Quote from: Warboss Squee;1046582NuTieflings are freak show snowflakes that should have been drowned at birth.

They fit a  Robert Lynn Asprin style of world, if that is what you are going for. Tieflings, or rather infernal ancestory, can also be done on the minimalist way like the Damien Thorn/He Never Died (Henry Rollins)/Balthazar (Constantine film). I guess the default compromise is some telling feature that gives it away on a cursory inspection.

I thought Fantastic Heroes & Witchery did it really well. Check out the free pdf at http://www.dcrouzet.net/heroes-witchery/

p15,

Quote from: Warboss Squee;1046582Old school Tieflings had small tells, like claws, glowing eyes or a faint oder of brimstone. They could pass for normal if they tried, but were generally reviled for their otherworldly ancestry.

NuTieflings are freak show snowflakes that should have been drowned at birth.

Honestly, what I wonder is why they weren't drowned at birth;).

There is a proverb in Italian

Ogni scarrafone è bello a mamma sua

Even a cockroach  is beautiful to his mother

ETA: plus that whole Rosemary's baby cult thing.

I mean, how do you think Rupert Murdoch was allowed to grow up?

Quote from: Mike the Mage;1046612There is a proverb in Italian

Ogni scarrafone è bello a mamma sua

Even a cockroach  is beautiful to his mother

ETA: plus that whole Rosemary's baby cult thing.

I mean, how do you think Rupert Murdoch was allowed to grow up?

The cult was what I was thinking, too. And you make a good point about the mothers:).
Of course, it implies weird things about the setting if there's a whole race of those that were allowed to grow up;).

Is there a Tiefling nation?

Is there even a Tiefling ethnicity?

I would make a guess that 9 time out of 10 the back story of the Tiefling is some orphan/outcast/illegitimate/unwanted child of human parents in a conservative society.

Yep, a woe-is-misunderstood-accursed-me wankfest for a drama queen with added angst.

Quote from: antiochcow;1046498Yeeep. It bugs me even more when they're portrayed as simply misunderstood, as if they're just basically humans but with grey or green skin.

Absolutely man... Being 'misunderstood' is really cheesy. When I GM, I make sure everyone is on the same page when we decide to play something different so to speak. I also impart that if you are paying something like an Orc or an Ogre (or whatever) then you are absolutely not human and shouldn't behave like a grumpy cockney.

Quote from: tenbones;1046480Well it's a setting-conceit thing for me. If we're talking Spelljammer or Planescape anything goes for me.

But races I think are dumb and/or redundant in modern D&D:

Half-orcs. Never liked them.
Dragon-anything. Stupid.
Tieflings/Aasimar - INCREDIBLY overplayed. Conceptually I kinda get it. But they're the super-snowflakes that no one plays remotely consistent with their conceits. Anyone that wants to play one in my game is in for a ride...
Eladrin - They're called Elves. Pick a sub-race and stfu.

I'd agree with you mate... The setting can determine what type of character you can get away with. If it's a bit of an oddball setting then I can see a diverse range of characters being available I've not really a problem with that per se. I more hate the twee nature of certain character concepts. Like the munchkin Tieflings or Dragon born.

Like what a few OPs have already said you could mold a good game out of them - if the GM made a concerted effort and had the right players. Like some kind of horrific cult or Rosemary's baby. That'd probably send da' emo kids home running!

Quote from: AsenRG;1046613The cult was what I was thinking, too. And you make a good point about the mothers:).
Of course, it implies weird things about the setting if there's a whole race of those that were allowed to grow up;).

We are actually getting into interesting territory here with horror, cults, and infernal babies.

Quote from: Steven Mitchell;1046535"You can only be avant-garde so long before you become garde."  (Not sure who said it.)  That's because it's all people making a character that is going to be played by a person, and there is nothing new under the sun.  The more "different" that people try to be, the less material is there to rebel against.

Yeah, I'd pretty much agree, that everything has been done before. The trick is to take the bits you want and then arrange it in the way you want the game to play. It's all on the back of giants!

But what really surprises me (and bugs me), is that game designers keep regurgitating the same old fantasy tropes and try to sell it as something new. At least games like 'Belly of the beast' are different takes on the traditional fantasy setting. Although, while I really like the game it feels a little sparse in places.

Also, it's how these characters are played by players...

Quote from: The Exploited.;1046622Yeah, I'd pretty much agree, that everything has been done before. The trick is to take the bits you want and then arrange it in the way you want the game to play. It's all on the back of giants!

But what really surprises me (and bugs me), is that game designers keep regurgitating the same old fantasy tropes and try to sell it as something new. At least games like 'Belly of the beast' are different takes on the traditional fantasy setting. Although, while I really like the game it feels a little sparse in places.

Also, it's how these characters are played by players...

I agree with all that.  Then I'd take it a step further:  You'll get more interesting rearranging of bits by the players if the stuff they start with is more traditional fantasy.  The pursuit of novelty by game designers has given us a host of Drizzt clones, and then a pile of tielfings and dragonborn by the players that have learned to sneer at Drizzt clones.  The instinct by some players to rebel is itself regurgitated, because all of their easy, good options are being made tired by the designers.

Contrast that with what I did in my current campaign:  I made "drow" just another elf race for the most part, except that they lived in mountains, and for the most part got along with dwarves well, unlike their wood elf cousins (who are generally friendly with anyone that wasn't cutting down their trees, and not with anyone else, and tend to have an Irish wanderlust) and their high elf cousins (who are generally snooty and isolationist).  That's not saying anything about how I view drow all the time.  It's how it works in this particular campaign.  That's almost bog standard high elf and wood elf, with drow toned down to fit a niche that could almost be bog-standard.  Sounds boring.

What I got out of that conceit was:  A wood elf ranger that was distrustful of people because she hadn't traveled much, a wood elf that was a sailor druid and a very different personality, a drow rogue that was quite friendly if sly.  Later, as I added a second group, we got some stereotypical characters, as you'd expect with new players, but also got a snooty high elf rogue.  And that's the way the characters started.  Their personalities have emerged and changed and grown in play.

PCs are often supposed to be a little weird.  They need a backdrop to be weird against.

Quote from: Mike the Mage;1046614Is there a Tiefling nation?

Is there even a Tiefling ethnicity?

I would make a guess that 9 time out of 10 the back story of the Tiefling is some orphan/outcast/illegitimate/unwanted child of human parents in a conservative society.

Yep, a woe-is-misunderstood-accursed-me wankfest for a drama queen with added angst.

  Depends on the version. 4E, which dialed up the size of the horns and tails, also made them a distinct offshoot of humanity with their own ancient empire and cultural history.  Not a nice history--being the remnants of an Evil Empire that pledged themselves and their posterity to devils--and with a lot of room for 'misunderstood outsider', but not just something that would 'pop up' among humans unexpectedly.

Quote from: Armchair Gamer;1046628Depends on the version. 4E, which dialed up the size of the horns and tails, also made them a distinct offshoot of humanity with their own ancient empire and cultural history.  Not a nice history--being the remnants of an Evil Empire that pledged themselves and their posterity to devils--and with a lot of room for 'misunderstood outsider', but not just something that would 'pop up' among humans unexpectedly.

See now THAT would make a good infernal race: Evil Empire of devil worshippers. Lawful Evil as a society with slavery, torture and expansionism. If you wanna play a good tiefling, you are an outcast at home and abroad. People hate you because of your race and what they did. You wanna "explore themes of social justice"? Okay, you play a tiefling, let's call them Men of Zarnok (Hungarian for tyrant), and not only do you face prejudice, your nation actually deserves it.

Popcorn at the ready...

Quote from: Mike the Mage;1046629See now THAT would make a good infernal race: Evil Empire of devil worshippers. Lawful Evil as a society with slavery, torture and expansionism. If you wanna play a good tiefling, you are an outcast at home and abroad. People hate you because of your race and what they did. You wanna "explore themes of social justice"? Okay, you play a tiefling, let's call them Men of Zarnok (Hungarian for tyrant), and not only do you face prejudice, your nation actually deserves it.

Popcorn at the ready...

When you want to play a drow, but lawful with more accessories.

Races that I despise are ones which players typically play in order to piss everybody else off at the game table like Kender, Malkavians, Gungans, and Ewoks.

In my fifth edition campaign the evil kingdom of Throndar's nobility are mostly tieflings.

At one point the party wandered into a farming village and their wizard was mistaken for a warlock.  A cry went up "A witch!  A witch," the characters prepared for battle, "hurrah a witch."  They were then feasted and pestered for minor magical cures and solutions.