In the many worlds of Dungeons & Dragons, few monsters are as feared as devils. Greeted with stares and whispers, shunned, and outcast by all respectable folk, tieflings must make their own way in the world, for good or ill. Some become the monsters that everyone expects, but others rise to the occasion and become true heroes.
Tieflings can be some of the most fascinating characters at a game table. Build your tiefling character thoughtfully, and you'll have a hero whose story can captivate your table for many sessions to come.
Tiefling Lore
Tieflings are the descendants of humans who made an infernal pact with Asmodeus.
This pact was struck generations ago; through no fault of their own, the descendants of the pact-makers carry the blood of the Prince of Evil himself.
Most good folk want nothing to do with evil creatures. So tieflings are outcasts from just about everywhere.
Shopkeepers will watch their things more closely when a tiefling enters their store, innkeepers may forbid their lodging, and the city watch will blame them for anything that goes wrong.
Most tieflings have thus become self-reliant and suspicious. Many have turned to a life of crime, becoming rogues, thieves, and other ne'er-do-wells.
Others strive to understand their dark heritage, making their own pacts and becoming warlocks or studying the arcane as wizards. Still, others want to shake their dark heritage, becoming paladins or clerics of a good god.
Most Tieflings have large horns, though the exact shape those horns take varies wildly. Some tieflings have curly horns like a ram, and others might have long horns like an ibex.
Tieflings often take a chosen "virtue name"– a word or phrase that signifies their place in the world. These names include traditional virtue names like Hope and Glory, more exotic options like Poetry or Nowhere, and anti-virtue names like Carrion and Despair.
Tiefling Species Features
Ability Scores
Ability Scores | Cha+ 2, Int + 1 |
Tieflings' ability score bonuses aren't as powerful as humans' or half-elves', but +3 is still nothing to sneeze at.
Bonuses to Charisma and Intelligence can give you an early boost to warlock, sorcerer, or paladin spellcasting, as well as bard or rogue skills.
Monsters of the Multiverse and Tasha's Cauldron of Everything both offer a set of variant rules, with the former allowing you to choose where to put your ability score increases.
You can choose to increase one score by +2 and another by +1, or give yourself three +1 score increases. Ask your DM before using this variant rule.
If you do get to choose your ability scores, a lot of tieflings' abilities are still built around Charisma and spellcasting.
Strongly consider using your ability bonuses to support that. A boost to Charisma, Constitution, and Dexterity will always get you far.
Special Abilities
Ability | Effect | Use Case |
Darkvision | You can see in dim light within 60 feet of you as if it were bright light and darkness like it were dim light. | This ability's useful for navigating dungeons and caves and makes you a great party scout. |
Hellish Resistance | You have resistance to fire damage. | This ability's useful for a caster who wants to throw around fire spells or for a party tank who wants to get close to a fire-using enemy. |
Infernal Legacy | You know the thaumaturgy cantrip. At higher levels, you can cast darkness and hellish rebuke once per day. | These aren't the most powerful spells in the game, but they add a bit of extra flavour. Hellish rebuke is especially great for the early game because it lets you blast your enemies if you get damaged. |
Tiefling Variants
Mordenkaiden's Tome of Foes and the Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide both add several tiefling variants to the game. The Tome of Foes' variants are themed around different Princess of Hell, while the Adventurer's Guide's variants focus on different abilities your hellspawn might have.
The Adventurer's Guide features a winged tiefling variant, and it's a great pick. Ask your DM before starting one out. they may not be allowed if you're playing Adventurers League.
Winged characters are banned from Adventurers' League play. Wings at a low level are incredibly powerful; they give you more movement options and let you get away from enemies more easily.
Tiefling Class Options
Most species in D&D are designed to synergize with a particular class or two; tieflings are designed around the warlock and sorcerer classes, and it shows. But no species is doomed to one destiny, and a lot of other classes work well with the tiefling's infernal traits.
Class | Use Case |
|---|---|
Warlock/Sorcerer | Tieflings are built around these classes. Charisma-based spellcasting and extra spells blend great with your class abilities. |
Bard/Rogue | These classes' Charisma-based skills use your bonuses, and tieflings' darkvision makes you a fantastic party scout. Glasya variant tieflings especially shine in this role. |
Paladin | The best martial option for a tiefling; your Charisma bonus helps you balance the paladin's class requirements. Zariel variant tieflings shine here. |
Artificer/Wizard | You've got a slight Intelligence increase that gives you a leg up. Keep in mind your innate spellcasting works off Charisma and will have different save DCs. |
Tieflings generally don't synergize well with Wisdom-based spellcasting classes like cleric or druid. Any character can be any species, of course, but being a tiefling does nothing for a cleric except add a pinch of infernal flavour.
If you want to play a tiefling using a Wisdom-based spellcasting class, use the Monsters of the Multiverse variant rules to give yourself a bonus to Wisdom.
You should also pick a domain that lets you use Charisma to its fullest, such as the Trickery domain.
Tiefling Feat Options
Tieflings have access to some really neat feat options. You'll want Xanathar's Guide to Everything to take advantage of the species-specific feats, but even if you're rolling with the good old Players' Handbook, you have some neat options.
Recommended Tiefling Feats
Feat | Effect | Use Case | Sourcebook |
|---|---|---|---|
Infernal Constitution | Increases your Constitution score by one point. This feat also gives you resistance to cold damage and poison damage and gives you advantage on saving throws against being poisoned. | The best tiefling species-specific feat thus far. A Constitution bonus is great for any character. | Xanathar's Guide to Everything |
Flames of Phlegethos | Gives a one-point increase to Charisma or Intelligence. This feat also lets you reroll ones on spells that do fire damage and wreathes you in flame when you cast a spell that does fire damage. | For warlocks and wizards. Super cool from a fluff perspective. The gameplay effects aren't optimal, but who doesn't want to be wreathed in flame? | Xanathar's Guide to Everything |
Eldritch Adept | Gives you a free warlock invocation. | A good pick for any tiefling. A warlock can always use more variety in their invocation selection; a non-warlock tiefling will get more abilities that use their high Charisma. | Tasha's Cauldron of Everything |
Actor | Gives you a Charisma bonus, makes you better at passing yourself off as a different person, lets you mimic the speech of other creatures. | A great choice for a roguish tiefling, a tiefling who's the party face, or anyone who wants to min-max Charisma. | Player's Handbook |
Resilient | Gives you a boost to any ability score and advantage on saves using that ability score. | If you're a squishy spellcaster, this can give you some sorely-needed extra survivability - pick Dexterity or Constitution. | Player's Handbook |