TLDR at the bottom!
So my 3rd lvl tiefling animal instinct barbarian crit failed her wis save against banishment and was sent to Abaddon for seven days with no way of returning...
Now, does banishment work on tieflings? If it does, then my actual question is answered. It simply happened, and is a hazard I'll have to be on the look out for. Though, if I remember my 1e rules correctly, banishment does not work on tieflings normally. They are outsiders, though native to the material plane and so forth. Chalk it up to a late game on a work day, and not wanting to spend 15 minutes of precious game time to look for rule clarifications.
My actual question stems from this; We decided to go for it, anyway. I'm more into story development and tension building, than I am into strict rule following and this certainly made for a very chaotic cliffhanger. We even made private plans on a 1 on 1 session before the next game, to detail what my little vacation to hell was like and not clog up the next session with me taking the spotlight. Retconning it, to abide by rules would be a little anti-climactic now. There might also be a backstory reason explaining that she actually is native to Abaddon, but that's besides the point.
Now, my question: Seeing as I might have imposed a fairly big penalty to myself, that wouldn't ordinarily be there, I might need some mechanical benefit to counteract it. How would you guys solve it, in a balanced way?
A few easy solutions might be;
1) The banishment spell did in actuality fail, though forces from beyond used the abjuration energy to pull me over for a specific reason (GM plot hook), meaning future uses of the spell wouldn't affect me. Not too fond of grand destinies or implied "chosen one"-storylines, but it could be used as an explanation.
2) The GM and I privately agree to never have the banishment spell be apart of the game again, so this effectively becomes a one time issue.
But this is not why I've gathered you all here, I've gathered you to ask for help in finding a mechanical counter-balance to accepting a weakness I wasn't originally meant to have. Maybe I was being a bit too unearnestly modest when I said I cared more about story, but oh well.
If it helps, flavourwise, my tiefling is of the hitherto unconverted div-spawn/Spiteborn tiefling variant. More precisely, the Shira, which are bipedal lioness-like div that enjoys hunting strong prey. Thus, a catfolk/tiefling animal barbarian was fairly apt. She is also a neutral evil worshiper of Urgathoa, so she isn't completely out of place in Abaddon. Though I still role played her as being fairly scared, having only known the comfortable material plane in her young life.
We did look up the div trait which alludes to greater darkvision, but also imposes weakness to cold iron and good-aligned attacks. Not exactly a penalty I'm keen on for a front-line attacker.
TLDR: What would be a good mechanical counterbalance to having your pc tiefling getting the extraplanar subtype?
Now, does banishment work on tieflings?
Banishment: Targets 1 creature that isn't on its home plane
"You send the target back to its home plane."
Since tieflings are from the material plane, they aren't valid targets. Even in PF1, they weren't valid targets as they where NATIVE outsiders, meaning that they where from the material plane
Native
Source Bestiary 6 pg. 305, Pathfinder RPG Bestiary pg. 312, Bestiary 2 pg. 308, Bestiary 3 pg. 307, Bestiary 4 pg. 308, Bestiary 5 pg. 308
This subtype is applied only to outsiders. Creatures with this subtype are native to the Material Plane. These creatures have mortal ancestors or a strong connection to the Material Plane and can be raised, reincarnated, or resurrected just as other living creatures can be. Unlike true outsiders, native outsiders need to eat and sleep.
Tiefling & other planar scions are normally from the material plane.
You could have some born in other plane, but the assumption is to be born in Golarion (if not you'd have to specify in your backstory with ST approval, and it's more homebrew than RAW).
SO banishment would only work in another plane to send you back to Golarion.
Yeah, 100% tieflings aren't able to be banished, but as you've already decided to go along with it, see what the GM has in store and have it just be a dangling plot hook for him to use.
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Well, that clarifies the RAW part, at least, which I already assumed. Frankly, I think the GM was a bit stumped once we discussed it post-session and unsure of how to proceed with it. Thus, we're seeking ideas on how to rule it as it makes for a fun story hook. We're willing to homebrew something, akin to the old templates.
Also, sorry for the wordy post. It seems my actual question, which wasn't about rule clarification, got a bit lost in there.
Well, that clarifies the RAW part, at least, which I already assumed. Frankly, I think the GM was a bit stumped once we discussed it post-session and unsure of how to proceed with it. Thus, we're seeking ideas on how to rule it as it makes for a fun story hook. We're willing to homebrew something, akin to the old templates.
Also, sorry for the wordy post. It seems my actual question, which wasn't about rule clarification, got a bit lost in there.
Well, instead of a banishment, you could have it be a teleportation type spell. The DM could toss you to a fun/interesting location and maybe contrive a reason for someone there to have the ability to send you back or send the party to you. Heck, you could even go to another planet! [pathfinder does actually have other planets ;)]
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My initial thought was to use the 1 week part of the spell as a blurrp! back. So, your tiefling gets sent to Abaddon, but 1 week later they teleport back because of the magic holding them there changes in that instant and somehow recognizes that their home plane is the material plane.
The plot hook could be that Banishment isn't supposed to work on the tiefling. But, for it to kinda work, means that the tiefling's essence is changing to that of their ancestry's origin. What is causing this change? Urgathoa? Is someone 'corrupting' their essence? Is someone experimenting on the tiefling's essence secretly? Is someone drawing/removing the catfolk essence from the tiefling such that all that remains is the daemon part?
Another option (from my roommate) is to end up owing a favor to a daemon or devil to teleport the tielfing back.
Or, make a new character that is a summoner whose eidolon is the tiefling. And the giant plot hook is to make the eidolon/tiefling's 'summon' status more permanent.
Tieflings are considered "native outsiders", meaning their home plane is the material plane. That spell shouldn't work on you.
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I like using it as a plot hook. It's like the old rule for writers: if you make a mistake, use it, don't fix it.
My idea would be that your tiefling was actually native to this other plane unbeknownst to them. But that the big bad of your campaign knew and made sure this spell was deployed against them. Mystery to be solved.
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I like using it as a plot hook. It's like the old rule for writers: if you make a mistake, use it, don't fix it.
My idea would be that your tiefling was actually native to this other plane unbeknownst to them. But that the big bad of your campaign knew and made sure this spell was deployed against them. Mystery to be solved.
I like that rule as well and it was definitely employed here. No need for templates and such, it was rather tied to the plot. Even though not every detail has been revealed yet, it seemed the GM worked extensively to make it tied to the plot, which I am grateful for. It involved a past life and planar corruption of the soul. It didn't necessarily infringe on my backstory, but did affect the character which I'm a tad defensive about, but all in all the effort behind solving it was more than proportional to the slight oversight on the rules. Still taking in the lengths the GM actually went to make it work.
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"Oh no! I've been banished back to my home plane... of Memphis, Tennessee!"