fit into most societies by virtue of their birth. The widespread assumption that tieflings are innately evil— ill-founded though it may be—prevents many from easily fitting into most cultures on the Material Plane except in exceedingly cosmopolitan or planar-influenced nations.
Tieflings seldom see another of their own kind, and thus they usually simply adopt the culture and mannerisms of their human parents. On other planes, tieflings form enclaves of their own kind. But often such enclaves are less than harmonious—the diversity of tiefling forms and philosophies is an inherent source of conflict between members of the race, and cliques and factions constantly form in an ever-shifting hierarchy where only the most opportunistic or devious gain advantage. Only those of common bloodlines or those who manage to divorce their worldview from the inherently selfish, devious, and evil nature of their birth manage to find true acceptance, camaraderie, and common ground among others of their kind.
Society Tieflings on the Material Plane rarely create their own settlements and holdings. Instead, they live on the fringes of the land where they were born or choose to settle. Most societies view tieflings as aberrations or curses, but in cultures where there are frequent interactions with summoned fiends, and especially where the worship of demons, devils, or other evil outsiders is legal or obligatory, tieflings might be much more populous and accepted, even cherished as blessings of their fiendish overlords.
Origins
Though tieflings have the blood of fiendish beings, their ancestry is at least one step removed from the original introduction of that blood; the child of a union of a mortal with a fiendish being is a half-fiend, not a tiefling. Tieflings might, but not necessarily, then be born from the union of the half-fiend with another mortal being. The possibility of a tiefling birth continues to many generations after that union, even when two mortals have children, so long as one of the mortals is a direct descendant of the half-fiend. Half-fiend creatures can be of many types, but it is found that tieflings are only possibly born from humanoids.
Heritages
Though for most tieflings, the source of their fiendish blood is unknown, there are some who can trace their tainted blood back to a specific type of fiend and their very personalities may be warped in a way echoing this ancestry. These tiefling heritages are as follows:
Asura-spawn (Faultspawn)
Daemon-spawn (Grimspawn)
Demodand-spawn (Foulspawn)
Demon-spawn (Pitborn)
Devil-spawn (Hellspawn)
Div-spawn (Spitespawn)
Kyton-spawn (Shackleborn)
Oni-spawn (Hungerseed)
Qlippoth-spawn (the Motherless)
Rakshasa-spawn (Beastbrood)
Tieflings on Golarion
While uncommon, tieflings can be found throughout Golarion, though they feature more prominently in societies whose members frequently associate with evil outsiders.
Cheliax’s strong ties to Hell, and its frequent trafficking with devils, have resulted in one of the largest tiefling populations on Golarion. Despite their ubiquity, tieflings are treated more harshly in Cheliax than almost anywhere else, as the Chelaxians see them as evidence that the human population is not as firmly in control of their infernal allies—or of themselves—as they should be.
The festering Abyssal rift known as the Worldwound has also produced a glut of tieflings, mostly due to the effects of Abyssal energy permeating the area. These tieflings comprise the bulk of the Worldwound’s mortal agents, and enjoy freedom from racial persecution—though among demons, freedom from prejudice doesn’t necessarily mean safety. Tieflings among the demon-worshiping drow of the Darklands often find similar levels of acceptance.
Names
Male Names: Baru, Dellisar, Maldrek, Molos, Sarvin, Shoremoth, Temerith, Voren, Zoren.
Female Names: Allizsah, Indranna, Kasidra, Kilarra, Mellisan, Mordren, Nisha.
Tieflings’ fiendish blood grants them abilities that are valuable to those who choose the adventuring life, and their talents may allow them to fill a number of different roles within a party. The neglect many suffer as children drives them to learn to filch food and coins without being noticed, and the thieves’ guilds and street gangs that may be the only employers available to adolescent tieflings are only too willing to train them to enhance those skills. Enterprising mercenary groups may be willing to look past tieflings’ notorious reputations or criminal pasts and train them as scouts or infiltration specialists. The same rough childhoods that lead some tieflings to hone their thieving skills teach others to fight well, and those who learn to stand their ground often find themselves drawn to careers that involve confrontation. Tieflings learn early on that other races are often intimidated by their monstrous appearances, giving them an upper hand in combat. All kinds of magic hold a deep appeal for tieflings, as few races have such an immediate need to bend reality to their will. Their fiendish blood makes sorcerers and oracles common, while the study of other arcane magic can help tieflings hide their heritage or become so powerful they no longer have to. Divine casters find solace in the gods, though the path of the druid is particularly rare, as many animals respond poorly to tieflings’ scent. No matter what role they serve, tieflings almost always must prove to their companions that they are better—or perhaps just as bad—as their fiendish heritage suggests.
AdventurersTieflings often find it difficult, if not impossible, to earn an honest living, since members of their communities are generally reluctant to trust them, let alone apprentice or hire them. Rather than spending their lives in poverty or turning to crime to get by, some tieflings opt to strike out boldly into new environments where they can freely seek their fortunes. One doesn’t need to be trusted by villagers to slay the monsters preying upon them, and when it comes time to ensure that one is paid in full, intimidating horns and rumors of infernal powers can be an advantage to prying gold out of the hands of greedy mayors.
AdventurersTieflings often find it difficult, if not impossible, to earn an honest living, since members of their communities are generally reluctant to trust them, let alone apprentice or hire them. Rather than spending their lives in poverty or turning to crime to get by, some tieflings opt to strike out boldly into new environments where they can freely seek their fortunes. One doesn’t need to be trusted by villagers to slay the monsters preying upon them, and when it comes time to ensure that one is paid in full, intimidating horns and rumors of infernal powers can be an advantage to prying gold out of the hands of greedy mayors.
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