Advanced Races #1: Tieflings (PFRPG) PDF

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Hellspawned—and Now Brought to Devilish Life!

Long ago, a few of the most ambitious spellcasters entered into dark pacts with certain denizens of the Eleven Hells. In exchange for magical prowess they coupled with hellish beings, ensuring their bloodlines would forever carry a fiendish taint. The scions of these unions were known as tieflings—the Demonmarked, the Hellborn.

Advanced Races: Tieflings is your essential guide to the Demonmarked! This hellforged collection by designer Amanda Hamon includes:

  • The truth about tieflings by their inventor, David “Zeb” Cook
  • 8 new tiefling feats
  • 5 new racial archetypes: Damned Defender, Hellcaller, Master’s Ambassador, Somnabulist, and Redemption Seeker
  • 9 new spells including ensnare ley line, searing rain, and vampiric fog
  • 15 new infernal powers including Infernal Pact, Shadowsteel, and Spawn of Mammon
  • New tiefling equipment and magic items
  • Gorgeous art by William McAusland, Guido Kuip, and Cris Griffin
  • And much more!

Seize the power of the Hellborn, and pick up Advanced Races: Tieflings...if you dare! And if you're looking for more hell-raising fun, don't forget to check out "Mayhem Beneath Demon Mountain"!

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    OPDAR1TIEFLINGE


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    An Endzeitgeist.com review

    2/5

    The first advanced races-supplement is 19 pages long, 1 page front cover, 1 page editorial/ToC, 1/2 a page SRD, 1 page advertisement, leaving us with 15 1/2 pages of content, so let's take a look, shall we?

    We kick this pdf off by an expertly written introduction to Tieflings in the context of the Midgard campaign setting as well as, of course, the Tiefling's racial traits - I'm not going to rehash them here - suffice to say, they are not modified in the Midgard setting - at least on a basic level. That is not to say you may not modify them - there are 6 alternate racial traits for you to modify the tieflings: You may replace skilled with getting +1 to skill checks when in the presence of other tieflings/half-fiends (even if they're hostile!), replace their sorcerous aptitude with +2 to caster level checks, replace the usual spell-like abilities with cause fear Another trait replaces skilled with +2 to Bluff checks to lie and +2 to Sense Motive to discern lies. Marilith-descended tieflings can replace fiendish resistance and spell-like abilities with +2 to CMD and may deal 1d3 points of constrict damage with grapples that increases by +1d3 for every 5 levels. Alternatively, you may play a tiefling with sheltering wings that can be wrapped around their bodies as a swift action for +4 to AC, but also - 4 to atk. Now this is the one of these traits with the coolest imagery - but also the one where the benefits are a tad bit overpowered for my tastes: stacking with fighting defensively, especially at lower levels, makes this an extremely powerful option for tanking characters, especially when coupled with heavy armor. And yes, the wings are very obvious, but seriously - crunch-wise, that's imho too strong, even when replacing fiendish resistances. Attacks should either not be possible or movement limited. I also consider the lack of bonus to fly skill checks/gliding options a bit of a pity.

    On the racial feats side, we get 8 new feats: Increasing base speed to 35 ft, +3 to bluff skill checks or intimidate checks (the latter you can take twice, but suffer -2 to bluff the second time),1/day reroll damage against good foes, +1 to a save of your choice or +2 CMD and CMB via a tail, increase one of your resistances by further +5, and a feat to grow wings - unlike the alternate racial trait, these only offer +2 to AC, -4 to atk, but if you also have the trait's wings, you get +4 to fly-checks - which is nice, I guess, but honestly not that great a payoff for a feat since the feat's bonuses don't stack with the wrapping wings of the alternate racial trait.

    Next up are the archetypes - fighter may opt for the Damned Defender, a fighter with threatening glares who gets a slam attack that may slam foes back. Hellcaller sorcerors can call demons and devils sooner than other casters. The archetype also comes with notes for demon, devil and daemon-summoning hellcallers. Bards may opt to train as Master's Ambassadors of the dread master of Demon Mountain, temporarily charming foes and coming with bombastic entrances. Somnambulist wizards can make sleeping creatures their puppets, keep sleep spells viable throughout the levels and prepare restful sleep as a wizard's spell. Redemption seekers are good clerics who can cast a domain spell at +2 levels when prepared in a domain slot and loses two domain slots when preparing the spell. Okay. So what does that have to do with a) tieflings or b) seeking redemption? This has got to be one of the flimsiest archetypes EVER.

    9 new spells are next, from implanting suggestions in the mind of the sleeping, making shadow fey friendly, a spell that makes it possible to forego the improved familiar feat when calling a demon/devil to serve you thus, modify ley lines, fire rays that are particularly deadly for elves and elfmarked or conjure forth acidic rain or extremely lethal vampiric fog. Oh, and there is a spell to direct the sleeping great old ones towards your destination - not fast, but still...ouch!

    Speaking of ouch: David "Zeb" Cooks excellent article on tieflings, written mostly in IC-prose is interspersed throughout the pdf - and it was originally 5 pages, so if you already had that one, you'll be getting some content you're already familiar with. Still, I love the article and its take on Tieflings - though what I honestly don't get is why this pdf failed to address the original one's GLARING balance issues, namely a table of alternate racial abilities that can be taken from a d% table in exchange for their spell-like ability. I love the idea that it's not necessarily under the tiefling's control and overall, the balancing is nice - with two exceptions that stand out like sore thumbs: Shadowsteel AUTOMATICALLY lets you ignore the first AoO you incur EVERY ROUND. No limit - no chance to ignore it - flat-out no-dice. Broken. And then there is heartseeker: Always do max damage on confirmed crits. Yeah. Right. I'm not going to dignify the existence of this horrid piece of brokenness by elaborating how easily this can be abused to death and why it's insanely OP. +1d6 sneak attack damage also feels excessive to me.

    We also get new items - infernal stink bombs, tiefling booze, a shadowstepping cape and a gem that lets you lesser geas good creatures.

    Conclusion:

    Editing and formatting are good, though I noticed a couple of minor glitches like words not properly printed in bold letters etc. Layout is beautiful and adheres to Kobold Press' gorgeous Midgard 2-column standard and the full color artworks are a sheer joy to behold. The pdf comes fully bookmarked for your convenience.

    Okay, let me get one thing out of the way - this is a Midgard supplement through and through. While the content herein can be reappropriated towards other settings, you'll lose a lot of the specific cool nudges here and there in the process - this is all about Midgard. Defiantly and proudly so. Amanda Hamon has crafted several options herein that are neat indeed regarding their fluff and all those little story tidbits woven into the crunch are neat indeed. That being said, when not using Midgard, you'll lose some of the crunch: What use is a spell to direct Great Old Ones if your world doesn't feature them? The same goes for the shadow fey charm. That being said, it is said options and the ley line modifying spell that made me grin and enjoy the content - thus me feeling the need to mention this.

    Now I wouldn't harp on a couple of setting-exclusive options - in fact, I tend to love those, but the thing is: The crunch, once you take the fluff away, more often than not feels just...Well, sorry to say it, BORING. +3 to a skill-check? Wow, never have seen that one before. /sarcasm.

    Sorry, I try not to get asinine, but seriously - that is not compelling design. Why not play with the tiefling's racial traits? Lowering/shifting resistances, improved defenses versus the creatures of the lower planes, angel-killing options...something like that, something that truly ties in not only fluff-wise, but also in the crunch of the race? As written, the options are rather generic in their benefits and could have used a closer tie to the tiefling's racial abilities. And then we have the issues: The defensive wings are simply broken as written (I can get behind the feat, but the ones from the racial trait...REALLY?), allowing for much too easy tanking at low levels and then there is the inclusion of David "Zeb" Cooks article: 1:1 from KQ #6, without fixing the evident and glaring balance issues in the one piece of crunch said article featured. Yeah - max damage on every crit. Always ignore the first AoO every round -no roll, no acrobatics, no CMB/CMD-interaction - nothing...Come one, that's simply so much less in care and quality than I've come to expect from Kobold Press.

    And it sucks - really: Amanda Hamon has written a supplement that, in combination with said article gets a 5 out of 5 on the fluff - it's glorious. But the crunch falls flat on its face, offering boring, bland bonuses even when used in Midgard, featuring balance issues here and there. When used in a setting that's not Midgard, you'll lose some of the coolest pieces of content herein. And the archetypes feature too many one-trick ponies, they are simply not that impressive and often show a distinct lack of unique abilities/cool options. The Damned Defender gets a 1d4 slam that upgrades to 1d6 at 17th level. Wow. That just plain sucks on a damage-scaling perspective. I like the archetypes' idea of tying said slam to dropping foes prone and moving them - but the execution! In PFRPG, that kind of stuff is DONE VIA SPECIFIC COMBAT MANEUVERS. Not via "attack results in ref saves". The two archetype that are a hit would be the somnambulist, especially when tied to the Midgard-fluff - and the ambassador of the Master of Demon Mountain: Both are mechanically and fluff-wise well executed.

    *sigh* As much as I LOVE the fluff, I can't recommend this pdf. Fans of Midgard should get this for the fluff alone and the neat mundane items (The magic ones once again are boring - a cape to shadow jump? How many times have I seen that one again?) and awesome (very specific) spells. Beyond Midgard, though, I don't see so much use here - and crunch-wise, DMs should take heed whether this one should be allowed or not.

    All in all, at least for me an utterly disappointing offering, in spite of the great fluff and beautiful art -and evidence to the contrary; the author CAN create awesome crunch - there are some instances in here... and hence my final verdict will clock in at 2.5 stars, rounded down to 2 for the purpose of this platform.

    Endzeitgeist out.


    The Exchange Contributor; Publisher, Kobold Press; RPG Superstar Judge

    First of the new Advanced Races series includes great design by Amanda Hamon and by the *creator* of the tieflings, David "Zeb" Cook!

    If you like playing characters on the dark side, Advanced Races: Tieflings might be just your speed.


    Interesting. Problem is I've never been a fan of Tieflings. No real reason, they're just not my favorite race. Price is nice though, so maybe I'll have to pick it up anyway.

    Having said that, I like the idea for this series. If you're taking requests, how about something for the Gearforged and some other Midgard races? Maybe some Tengu/Huginn/Heru love?

    -Kcinlive

    Scarab Sages Contributor

    1 person marked this as a favorite.

    Kcinlive, I think you may be very pleased with the subsequent entries in this series. :)

    Liberty's Edge

    1 person marked this as a favorite.

    In fact Kcinlive - I was just looking at the very cool preliminary sketches for the cover of one of the races you mntioned :)


    Does it work well with the official Tiefling book from Pathfinder though?

    Scarab Sages Contributor

    1 person marked this as a favorite.

    Scott, think of this as an expansion of options for tiefling PCs or NPCs with some Midgard flavor thrown in for good measure.

    So, for example, in Blood of Fiends, which I think is the Paizo book you're referencing, there's of course a section that discusses the social treatment and status of tieflings in various places in Golarion. We do that in Advanced Races: Tieflings, but we detail where tieflings are typically located in Midgard, how they're treated in each location, and what types of adventuring work they might be drawn into there. These details are just meant to help grease the wheels for people who want to play tieflings in Midgard.

    That said, although some (but definitely not all) of the crunch also has a bit of Midgard flavor, it can easily be used for tiefling characters in any setting. In fact, I made a conscious effort to design feats, archetypes, etc. that do not overlap with existing published material. So, theoretically, in a home game you could mix and match stuff from this book and other books to create exactly the kind of tiefling character you want.

    Hope that helps!

    The Exchange Contributor; Publisher, Kobold Press; RPG Superstar Judge

    I'm going to agree: Amanda made sure that the Tieflings book offers a lot of new options that complement Blood of Fiends rather than overlapping.

    And of course, having Zeb Cook, the inventor of the tieflings as an author here doesn't hurt.


    Wait a second.

    Midgard has two extra layers of Hell?

    WHAT THE WHAT?!

    Also, I will definitely buy this, at some point. These Kobold guys are pretty freakin awesome.

    Question:

    Infernal Powers, are these something specific to Migard Tieflings, or just a fancy name for the normal racial abilities that replace Darkness 1/day?

    Scarab Sages Contributor

    Wolfgang Baur wrote:


    And of course, having Zeb Cook, the inventor of the tieflings as an author here doesn't hurt.

    That is very true! :D

    Scarab Sages Contributor

    Monkeygod wrote:

    Wait a second.

    Midgard has two extra layers of Hell?

    WHAT THE WHAT?!

    Also, I will definitely buy this, at some point. These Kobold guys are pretty freakin awesome.

    Question:

    Infernal Powers, are these something specific to Migard Tieflings, or just a fancy name for the normal racial abilities that replace Darkness 1/day?

    Thank you so much for the support, Monkeygod!

    The infernal powers are like alternate racial abilities, and each replaces the darkness spell-like ability. You can actually take extra infernal abilities at character creation, but like certain denizens of the hells like to say, it'll cost ya. :D


    How many Advanced Race books are in the works? I have a few favorite Midgard races I'm hoping to see.

    ...need any help?

    The Exchange Contributor; Publisher, Kobold Press; RPG Superstar Judge

    There are 4 races for sure, all portable outside Midgard but also very much for experienced players.

    If the series gets good reviews and good sales, there will be more.


    2 people marked this as a favorite.

    Here hoping we get advanced races for Gnolls, Dragonkin, Kobolds or Minotaurs.


    Monkeygod wrote:

    Wait a second.

    Midgard has two extra layers of Hell?

    WHAT THE WHAT?!

    Also, I will definitely buy this, at some point. These Kobold guys are pretty freakin awesome.

    They've been around since AD&D, First Edition. .

    But where is this Wolfgang Baur's assassin I keep hearing about? Is this the Pathfinder Freeport Companion one, or what?

    The Exchange Contributor; Publisher, Kobold Press; RPG Superstar Judge

    There's one in The Assassin's Handbook that I wrote with Zeb Cook. That's a D&D 3.0 version and long out of print.

    It might have been picked up in the PF Freeport Companion, but I'm sort of guessing that version is by Rob Schwalb. It was previewed in Kobold Quarterly #2, I believe.

    I know WAAAAAY too much about assassin classes. :)


    My bad; I got that book, BTW, just that I was figuring the poster referring to it meant a Pathfinder book. Yeah, that was a good class. Also loved the Necromancer and Death Knight from you guys. . .


    1 person marked this as a favorite.
    Teiidae wrote:
    Here hoping we get advanced races for Gnolls, Dragonkin, Kobolds or Minotaurs.

    I believe you may be in luck with at least one of those.

    Dark Archive

    Wolfgang Baur wrote:
    I know WAAAAAY too much about assassin classes. :)

    You know those freelancers you never hear from again?

    This could be why.


    This goes on the short list of "things we desire".

    Tieflings are one of my favorites (along with aasimar, I like the dichotomy). I favored a good number of Tiefling NPCs in Midgard, and the patrons as a whole sowed many fiendish spawn amongst the unsuspecting mortal herds.

    Wolfgang Baur wrote:
    I know WAAAAAY too much about assassin classes. :)

    If you weren't the magnanimous Kobold of Kobolds, that would be dangerous knowledge indeed.

    The Exchange Contributor; Publisher, Kobold Press; RPG Superstar Judge

    Glad to see people like it--and clearly they do, because this PDF made the Top 10 list from Paizo this week!

    Thank you to everyone who picked it up! I eagerly await news of a review. And I should probably check Endzeitgeist.com, just in case.


    Any Mystic Theurge Archetypes?


    Reviewed first on Endzeitgeist.com, then submitted to Nerdtrek and GMS magazine and posted here and on OBS.

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