Its been a while since I read it (I don't actually own that book), but my impression was, "Damn!!! I want to play that!!!"
A friend of mine played a Hellbred paladin in the Styes campaign I ran a year ago; I found it to be a pretty good race, balanced and adaptable. They really get going when you take the feats associated with them (the fast healing one was especially useful).
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Mechanically, I dont know. Speaking from a role-playing standpoint, I think it is very cool.
A friend played one with the hopes of a good role playing challenge. He gave him 2 levels of rogue and 3 levels of paladin (we started at 5th) Throughout the game he wanted his character to redeem himself and recover his soul. Unfortunately, the DM wasn't very good and had other ideas. The DM basically forced him into reverting back to his evil ways.
Needless to say, the DM got the boot, and my friend still gets pissed if you bring up that character.
Mechanically, I dont know. Speaking from a role-playing standpoint, I think it is very cool.
A friend played one with the hopes of a good role playing challenge. He gave him 2 levels of rogue and 3 levels of paladin (we started at 5th) Throughout the game he wanted his character to redeem himself and recover his soul. Unfortunately, the DM wasn't very good and had other ideas. The DM basically forced him into reverting back to his evil ways.
Needless to say, the DM got the boot, and my friend still gets pissed if you bring up that character.
I have a friend who played a Hellbred Paladin with that basic premise. He kept in line pretty good, for him anyway, but in the end he got judo thrown into a pit of lava by an imp he charged and died. And we had no access to True rez. Sad really and the only option he had to come back was as a mummy for some reason... :P
In a new campaign (gothic steampunk horror) my husband is going to play a hellbred. The nice thing is that he has no memories of his past and I as DM get to figure out his background story. I am writing a nice darkly gothic origin story for him.
We added some extra details to the class. The character does not remember his first name. He is also going to wear a mask to hide his facial features. He wants to play a sorceror and will pretend the mask is part of some stage act. He has invented a stage name for the character: "Das Gesicht" (German for Face).
I also want to introduce the character by letting him appear in a whiff of sulphur when the other characters are getting to know each other. He has just been sent down from hell.
I am really looking forward to this.
Hellbred is a good example of some of 3.5s last attempts at tweaking mechanics: specifically, by having racial abilities tier over level rather than give it all up front with a nasty level adjustment to counterweight it.
I think they work fine, I'm using a modified version for a PC in my Age of Worms game who is born of two wildly different chaotic "outsiders". one a slaad themed acolyte of the skin, the other a marilith. Their raw chaos cancels most of their heirtages out, and leaves his soul barely able to stay in his body (think trying to force magnets together the wrong way). Works great.