Why Are Tieflings So Popular with D&D Players?

[@KingZolem]

So, in regards to the "why only make the curse skin deep" question, I actually came up with what I feel is a brilliant answer and one I'm fully happy to share. Asmodeus made the curse only skin deep because he gets to damn more people that way. Imagine the peaceful, good tiefling that gets run out of a village by an angry mob for no reason beyond the poor fellow's appearance. Those villagers just committed a sin of wrath and violence against an innocent person. And that's just an extreme example. People that refuse service, cheat, or otherwise harras them are also committing evil acts, if minor ones. By making a form that people would be naturally racist and biased against, Asmodeus can get tons of people to sin with minimum effort. What's more, any tiefling that falls to evil now does so by their own choice. And, in my setting, a big part of his agenda is proving that mortals chose to be evil of their own free will. Yes, he and his devils tempt people, but they don't coerce them. That would ruin the point that he is trying to make about mortals being terrible creatures by nature.

[@CheezMonsterCrazy]

Damn, that's some tasty lore

[@dplonker6140]

Shit that's genius!

[@KingZolem]

@dplonker6140 Thank you. I just thought "He's THE Devil. If it doesn't make sense at first glance or feels like a mistake on his part, that's part of the trap." From there it was just working out what the trap was to snare people. "What is the maximum gain from the minimum effort that he's putting in here?"

[@Nykandros]

How many more "sins of wrath & violence" could be committed if he just skipped all of that mumbo jumbo and made Tieflings devious & sinful by nature (which they are, btw). Asmodeus does not care to make any sort of "grand point" to mortals or the other realms lol, he knows he's right and the pleasure of seeing mortals sign their souls away by the millions daily is enough for him; he is primarily interested in power for power's sake over everything that exists, and he would never nerf his plan just to make a point. Fact is, Tieflings are devious by nature. This doesn't mean they can't be good, but Tieflings will always be predisposed towards self-interest & ruthless cunning. They will be drawn to power far more easily than other races, and will be far more capable at attaining it as well. What they do with this power is up to you, but I believe the lore kind of establishes a fundamental theme of Machiavellianism for the race which should never be ignored. Otherwise, they're just humans with horns.

[@DarkMark-cf1ec]

"shouldnt have become a warlock then, damn demon ilk! Reddie!"

[@Camarillo36]

Ive seen so many players want to play tieflings, but just treat it like a skin. I always have NPCs react to their appearance

[@MrDe4dGuy34]

Tiefling lore gets even more muddled when you consider that cambions and half-fiends are a thing too. Why would Asmodeus want tieflings when he has cambions already? Cambions are more powerful and are also born from mortals.

[@michaelpettersson4919]

The cambions are effective agents. Teiflings should be way below them on the infernal hierarchy. Teiflings is what happens a cambion check in with a cult of mortals doing their own version of Rosemary's baby.

[@johntheherbalistg8756]

Cambions are demon bred (emphasis on "bred") while tieflings are devil cursed. Cambions don't belong to Asmodeus. They belong to his enemies.

[@Thagomizer]

In 2e, cambions were half-demons, born from human females and male demons. Alu-fiends were half succubus. Tieflings were one quarter fiend at most, and considered planetouched until the 10th generation. No two were supposed to look alike.

[@dawi4ever]

Tieflings have the possibility of limitless possibility from minor fiends to lords and dukes being aesthetic influences

[@evanunhinged5771]

Went on a whole rant about this and then read this comment, glad you understand 🤝

[@alex-uw4mm]

the asmodeus thing was a strong downgrade. i prefered having different types tieflings, from the charismatic devil to an almost feral beast demon.

[@UselessKobold]

I would agree with that. With the diversity of fiendish appearances and yet the people who have the blood of fiends, yet they look like the stereotypically depiction of the Devil? They should be very different from each other. A tiefling hailing from the Demogorgon should be very different from the one hailing from Asmodeus.

[@azzaelulbrinter]

Most recent lore (appearing in SCAG and MTF) suggests that with time, new tieflings have spawn from other fiends, including demons. It even has sub-races for each type of fiend.

[@alex-uw4mm]

@@azzaelulbrinter bring back ugly tieflings

[@raymondharnack4160]

Nah, the rebranding is what made them so popular. You know exactly what a tiefling is when you see one, can’t say the same for the aasimar

[@heatherharrison264]

The first time I encountered tieflings was in the video game Neverwinter Nights 2, which is based on 3.5 edition, so it is from before the rebranding. It is this earlier lore that imprinted on me, so the rebranding has always felt awkward. It seems like it has been drifting back in the direction of having multiple kinds of tieflings. Baldur's Gate 3 has subraces besides the Asmodeus tiefling. I'm playing a Zariel tiefling in that game. The smites that these tieflings get as a racial bonus are useful.

[@Strash1892]

One thing about the inconvenient features of a Tiefling's anatomy that I only became aware of after I created my Tiefling character is the position in which they would sleep. The tail could make sleeping on their back uncomfortable or impossible, so they may prefer sleeping on their stomach or side. However, when I imagined my Tiefling's appearance, I decided that his horns would protrude from his temples rather than his forehead. But then I realized that would make side sleeping impossible, and I imagined him sleeping on his back, like I do myself, until I realized his tail might be in the way. Now I think he would most likely sleep sitting up, leaning on something, or perhaps in a strange twisted position where the body is on its side but the head is face up. Either way, with such considerations it quickly becomes clear that the human body is not suitable for being equipped with horns.

[@asturias0267]

Your Tiefling sleeps like a cat.

[@Jasonwolf1495]

In my setting tieflings are basically the result of magic polution. The outer eldritch realms overlapping with ours and causing strange effects to children born there. I got very heavily inspired by a literal toxic waste dumping site that caused years of birth defects in the local population. Playing with eldritch magic resulting in toxic leftovers just kinda felt right for the setting as it mirrors the early industrial issues they're also facing. That all said, I did specifically make it that they are a subrace of whatever your parents were. IE in the player party there is a wood elf tiefling so they get all the base wood elf biology (height, weight, etc) and some of the culture (language mainly), but then have their features replaced with tiefling stuff.

[@dplonker6140]

That's some really nice worldbuilding!

[@michaelpettersson4919]

Old Netheril could provide plenty of leaky ruins. Celestial, fay or elemental powers should work exactly the same. Planetuched should be a condition caused by exposure. People could even be unaware that they are effected. I can definitely see some far out there village where the locals are totally cool with horns, tails, hooves etc. There is a condition that create crablike feet and sometimes hands. Look for "crab people". Exist in some region of Africa. Most do not have this condition but it is seen as normal.

[@briancorvello3620]

Same reason the drow are popular. The idea of a sexy demon girl portrayed as a rebel and outcast, appeals to a lot of players making tieflings a good choice for anyone who wants to go against the norm. (And YES, there are male tieflings, and not all are good-looking, but the artwork in Planescape kind of enforced a stereotype.) In fact, in a LOT of ways, this reason makes them even more popular than drow in that regard; the "sexy warrior-girl rebel and outcast who rejects her past" theme is easily applied to both, but with the drow, the downside is that they are regarded (in a meta-sense) of being "Drizzt clones" even when that wasn't the intention. Tieflings have no load-bearing NPC crutch, meaning the theme can be used more liberally.

[@punishedrab9364]

Which is funny that they think they're going against the norm by literally being the norm

[@briancorvello3620]

Uh... Uhm... Good point.

[@rachdarastrix5251]

@@punishedrab9364 Yep. I mean, this is 2023. Teenage Rebel: "I am going to Chruch and there is nothing you can do to stop me!" Parents: "Don't you DARE go out that door!"

[@NevisYsbryd]

@@punishedrab9364 Standard outcome of obsessive rebels. To be defined by reaction to convention is to defined by convention.

[@projectarduino2295]

I love the idea of tiefling variants: yugoloth, rakshasa, bone demon, etc. such visual variety and background options which could provide deep lore.

[@DarkMark-cf1ec]

Technically you can play a skeleton, slime person, some "fur-ry" abomination, multiple limbed and mouthed blob, metal person or fire person (no burning, no light, its just looks like you're on fire)

[@nate742]

The alluring outsider, not quite accepted and the target of much suspicion. They walk the line between embracing that dark image of sin and debauchery or finding some sincere and wholesome connection with those that accept them.

[@SuperGamefreak18]

That is the angle I like on them

[@seansteele6532]

This was just Esper's excuse to look at tiefling porn and tell us. I think the real reason isn't really touched on in the polls. Tieflings have an inbuilt conflict and narrative as a race. If you're a tiefling you already have adversity that you're supposed to face. When a player of mine says they're going to be playing a tiefling they're already handing me a narrative knife, the parents who abandoned them when those horns and fangs started to sprout? The mother who died from their unique anatomy growing within her and the rest of the family hating them for it? The holy inquisition that believe all tieflings are evil and want to burn them at the stake (which will take doubly long due to their fire resistance?) Tieflings are, as a race, automatically a story jumping off point in a way that humans, elves, dwarves, gnomes, in at least regular society are generally not. (Baldur's Gate 3 is not the norm of how tieflings are treated, Baldur's Gate the city is extremely cosmopolitan and tolerant to people of all races.)

[@dinkleberg684]

Lol

[@genghiskhan6809]

Even then, the main conflict of act 1 is literally a group of druids wanting to toss a group of tiefling refugees into the arms of a waiting goblin horde because of their inbuilt racism. Refugees who were made refugees by being unfairly blamed for an infernal conspiracy.

[@TheHornedKing]

@@genghiskhan6809 I thought it had less to do with them being tieflings, and more with the druids just not wanting anyone, period.

[@genghiskhan6809]

@@TheHornedKing It’s part of it but that sentiment is being ramped up to 11 because of the fact that they are tieflings. One of the druids can literally just kill one of the tiefling kids and feel nothing because she killed a “devil”.

[@TheHornedKing]

@@genghiskhan6809 Oh, I missed that.

[@ianyoder2537]

I'd like to mention they technically have the most appearance customization options. Even though every one chooses purple. You really want to stand out, play a green tiefling.

[@MI982]

I never cared much for Tieflings. They had level adjustment in 3e and in 4e they reminded me of Draenei from WoW way too much. In 5e, no one I ever DMed to played a Tiefling, until lockdowns that is. That's when all hell broke loose on DnD. This may be my veterancy speaking but, I truly miss the days when players played DnD for the adventure, to brave that dark dungeon, to slay that ferocious dragon and to get that shiny loot. These few last years I feel more like I'm running a therapy session instead of a DnD adventure and it's pretty frightening because I'm well aware just how volatile mental issues are and I'm not equipped to deal with it in any way nor should I. People are looking for help in all the wrong places.

[@esperthebard]

If your username is an indication, then it looks like we were born in the same year. I'm curious, where are you meeting the players that approach D&D like a therapy session? Are they friends of yours that have shifted the way they interact with the game, or are they newcomers that you meet at a gaming store or somewhere online? I have some observations of my own on this topic, but I'd be interested to hear how it is that you're coming across this issue.

[@MI982]

​@@esperthebard I'll do my best to obscure things as much as possible without twisting the crux. The things that happened are true, some of the details are purposely not. When it happens once per decade, it's not good but it's hardly an issue. I do have a friend that used to treat any PnP roleplaying game as a therapy session. He was never fully in control of his life and use to compensate by GM/DMing. Long story short, a lot of not good stuff happened over the years that even made some of the players quit playing with him. Once he got his life in order, he stopped playing. The other friend that used PnPRPGs as a therapy was the one who was always on the margin of the hobby. He was always orbiting but was never interested enough to try. At one time, he had some family/marital issues and, to my mistake, I persuaded him to join in, to get his mind off of things. Again, without going into details, some of the players took roleplaying way too far and a lot of mistakes were made by grown adults that jeopardized two marriages and sour two friendships. That friend, and two others involved, never played again. I've been DMing DnD 5e online for almost full two years and in that relatively short time span I've met a lot of people that are in need of professional help. I met quite a few people who either knew of you or were your fans, by the way. Here's probably the most serious example from one online game I ran. Mind you, I'm not a professional DM, I do it because I enjoy it and I will never DM for money. When lockdowns started, I decided to give it a go and see how this online thing goes. I joined a Discord of a certain DnD content creator and one of the channels was for group-matching. After playing a few games(one of those is a good candidate for your question as well) and DMing a few homebrew one-shots, I got a group of four players who were willing to play my latest nothing-one-shot. Two guys and two girls, all in their twenties. The girls used the same rig and camera but that's a whole nother story. They created their characters beforehand, nothing special; fighter-sorcerer-warlock-ranger. One-shot went really good - they managed to save the lord's daughter from the hobgoblins and they were clicking on all cylinders as a team. Except from one of the two guys who was kinda withdrawn a bit but still, he participated as much as he wanted to. They liked my style of DMing, I liked how the session went, two weeks later we agreed to continue the adventure to get to the bottom of the mystery behind the kidnapping. Soon after, they sent me their backgrounds - nothing epic but still very cool and manageable. The warlock sent me a two-page essay. In short, parents sold his character to in-game lord's older brother who molested and abused him until a devil came to him in his dreams and became his lover. The same devil granted him powers to kill his abuser and free himself. The goal of his character is to free any victim of abuse and to keep an eye on the family of the local lord, around which the story kinda revolved. No, he wasn't playing a Tiefling, he was human like all of the others. The backstory was actually written pretty well, a bit to graphic for my taste but still good, and I figured that the guy was either a writer or aiming to become one. Either way, it was something that I could work with, I planned on them vanquishing a vampire who had enslaved some of the villagers so his backstory played into that perfectly. Also, I could drop some dubious hints about the lord and his daughter every now and then, just to keep him on his toes and see where that goes. A few sessions into the campaign everything was going smoothly when, while chatting after one session, one of the players dmed me and asked if I had noticed anything strange about the guy playing the warlock. She claimed he got up after every combat to hit the john. I didn't notice it but the very next session he did exactly that. After the combat was over, he muted himself and just went offscreen. The guy probably had a week blather, whatever. A few sessions after that, they fought some cultists and right after the combat, like every time before that, the warlock took off his headset, stood up and went offscreen. Except this time, he didn't mute himself. While others were chatting, suddenly, someone started screaming. We were all surprised and stunned. As the screaming went on, we started asking each other were was it coming from. As it continued, everyone silently came to the same conclusion. When the warlock came back, the other guy told him that we heard the screaming and asked him if he was OK. A few moments passed in silence when the warlock player's screen went black. He quit. Everyone was trying to dm him only to find out that he blocked us all. We talked about what happen for a bit and reluctantly came to the conclusion that he was probably just embarrassed. They decided to pause the adventure until they find a new fourth player and I really didn't mind because of what happened. A few days later, one of the girls contacted the moderators of the Discord channel to ask about the guy, they said he hasn't been active since. After that I was kinda panicking. What if he didn't just quit? What if he had actually done something very, very stupid? What if he hurt himself? There was obviously something wrong in his life and was this the tip that had pushed him over? The more I thought about it the more it dawned on me, how smart is it to DM to a bunch of people you do not know? It's easy to DM for the guys in my local game club, we've know each other for years, some even their entire lives, we know where our boundaries are and how much we can stretch them. But online? I had no idea who that guy was. I had no insight in why he was playing DnD. And then I started looking at it from a different angle. As a DM, I'm responsible for the majority of things that happen in an adventure therefore, I bear the most of the responsibility for player's experience. Am I capable of doing that? Should I be doing that? Do I want to do that? The answer was - no. I should not be nor do I want to be responsible for other people's mental wellbeing. At that time I decided to stop DMing online. Unfortunately, soon after they found a fourth player then spent weeks talking me into continuing the adventure. Time did its thing, the incident faded away and I accepted. But not without changes. Now, I always explain what to expect in my adventures so that the players can take responsibility for themselves. I have more examples that I could probably share but I would rather not write a book about it. I have no idea why some people decide to do what they do when playing DnD. To me, DnD and PnPRPGs in general are a refuge from reality, a cry for something that will never come to be, a haven for fantasy. It's a place where I can leave all of my problems behind and just enjoy being Duron Megahertz, a proud scion of a noble dwarven family, sent on a quest by his grandmother to retrieve his great-grandfather's favorite mug. Why some players choose to bring their real-life issues into it is beyond me. As for the warlock - it seemed he was fine. About two months later he became active again on the same Discord.

[@MrMrtvozornik]

And here's your answer. "To me, DnD and PnPRPGs in general are a refuge from reality, a cry for something that will never come to be, a haven for fantasy." But what if they're playing for the very same reason? What if what you consider fantasy is safe vanilla stuff, a bit of tongue and cheek one liners and bashing gobbo skulls, but others exclusively have darker fantasies? We all play for fantasy's sake, it's just that NONE of us can separate and divorce our backgrounds and lives from it. Neither can you, you just think you can cause you're your own status quo. Proof: Book of Vile darkness was made for a reason. Source: I've seen some wretched shit in DnD discords, I like my fantasy gritty and grimdark. I will not put trigger warnings in my campaigns, quite the opposite, I relish in seeing people's horrified reactions to a beloved NPC having mango fly infestation. I'd even go a step further, I'll send them a video of those maggots being popped from the skin. And my players like me for it, inspiring, weird, bizzare, all acceptable adjectives to hear about my DMing. But "fine", or "good enough" are words I dread. As a player too, I refuse to play in campaigns that are unicorns and rainbows. The difference is, I know that, so I say that in advance and don't sabotage other people's games if they want it that way. But a crime syndicate campaign? Playing as cultists of Bane trying to establish new world order from beneath the unsuspecting cities? Human sacrifices and demon conjuring? I'm dooooown for that (And I'm the reason why Christians were actually right about DnD being dangerous for one's soul, your type got caught in the crossfire). But even I have some limits, one of them and most important one of them, for the LOVE OF GOD I WANT TO PLAY THE GAME. Across my voyages in cesspit of degeneracy called Discord, I've encountered so many people straight up not even playing the game, but using it as medium for erotic role play. Like man, I'm down to establish a murderous cult, gaslight NPCs (and be paranoid about being gaslit), seduce, lie, trick and deceive. But the moment you start moaning on that mic is the moment I'm out. The amount of people trying to play online DnD just to share their kinks is staggering. There are far more productive mediums on the internet which would allow you to do the same, however, there's plenty of people who already DID that on various forums and the thrill ain't enough, they have to involve people trying to play the game. After all, we all yearn to be accepted, the thing they miss is that one must present themselves acceptable in order for society to accept them. tl;dr Touch grass, don't play DnD. @@MI982

[@esperthebard]

@@MI982 Thank you for taking the time to recount to me some of these concerning things you experienced. I had wondered if you had encountered some troubling incidents via online gaming with unknown persons. I'll definitely be taking this as a word of caution. With a certain frequency, GM games in which the players really channel themselves into their characters, real life problems included. While I am no psychologist, I do accept the role of a guide and storyteller, which can indeed aid people in their personal journeys by way of the mythic world of fantasy. What I try to avoid though is a tone or worldbuilding that is too modern, too real world. That just clashes in my mind. I prefer to keep things immersive, and with a style that is inspired by a medieval and ancient world (or even timeless).

[@citycrusher9308]

@@esperthebard DnD has gone the same way as Vampires(twilight). This is what happens when the game is feminized. Look at the illustrations at 1:45. Do those guys look like de monic bad guys, or more like gay dudes cosplaying?

[@soupforthefamily8378]

It’s great having monsters and villains that are unambiguously evil, but it’s also a neat niche having characters who look evil but aren’t

[@mrmars4939]

A niche that makes up the fourth most played race in 5th edition LOL

[@MrFish1124]

I have some mixed feelings about it. I don't mind certain races being inherently a specific alignment, but at a certain point I find it hard to justify certain races that lack true free will being player races.

[@bonesnsweets8474]

The Horns.....they make people feel Hor-Curious. The tail and them being multiple colors is nice to.

[@mobbofmobs8937]

I have always been a sucker for characters that come from anyplace were they are expected to be evil (regardless of if its warranted or not) and rising above. This is why when I found Drizzt Do'Urden a few years ago, I came to love his character.

[@Scorpious187]

I'm probably gonna get flamed for this, but in my experience it's because the new generation of players coming in (Millennials and even the younger Gen Z/Gen Alpha players) have a *huge* attraction to demonic/devilish characters. Hazbin Hotel, for example, has a *huge* following among those age groups. One of my friends has played exactly one character that *wasn't* a tiefling... and the entire Hazbin Hotel soundtrack is one of her favorite soundtracks of all time. It's not about the mechanics. It's literally about the idea of Tiefling being the new Succubus (a.k.a. they're the "sexy" race). Also, yeah... without fail, every time I've encountered a person who plays Tiefling characters a lot, they're some form of LGBTQUIGGLYNITS. (I don't have a problem with people finding love in their own way, I just joke about the ever-expanding "LGBT" acronym. It's getting kinda ridiculous now.)

[@xLaxCroixBoix]

Funny because most members of the community I know just use the blanket term of queer and it’s only straight people, the government, and corporations that use the ever expanding acronym that seems to also annoy them.

[@HawaiianCoconut]

As a DM whose group of players is majorly in the queer community (myself included) I can agree that Tieflings are certainly the prototypical race that we all gravitate to and personally identify with, I think I’ve had just as many tiefling pcs as human pcs.

[@jgr7487]

The image at 8:06 shows the only reason why having a "useless" tail would be useful for Tieflings: if they have goat legs or cloved hooves as feet, they would need something to aid them to ballance on their tip-toed position.

[@yogsothoth7594]

I think in your own campaigns there's a few different options. 1) Revert to older ideas about them being a result of interbreeding with devilish powers many generations back, scrap weird Asmodeus stuff but still make them a humanoid player race. 2) If you stick with an idea that Asmodeus changed all Tieflings to look like him you can go with the idea that thanks to certain rules he was bound by regarding freewill and choices or the intervention of other deities Asmodeus couldn't directly force all Tieflings to obey him. But changing their outwards appearance to be like him was intended to make them isolated from other cultures and more likely to turn to him for help. Tricking people into attacking morally innocent tieflings might also be part of some form of long term scheme to lure those who intend to be lawful good or neutral destroyers of the wicked and law breakers into a kind of overzealous destructiveness that would eventually bring them into the being lawful evil tyrants. 3) Go with an alternative option to both with the idea that the tiefling bloodline is still associated with corruption because it often becomes about when your parents were dealing with fiendish magic and the like. Thus tieflings are still feared and shunned because of that strong association with groups who practice fiendish rituals. But its not necessarily a plot to innately change the moral nature of tieflings so much as it is a natural consequence of being around these corrupting influences.

[@jeffjones4654]

You should do a video as to why Gnomes are underrated.

[@soupforthefamily8378]

Best race, I love gnomes

[@MrMrtvozornik]

Sad truth: The opposite from why Tieflings are overrated. They're not fucking hot. And good riddance honestly, we started with dwarves, added halflings and kept going. When you got 5+ races being small, then being small isn't even really a special thing, similarly how "dark visions" power creep also fucks balancing, to the point that there's plethora of people who will not play a race without one. You play Tieflings exclusively if you're LGBT or have sexual perversions. You play Gnomes exclusively if you like to be a min maxing wizard. These are the rules community itself made, I'm just pointing them out.

[@Dexter037S4]

@@MrMrtvozornik Bro I just like Tieflings because they are the most Chaotic Good race.

[@Subject_Keter]

We need more Gnomes to punt.

[@christophermills7693]

there was a 4e tiefling feat prehensive tail it let you do some things with the tail, but holding a weapon in the tail was not one of them

[@heatherharrison264]

Tieflings have been appealing to me since I first encountered them in the video game Neverwinter Nights 2, which is based on 3.5 edition. I have also wondered why they are so popular, and I think the reasons explored in this video make sense. For me, the outcast aspect is a major part of their appeal. As someone who has never really fit in, I can relate to this. D&D tends to attract nerds, LGBT people, and other sorts of non-mainstream people, so it is no surprise that many D&D players identify with tieflings for this reason. I like having opportunities to subvert stereotypes and explore moral complexity. Tieflings may have evil ancestry, but they also have free will and are not compelled to be evil. I like the idea of tieflings who are essentially good and who resist the evil and/or edgy stereotypes of the race, but who have to confront societal resistance to their presence and who might even have some internal struggle in which they have to fight some deep but relatively weak evil impulses that linger from their ancestry. Other disfavored races interest me for similar reasons. In Baldur's Gate 3, I'm playing a tiefling (of course), but for a future playthrough, I might pick a duergar, drow, or githyanki for similar reasons.

[@dplonker6140]

There's a lot of reasons to like tieflings, even outside of the reasons listed. My first character was a tiefling because literature and lore about hell and devils and demons has always interested me, so I was grabbed by the race. In creating my world as a DM, I've found them one of the most fun races to worldbuild for. I've fiddled with all sorts of lore for them, like that they're all explicit carnivores, can digest wild meat, have a complex process for picking up Infernal (which is a language they know inherently but pick up as gradually as any other humanoid would learn their first language), and some can even hear (very faintly) the screams of a damned soul having their essence devoured and the mindless remnant being turned into lemure sludge. It's also great fun to come up with how they look and how traces of other devil types manifest in them. Perhaps their devilish ancestor bred with/made a pact with a gelugon, and they have multi-faceted eyes, blue skin, and inverted horns that almost resemble antennae. Tieflings with impish heritage might be as short as goblins, or those with bearded devil lineage might have green stubble. Because hell/devils are ideas with boundless inspiration over thousands of cultures, tieflings are just as much a canvas for endless creativity.

[@esperthebard]

That's a really interesting approach. As I said in the video, I also have used tieflings a bunch as a GM and find them great for NPCs and villains.

[@purplehaze2358]

1:04 Is that a Hieronymous Bosch painting? If so, you my friend have good taste in depictions of hell.

[@esperthebard]

You are an astute observer. The name of the artist who did this classic painting is unknown. He was either a student of Bosch's or a contemporary who closely followed him.

[@emperortenebrisemeraldwing8578]

Simply because they look cool and they're good for stories of good trancending their appearance.

[@joshuakanapkey6570]

That was a lot more nuanced than I'd expected. Thanks. I will say that I quite enjoyed my Tiefling Shadow Magic Adept back in the 3.x days: Loki Helson. Good times. And while I'm not exactly a fan of everything that 4e and 5e have done with/to Tieflings, there have been aome good ideas. Particularly the variants from the Tome of Foes, and rhe Feral, too. When I finally came forward from 3.x and into 5e (I had completely skipped 4e because I was generally happy with 3.x), I was actually shocked that Tieflings had moved into the PHB, but Aasimar did not. The dichotomy of Tieflings and Aasimar has long been an interesting bit to me, and why Tieflings got moved up the ladder and Aasimar down still feels odd to me. Anyway, thanks for rhe dig and the discussion.

[@FinallyAlone]

3:48 Esper is out here asking the real questions.

[@Razyura]

I still love my Tiefling twilight cleric of Ilmater… pale blued skin and infernal lineage from Levistus. She was probably one of the most wholesome characters I ever played. And, best of all, her personality worked well for the campaign. She tempered a lot of the chaos some of the party sometimes sowed.

[@fleetcenturion]

"Why are there suddenly so many bloody tieflings walking around in the open? ... And on the prime material, no less! Don't their mothers have the common decency to leave them exposed anymore?" -- Sir Torric Bloodthorne

[@futurewario9591]

DO A VIDEO ALL ABOUT HALF-ORCS SPECIFICALLY NEXT

[@demonangelkid]

Tieflings are so boring, just as boring as elves. Nothing appealing or interesting about them. They're just humans with extra things added to them for overly horny, overly edgy, and victim complex obsessed players to play as.

[@DutchOrBelgian]

Your point in inclusivity @ 15:18 misses a major point: those of us who are LGBTQIA and/or marginalized exist in a world where every day, just our being alive can be challenged. The increased inclusivity in DnD creates a world where we can exist and actual escape from our every day reality. Living in a marginal space is exhausting - why on earth would we choose to engage in a pastime that offers no break from that constant struggle. You make some excellent points at the start of this video but, at the end of the day - DnD is pretend. We accept that magic is real, armor is effective, different humanoids exist and no one questions the physics of shoving a large creature beyond much more than a higher DC role. Regardless, great video and AMAZING artwork!! So impressed with your creativity, suggestions and skills.

[@venkelos6996]

Sometimes, I feel like the current vagueness of the Tiefling racial backstory actually helps; most people don't know it, or understand it, so it doesn't restrain their building. Personally, I've often felt that Tieflings are so popular because they are, cosmetically, basically a Build-a-Bear character. Not to insult anyone, but some players are total snowflakes; theyvwant their character to be totally their own, and like nothing else ever seen. Tieflings get around certain aesthetic issues orher races have. Do Dwarves HAVE to be short, despite not being Small? Do Elves HAVE to be Caucasian, or can they be orher colors? More than Tieflings are exotic, they can be as exotic as you want them to be; they can be any color, have any properties of appearance, you can get horns, tails, claws, fangs. If you are willing to spend a little, they can even get wings. A lot of people like the sheer versatility of their forms; they are basically the "wizard" of cosmetic qualities. Beyond, they can allow for play options. Some folks, like me, actually enjoy some of playing something many people won't like, initially, and enjoying the RP opportunities of proving that they are more than the flawed starting assumptions others have. Others enjoy the meme of "I'm just doing what my character would do", and the perceived curse, angst, and such let them be pricks, preferably without getting called out on it, though we usually know better. At the end of the, though, I feel like it is the sheer amount of things one can do to "make it their own" that attract people to the race. You can easily factor in skin color, emotional preferences, orher lifestyle choices, and the degree to which society accepts, or rejects, you. You can be "beautiful", but on your own terns, and nor strictly what some society you don't even feel related with says is so. As for horns, fangs, and tails, I'm personally glad that they aren't mechanically useful. There are already enough gamers who simply build their character as an avatar for numbers, trying to build the most optimized, crunchy thing they can. Most races function just fine without natural weapons, or extra rules, so keeping the Tiefling "simple" helps, but as soon as their horns, or tail, become more useful, you get to a point where more players feel obligated to take them, because "better". One of my own Tieflings looks like a tailless Tabaxi, but is actually a Tiefling related to a Rakshasa. If they needed to avoid the stereotypical horns/tail to keep thus aesthetic, it would purely be a downgrade because they are useful, so this way, people who don't want to have horns, or a tail, don't have to feel pressured to take them, because they aren't "better" choices. It might be nice if they had a few more "trade this for that" options, like the wings, but te does sometimes like to seem less complicated, so here we are. You don't HAVE to have them, so you won't be punished for choosing not to have them.

[@christophermartin240]

"Log boutique" is an interesting pronunciation choice for someone that does as much research as you do, and even more interesting from someone who identifies so often as an outcast.

[@Patch2112]

Glad I’m not the only one who that stood out to. There have been a number of small things like that in these videos that give me pause.

[@darcichambers6184]

In my most recent game, I created a Variant Tiefling. I worked with my DM on both her backstory and Tiefling lore for our setting, we've used our characters in two campaigns so far. We decided that in order for Tieflings to be rare, Tiefling doesn't begot other Tieflings necessarily. Instead one child in every generation from each family who was cursed is born as a Tiefling. Instead of as a normal human, hafling, dwarf, or whatever. That the Raven Queen takes an intrest in these children and tries to recruit them. Reactions by families with the curse are varied. Some embrace the child and raise it in a loving home, others will kill the child upon birth, somewhat the child as an unwanted presence and kick them out of the home as soon as the child has learned a skill thier birth parents think will allow them to survive, some surrender the child to an orphanage or church.

[@jmh7977]

Tieflings suck. I remember Anna from PT, she was an exception, not the rule, and it worked... especially in the Planescape setting. But in BG3, they're shoved in your face as basically sympathetic humans with horns and tails, especially the walking meme of Karlach. If, again, she were the exception, it would work and work very well, given her tragic storyline. Yes, I know, my view is the minority. That's fine. But I won't drink that memetastic koolaid.

[@KarlKapo]

Hear hear... Planescape Torment set the best standard for tieflings, aasimars and genasi.

[@warlockelder]

This is a very minor point from the video overall but I think it's somewhat weird to frame sexuality as inherently tied to sin because of the devastation we feel when we experience a sexual betrayal. I don't know about the general audience here but I personally also feel this devastation when any deep relationship such as friendship or parenthood is betrayed, and I wouldn't say friendship or parenthood are inherently tied to sin because of that - it's the betrayal that is. Of course, we were talking about lust seconds earlier, and lust may indeed lead to sexual betrayal; but since the sentence itself was that sexuality itself is inherently connected to sin, I felt the need to point this out. Not that I disagree that our culture draws many connections between sexuality and devilish/demonic characters.

[@NevisYsbryd]

People were not expecting the identifying with the marginalization bit? That was obvious to me. Curious. You can tie that in just as well to other perceived correlations between D&D species and irl groups. Eg, the whole 'orcs are blacks' controversy makes a lot of sense when you compare the associated tropes and stereotypes of orcs, both in-universe and player-side, to historical stereotypes of blacks. Which is not to say that the assumed correspondence is true; Tolkien and D&D orcs probably draw more on steppe peoples (the Huns, Mongols, and Ottomans, especially) than on Africans/African-Americans. A lot of the stereotype allegations have some logical basis if you consider why they would see themselves in or project themselves onto a given fantasy group when they have similar experiences, abilities, or stereotypes. Other than goblins. The whole 'goblins are Juice' thing is so patently, absurdly false, and the supporting cherry-picked evidence that I suspect it is closer to argument in bad faith than projection or sincere moral panic.

[@HeavyTopspin]

I feel like everybody's missing the obvious reason, particularly if you're not sticking slavishly to the 4e ugly-tiefling aesthetic and idiotic lore revamp (and considering the popularity of Critical Role and its cast members utterly ignoring these things with Jester and Mollymauk). It's about unlocking the advanced version of character creator. Your DM and fellow players are unlikely to accept you creating a hot-pink elf or a dwarf with hooves, but just say "tiefling" and suddenly it's an endless variety of skin tones, horns, body features, tails, and so on. Appearance is the easiest way to seem "unique", and by going with alternate rules tieflings give the widest array of appearance options, and the vast array of fiendish monsters even give you endless reasons to explain why your tiefling has whatever features you choose to give them ("why do I have cute animal ears and a fluffy tail? Great-grandpa was an Arcanaloth!")

[@Kitchwamon]

The marginalization of Tieflings is relatable to me as a person of color. I feel the not fitting in because of race so that's why I play them

[@geoaltman9344]

The 8 ppl that downvoted owe an explanation. Great vid so far!

[@armorclasshero2103]

I truly despise the current tiefling lore and aesthetic. It's a mile wide and an inch deep. The bloodline and blood libel stuff is just gross.

[@morrigankasa570]

ELVES ARE THE BEST PLAYABLE RACE!!! My issue with Teiflings is they have too short of a potential lifespan. Same problem with most other Races. Additionally, with your responses/poll as to why Teiflings are popular. You are forgetting the popularity of Critical Role and it's characters. Especially Jester.

[@aldeenithegreat]

10:18 Something you gotta remember about racial gods is that they don’t always gain the bulk of their power from being worshipped. They mostly gain their influence from the race in question simply being alive, like Lolth, for example. Lolth is the deity for all drow, whether or not they worship her. Eilistraee, in contrast, requires drow to worship her to keep her power. At least, that’s what I’ve been told

[@XaryLoon]

Tiefling were introduced in AD&D and in the original idea, horn and tail where optional, and usually much smaller, with the tail similar to the one of a succubus (not thicker than a cat tail and extremely mobile). There was a full table of option from ashy smell to cloven hoof, from forked tongue to blue hair or six finger. A tiefling coul appear similar to a human but with an hairless body, so impossible to distinguish. only in 4th edition the massive horn and tail became a standard.

[@danc6167]

Regular tiefling player: I'm a weirdo goth/edgelord with parental issues from a garbage biological factor. I fully admit that I've rolled up tiefling characters with the express aim of wrestling with my daddy issues

[@mump71]

The simplest answer for this is that modern players want to be the most interesting things in the world. Players in the 70s and 80, which I did play during, wanted to find interesting things. Human is only first because of extra feats, hence "more interesting ".

[@pupstarproduction15]

I think it is also interesting to look at how many of the lgbt+ player that chose a trifling player

[@seanmcfadden3712]

That could be interesting to investigate. I'm Asexual myself (took me ages to figure out, because I'm still romantic, I just don't experience sexual attraction) and Tieflings are interesting. However, I would probably want to play a Satyr or something else Fey related my first time (struggling to get a group together), because I'm on the Autism spectrum and autism has a lot of association with Fey stuff. For example, descriptions of "Channeling Childs" match up quite well with children with autism.

[@ninjadad3769]

Getting done dirty by someone you have been with for years 15 for me, that you love and trust and have built a family with that you believe loves you, that betrayal is one of the most mentally difficult experiences I have ever had to push through, and it fell on me to explain why this was happening, to are 8yo daughter, that was the hardest part, you want to talk about feelings like a failure smh, your 100% right it effects you from that point forward, it’s the closest thing I can imagine to what it feels like having your soul ripped out smh lol.

[@johntheherbalistg8756]

I had to do a little world building and homebrewing to reconcile tieflings in my world with the official lore. The classic tiefling still exists in the way it did, and the 4th/5th tiefling also exists. They're called the same thing because of ignorance. Also, I offer players of tiefling characters one option of a natural weapon based on their appearance. The tail works as a dagger, the horns confer a slam attack or claws do claw things. Also, because I agree that the race is shallow, all cursed tieflings hear the voices of devils in their head, all the time. This is how they gain the infernal language.

[@purplehaze2358]

Uhm.. I'd be inclined to agree that Iust shouldn't be thought of as "sinful". And, even as someone who's quite familiar with the kind of turmoil it can bring from certain experiences I've had that still leave their scars on me to this day, I'm not sure I can agree with the premise that thinking such is immature. It can indeed manifest in a lot of very nasty forms - as can all desire, frankly - but that doesn't make it evil unto itself. Put into a metaphor, a metal shouldn't be thought of as evil because it can be used to forge a dagger taken to one's heart.

[@esperthebard]

Metal is completely neutral, just inorganic matter. Lust is excessive, inappropriate, or unbridled sexual impulses, which brings a slew of problems, some of which are limited in scope, others of which are utterly devastating and life-altering.

[@purplehaze2358]

@@esperthebard Lust is also completely natural; so natural, in fact, that it's shared by literally everything under the kingdom animalia that's capable of sexual reproduction.

[@benshapirosgreasycock5381]

@@purplehaze2358Lust isn’t the desire for sex, it’s the excessive and consuming form of that desire. Lust very much can and will harm you and those around you. Also he wrote “neutral,” not “natural.”

[@patrickbuckley7259]

Lust is not sexual desire it is rampant sexual behaviour. The sin of lust is cheating, adultry, sexual assault, rape, child molestation. It isn't just being horny, it's being a cheat, or predator. Gluttony is not liking food, and drink, it is eating & drinking to excess. This same logic applies to all the seven deadly sins. Nor is sin some magical force, it is a term that means error, and that is still it's meaning in a religious context. It is natural to get angry and strike a man who insults you, yet it is still a moral error, and thus a sin.

[@crankysmurf]

Aasimar has gotten the shaft since 2E (4E had devas instead of aasimar).

[@raedien]

"Some people never recover from that [...]" True.

[@Eccentric-c5q]

I only ever crafted a tiefling for one and one reason alone. To join a high lv group in 3rd edition D&D by portraying the role of a feared ex villian turned unlikely heroine who sees dealing with the infinate forces of vile darkness as just another day at the office. This is my first tiefling character and I went all HP Lovecraft with it in rp context. Character Theme: Sovereign: Control (Aether) Summary: An enigma to my party rescued as a child from the amnesial shores monstrous citidel beyond the 666th layer of the abyss by the planeswalkers guild she's the progany of a devil and a demon Tiefling. In her bloodline exists something ancient that becomes evident when she alternates forms making the other PC's kind of uneasy at first which turned to awe when the young witch resurrected the parties slain half-dragon paladin from the site of his untimely death restored to perfect health when she was encountered upon the 471st layer aiding a group of eladrin protecting trapped innocents against the forces of Pale Night proving a powerful member of the part who is both misunderstood in many ways in her quiet fits of madness where she relives torture so horrendous she cant seem to tell if its real or not sometimes. Her extensive knowledge of the abyss and its interwovenness into the planer fabric of the ninehells and other planes is simply remarkable. Merothelllrruncnu (Mir'Ruth'(exhale when you say it) Ahlll'Rr'(clear your throat as you say) Unk' Nu). Nicknamed: Mad Erideth Main-Form: A statuesque dark purple Tiefling most alien with reflective pupiless black eyes that blink sideways in adjustment to bright light.. her joints a deep pearlecent. Never ashamed of her bare appearance she dawn's 3 sets of horn types upon her head, two sets of breast one over the other, a triangle tipped pointed tail, and what looks likes like random writhing just under her skin as though there were a creature inside her adjusting to get confortable. Her shark like smile is as unnerving as her attempt to conversate because she speaks with 4 different pitch voices as one. When first rescued she struggled to break evils hold on her mind and succeeded and it's still a daily struggle to remain neutral alignment. Her attire that of a swamp witch with fire/acid proof gear made of demonic creatures native to such an area of elements. She's a legend among the planeswalkers guild as a guide to the far reaches of the abyss, the nine hells, and even short trips through far realm travels. Pseudonatural Alternate form: A creature from the far realms long thought forgotten.. she's something that he mind tries to seclude to nightmares.. Eye stalks about her body, multiple limbs, tentacles, mouths with teeth on the outside and inside.. it's hard to distinguish what appendage is what as it looks more like a beholderish IT. Nuetral Female"Pseudonatural" Tiefling Beholder mage 1 (Arcane hands), Human Paragon 3 (Able learner, +2 intelligence), Fighter 1 (Improved initiative), Ur-Priest 1, mystic theurge 8. Intelligence 25, Elder evil servitude feats before rebelling but still remain despite alignment shift - Willing deformity, Deformity (Madness)."hence why she's call Mad Erideth as she's not all the way there. But her mind seems able to ignore mental affect because of it." Traits: Aggressive x2 (-2 ac +4 initiative) Flaws: Noncombatant (-4 melee attack roles.. +2 additional feats) Feats: Human heritage (May use human only magical items etc ), Old blood (True Beholder - for all intents and purposes she also counts as a true beholder including prestige classes), Lost tradition (may use Intelligence as Ur-Priest main stat) Feats that proved helpful-Demon mastery and Extract demonic essence. Special storyline background plot hook: Was still born (died) and resurrected through a terrible ritual clouding her mind to the service of an elder evil as an infant. Books of reference- -Complete Divine (Guide to all things divine) -Unearthed Arcana -Races of renown (Bastards and Bloodlines) -Races of Destiny (Guide book to humans) -Lords of Madness (The book of Aberrations) -Players hand book -Fiendish codex 1 -Fiendish codex 2 -Planer handbook -Elder evils -Book of Vile darkness -Pretty much any book with a useful spell arcane or Divine.

[@phrikaphrak40k]

You hit the nail on the head with this one.

[@godking4621]

In my campaigns, most realms hunt down and destroy tieflings, fearing they are a prelude to a lower planar incursion. Think of how the drow are treated, then double that. Any player picking a tiefling is made aware of how difficult it would be to play them and survive.

[@specterman603]

hey esper i really appriciate about how u care about ur content and the topic ur talking about, im not quite sure how to put it into words but each time u conclude a video with a deep comment about the topic it feels like something other youtubers would use to try to segment into a advertizer or sponser but not u u just truely and utterly talk about the subject without useing ur words to lead to something of intrest, i really appriciate it about u ( hopefully i explained myself clearly )

[@JillWouters]

Next to all playable monsters or half monsters like orcs and tieflings and the minotaurs, I'm just waiting for a mindflayer playable race. Baldurs Gate 3 actually seems to give a sneakpeak into that...

[@chrispeet9446]

I blame Doja Cat's 'Paint the Town Red'

[@Zyzyx442]

they are too much of having your cake and eating it too imo, no cons only pro's. But it's all personal and subjective so each to their own, at least we can choose and are not forced.

[@lordmortos979]

In nature horns most often are not for attacking but are for mating displays ie deer elk goats rams.

[@KezanHrafnask]

1st view! Never played a Tiefling, but i have had a Gnoll and a Firbolg. And you raise some excellent points regarding natural weapons that are reduced to ineffective decorations. Growing something like horns or a tail takes a significant amount of nutrients and metabolic processes that amount to a waste if not utilized for any purpose. I wonder if they can sacrifice their tails to distract predators and then regrow one? Unlikely...or maybe cut off their own tail as an emergency food source? Maybe store fat in it for lean times. At the very least an attack or grasping ability. Maybe they don't need chairs and kinda just lean back on their tails? So many questions and unfortunately the extra appendages and adornments seem to be there just to make them look cool. I would think that it would be up to the player and DM to establish some system of say level based or character development based usage. Have the tiefling character go study rams in the rut to learn how to use their horns? Or perhaps learn from another horny being (lol)? Maybe they gain tail attacks and fifth limb abilities as they gain experience and attempt to use them that way...

[@rachdarastrix5251]

Huh, so the writers actually based what they wrote off of actual statistics. Who'd have thought?

[@goldenbrigain7031]

1: rebel outcast appeal 2: lets you roleplay being as close to a complete degenerate (letting you act out some of your worst impulses) in a way where you have an in-game justification for that somewhat. Basically, if you want to let out your "dark side" but are too embarrassed to do it without some kind of excuse even in a roleplaying game, this is essentially a "get out of jail free card." 3: appearances. Tielfings look cool, and people wanna roleplay people who look cool. 4: this leans into part 2 somewhat, but I'm reminded of the subtleties of the official lore of pathfinder 1st & 2nd edition. In pathfinder, violence in and off itself is seen by the alignment system (or at least the gods) as inherent to evil itself. The most blatant example of this was in the transfer to 2nd edition where the chaotic neutral god Gorum (god of war) can no longer have chaotic good worshippers. Only chaotic neutral and chaotic evil. My guess is that being a teifling gives you the opportunity to have an excuse to be the "bad guy" in the group according to the philosophical system of official lore. You can argue that the fighting and killing the adventurers do is necessary. You can be the assassin going in for the kill with an axe on some kind of demagogue slaver in the middle of town and be the strongest defender of the righteousness of your actions either against the townspeople who were enthralled by him-or, and I think this is where it hits harder-against your own team if they come up with some convoluted reason why you should've tried to redeem him, or why their actions later down the line in the campagin are a bit evil in a certain light. Against the proposition that strife and violence are not just unnecessary for the continuation, creation, or defense of good, but evil in themselves, Teiflings are theoretically the perfect race for embodying a ready argument against that and proving that struggle is near essential for prosperity in the form the adventurer seeks out, or in others. Those that recognize this intuitively, probably are more articulately put version of what I've typed up, mayhaps instinctually gravitate toward Tielfings as a race that allows them to play out a piece of themselves they know may be called 'sinful' according to certain belief systems (which I'd assume they've been affected by or indoctrinated within for this process to manifest) but are actually totally fine and in the context they understand to be true, actually 'virtuous'.

[@Spiceodog]

They’re the only original race with a solid identity in the phb

[@Rells2coolpeoplehavebadtastes.]

Also hay Esper, Nicolai here, changed accounts.

[@mikeyrambo2742]

I played a tiefling named Dartanian. He was the son of asmodeus. I played him all the way up two character level 40 Divine level 11 intermediate God of the underworld. After his father as madeus was slain in the last holy war I took my father's place amongst the throne and had the ruby rod forged into a ruby ring. I still have his character sheet It's at least 20 pages long

[@Jeromy1986]

I always enjoy your perspective on things such as this. That one user who insisted that tieflings are automatically gay is ridiculous though.

[@AzazelCain]

Pretty on point, I'd say

[@Logic6405]

Honestly, I don't find Tieflings as compelling as the monstrous player races, like Minotaurs or Goblins. I just don't believe that people reject Tieflings, because despite the colored skin and horns, they are basically human. Meanwhile, creatures like Goblins are far more different from people, not only because of their appearance, but also because Goblins are considered raiders and murderers. I just feel like the outcast lore would work a lot better for the lesser human races instead of pretty devil people

[@dontyodelsohard2456]

Personally, I think the original lore that somewhere down the line there was a Demon, Devil, or other fiend in their family tree explains this better... Although regardless you still touch on why they might be feared or mistrusted: They look like Devils. Now I brought this up on the poll and was told "but Minotaurs exist," but that's missing the point... They look like devils! Incarnations of evil. If minotaurs are so common in the world that one can walk into a tavern and nobody bats an eye, people are going to know what a devil looks like and if person who looks like that walks in you might be a bit weary. But with this new lore, why would they even be mistrusted at all? I assumed that the lore didn't change, really, but I was mistaken... I guess there is some aspect of "You look like a fiend," but if this war thing happened the only people I would think who are naturally inclined to reject them would be dragonborn... You know, because of tail envy.

[@DarkMark-cf1ec]

Also their minds and culture are different Just look at ants.. we could never blend in with them so easily, we can't copy them. Their brain or nerves are too different from ours. We have become so afraid of eugenics and racism that we have started moralizing evil DnD races. Just look at mindflayers.. regardless of morals or how mch they try, they are forced to eat and kill intelligent life forms. Orcs are naturally violent, as If on testosterone and steroids (making them more agressive, not exactly violent but it can lead to it).

[@DarkMark-cf1ec]

You can see this in Frieren (If i remember the anime name correctly) We are just too different to co-exist with demons in that world (If they were just emotionless we could to some extent) Accepting different people is good but sometimes there is truly nothing you can do. You can't accept everything and everyone, but you can respect them or their culture.

[@theblazingredcomet1954]

I think having the curse be skin deep is actually a great opportunity for commentary. There are so many factions which hate demons and devils within the various settings of dnd, surely something which has such an appearance would strike fear into many. This, of course, would cause ostracization from society and other forms of discrimination. There are lots of stories which can be told with that context. And for those who dont like politics and commentary in their media, who say dnd is simply to mess around with friends. I'd say on one hand, sure if that's the game you wanna play, fine. But on the other, there are people who do want to explore deep topics in their narrative. Why are you watching this video picking apart a fantasy race if it's just a fun goof around game for you? Dnd can be a great vehicle to tell stories with commentary and meaning.

[@Joshuazx]

If you read the 3.5 monster manua, you get very different Tieflings. Tieflings are described as being indistinguishable from humans in appearance, and they have a wicked nature.

[@GreenBlueWalkthrough]

2:50 Very true... Very true my stuff is the very example of that... Like I would say my good ideas are successful at building a community of a few thousand but fail to get me an income I can support myself with.

[@GreenBlueWalkthrough]

About the need for creatures/people to be monsters inoder to tell a good story... Super Mario bros does have monsters but they can be freinds or friendmies... And the IP sells better then all the top 10 TT games combind and Mario himself is tied for most recognizable person with Santa cluas, Micky Mouse and Jeus Christ. So why can't you play any monster in DND? Which by the way there are human monster in DND called bandits, Guards and townsfolk... It's just a simlfied character sheet after all like their can be an evil adventurer Party of Humans, Dwarfs, Evles and another Human.

[@666baby7]

i feel like thats how some players like to portray them (sexy lustful devils?) but in game wether its bg3, bg2 (Haer'delis) or even their description in the couple of different editions. theyre not like that at all lol

[@esperthebard]

In general, D&D races/creatures are never described as being lustful. WotC steers clear of that subject. Here and there you can find a sexy illustration, but even that is rare. There are a series of taboo subjects, and they involve lesser forms of harm than the main thing that happens throughout the entire D&D experience: violence and killing. I'm still pondering over why it is that less bad things are so forbidden/controversial, while slaying and brutality is fine.

[@HenriFaust]

It just occurred to me that you completely overlooked the biggest touchstone with respect to tieflings in popular culture: Annah from _Planescape: Torment._ Now, you might be thinking, "But _Planescape: Torment_ is a video game, why would that matter so much to tabletop players?" That's right, normally a single video game doesn't have a large impact on tabletop unless it's a household name, like _World of Warcraft_ or _Pokémon._ However _Planescape: Torment_ is not just any video game, it is _the_ video game. _Planescape: Torment_ has regularly appeared in fans', critics', and developers' "top 10" and "top 100 lists" of "best video games/CRPGs of all time" for decades since its release in 1998. Among Western video game developers who had played it, _Planescape: Torment_ was almost universally considered the apex of Western video game storytelling until the release of _Disco Elysium,_ itself a game that listed _Planescape: Torment_ as its direct inspiration. _Planescape: Torment's_ was consistently rated more highly on storytelling than the entries in the _Baldur's Gate_ series (both considered to be better games overall, but not in the aspect of storytelling). The impact of _Planescape: Torment_ on gaming, both computer and tabletop, is immeasurable. And who is Annah? Annah the tiefling was one of the best written characters in video gaming history (as were all of the other _Planescape: Torment_ companions), and also one of the very first romanceable companions in a roleplaying video game. Video game fans are still drawing fanart of Annah, a tiefling character from a release in 1998 that isn't well-known in wider culture. Don't you see? Most of the people in the LGBT movement and those drawing NSFW art today haven't played ancient video games from the 1990s. They saw their peers drawing Annah and other tieflings when they were younger and simply inherited the practice without knowing the source of all the fuss.

[@Blazbaros]

I don't get the chance to play often, but I've love to play a tiefling cleric or paladin who strives to do good despite their accursed appearance and ties to the fiends. I love the dark father trope (Darth Vader hell yeah), and if devils are indeed fallen angels, this guy would definitely have the impossible task of trying to redeem his blood line through his ancient progenitor.

[@yuisure6755]

I'm designing a ttrpg in which human's battle non-world magical creatures. Human and Human cursed by magic are spiritual beings so the Succubus can be evil or good, but magical beings came from another galaxy and need to wipe out spiritual beings humans and cursed humans do to spiritual nature threatening their existence. Dark Elves are cursed Human so they are good or at least better than magical being which wish to wipe out everything but their wicked creator. This means even wicked human will side with good humans to fight magical being such as all elves, gnomes, orcs, ogres, sirens, and banshees and more which loathe human and Dark Elves for being humans.

[@Blazbaros]

@@yuisure6755 neat

[@evanunhinged5771]

TLDR: D&D provides (not necessarily lore-wise, but even so) a lot more areas and resources for you to creatively take a tiefling's design and inspiration than it does most races like, say, an aasimar Something I've gotten into recently with tieflings is making them more closely resemble specific devils. I made a character a while back, who I have yet to be able to play but love dearly, whose design is heavily inspired off of bone devils. He's still not particularly monstrous, but he is very gaunt and probably still a titch freakier looking than the average tiefling. ALL that is to say, ANOTHER big appeal with the tiefling is that they specifically draw from the Hells, which D&D has a LOT of content for, which naturally opens up more avenues for inspiration, customization, and creativity. I really wanna make tieflings inspired off of barbed devils and Erin yes and so on and so forth as well, it's easy to do That's why things like celestials need more love and creativity, because it's easy to spice up your tiefling's ties to official D&D content, but if I wanna spice up my aasimar while still tying them to official content, my inspiration is an angel, an angel, an angel, a horse, a horse, and then admittedly a coatl or ki-rin aasimar does sound sick as fuck, but you catch my drift Creativity doesn't exist in a vacuum and having guidelines or inspiration for your creations is very meaningful and goes a long way

[@patrickbuckley7259]

Don't limit yourself to the Hells, Tieflings include folks with blood from the Abyss as well. It's Fiendish blood, not just Devilish blood that makes a Tiefling.

[@evanunhinged5771]

@@patrickbuckley7259 I like the way you THINK, friendo! Also, does illustrate my point even more extremely 😂

[@BlazingAzureTheta]

When it comes to traditionally evil races, I usually go by a rule where some outside evil god is exerting their divine influence on most of the population, but those that break free from that influence gain free will. My go to example is goblins, those under the thrall of a divine power act like the goblins in Goblin Slayer, basically mindless pests thst just want to destroy. But there are a few that have shaken off that influence and become more like WoW goblins, quirky inventors and the like.

[@ozrhyel2234]

Very interesting video thank you for sharing... Now if only something could be done to Aasimar...😅

[@dave-daveson]

Back then when Tieflings were introduced in the Planescape setting, I was kinda fascinated by them and enjoyed playing and/or incorporating some Tiefling characters over the years that followed. Also in 3e I still liked them a lot. However I, too, feel that nowadays they seem to be the go-to race for many new players and especially having the mark of "angsty-anxious-edgy." instead of their former more grim, outcast like aura. I personally also am bored by the more and more "uh, so hot and attraction from the dark side" thing. And what has been done with the idiotic Asmodeus lineage is just something I ignore in my personal world ;)

[@gasmonkey1000]

@16:43 Ah Cherry Gig, nice. But yeah I think it could work, playing up the sensual element of tieflings. They're supposed to be formed from devils corrupting humans or human sins, and how would beauty twisted not be an element of so many sins? It really does seem like ground a tiefling player could try to explore. "Is beauty good if it leads to pride? Is it good if it leads to lust?" Play into the aspects of the tiefling and see where it leads. I think tieflings would shine best though with aasimar and their differing views. A good aligned tiefling trying to be good and defy stereotypes in the same party as an aasimar is trying to fulfill his destiny of being good because that's what his god has planned out for him. Could lead to some interesting banter regarding fate, free will, and other stuff. (On another note, aside from the exotic allure if memory serves red is an alluring color, so is blue. So if you see a girl at the bar, she's not only got a nice smile, athletic, a pretty voice but she's also got red skin that makes you think of excitement, you might make a pass)

[@ProfQuibblefingers64]

I feel partially responsilbe for this one. I remember raising the point of how tieflings have risen to the point of competing with elves in recent years in the last video

[@brendancoulter5761]

If I were going to give them the benifet of the doubt, I would say the purpose of Tiefligns looking evil is essentially a fiendish psy-op. The entire point is to make mortals distrust and hate each other. That thats being very generous. They are a race that is aesthetics first theme and reason dead last.

[@D--FENS]

I get the feeling that your friend is familiar with the work of Carl Jung.

[@jacktough]

Excellent work, my friend. Thorough and cogent breakdown

[@raydaveed]

I love the logbutikea. Dope nick name. 😂

[@fredreindljr1996]

I'm honestly starting to find Tieflings overrated. I don't really like them that much.

[@Thagomizer]

I loved tieflings in 2e, but hated what was done with them from 4e onwards.

[@Enforcer_Hound1]

I wonder what the stats are now for the characters people have made.

[@TheRonanSchuck]

video is at 10:30 My take is : look at Karlach from BG3(also please do something bg3 themed, I can't get enough of this game) She's a golden retriever of a person, was a big gal so I guess got to be a bouncer. Things escalated too quickly after something something spoilers, the ones you get in her story. She was there and could kill, and has a powerful rage ability and so on... so long story short, there was always darkness inside her, and she won't ever be evil, but if she wasn't a tiefling maybe she couldn't kill or would be more traumatized by it, maybe enough to not be able to do what she does.

[@ewokrothaar8434]

Impressive. Very nice.

[@patrickbuckley7259]

Funnily enough in my own take on "Tieflings" (Orcs, & Goblins for that matter as well) The curse is mostly though not entirely superficial, as demon's cannot corrupt the souls of the innocent, only deeds can do that. However the horrific (and I do mean horrific) forms they are twisted into do elicit bigotry, which demons then use to pull these people under their sway, who they then drive to commit evil deeds in their name, corrupting their souls, and increasing the amount of bigotry others of their kind experience. Of course as I said there are some less superficial aspects, increased aggression, selfishness, ect. Anything the demon can accomplish by fucking with their brain chemistry, so long as it does not render them incapable of making rational decisions. Members of more concentrated bloodlines are born full blown sociopaths or psychopaths. Which increases the chance they might act out in way's that will not be accepted by society, or which might taint their souls. They also do everything in their power to try and make it seem like they already have a claim on the "Tiefling's" soul, but it is all ultimately a mind game. One the forces of evil are very good at, yet one that can be overcome.

[@DeedeeDirt]

as planetouched go I personally gravitate to asimar or genasi. and the teifling asmodeous curse is a very boring retcon, like, i could go along with them being just general hell touched but bring back abyss touched, go wild with demon lineages?goat legs are cool, maybe a descended demogorgon spawn and it's a guy with a baboon face. chaos is fun! maybe a lizard arm and a single gnarled horn? or like, a human or elf with spider eyes for lolth related, or maybe a slime boy worth jubilex heritage, or a person who spouts fungus and is described ot zuggtmoy. many possibilities.

[@Nasko_Nikolov]

You could consider tieflings as succubus/incubus lite.

[@NicMage]

Just like the drow used to be, Tieflings are now the go-to for cringy edgelords

[@765mkojin3]

Your friend is mostly right about elves dominating. That being said, there are a few reasons why they don't have an Empire. Elves reproduce far more slowly than shorter lived races Elves can live for centuries, but most never get close, for reasons why read a Monster manual Elves' long life spans grant them false assurances and negates many ambitions. Create an empire? maybe next century. Get married and have kids? Maybe next century. They dont really want to. This could vary from setting the setting, but most elves are moreinterest in things other than domination. Then there's other things involving the gods. But I don't remember those as well

[@anathema1828]

This edgy video is 2 things: Deeply researched and thoughtful.

[@ericjensen7580]

I realized why they're popular: they're edgy, sexy, powerful victims.