Tieflings have been part of D&D since the second edition of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons. They were part of the original Planescape (1994) and were part-human and part-lower-plane, but not half-fiends.
Their big break, so to speak, came in 2008 when where made a playable race in the Player’s Handbook for D&D 4e. In other words; they were one of the first races illustrated and detailed in the rules.
In D&D 5e the Tieflings once again made the list of playable races in the Player’s Handbook. A variant Tiefling build later appeared in Mordenkainen’s Tome of Foes.
No edition of D&D presented Tieflings are inherently evil. In D&D 3e and 3.5 they tended to have a strange air around them that made people uncomfortable. In D&D 5e it was suggested many Tieflings ended up becoming evil due to the prejudice they encountered.
In Pathfinder, mainly due to the limitations of the Open Game License, Tieflings are present too; as Hellspawn.
How do you pronounce the word? There are three common usages;
- Teef-ling
- Tie-fling
- Tea-fling
Tiefling poll
Which do you use?
Creative Commons credit Necyra Illustration by Jeleynai and by Tamás Patkós.
Do you some use strange fourth option? Let us know in the comments below!
