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Enwy
Acolyte
USA
30 Posts |
 Posted - 18 Jan 2011 : 18:03:14
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Hello everyone!
I've got a quick question in regards to tieflings, and how their appearance should be handled in the 4e Realms. While they've always shown minor to major traces of their fiendish lineage, the combination of 4e FRPG text and illustration almost seems to present them all as having the giant-face-horns-and-visage-from-your-nightmares appearance that was given with the 4e Player's Handbook (and made me raise a brow).
I'm intending to play a tiefling in our upcoming new campaign (with slight traces of her bloodline manifested in small horns and pointed teeth), but am highly curious as to whether or not there's an in-Realms explaination for the more...ah...terrifying general appearance of the scattered tiefling folk, or if I should just happily ignore it, go by the description they've always been given, and stop trying to dig into everything.
Thanks!
~En.
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Bran thought about it. "Can a man still be brave if he's afraid?"
"That is the only time a man can be brave," his father told him.
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Wooly Rupert
Master of Mischief
USA
36779 Posts |
Posted - 18 Jan 2011 : 18:36:43
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| I would go with your personal preferences. The various planetouched races in 2E and 3E generally generally did not have the immediately-way-obvious-even-from-a-distance appearance of 4E's planetouched. Some people like that appearance, some people don't. I prefer the planetouched of 2E and 3E, myself. |
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Enwy
Acolyte
USA
30 Posts |
Posted - 18 Jan 2011 : 18:47:50
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| Likewise here, and thanks for the response Wooly. I was driving myself nuts, since the table discussion with our group (and another member playing an i-will-stab-you-with-my-pointy-face tiefling) had me really curious as to how to handle it. |
Bran thought about it. "Can a man still be brave if he's afraid?"
"That is the only time a man can be brave," his father told him.
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The Sage
Procrastinator Most High
Australia
31701 Posts |
Posted - 19 Jan 2011 : 00:31:40
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I'd say Wooly's on the mark. I've a feeling this was a largely deliberate move by Wizards, so that DMs could find creative explanations for why this might be so in their individual campaigns.
Either that or, you could say this might be the result of fiendish tinkering on the tiefling form. Perhaps the fiends are purposely trying to create a new form for these offspring, for some sinister purpose. |
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Tyranthraxus
Senior Scribe
Netherlands
423 Posts |
Posted - 19 Jan 2011 : 03:24:50
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| In my Realms the tieflings native to Abeir have a more fiendish appearance like in the 4e Player's Handbook, while the Faerūnian tieflings have the traditional appearance from 2e/3e. |
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Wooly Rupert
Master of Mischief
USA
36779 Posts |
Posted - 19 Jan 2011 : 05:34:24
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quote:
Originally posted by Tyranthraxus
In my Realms the tieflings native to Abeir have a more fiendish appearance like in the 4e Player's Handbook, while the Faerūnian tieflings have the traditional appearance from 2e/3e.
That's a good way of handling it.  |
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The Sage
Procrastinator Most High
Australia
31701 Posts |
Posted - 19 Jan 2011 : 06:30:08
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quote:
Originally posted by Wooly Rupert
quote:
Originally posted by Tyranthraxus
In my Realms the tieflings native to Abeir have a more fiendish appearance like in the 4e Player's Handbook, while the Faerūnian tieflings have the traditional appearance from 2e/3e.
That's a good way of handling it.
Indeed. I'd probably tweak it a little, though, and say that this may have been the result of influence from the Primordials' power on Abeir. |
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Candlekeep - The Library of Forgotten Realms Lore
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"So Saith Ed" -- the collected Candlekeep replies of Ed Greenwood
Zhoth'ilam Folio -- The Electronic Misadventures of a Rambling Sage |
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Diffan
Great Reader
USA
4427 Posts |
Posted - 19 Jan 2011 : 10:46:42
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The appearance of the tieflings in the PHB and possible in 4E-FR material is just that, appearance. I wouldn't consider it 'canon' and think they often differ much from one to another. In my campaigns, I allow for all sorts of looks, from the Tieflings featured in 3e/v3.5 supplements where there was just a small hint of brimstone in the air and little horns sprouting from their forehead to tieflings that look like the Price of Darkness from Legend or Hellboy. It's really just about semantics.
Same goes for Genasi. The 3e/v3.5 books have them all as different planetouched races with varying appearances. In 4E, they can manifest different elemnts and so forth. I still have them look like the old 3e versions, but can switch back and forth depending on what abilities they choose. |
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Tieflings in the 4e Realms
