Tag: Tiefling

Can Infernal Tiefling Always Fly? [closed]

One player in a party I’m currently Dm’ing has an Infernal Tiefling Warlock. When he created the character, and up until just shy of level 4 near the end of our gaming session this past weekend, he had the normal walking speed but no flying ability, as is listed in the PHB, if I have it correct.

This past weekend, the party split up. They sent their druid and wizard ahead along a 130 foot, steeply inclined tunnel and through a narrow overhead trap door to cast Gust of Wind in a large, stone cavern. Their reasons for doing so were sound, but unfortunately, in that way, the player characters ended up in two groups. The tunnel separating them was sloped upward so much that each character would have to “climb” to travel through it, as the wizard and druid had had to do.

At that point, the druid, who has always been a very chaotic character, attacked the wizard, who is a good character but a small, female gnome who is often jumped on by the druid. As a result, the druid and the wizard, both still just shy of level 4, began literally fighting in-game: the druid said he was going to wrap the wizard in a web cocoon (he was a giant spider at the time), the wizard made a save and then began casting spells at him to stop him.

The rest of party, made up of five level 3 and 4 characters who are becoming accustomed to these antics from the druid, were just sitting at the bottom of the tunnel for several rounds while the wizard and druid fought. Meanwhile, I had an Ettercap and some giant spiders watching and it seemed like the perfect opportunity to attack – so they did. The wizard was immediately brought to unconciousness because she had already been damaged by the druid.

At that point, the other PC’s got serious and started climbing while the druid was alone with the Ettercap and five giant wolf spiders. I probably sound ruthless at this point but I hadn’t set up the room to kill the party. The fact is, the way they’d split themselves up and then the druid attacked the wizard without even checking the room first, well, that made a very reasonable cavern for a party if 7 level 3 and 4 characters deadly for 2 level 3 characters alone fighting amongst themselves and not paying attention, becoming deadly for the druid and wizard.

After a round of climbing, while the players were scanning their sheets and flipping through various books on the other side of the DM screen, the playet of the Infernal Tiefling Warlock looked up, seeming clearly surprised to me but that’s just me, and said, “Well, I can fly, so I should be able to get up there right away.”

And the druid player, seeming to jump on that, and obviously desperately needing other players up there with him, pulled the book across the table that the Warlock was looking at and said, “He can! It says, ‘Flying Speed 30 feet.”

For the record, in case you’re wondering, it was the Swords of The Coast book and it said the flying ability could only be used if a couple of other things were lost, like Thaumaturgy, for example. I’m not sure of the exact details. I’m the DM but I don’t have a copy of that particular book myself.

Also, for the record, I told the players that I said he could sort of travel upward faster than the other characters and I would think about the flying thing more for later gaming sessions after looking into it.

The PHB lists no flying speed for Infernal Tiefling so I assume the flying ability is an option for a variant version of Infernal Tiefling. Does anyone know? What’s the rule on variants? I want players to have the characters they dream about when they build their characters, but the Warlock player didn’t know about flying before – I’m almost positive he didn’t because tried to climb off a 25 foot pillar and fell two sessions ago. He took minor fall damage and no one said anything about flying. And I’m concerned that if he can fly, it will severely unbalance everything. A warlock who can fly over battles and cast spells down from overhead while remaining out of reach, well, that seems like it has the potential to be extremely over-powered.

How were the race Tiefling born? [on hold]

That’s right I know that they were originated from a demonic pact did by noble humans seeking to conquer territories. This pact was a sin, and it left remnants to the descendinds. But I really didn’t understand the why and how. I didn’t understand if there’s something about the demon whose was made the pact that could been put in the background of the character. Or if there’s some characteristics that could be variable. Not physically, but about some spells or abilities. Could you clear me?

Is this homebrew Winged Tiefling balanced?

I’ve been working on making a homebrew winged tiefling subrace in the hopes that it would be more balanced than the one in SCAG, as many people are against players having flight speeds at first level. This is what I’ve come up with so far:

The traits of this subrace replace the tiefling’s ability score increase and infernal legacy traits given in the PHB.

Winged Tiefling

Ability Score Increase. Your Charisma score increases by 2, and your Dexterity score increases by 1.

Learning to Fly. When you reach 3rd level, you have a flying speed equal to your walking speed. This benefit works only in short bursts; you fall if you end your turn in the air and nothing else is holding you aloft.

Mastering Flight. When you reach 5th level, you no longer need to rest your wings between bursts, and thus no longer fall when you end your turn.

Is this balanced? If so, is there a way I can make the wording more concise and clear?

Can a Tiefling be born from two human parents?

This may seem like a dumb question on the surface but hear me out

Background of my Tiefling

So I made a pretty in-depth background for my warlock that intertwines deeply with the bard in the party. Their family has a long-running pact with Graz’zt and due to this, every other generation or two, a tiefling born; a ‘blessing’ from Graz’zt for the family’s service and devotion.

We decided we wanted our characters to be twins who have a good relationship. Originally we were both making tieflings, but he decided that he wanted to make his bard a human, and I still wanted my warlock to be a tiefling, the DM didn’t seem to have an issue with it and approved the characters. (Honestly, it was nice to already have them know each other and have no trust issues with half of the party)

So fast forward to when the characters meet, introduce/describe themselves (Human Bard, Tiefling Warlock, Elf Ranger, Half-elf Barbarian)

Once it is established our characters are not of the same race but are fraternal twins, the barbarian (who is an outlander from a plains tribe and has never seen tieflings before and has an INT of 7) immediately goes off about the logistics of how that can’t be possible, and denies that they can be anything more than half-siblings. And then got out of character to tell us that tieflings are their own race and can’t be derived from two human parents.

So here’s what the PHB says on pg. 42:

“Tieflings are derived from human bloodlines, and in the broadest possible sense, they still look human. However, their infernal heritage has left a clear imprint on their appearance.”

I understand that they are their own race and tiefling + tiefling = tiefling, human + tiefling can = tiefling, and in some cases devil + human = tiefling.

But especially this scenario, with a blessed (or cursed) bloodline, can human + human = tiefling?

Can tiefling cast Hellish Rebuke hands full?

Infernal Legacy grants tieflings ability to cast Hellish Rebuke as a reaction at 3rd level, as if it was cast using a 2nd level spell slot. Hellish Rebuke as spell has Verbal and Somatic components.

How can a tiefling using a sword and a shield, or wielding two weapons, cast it in a battle, as a reaction? Is there something which allows practical use in regular battle, or is this class feature nearly useless for most front line fighting tieflings? Am I missing something obvious here?

The spell description does say “point a finger”, which could be plausibly done with weapon in hand, but I don’t think requirements of somatic component allow such exceptions strictly RaW?

I mean, it can still be used in bar fights, but 3d10 fire damage seems rather excessive retribution for some peasant hitting you with a beer mug… And I guess there’s the odd ambush where damage is done when the PC does not have weapon in hand yet. And a principled good-aligned warrior might walk into a battle with an empty hand, and only envelope the baddie in hellfire after receiving a damaging hit, and then draw a weapon, but that is getting a bit ridiculous…