Carrying the taint of evil in their forms — and perhaps their very souls — tieflings are often persecuted and feared throughout the planes. The distant descendants of humans and evil outsiders, tieflings are regarded as twisted, devious and untrustworthy. More often than not, this opinion is accurate.
Personality: Tieflings live as outcasts from an early age — as soon as their heritage shows itself — which contributes to their bitter outlook on life. Tieflings learn to keep others at a distance, often compensating for their loss with cruelty or depravity.
Physical Description: Tieflings look human (and are roughly the same height and weight as members of that race), except for one or two distinguishing features related to their unusual ancestry. Some examples of these features include small horns, pointed teeth, red eyes, a whiff of brimstone about them, cloven feet or red skin. No two tieflings look alike.
Tieflings reach adulthood at about the same age as humans but are longer-lived, with the eldest members of the race living to be 150 years old.
Relations: Tieflings treat most other races equally — at arm’s length. They are very slow to trust others and always wary of a friend suddenly becoming an enemy. Aasimars, bariaurs and wildren often trigger an instinctive fear or revulsion in tieflings, making it difficult for them to work together at all.
Tieflings respect other mixed-breed races that have to put up with persecution and derision, including half-orcs and mephlings. Still, a tiefling isn’t more likely to trust a member of one of these races; she’s just more likely to understand their perspective.
Alignment: Tieflings tend toward evil alignments, though neutral tieflings are not uncommon. Those who choose a life of good — and manage to stick to it — are particularly rare.
Religion: Tieflings have no common deity. Most choose to worship evil deities such as Erythnul, god of slaughter; Vecna, god of secrets; or Hextor, god of tyranny. Neutral tieflings may venerate Wee Jas, goddess of death and magic or Olidammara, god of thieves. Still others choose to pay homage to archfiends whose names are best not mentioned.
Language: Tieflings share no common language. Some learn Infernal or Abyssal, although since most have no idea where their bloodline comes from, as often as not they choose the wrong racial language. A tiefling usually learns the language of her parents as well.
Names: As a rule, tieflings use human names until such time as they seek to differentiate themselves from their parents. At that point, they often take names that hint at their fiendish heritage. Some choose words of Infernal or Abyssal that sound menacing, occasionally without even knowing the words’ definitions
Adventurers: As natural outcasts, tieflings often follow a life of adventure and intrigue. Those that hew to their heritage become thieves, brigands or killers. Some tieflings reject their tainted blood and seek the light, aiming to help those in need.
Note: See also Tiefling [Races of Destiny].
Source: Planar Handbook (Page 15)
Your character can be either male or female.
Every player character starts as an adult. You can choose or randomly generate your character’s age. If you choose it, it must be at least the minimum age for the character’s race and class (see Table: Starting Ages). Your character’s minimum starting age is the adulthood age of his or her race plus the number of dice indicated in the entry corresponding to the character’s race and class on Table: Starting Ages.
Alternatively, refer to Table: Starting Ages and roll dice to determine how old your character is.
| Adulthood | Intuitive1 | Self-Taught2 | Trained3 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 15 years | +1d6 (16—21) years | +1d8 (16—23) years | +2d8 (17—31) years |
1 This category includes barbarians, rogues and sorcerers.
2 This category includes bards, fighters, paladins and rangers.
3 This category includes clerics, druids, monks and wizards.
With age, a character’s physical ability scores decrease and his or her mental ability scores increase (see Table: Aging Effects). The effects of each aging step are cumulative. However, none of a character’s ability scores can be reduced below 1 in this way.
| Middle Age1 | Old Age2 | Venerable3 | Maximum Age |
|---|---|---|---|
| 45 years | 68 years | 90 years | +3d20 years |
1 -1 to Strength, Dexterity and Constitution; +1 to Intelligence, Wisdom and Charisma.
2 -2 to Strength, Dexterity and Constitution; +1 to Intelligence, Wisdom and Charisma.
3 -3 to Strength, Dexterity and Constitution; +1 to Intelligence, Wisdom and Charisma.
When a character reaches venerable age, the DM secretly rolls his or her maximum age, which is the number from the Venerable column on Table: Aging Effects plus the result of the dice roll indicated on the Maximum Age column on that table, and records the result, which the player does not know. A character who reaches his or her maximum age dies of old age at some time during the following year, as determined by the DM.
The maximum ages are for player characters. Most people in the world at large die from pestilence, accidents, infections or violence before getting to venerable age.
Choose your character’s height and weight from the ranges mentioned in the appropriate race description or from the ranges found on Table: Height and Weight. Think about what your character’s abilities might say about his or her height and weight. A weak but agile character may be thin. A strong and tough character may be tall or just heavy.
Alternatively, roll randomly for your character’s height and weight on Table: Height and Weight. The dice roll given in the Height Modifier column determines the character’s extra height beyond the base height. That same number multiplied by the dice roll or quantity given in the Weight Modifier column determines the character’s extra weight beyond the base weight.
| Gender | Base Height | Height Modifier | Base Weight | Weight Modifier |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Male | 4’ 10" | +2d10 (5’ 0"—6’ 6") | 120 lbs. | ×2d4 (124—280 lbs.) |
| Female | 4’ 5" | +2d10 (4’ 7"—6’ 1") | 85 lbs. | ×2d4 (89—245 lbs.) |
Source: Planar Handbook (Page 18)