Tiefling Variant
I was moderately unimpressed by the Tiefling subraces in the October 2017 Unearthed Arcana. They all had the same standard delayed spell trait with slightly different spell choices. It seemed generic to me. Here's my money to go where my mouth was: Nine Tiefling Subraces for the Nine lords of Hell
Tiefling Traits
Tieflings share certain racial traits as a result of their infernal descent.
Ability Score Increase. Your Charisma score increases by 2.
Age. Tieflings mature at the same rate as humans but live a few years longer.
Alignment. Tieflings might not have an innate tendency toward evil, but many of them end up there. Evil or not, an independent nature inclines many tieflings toward a chaotic alignment.
Size. Tieflings are about the same size and build as humans. Your size is medium.
Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
Darkvision. Thanks to your infernal heritage, you have superior vision in dark and dim conditions. You can see in dim light within 60 feet of you as if it were bright light, and in darkness as if it were dim light. You can't discern color in darkness, only shades of gray.
Hellish Resistance. You have resistance to fire damage.
Languages. You can speak, read, and write Common and Infernal.
Subrace. The hellish influence of the Lords of the Nine created nine different varieties of tiefling, each linked with one of the archdevils. Choose one of these subraces.
Asmodeus
Linked to the undisputed master of the Nine Hells and Lord of Nessus, the ninth layer, tieflings of Asmodeus command fire and darkness while inheriting a powerful constitution to resist all enemies.
Ability Score Increase. Your Constitution score increases by 1.
Devil's Sight. You can see in magical darkness as if it were nonmagical.
Art: Dleoblack
Blackfire. When you cast a spell that deals fire damage, you can choose to call upon the infernal power of your bloodline to change it into blackfire as part of the spell. Blackfire deals an additional 1d10 fire damage, which cannot be reduced. You have a number of uses of this ability equal to half of your proficiency bonus. You regain all expended uses when you finish a long rest.
Baalzebul
The lord of Maladomini, the seventh layer, Baalzebul's tieflings corrupt the minds and bodies of the weak-minded as he does to his sinners.
Ability Score Increase. Your Wisdom score increases by 1.
Dark Charm. Once your magic has taken grasp of a creature, Baalzebul's power can seize them by the very soul. When you charm a creature, you can use a bonus action to force that creature to make a Wisdom saving throw or become either restrained until the end of its next turn, blinded for up to 1 minute, deafened for up to 1 minute, or poisoned for up to one minute (your choice) instead. The DC for this save equals 8 + your Charisma modifier + proficiency bonus. This effect overrides the charm effect entirely, and ends the spell or ability used to charm the creature. On a successful save, the target knows that it was targeted by a magical effect. When you use this ability, you cannot use it again until you finish a long rest.
Infernal Heart. You have advantage on saving throws to resist being charmed.
Dispater
Dispater's tieflings are formed around the Iron City of Dis itself, which makes up the second layer. Secrets and hidden knowledge number more than creatures in the city, and Dispater's paranoid nature drives him to use his tieflings as exceptional spies and infiltrators
Ability Score Increase. Your Dexterity score increases by 1.
Fiendish Movement. Your blood is filled with shadows, implanted there by the shadow demons of Dispater. As a bonus action you can choose to change your movement for this turn into Fiendish Movement. Until the end of this turn, when you move you can do so through any creatures and objects as if they were difficult terrain. You can't end your turn in the same space as a creature or object, and will be ejected into the closest adjacent space and take 1d10 bludgeoning damage if you do. You have a number of uses of this ability equal to your proficiency bonus. You regain all expended uses when you finish a long rest.
Fierna
Lord of Phlethegos, the fourth layer, Fierna's strong, fierce personality and conviction brought her to rule proudly by her father's side, rather than under him. These qualities bleed into her tieflings, making them resilient and persuasive.
Ability Score Increase. Your Constitution score increases by 1.
Devil's Tongue. Your words can burn the minds of others and bend their will to yours. If you speak to a creature for 5 minutes, you can attempt to charm it with your fiendish words. At the end of the conversation, the target must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw, whose DC equals 8 + your Charisma modifier + your proficiency bonus. On a failure, the creature is charmed by you for up to ten minutes, until it is attacked or damaged, or until it witnesses its allies being attacked or damaged. On a success, the creature does not know that it was the target of a magical effect. When you use this ability, you cannot use it again until you finish a long rest.
Infernal Speech. You gain proficiency in the persuasion and deception skills
Glasya
The Princess of Hell and Lord of Malebolge, the sixth layer, Glasya is the mastermind of the Nine Hells. Her scheming and plots influence her tieflings to become impressive thieves
Ability Score Increase. Your Dexterity score increases by 1.
Shadow Shift. Darkness acts as your ally and can help you move quickly and quietly. When you are obscured by dim light or darkness, you can use your bonus action to teleport to another location within 30 feet that you can see and is also in dim light or darkness. The visibility in-between you and your target does not have any impact on this ability. You have a number of uses of this ability equal to half your proficiency bonus. You regain all expended uses of this ability when you finish a long rest.
Grasp of Glasya. You know the mage hand cantrip. Charisma is your spellcasting ability for this spell.
Levistus
Ruler of the icy Stygia, the fifth layer, Levistus is known primarily for bargaining with the doomed. He preaches the beliefs that placing trust in another will always lead to betrayal. Tieflings of Levistus can call upon his power to strike hellish deals and twist the trust of others for personal benefit.
Ability Score Increase. Your Intelligence score increases by 1.
Devil's Bargain. Thanks to the influence of Levistus in your bloodline, you can bargain with life and death. Choose a target creature that can hear and understand you, and has less than one quarter of its hit points (rounded down) remaining. As an action, you can offer them a deal, activating the effects if they agree. You do not have to explain the details of this deal fully or even accurately, but the target must willingly accept the deal.
When a creature accepts, they immediately regain hit points equal to half of their hit point total. At any time in the future, you may choose to have the creature repay its debt to you as a bonus action. You may inflict up to the amount of hit points as was restored to the creature as necrotic damage.
This damage ignores resistances and immunities. You immediately regain that amount of hit points for yourself, or half that amount for a creature within 5 feet of you. This creature cannot be the one that you have struck the deal with.
The target creature must be on the same plane of existence as you in order to repay their debt. You may only have one deal active at any time. When you use this ability, you cannot use it again until you finish a long rest.
Mammon
The Lord of Minauros, the sixth layer of hell, Mammon is the infernal patron of greed and lust. His influence grants tieflings a desire and respect for coin and wealth, as well as a supernatural attachment to it.
Ability Score Increase. Your Wisdom score increases by 1.
Devil's Greed. Gold and gold coins are attracted to your hands. You can, as a bonus action, pull up to 2 pounds of loose gold or 20 gold coins that you can see within 10 feet of you to your hand. The gold flies quickly and directly through the air, and cannot pass through or around any obstruction.
Master of Haggling. You have advantage on persuasion checks made when bargaining in commerce.
Mephistopheles
Mephistopheles is the Cold Lord of Cania, the eight layer of hell. One of the most chaotic of the Lords of the Nine, The former magus of Asmodeus grants his tieflings a modicum of his powerful magic.
Ability Score Increase. Your Intelligence score increases by 1.
Chaotic Magic. You know two cantrips of your choice from the wizard spell list. Charisma is your spellcasting ability for it.
Spells of Mephisto. You know the control flames cantrip. When you reach 3rd level, you can cast the burning hands spell once per day. When you reach 5th level, you can also cast the scorching ray spell once per day. Charisma is your spellcasting ability for these spells.
Zariel
Lord of Avernus, the first layer of hell, Zariel is a warrior. Her strength in battle empowers her tieflings to be strong and competent fighters.
Ability Score Increase. Your Strength score increases by 1.
Weapon Proficiency. You have proficiency with 2 martial weapons of your choice.
Toughened Skin. Your base armor class is equal to 13 + your Dexterity modifier
Hellfire Blade. Your bloodline crosses the art of battle and the flames of hell, granting you a special kind of attack. When you make a melee weapon attack on your turn, you can use a bonus action to enwreathe your blade with magical fire. This attack deals an additional 1d4 + your proficiency bonus fire damage. When you use this ability, you cannot use it again until you finish a short rest.
Detect Balance Scores
I'm using this Detect Balance scale to balance this race.
Base Tiefling
| Ability | Point Value |
|---|---|
| ASI + 2 | 8 |
| Darkvision 60 | 3 |
| One Common Resistance (Fire) | 4 |
| Common + 1 Languages | 0 |
| Total | 15 |
Asmodeus
| Ability | Point Value |
|---|---|
| ASI + 1 | 4 |
| Blackfire | 8 |
| Devil's Sight | 6 |
| Total | 33 |
Blackfire: Dragonborn's breath weapon is worth 6 points. This deals half the damage, but can be used twice. Upped value to 8 to be safe.
Devil's Sight: Superior darkvision (120ft.) is worth 4 points, and blindsight 30ft is worth 8, I'd wager this is more powerful than the darkvision, but is used more rarely than blindsight, and therefore is in-between, at 6.
Baalzebul
| Ability | Point Value |
|---|---|
| ASI + 1 | 4 |
| Dark Charm | 10 |
| Infernal Heart | 1 |
| Total | 30 |
Dark Charm: This one is mostly a gut-feeling. There's nothing really like this ability in Detect Balance, but it requires a target to fail two saving throws, and is dependent upon the charm to continue to function. I've placed it higher than I think it really is at 10 points
Infernal Heart: Fey ancestry is 2 points, and this is half of the effects of that (albeit the more useful half), so 1 point.
Dispater
| Ability | Point Value |
|---|---|
| ASI + 1 | 4 |
| Fiendish Movement | 9 |
| Total | 28 |
Fiendish Movement: I consider this ability similar to flight, as it allows traversal of some roadblocks very easily. unrestricted flight with end-of-turn landing is 11 points. However, this ability does not provide any vertical advantages, So I would value it at less than unrestricted flight. final value is 9
Fierna
| Ability | Point Value |
|---|---|
| ASI + 1 | 4 |
| Devil's Tongue | 9 |
| Infernal Speech (2 Skill Proficiencies) | 4 |
| Total | 32 |
Devil's Tongue: This logic is a little wobbly, but here's my thinking: this ability is similar to a feature used by the bard's college of whispers (UA Bard). As a class feature, it should be close in value to an ASI +2, and in Detect Balance, an ASI +2 is 8 points. With this context in mind, this ability requires half the time, and resets on a short rest, but only lasts 10 minutes at its maximum, and therefore, I've valued it at 9 points.
Glasya
| Ability | Point Value |
|---|---|
| ASI + 1 | 4 |
| Shadow Shift | 8 |
| Grasp of Glasya (Cantrip) | 2 |
| Total | 29 |
Shadow Shift: This ability is similar to Fiendish Movement from the Dispater subrace, but has its own advantages and disadvantages. The need for dim light or darkness makes this slightly more situational though. I've chosen 8 points for this.
Levistus
| Ability | Point Value |
|---|---|
| ASI + 1 | 4 |
| Devil's Bargain | 15 |
| Total | 34 |
Devil's Bargain: Okay this one is weird. This ability feels more like a class feature or feat to me, but I believe it’s still sort of balanced for a racial ability. That said however, I'm not sure how to score this one. I'm going to veer way on the side of caution and say this is close to a weak feat. final value is 15 points.
Mammon
| Ability | Point Value |
|---|---|
| ASI + 1 | 4 |
| Devil's Greed | 2 |
| Master of Haggling (situational/common advantage) | 3 |
| Total | 24 |
Devil's Greed: This ability is similar to mage hand, but more specific in its application. It can, however, pick up more than that cantrip. I give it the same score as a normal cantrip, which is 2.
Tiefling Variant
- Created by /u/subjectivesloth
- Inspired by the October 2017 Unearthed Arcana
- Art 1 by Dleoblack
- Art 2 by Unknown
Mephistopheles
| Ability | Point Value |
|---|---|
| ASI + 1 | 4 |
| Chaotic Magic (2 Cantrips of Choice) | 6 |
| Spells of Mephisto (Standard Delayed Spells) | 6 |
| Total | 31 |
Mephistopheles: This one may be too strong, and grant too many spells and cantrips.
Zariel
| Ability | Point Value |
|---|---|
| ASI + 1 | 4 |
| Weapon Proficiency | 3 |
| 13 + Dex armor | 3 |
| Hellfire Blade | 4 |
| Total | 29 |
Hellfire Blade: Fury of the Small (Add lvl to one attack on larger enemy per short rest) is worth 3 points. This ability is less situational and deals more damage at lower levels, but falls off at higher levels. I've rated it one point above Fury of the Small at 4 points.
