These are written for a rugged coastal/archipelago setting.
locket from a drowned sailor, oil painting of her lover’s eye on a thumbnail-sized piece of ivory, lock of his hair concealed within.
nålbound woolen jumper with embroidered narwhals. soft and not itchy in the slightest.
mussel shell engraved with overlapping circles and strung on a leather cord. A talisman that keeps your spine limber, able to hold weird poses for hours.
small leather knife roll holding a pair of brass knives for oyster & clam shucking. Fit perfectly in the hand.
textile cone shell, concealed poison dart within.
accurate maps, indicate 1d3 sunken wrecks still worth looting.
basket of pigface fruit, deep red succulent flesh, salty-sweet.
painted pebble, floats in water despite its weight, reputed to ward off water-borne diseases.
earthenware pot of salted, fermented fish. Putrid to those not used to it.
vial of anti-blood, covers up the smell of blood in air or water, repels sharks and possibly other predators.
vase that preserves cut flowers indefinitely as long as the water is changed.
hole-punched tin lantern shaped like an anglerfish.
jar of silt from the most fertile floodplain in the known world. Spread over a hectare (~2.5 acres) will double crop yield indefinitely.
dried seaweed, triples dive-time when consumed.
reed panflute shaped like a dorsal fin, perfectly tuned, timbre carries feeling of low menace.
wax-paper packet of peppercorns.
ebony comb, cool in the hand, never snags or breaks a tooth.
pocket hymnbook, well-worn, each melody annotated with improvements.
mother of pearl snuffbox, filled with a mixture of powdered tobacco and willow bark, temporarily suppresses exhaustion.
shepherd’s crook, linen strip tied to it always flutters in direction of lost flock. Also works on ranger’s companions and similar bonded animals.
Want to adapt my OSR tiefling stuff for your 5e game? Here are some draft guidelines.
5e Variant Tieflings
Variant tieflings have the following traits:
Ability Score Increase. Roll three d6. For each roll, consult the table below and improve the corresponding ability score by +1.
1d6
Ability Score
1
Strength
2-3
Dexterity
4-5
Intelligence
6
Charisma
Age & Alignment. Whatever seems appropriate :-)
Size. Tieflings are about the same size and build as humans. Your size is Medium, unless a minor trait alters it.
Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
Fiendish Power.Roll twice on the Fiendish Powers table and choose one of the results. It is possible to acquire additional powers in play, depending on your character's actions.
Minor Traits. Roll any number of times on the Minor Traits table (suggested either three times on d100, or twice on d20 and once on d100 if you prefer more typical tieflings). See below for edition-specific notes about some of the entries.
Taint of Demonkind. The referee may make reaction rolls to determine the starting attitude of various NPCs. Whenever they make a reaction roll for your character, and the NPC is an animal or an Outworlder, the roll will have a penalty. The more fiendish powers you have, the greater the penalty.
Underclass. To get by, you've picked up skills from more unsavoury professions. Choose or roll one of the following skills or tools. You gain proficiency with it.
Athletics
Sleight of Hand
Stealth
Investigation
Perception
thieves' tools
disguise kit
forgery kit
Languages. You can speak, read, and write Common and one additional language. Choose or roll once the table below.
1d6
Language
1-2
Abyssal
3
Deep Speech
4-5
Infernal
6
Primordial
Notes
No Darkvision?
Yeah, I hate Darkvision, and tieflings are mostly human. Nothing's stopping you from giving them darkvision if you believe they should have it.
Minor Traits
52 – your eyes shed bright light in a 5-foot radius and dim light for an additional 5 feet.
67 – unlike some powerfully-built races, the extra height does not affect your carrying capacity.
77 – your size is Small. You have disadvantage on attack rolls with heavy weapons.
Fiendish Power Progression
If you worry about intra-party balance, allow tiefling characters to gain additional Fiendish Powers only in lieu of an ability score increase or feat. The referee should not feel restricted to the level progression when determining when the tiefling gains a new power. e.g. a character might gain a second power at 3rd level, paying off the "debt" with a foregone ability score increase at 4th level.
Reaction Rolls
Reaction rolls are one of the defining features of old-school D&D relative to modern editions. The exact dice used are less important than when the roll is called called for -- unlike a Cha (Persuasion) check, they happen immediately when encountering an NPC. The roll determines starting demeanour, and only rarely the outcome of a conversation. I find they gel much better with roleplayed conversation far better than outcome-determining Persuasion checks do, but there's nothing stopping you using both mechanics. Typically the referee makes the roll, using the Cha stat of the most conspicuous PC, or the first PC to speak.
If you wish to make old-school reaction rolls, roll 2d6. Because of the smaller die range, the character's full Charisma modifier isn't added. Add +1 to the roll for a Cha of 13 or higher, subtract 1 from the roll for a Cha of 8 or lower.
If the NPC is a mundane animal (i.e. the beast type) or an Outworlder, for each fiendish power the tiefling possesses, roll an additional d6. Use the worst two d6 for the reaction roll.
2 or less, or natural 2 (snake eyes) – Hostile, attacks
3-5 – Unfriendly, may attack
6-8 – Neutral, uncertain
9-11 – Indifferent, uninterested
12 or more, or natural 12 (boxcars) – Friendly, helpful
If you wish to make reaction rolls on a d20, the following best approximates the above probabilities. Use the character's full Charisma modifier in this case. You can move the DC 7 cutoff to DC 10 if it's easier to remember, no-one will know ;-)
If the NPC is a mundane animal (i.e. the beast type) or an Outworlder, each fiendish power the tiefling possesses adds a cumulative -2 modifier to the reaction roll.
1 or less, or natural 1 – Hostile, attacks
2-6 – Unfriendly, may attack
7-14 – Neutral, uncertain
15-19 – Indifferent, uninterested
20 or more, or natural 20 (boxcars) – Friendly, helpful
For a 5e game, an Outworlder is any creature with one of the following types, unless the referee decides otherwise:
EDIT: source now hosted on gitlab. Just download the html file and open it in your preferred browser. That repo is where I'll be putting adaptations for other old-school systems (and probably D&D 3.5/PF 1e too).
Have you come across a cool OSR class but it's only defined as "saves
as Cleric, attacks as Fighter" and cross-referencing tables sounds like
a chore?
Are you working on a class for your blog and HTML table tags getting you down?
Well I've been there, so I wrote this. It's all in javascript, the
processing is all done in your browser. So you can save an offline copy
of this page, or right-click & inspect the page source first if you
have some noscript extension, and so you can hack it to your liking.
Maybe you think clerics should get a spell at 1st level, you
want to extend level caps, or you prefer different saving throw
categories to the traditional ones.
Note that the raw html output doesn't include the table styling. You can find a copy of it here. I'll return to this and add further instructions for fellow CSS noobs when it's not 12:40am.
Yes, I do intend to adapt this for other versions of D&D and/or retroclones thereof, time permitting.
This is a tiefling class for use in OSR games. The design goals are:
Allow customisation but also randomness.
Support some of the blastiness of later edition tieflings (yet to be implemented), but also how most people seem to like-em, as charming con-artists
Avoid character builds and players thinking about what they get next level. Acquiring a new fiendish power should happen because it fits the events & unfolding story occuring in play, not because the chart says you get a new one at 3rd level.
Still be a useful resource for 5e players.. Some of the minor traits have specified game effects beyond appearnce, keep them system-neutral as much as possible. Write the fiendish powers such that they make decent replacements for the Hellish Resistance and Infernal Legacy traits of 5e tieflings.
Ignore the Great Wheel cosmology for something more personally interesting, but avoid being so far gone that they're nonsensical within that cosmology.
Make all-tiefling parties interesting.
note if you're looking for a tiefling name generator, try these:
Requirements: None Prime Requisite: DEX and INT Hit Dice: 1d6 Maximum Level: 10 Attack as: Cleric Save as: Cleric XP as: Cleric Allowed Armour: Leather or chain armour, shields Allowed Weapons: Any Languages: Alignment language, Common. Circumstance causes many tieflings to be Chaotic, but they have mortal free-will, their path is for them to determine. Prime Requisites: If your game awards bonus XP for high prime requisites, a tiefling must have at least 13 in one or the other prime requisite in order to get a +5% to experience. They must have a DEX and INT of 13 or higher to get a +10% bonus.
Abilities
Combat: Tieflings may use any weapon, armour up to chain, and shields.
Minor Traits: Your heritage is apparent to those who can read the signs. Roll any reasonable number of times on the Minor Traits table below.
Fiendish Powers: You start with one fiendish power. Roll twice on the Fiendish Powers table below and choose one. It is possible to acquire more of them, ether through your actions in play, or via a roll of 100 on the Minor Traits table, but not through levelling up.
Each time you learn another one, it may be chosen by player and referee based on story appropriateness, or chosen from a random selection of two, as above.
If the campaign offers many opportunities to acquire new fiendish powers, the referee may choose to restrict the total known to no more than your level.
Taint of Demonkind: The more you accept your fiendish heritage, the more you become entangled in the many conflicts of the Outer Planes.
When making a reaction roll for an Outworlder or a mortal animal (who are perceptive of such things), you or the referee roll 2d6 + 1d6 per fiendish power you possess. You then total the worst two dice and apply any reaction modifiers.
A modified result of 2 or less with an Outworlder indicates that both of you feel the instinct for conflict in your very blood and soul. Intelligent Outworlders may be able to control these instincts, but Outworlders of animal intelligence will simply attack.
Note many mortal animals will cower or flee on a modified result of 2 or less, only attacking if cornered.
Thief Skills: Tieflings often have to turn to criminality to survive. You have some training in two thief skills. Roll or choose from the list below:
Climb Sheer Surfaces
Find or Remove Traps
Hear Noise
Hide in Shadows
Move Silently
Pick Locks
Pick Pockets
Read Languages
Note that wearing chain armour or a shield may interfere with some thief skills at the referee’s discretion.
The tiefling starts with some training in those two skills. The referee will explain how the skill system works, may have a different skill list in mind, or may let you define your own freeform skills. For a rules-as-written B/X game, use the “Rolling on d100” variant under Conversion Notes for the Referee, below, and if Hear Noise is one of the chosen skills, convert its odds to d6.
Reaching 9th Level: Your fragment of fiendish power reaches its true potential.
Design a magic seal. A visage of you can be conjured by any petitioner who draws that seal. The real you is unimpeded in any way, but is aware of and can control the visage. Through it, you can speak with petitioners, and grant them any one of your fiendish powers. You do not lose the gifted power, and may revoke it at any time.
You attract a cult that starts with 2d6 mortal worshippers. Even if you choose not to design a special seal, one mysteriously appears in grimoires throughout the mortal plane. It’s too late. You have a cult now.
Your path to becoming a true demon prince, should you choose to walk it, is left to the referee to determine. It will involve great suffering and sacrifice, not necessarily your own.
Minor Traits
Roll a d20 if you want more "traditional" tiefling traits, or a d100 if you want a wider range. Roll as many times as you feel like.
Some entries have have multiple options listed in [brackets] -- roll a d6 or choose.
Some entries are contradictory, others can be reconciled. e.g. perhaps you have striped skin of two different colours?
snake fangs
seven-fingered left hand
tail [barbed, dog, hare, peacock, rat, serpent]
can conjure gold jewellery into existence on your body, or gold coins into your hand. They're real, but disappear if they leave you.
blue skin colour [pale, dark, muted, vivid, iridescent, glossy]
sulfurous breath
wings, small and nonfunctional unless you have the Wings fiendish power [bat, bird, draco lizard, flying fish, locust, luminous geometric forms]
palms reversed
no pupil or sclera, eyes are solid [black, blue, green, red, silver, gold]
birthmark, the symbol of a forgotten god. Only functions as a holy symbol if you convert.
antennae instead of a nose
objects you carry are twice as likely to break
other mortals find food tastes amazing in your presence
eye arrangement like to a jumping spider: two large primary eyes, two anterior lateral eyes providing peripheral vision, four posterior eyes (vestigial)
you cannot dream. 1 in 6 chance of parasitically hopping onto nearest mortal's dream each night.
total absence of body hair
Roll an extra fiendish power
Fiendish Powers
Change Shape. You can change into an alternate form, which is either in the shape of an animal or a chimera of two animals. You decide this form when you first gain this power.
Changing form does not alter your hit points, to-hit, or saving throws. Other statistics, including ability scores, movement, attacks, special senses, and abilities, of the alternate form are left to the referee to determine, and are not necessarily based on any existing monster statistics for the form chosen.
Extra Face. You are only surprised on 1-in-6, and have +2 to saving throws vs traps and similar natural hazards. This face manifests wherever you see fit, e.g. a complete face the back of your head, eyes on the back of your hands and a mouth on your torso, etc. The face can see, smell, breathe, and speak.
Facethief. You can swap faces with a creature of human size and shape by pressing your hands against their cheeks for 10 minutes. This lasts indefinitely. You can choose to apply relevant minor traits to your new face. Once the choice is made it cannot be revoked, and faces transferred from you keep any applied minor traits.
False Radiance. You can cause your body to emit a sickly light, illuminating surroundings to a distance of 30 ft. This ability takes 10 minutes to activate or deactivate.
Familiar. You can beseech the Planes for a familiar. The process takes from 1 to 24 hours (referee's discretion). While it is a spirit from the Planes, it takes the form of an animal of your choice. The animal cannot be one that attacks for more than 1d3 points of damage, or inflict a poison more dangerous or debilitating than a typical bee sting. A non-exhaustive list of suitable animals is provided below. Regardless of form, the familiar has an Armour Class of 7[12], Hit Points equal to 1d6+1, and Saving Throws of a 1st-level Fighter (unified 14, or D12 W13 P14 B15 S16)
As long as you have line of sight to your familiar, you can project your mind into its body, perceiving what it perceives. This provides no additional control over its behaviour -- it must be within earshot to receive new orders from you.
Familiars are more intelligent than ordinary animals. A familiar understands its master's known languages, and can communicate with its master using animal cries that only its master understands. While not subject to reaction or morale rolls, a familiar treated poorly by its master will find ways to exact revenge, petty or otherwise.
If a familiar dies, you may not conjure another one for a year and a day. If you die and you have line of sight to your familiar, you can permanently project your mind and live on in its body. You retain your Fiendish Powers, but have the Hit Dice and AC of the familiar. Your thief skills and saving throws become that of a 1st-level tiefling. You share control of the body with the familiar’s soul.
Familiar Forms (d66)
bat
kiwi
raccoon dog
capybara
lizard
raven
cat
locust
seagull
chicken
mantis
sloth
cockroach
monkey
snail
dingo
moth
snake
duck
mouse
spider
fox
nudibranch
squirrel
goat
octopus
toad
hawk
opossum
wallaby
hedgehog
pigeon
wasp
ibis
rabbit
weasel
Flight. You are capable of unpowered flight. If you gain this fiendish power a second time, you are capable of true flight. If you don't already have wings, you can roll d6 on the first entry on the minor traits table, or simply decide you can levitate through some unseen force.
Hermetic Lore. You have a 3-in-6 chance of identifiying any herb, poisonous plant, or precious stone. This knowledge is mystical and innate in nature. Add 1-in-6 to this chance for each additional fiendish power you possess. If this raises the chance to at least 6-in-6, you instead roll 2d6, failing only on a 12. At the referee's discretion, this knowledge may extend to alchemical and ritual uses for such materials, possibly at a penalty.
Hidden Ways. You can slip through the cracks of reality, taking yourself and creatures in physical contact with you to a Transitive Plane. Using this power takes 10 minutes. Creatures are entitled to a saving throw vs spells to resist the effect, but if they fail and are unwilling to follow you, must find their means of returning home.
This plane maps strangely onto the mortal world, allowing rapid travel. In this space, you can travel at 5 times your normal overland travel rate (note in B/X, this means you can travel miles per day equal to your base movement rate, typically 120').
Once you reach your destination, you can re-enter the mortal plane, emerging in a location within 6 miles of your destination.
At the referee's discretion, this may also be used to travel to other planes in the campaign's cosmology, at greater peril.
The transitive plane contains many Outworlders, which will prompt reaction rolls. The referee should determine the nature of the transitive plane, or roll on the table below:
d6
Transitive Plane
1.
the Plane of Shadow, through a glass darkly
2.
the Celestial Bureaucracy, a dozen dozen layers of precise inefficiency emanating from the Supreme Being
3.
the Sea of Chaos, unseen and unformed
4.
the Dream World, semantic, incorporative, subconscious, malleable
5.
the Stack, fragile tower underpinning all, micromanaged by daemons
6.
Space, the one place that hasn't been corrupted by capitalism
Psionics. You can telepathically communicate with any creature that meets your gaze, as long as you share a language. Additionally, roll a random 1st-level magic-user spell. You can “cast” that spell once per day with nothing more than a thought. Unlike other powers, this one may be gained again. Each time, roll on the next level of spells. (The referee may also allow you to roll on other spell lists, such as the Cleric list, or the Elementalist list provided in Theorems & Thaumaturgy, or may replace this with a psionics system of their choosing).
Sense Desire. You can perfectly sense if a being is sexually attracted to you. Note this does not tell you if they wish to act on this attraction, merely that the attraction exists.
Sin Sense. You can stare at a mortal for 10 minutes to detect the degree of un-absolved sin. If the mortal fails a saving throw vs spells, you also learn the predominant, general nature of such sins, such as wrath.
The nature of this power may vary from setting to setting, depending on the relationship between the mortal, the divine, and the afterlife, if any.
Speak With Dead. You can reanimate a creature's remains for up to 10 minutes and compel it to answer three questions. It is an Outworlder and thus makes a modified reaction roll toward you, but is unable to lie and its threats are impotent. You cannot reanimate the same creature twice.
Tiefling Level Progression
To-Hit lists two numbers, the first is THAC0, the second, [bracketed] value is for ascending AC systems.
Saving throws, in order, are a unified saving throw, and the old-school saving throw categories: death/poison, wands, paralysis/petrify, dragon breath, and rods/staffs/spells.
The unified save values are taken from Swords & Wizardry: Whitebox. All other values are taken from B/X: Essentials, including ascending to-hit, calculated as 19 - THAC0. Adjust as necessary for your preferred ruleset.
Tiefling Level Progression
Level
XP
Hit Dice
To Hit*
Saving Throws
Unified
Death
Wands
Paralysis
Breath
Spells
1st
0
1d6
19 [+0]
15
11
12
14
16
15
2nd
1,500
2d6
19 [+0]
14
11
12
14
16
15
3rd
3,000
3d6
19 [+0]
13
11
12
14
16
15
4th
6,000
4d6
19 [+1]
12
11
12
14
16
15
5th
12,000
5d6
17 [+2]
11
9
10
12
14
12
6th
25,000
6d6
17 [+2]
10
9
10
12
14
12
7th
50,000
7d6
17 [+2]
9
9
10
12
14
12
8th
100,000
8d6
17 [+2]
8
9
10
12
14
12
9th
200,000
9d6
14 [+5]
7
6
7
9
11
9
10th
300,000
9d6+2†
14 [+5]
6
6
7
9
11
9
*First number is THAC0, for use with descending AC systems, the second [bracketed] number is for use with ascending AC systems. †Hit point modifiers from CON no longer apply.
Conversion Notes for the Referee
Thief skills are one of the most-houseruled subsystems in old-school games -- you probably already have ideas on how to revise how the tiefling’s skills work. Go with what feels right -- make them modifiers or advantage to appropriate ability score rolls, tweak the odds, make them rolled on smaller die types, combine, separate, or define new skills...
If the level-up process would take a thief skill above 100% odds, ask yourself whether this is meaningful, and if it isn't, tell players to reallocate excess odds. That is, do you referee in a style that involves situational modifiers to thief skills? In B/X as-written, the only thief skill that exceeds 100% is Pick Pockets, which specifies a penalty based on the target’s level.
You may also decide to allow players to choose where to allocate increased odds, or weight it in favour of skills that the character has practiced in-game. You might also allow characters to progress in a third skill.
If you want to overhaul all the skills to be d6 or d20, I suggest the following guidelines:
Rolling on d6
1st level: Choose two thief skills. The tiefling starts with a 1-in-6 chance in each. If Hear Noise is chosen, it starts at 2-in-6 instead.
Level-Up: Increase one of the chosen skills by 1. Flip a coin to decide which one.
Rolling on d20
1st level: Choose two thief skills. Roll d6. The tiefling starts with that number of ranks in one skill and 7 - that number in the other skill. If Hear Noise is is chosen, it has +3 ranks.
Level-Up: Flip two coins. Put 1 rank in the first skill for every heads, and 1 rank in the other for every tails.
Rolling on d100
1st level: Choose two thief skills. Roll 2d20. The tiefling starts with that percentage of success in one skill and 41% - that number in the other skill. If Hear Noise is is chosen, it has +17%.
Level-Up: Roll 2d6. Add the total to one skill, and 13 - that total to the other.
If the referee wishes to keep Hear Noise rolls on the traditional d6, divide the percentage by 17 and round up. Keep a note of the percentage for whenever the tiefling levels-up.
This is a test of some table-related HTML I've been learning. The goal is to be compatible with screen readers. If you use a screen reader, and the following is not intelligible or could be improved, please let me know.
The HTML for ll 7 core B/X D&D classes, CSS, and colour-toggling JS function can all be found on this gitlab file. Please feel free to adapt them for your own projects.
Elf Level Progression
Level
XP
Hit Dice
AC0*
Saving Throws
Spells
Death
Wands
Paralysis
Breath
Spells
1st
2nd
3rd
4th
5th
1st
0
1d6
19
12
13
13
15
15
1
–
–
–
–
2nd
4,000
2d6
19
12
13
13
15
15
2
–
–
–
–
3rd
8,000
3d6
19
12
13
13
15
15
2
1
–
–
–
4th
16,000
4d6
17
10
11
11
13
12
2
2
–
–
–
5th
32,000
5d6
17
10
11
11
13
12
2
2
1
–
–
6th
64,000
6d6
17
10
11
11
13
12
2
2
2
–
–
7th
120,000
7d6
14
8
9
9
10
10
3
2
2
1
–
8th
250,000
8d6
14
8
9
9
10
10
3
3
2
2
–
9th
400,000
9d6
14
8
9
9
10
10
3
3
3
2
1
10th
600,000
9d6+2†
12
6
7
8
8
8
3
3
3
3
2
*AC0: Modified attack roll needed to hit Armour Class 0.
†Hit point modifiers from CON no longer apply.
