Тифлинги Dungeons & Dragons: История и Эволюция Расы

Fictional humanoid race in Dungeons & Dragons

The tiefling (/'//t//iː//f//l//ɪ//ŋ/// TEEFling) is a fictional humanoid race in the Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) fantasy roleplaying game. Originally introduced in the Planescape campaign setting in the second edition of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons as a player character race for the setting, they became one of the primary races available for player characters in the fourth edition of the game. In the Planescape setting, where tieflings were introduced, they were described as being a mixture of human and "something else" with the implication that the medium sized non human ancestors originated from the evil "lower planes". In further supplements it was clarified that tieflings were usually descended from fiends but not in the same manner as half fiends, since a tiefling's fiendish ancestry lies further up the family tree. Their origin is similar in 5th Edition.

The name, pronounced '/t//iː//f//l//ɪ//ŋ///, was derived by Wolfgang Baur from the German word tief meaning "deep, low", and the suffix ling, "offspring," alluding to their origins in the "lower planes" (in the 2nd and 3rd editions).

One of the first artists to depict the tiefling was Tony DiTerlizzi.

The tiefling was introduced in the Planescape Campaign Setting (1994) with more information in the first Planescape Monstrous Compendium Appendix (1994) and The Planewalker's Handbook (1996).

The tiefling appears in the Monster Manual for this edition (2000) under the "planetouched" entry. The fey'ri and tanna'ruk tieflings appeared in Monsters of Faerun (2001). The tiefling is presented as a player character race for the Forgotten Realms setting in the Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting (2001), and the tiefling and fey'ri appear as player character races in Races of Faerûn (2003).

The tiefling appears in the revised Monster Manual for this edition (2003) under the planetouched entry. The tiefling paragon was introduced in Unearthed Arcana (2004). The tiefling appears as a player character race in the Planar Handbook (2004), and Races of Destiny (2004).

The tiefling appears as a player character race in the Player's Handbook for the 4th edition (2008), Tieflings also have a racial book dedicated to them in this edition, Player's Handbook Races: Tieflings. William O'Connor, the artist responsible for designing tieflings in this edition, commented that there were few artistic depictions of the race in previous editions. However, with the tiefling becoming a core player race, the 4th edition design team "wanted to radically update their appearance to make them look more intimidating and 'cool'. [ ] The horns and the tail were the defining elements of the race so my first direction was to make them as prominent as possible. Part of the design of the 4th edition was to integrate the design into being a miniature game so part of the process was to make the character's silhouettes easily recognizable from a distance". The One D&D playtest released in August 2022 updated the base tiefling to have "options encompassing all the Lower Planes. Infernal tieflings are tied to lawful evil planes like Acheron or the Nine Hells, abyssal tieflings to chaotic evil planes like the Abyss or Pandemonium, and chthonic tieflings to neutral evil planes like Gehenna or Hades. The options differ in their damage resistances, and in the spells they learn at first, third, and fifth level".

In the setting of Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition, the tieflings trace their origins to the ancient human Empire of Bael Turath. In the Empire, the noble class was completely obsessed with preserving and gaining power. Rumors of their schemes and obsession with power reached a realm called the Nine Hells, located around the Astral Sea. The devils that resided in the Nine Hells gave the ruling classes of Bael Turath visions while they slept, containing the directions for a grisly, month long ritual that would extend their rule into eternity. The details of the ritual have been left unclear in the books from the Player's Handbook series describing the events, though it is described as being very horrible. As the ritual demanded the participation of every noble house, those that refused were wholly slaughtered. Once this was done, the ruling class began their ritual. Afterwards, devils from the Nine Hells began to appear, and the nobles gladly made pacts with them. These pacts gave power to the nobles and their descendants forever, but also gave them the devilish features of horns, non prehensile tails, sharp teeth, and red skin. From that point forward, the former humans were the race known as the tieflings. In the 5th Edition, the overlord of the Nine Hells, Asmodeus, is cited as the ancestral source of their devilish features.

In earlier versions of Dungeons & Dragons, 3.5 and previous, tieflings have any of a number of features that reference (directly or indirectly) their fiendish lineage. These include horns located on their heads, pointed sharp teeth, extra fingers, cloven hooves in place of feet, tails, and unusually colored eyes. They exude a feeling of "evil" even though their race has become civil and no longer lusts for power. Many races distrust or outright hate tieflings, seeing them as devil worshippers. Tiefling villains often live up to this reputation, whereas player characters have the choice to abandon this stereotype. In 4th edition and later, tieflings are a core character race and have had their appearance altered from 3.5 and earlier. Two variants of Tieflings are among the playable races in Dungeons & Dragons Online. The Brimstone Angels novels by Erin M. Evans, set in the Forgotten Realms, feature the tiefling warlock Farideh as the main character. One of the main characters in the Dungeons & Dragons comic by John Rogers, Tisha Swornheart, is a tiefling warlock. The Pathfinder Tales novels by Dave Gross feature the tiefling Rogue Radovan Virholt as one of the two primary protagonists. Sophia Lillis portrays Doric, a tiefling druid, in the 2023 film Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves. Doric also appears in a prequel novel – The Druid’s Call (2023) by E. K. Johnston.

Johnny L. Wilson called tieflings "the paranoid, loner obverse" of halflings, who "believe that life is out to get them". Looking at the 2nd edition of the game, Wilson found them "suited to be great thieves" and "great point persons" due to favorable saving throw bonuses. Philip J. Clements assumed tieflings are popular as player characters because they allow for "identity tourism" of a racial outsider: Tieflings in the game world "are often treated as dangerous outsiders. Yet D&D's default assumption is that the players will portray heroes. The idea of playing the racial outsider who nonetheless protects the people who wrongly revile them is a well known trope built into D&D". Clements found this stereotype associated with the tiefling problematic, as the "solution is usually to focus on individual good, rather than confronting deeper, systemic problems of racial politics".