Why are Tieflings SO POPULAR in D&D?

[Music] hello it's me antony demico and this is d d with a twist in this series i take a d d thing like a class a monster a race or whatever i feel like i give you a rundown of what that thing is in vanilla d d and then we see how we can give that thing a fun funky fresh twist could be a new way to look at existing lore a fun interpretation that shows a new side of d d or the perfect video to send to your dm so they finally let you make that character you've always dreamed of so when i think of tieflings i think of the dark shadows of the day soon crept into mike's dreams as wild grisly nightmares haunted his sleep i would see just horrific awful awful just bloody and horrible creatures hacking at my friends and tieflings are the race for poetry enthusiasts and people with aesthetic pinterest boards a thiefling is essentially a human that somewhere along their ancestral line was touched by a devil [Music] basically a long time ago a guy in their family tree decided to make a deal with the devil probably by playing dnd in the 80s and now generations down the line some of their descendants look all funky and devil-like this leads to many people mistreating tieflings assuming they are evil and untrustworthy by nature when they aren't but let's put a pin in that we'll come back to it visually tifflings are very easily recognizable for their horns which can look like pretty much any horn their skin that can be human colored or reddish although players have decided to overlook that what if it was purple their fun tail and spooky eyes with no pupils or sclera okay side note not to get too deep into the vast expanse that is forgotten realms lore but tieflings used to be much weirder the reason for this is that tieflings could be connected to any fiend because of that some had hooves instead of feed some were slimy some had like extra legs if they had rakshasa blood they could be furry have you ever been bullied humiliated and scared by someone bigger stronger or older than you this changed after wizards released a balance patch by way of asmodius as us as modius [Music] that would as modius did this so all things would look like him and he could become a god don't ask i've already talked way too much about this and apparently this is not even a thing anymore because i found somewhere that thieflings from other demonic lineages exist again and there's also the new findish options so what was the point of the balance patch i thought that was to make the race more uniform and easy to give stats to and what um ciao anyway so whatever there's not much on teething culture and i plan on making a little bit more of that later so pay attention because many chieflings are born from human parents not tiefling parents it's said that they tend to be more independent on account of people being awful to them [Music] and that many of them don't trust strangers easily a super interesting tidbit and i'm gonna use this later as well are virtue names basically it's common for thieflings to name themselves after a virtue they find particularly crucial and want to exemplify after a thing that is the most important to them for example a thiefling that has sworn to avenge their parents death might call themselves vengeance a thiefling that values kindness and compassions might choose gentle as a name but they can be more abstract maybe a thiefling that grew up poor and absolutely refuses to ever go back to living in squalor might name themselves opulence a thiefling that commits to baking the best sweet treats in their city can name themselves after their favorite ingredient like cinnamon or honey basically tiefling virtue names embody what they find most important in life and can change as they grow and evolve as people on the mechanic side of things tieflings get a number of bonuses if you're using racial ability scores teethlings get a plus two to their charisma which makes them fantastic charisma casters and a plus one to intelligence because we hate synergy i don't know will you also get resistance to fire which is amazing and will save your ass a whole bunch of times dark vision just like 90 percent of people in d d and some fun can trips and spells like press the digitization but worse no you and darkness you also get inferno as a language which is weird because most tieflings are not born into tiefling communities so they just come with the language pre-installed in their brain anyway as they stand without taking into account racial options things make for amazing spell casters and basically anything that benefits from charisma which is literally anything in d d they are super versatile when it comes to the mechanic side of the game but they are even more versatile if you look at fiendish like to options deliciously if you use fiendish options you can further customize your little teeth little thief each fiendish option corresponds to one of the arch devils of hell depending on what arch devil is your teethlings daddy of choice you get a fin dish option let's take a quick look at them belzebub or jabba the hot but make it devil is all about corrupting people so tieflings of this line have vestigial powers that revolve around that like ray of sickness and crown of madness this pattern is about strategy and being careful so t things of this lineage are good at sneaking around getting their little grubby hands on secrets and make for good spies fiorna is all about manipulation and schemes tieflings of our lineage are blessed with terrifying girl boss powers including spells like suggestion and charmed person glacia is the 400 iq mastermind of hell and her teethings are really good at disguises illusions infiltrating places and spike craft this is hauntingly familiar lavistas was the archdevil equivalent of those jack sparrow cosplayers at conventions that refused to ever break character ever and then he got turned into a living ice cube so tieflings of his lineage have ice powers i'm assuming to rub lavistas current situation in his face mammon cares about one thing and one thing only what i really want to see flings of his lineage get magical ways to make bank mephistopheles or mephisto if you're nasty commits to a theme in body mind and spirit and his theme is fire thieflings of his line get some fun fire themed spells like burning hands or flame blade and finally zario no not that one well kind of like that one zarya is the arts devil of mad gains and war she's kind of the best arch devil by a mile and a half and according to her she gave up being an angel to fight against demons so not that different from ariel after all part of that her whole thing is being mad all the time and fighting on an ending war and yada yada tiflings ascending from her are good at hitting things moving on there is one final option when it comes to tiflings the variant tiefling option this is a sort of a hell-themed build-a-bear workshop approach to tifling making you can choose between three options that your dm must approve of the first of these is devil's tongue four now half of the four now quarter half i'm gonna play four seven five four now five five four five four five quarter quarter five and a quarter five and a half this one gives you vicious mockery and a bunch of charm spells the second one is hellfire dark fire this option makes you extra spicy by giving you a bunch of fire themed magic and finally winged this one gives you little bad wings and the ability to fly if your dm allows you to take it we have fun here so as you might have noticed teethings are one of the most popular options when it comes to dnd races and i'm interested in talking about why that is outside of some basic innate can trips and spells and a nifty fire resistance all that differentiates a tiefling from a human are cosmetic changes but in canadian d lore they are horribly mistreated by other races assumed evil by default and seen as not much different than an actual devil but they are not predisposed to being evil they are just humans with horns so this attitude is unfair and unwarranted i think that's why they are so compelling and people love them so much we need to talk about the concept of the wubi so the first line of dnd beyond speech on tieflings is about how they are hated thieflings are on the receiving end of fantasy racism now at the risk of getting too political i will say that racism is bad [Music] i think this is one of the reasons why teethings are so popular a player may choose to play a thing because they want to explore themes of racism and how it affects people and communities or maybe they want to talk about being born in a family that looks down on you for being something you have no say in but i think a lot of players choose thieflings because they have a specific conflict baked into the race and conflict is compelling and essential for making characters that people resonate with and like that conflict can be used to play with one of the most common and effective tropes in storytelling the whoopi i understand that you little guys start out with your wobbies and you think they're great and they are they are terrific uh wubi is a character that we feel bad for because bad things happen to them without it being their fault when you think of a character that is a wubby you want to hug them no mommy please no no you want to take that character that has been suffering all their lives at the hands of a cruel unjust world and protect them and make them feel better and no no no no not like that you sickos okay maybe sometimes like that a little bit this may sound basic but many of the most popular characters in fiction could be considered whoopies as long as that character was written so the audience feels sorry for their suffering they could be considered a whoopi of course whether these characters are effective at being a would-be is a matter of opinion but please go to the comments and tell me how my examples are wrong it will only grow my algorithmical powers things make for fantastic whoopies because as we have established racism is indeed bad and the fact that they are treated unfairly because of the way they look makes us instantly empathize with them but not all the m's around worlds where teeflings are mistreated and not all players use that aspect of the race in their backstories or feel comfortable bringing up those subjects at the table yet tiflings remain super popular so there must be something else the second reason i think tieflings are popular is even simpler than the potential for making a whoopie they are customizable teethlings are described in canon as being able to have basically any shape of horns possible they have tails and unnatural hair colors they can be any non-human skin color you want unless your dm hates fun your thing could have a short stubby tail on short stubby horns or gazelle horns they could have a tail that ends in a classic arrow or a tuft of hair they could have human skin tones or red or green or purple their eyes could be a solid color or a human caller or have an iridescent quality to them or they could be purple the possibilities are endless and they are mostly purple i think it's the mix of an easy to empathize with conflict along with a super high degree of customization that makes t flings very appealing to players and that's all well and good but what if we gave tieflings a new twist so you want to make a t-fling t flings are horny humans with technicolor skin that have the devil as a distant relative now when it comes to giving tieflings a new twist i'm not gonna make a new racial option because fiendish options cover pretty much everything you have fiendish options that give you a plus one on any single ability score on top of the tieflings plus two charisma and you have spell themes for every layer of hell and arch demon including illusions spycraft corruption charms and fire that's a pretty complete list of options i think the best way to give tieflings more of a twist is to play to their strengths and fill out their weaknesses we've established that tiefling strengths are one their lore the fact that they are seen as inherently evil by bigots even though they are not and two the potential for customization they have an extremely customizable appearance that players can play around with so what can we do with that maybe something that does not come from the lineage at all but rather from the tiefling's choosing what if we fleshed out the social and cultural aspects of things which are not super developed for them while tying that to the high degree of customization in the race hear me out virtue names a virtue name is something that a tiefling chooses for themselves it's a way for them to say i am not inherently evil in fact i'm gonna become the embodiment of what i consider to be the most important value in life what if the tiefling's appearance was affected by what they considered most important i think that'd be cool so in this version of tieflings their horns and tails grow according to the tiefling's morals when they are born tieflings have short stubby horns and tails and as they develop a personality and moral compass their horns and tails grow in different shapes to reflect that let's look at some examples strength teething that value strength martial prowess fighting and in general being stronger or more dexterous develop thicker more rugged horns some also grow hardened protrusions on their skin similar to scales kind of like armor their tails grow thick and end in sharp points similar to arrows many of them use metallic caps on their horns and pierce them with studs to make them more resistant and battle ready virtue names for these teethlings could be something like trial vengeance tourney metal or fray nature tieflings that make it their life's mission to protect nature uphold the natural order of the world or dedicate their lives to taking care of the animals and the land as farmers develop horns closer to those of animals they can grow long branching antlers like those of a deer or horns that curl on themselves similar to those of a ram their tails end in a tuft of hair the same color as the hair that grows on their head the tieflings that prefer the wilder side of nature will adorn their horns with moss and other living plants and turn their horns in a sort of portable ecosystem their virtue names could be along the lines of a wild season life world or primal study tieflings that dedicate their lives to studying science history arcana and any other academic pursuit cedar horns develop in interesting ways they're often not symmetrical one horn curling past the other or one growing longer than the other they also often develop a second set of horns shorter than the other some saying that this is a sign of taking an interest in two different fields of research their horns also tend to sport a twisting pattern in their grooves similar to a unicorn their tails carry that as symmetry often forking in two or more points one slightly shorter than the others virtue names for these thieflings would be something like arcana reason reflection cognition or muse religion if a tiefling chooses to devote their life to a religious purpose honoring their chosen god investing their body and soul to worship a divine creature or otherwise dedicating their lives for the good of others their horns reflect this choice they grow in a wide arch forming an almost perfect circle above their heads as the tiefling grows the horns do as well until they join at the center creating a halo around their heads in religious circles tieflings with a perfect circle are seen as particularly pious some of them choose to engrave religious text on their horns when they grow into a perfect halo to celebrate the occasion their tales also grow in a very similar way and many teethlings adorn them with rings once the circle is closed giving it the look of a religious staff virtual names for team things that focus on religion would be piety repentance forgiveness prayer and miracle social there are thief tieflings that dedicate themselves to honing their social graces living their lives among other people like those that become merchants courtiers thespians jesters socialites or ambassadors these teeflings tend to grow thin more delicate horns their horns tend to be completely smooth and point upwards never resembling those of animals they might be wavy but never curl on themselves giving their silhouette a more elongated regal look their tails could end at a graceful point or grow in the shape of a fan many of these thieflings adorn their horns and tails with small chains beaded laces precious stones and rings if they use caps on their horns it's not to make them sturdier but for fashion their virtue names would be along the lines of poise cheer eloquence fanfare bargain or mesmer [Music] combinations things like any other person are complex and many things find their calling in something that falls between two of these categories their horns and tails grow to reflect that a tiefling that dedicates their life to the study of religion like a theologian might grow two sets of horns in the form of a halo or maybe the horns will have an asymmetrical growth pattern a t fling that uses their physical strength to protect nature might grow big thick antlers like those of a moose rather than the thin antlers of a deer a court mage that has studied arcana but also the intricacies of living in high society might grow two sets of thin elongated horns their tails would of course reflect the mix of interests and values as well and that's it by making it so a tiefling's appearance reflects their values it beefs up a less explored aspect of the race it's culture maybe in your setting teethings that have a low sense of purpose see their horns shrink or become stumps maybe there's a specific tiefling village where the size of the horns dictates who leads the village maybe tieflings in academic circles have an unfair bias towards particularly twisted horns or those that have many pairs of horns it allows for the same customization that the tiefling race gave to players but adds an additional layer of complexity and meaning to it but implementing all that into your game sounds like a lot of work i mean you would have to come up with npcs and they need to have their own motivations and plot hooks for adventures and wait what's that over there okay say with me move that bus yes it's four t-fling npcs that you can plop right into your campaign they are illustrated by me and they have their own personalities motivations ideas for settings and plot hooks for adventures you can get them in the description below for save with me again free go put a whole bunch of tieflings in your adventures or play another one what's the harm in making a new one you already have 34. and welcome to the end of the video you made it i'm proud of you so teeflings are one of my favorite races in dnd so this sure was long when i started working on the script i really wanted to make a new racial option for them but feed this options are so like they cover so much ground that that's how the idea of them changing depending on their virtue came about and i'm pretty happy with it i think it's fun for the next race videos that i do i do plan on making more racial options because i think that would be really really fun especially for those that don't have many or any you know who i'm talking about but yeah i hope you're really liking this d with a twist thing it is a ton of work it's insane but people's reception has been insane and people have been so kind and it's been great however this is only the third video that i've done so far i'm very new so if you can share this that is the thing that actually helps the most i think uh comments and likes also help tremendously like subscribing to the thing also helps so if you want to do that go ahead comment what your favorite thing caller is whatever yeah that's how youtube works everything is in the description below and yeah i think that's the end i'm going to stare at the 34 teeflings i've made and fantasize about one day playing them okay thank you so much for watching see you love you

Channel: Pointy Hat

Views: 941,107

Keywords: DnD, D&D, DnD with a twist, 5e, TTRPG, How to, Illustration, Dungeons and Dragons, Hags, Hag

Id: agagf69TUBI

Length: 22min 4sec (1324 seconds)

Published: Fri Mar 25 2022