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Moreover, players who take the time to learn about the history of Tieflings in the context of the TTRPG can use this information to make more fleshed-out characters outside a Tiefling’s typical depictions. Just what else should players know about Tieflings in the acclaimed TTRPG?

10 The Infernal Etymology

It seems that Tieflings, design-wise, were really meant to somehow represent creatures from the lower planes. It’s said that game designer Wolfgang Baur combined the German word “tief” that meant “deep, low” with the suffix -ling that pertained to “offspring.” As such, when combined together, Tiefling could translate to “offspring from the lower flames.” It’s also said that the term may have come from “Teufel,” which is the German for “devil.”

The rather complex terminology was essential at the time, considering that D&D back in the 90s was against terms such as “devils” and “demons.” This is due in part to the negative attention the game has received with its depiction of devils and demons, suggestive art, and evil-aligned character conventions.

9 Originally Introduced In Planescape, 2E

While Tieflings are popularly known as a playable race in modern D&D, they were originally introduced as creatures in Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 2E, particularly in the Planescape Campaign Setting. Unlike other settings, Planescape emphasizes the planes of existence in the Dungeons & Dragons cosmology. In the D&D multiverse, there’s the Prime Material Plane where the game’s settings existed, outside it are Inner Planes that correspond to the multiverse’s elemental building blocks, while the Outer Planes are associated with key alignments.

In the Planescape setting, creatures can travel in between planes through astral conduits, vortices, and portals. Tieflings, in particular, are described as humans dwelling within the planes with some “otherworldly heritage,” implied to be an evil being such as a demon, a devil, or a fiend. Unlike half-fiends, however, Tieflings are far below the family tree, hence their human-like appearance.

8 Appearance Initially Had A Lot Of Random Elements

Whereas Tieflings in modern editions often have similar characteristics from their infernal ancestry, the original appearance of Tieflings in 2E actually had a more randomized nature. Initially, the “Planescape Monstrous Compendium Appendix” describes all Tieflings to have one feature that reveals their heritage, such as the popular horns. Meanwhile, “The Planeswalker’s Handbook” expands on this rule with a randomizer table that can provide DMs with other features that Tiefling could have, such as red eyes, goat legs, and even supernatural abilities.

This is quite interesting, as the beginning of D&D 3E provided Tieflings with a more humanoid appearance with the occasional horns, but still looking human like the Aasimar. It was the Dungeon Magazine’s depiction of the Tiefling - that with horns for eyebrows and pink sin - that may have contributed to their appearances in other editions.

7 Have Had Various Creation Methods

Tieflings from Bael Turath have a strong connection with Asmodeus and the Nine Hells, as such, they can reproduce sexually and produce Tieflings as their offspring. However, various other creative methods for Tieflings exist that players can use as references for their characters.

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For instance, some humans can transform themselves into Tieflings using incredibly powerful dark magic. Likewise, some extraplanar beings can assume a humanoid form and interbreed with other humanoids, creating a half-fiend or a cambion, which then creates a Tiefling after creating offspring. Interestingly enough, Tieflings procreating far down the bloodline with another race have a chance of their offspring getting the race of the other parent. However, since being a Tiefling is in their blood, this can “reactivate” and spawn yet another Tiefling in subsequent generations.

6 Non-Human Tieflings Did Exist

While Humans are the most popular “templates” for Tieflings in most of their appearances, Tieflings do exist where the humanoid “half” has come from other more prominent races. One such popular example would be the Fey’ri, a result of interbreeding between the Sun Elves and the demonic Tanar’ri to strengthen their bloodline. Another example of such a variant would be the Tanarukk, a breed of Orcs who have interbred with evil-aligned entities, such as the Tanar’ri.

Moreover, other Tiefling variants of similar nature exist. Dwarves who have interbred with demons and other fiends are called the Maeluth, while the Goblin variant is considered a Worghest. Even Halflings, Trolls, and Minotaurs aren’t safe from having Tiefling variants, with theirs being called Wisplings, Mur-Zhagul, and Baphitaur, respectively.

5 Counter To The Aasimar

Another interesting tidbit about the Tiefling is that, given their nature as initially evil-aligned creatures, they do have a good-aligned counterpart in the form of the Aasimar. Also plane-touched creatures, it’s heavily hinted that the Aasimar have divine origins. Compared to Tieflings that often demonstrate physical characteristics found with fiends and demons, Aasimar are extremely physically appealing, as well as possessing golden eyes and silvery hair that often give away their divine origins.

In 2E, Aasimar are said to have descended from either the elegant Eladrin of Arborea, the Guardinals of Elysium, or the neutral Rilmani of the Outlands. As such, Aasimar often take the physical appearances of their ancestors, resulting in some Aasimar may or may not having wings, silver skin, or even calm animals.

4 Not All Are From The Nine Hells

Despite the Tieflings having origins from the Nine Hells, not all Tieflings have descendants from Asmodeus. Players who want to explore other planes of existence can encounter planetouched Tieflings or humans who have descended from beings of the Lower Planes. In D&D lore, an event called the Spellplague transformed Tieflings outside regular reality into variants without the blood of Asmodeus.

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As such, these kinds of Tieflings may have still descended from beings that are categorically evil but not necessarily of Asmodeus’ ilk. These include rakshasas, evil deities, and even fiends. Tieflings who come from these kinds of bloodlines don’t necessarily have the traits of usual Tieflings, which is why some of them may lack goat-like legs and instead have cat eyes and furry skin.

3 Enter The Level Adjustment System

The Tiefling got a place in D&D 3rd Edition first as a creature within its “Monster Manual,” giving DMs stats to add Tieflings to their campaigns. It was only due to the release of the Forgotten Realms campaign setting that Tieflings were allowed as a playable race. However, this isn’t necessarily a “playable race” in the same way as they appeared in D&D 4E. Rather, this came with the Level Adjustment system that D&D 3E implemented to allow players to use more powerful races in a balanced manner.

This Level Adjustment System originally came as a result of fan clamor for fans to be allowed to play Drizzt Do’Urden, a Drow from a hit novel series set in the Forgotten Realms. Under the Level Adjustment System, certain powerful races have a “Level Adjustment” that puts them a couple of levels behind characters with the same amount of experience for the sake of balance. Thanks to this system, more powerful Tieflings became playable using D&D 3E.

2 Formally A Core Race Only In 4E

It was around the release of D&D 4th Edition where Tieflings got a chance to shine in the spotlight as a core playable race. This is also the official debut of the iconic Tiefling appearance - that of humanoids with pink or red skin, horns on eyebrows that curve around the head, long tails, and a menacing appearance all over.

However, it’s also around D&D 4E that the Tieflings finally got their own racial history. According to the lore, Tieflings descended from humans in the fallen kingdom from Bael Turath. Unfortunately for them, the kingdom’s noble houses made pacts with infernal powers to improve their bloodline, not knowing that this meant taking on the appearance of demons from the Nine Hells.

1 Became More Expanded In 5E

While D&D 4E made Tieflings part of the D&D spotlight by being a core playable race, it’s within D&D 5th Edition where Tieflings had a more expanded history and playability options that gave players a lot of flexibility with regards to their characters. Tieflings in D&D 5E retain much of their appearance and history from D&D 4E, although this time the new edition describes Tieflings as a rather uncommon race.

Interestingly enough, D&D 5E also offers unique options for Tieflings. For instance, Variant Tieflings from “The Sword Coast Adventurer’s Guide” are Tieflings that may have been planetouched but aren’t necessarily associated with Asmodeus, the lord of demons.

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