Tiefling

Player Race

Artwork: blackbluewoof

In the world of Virthys, the Age of Spirits was the dawn of the humanoid races. Supported by supernatural creatures, humans, elves and other species conquered the world. Many pacts were made in these times, and some of those were of a pretty... physical nature.
Humans in particular spawned offspring with devils, demons and other creatures. The famous tales of a few tieflings that betrayed their ancestors and brought death and suffering over the lands coined the perspective on this race since millennia. They are seen as inherently untrustworthy, even though it were their ancestors who used them as bargaining chips.
The best chance for a tiefling to get into a respectable position was to offer their services as mercenaries. As long as they were useful, people treated them - relatively - well. The War of Vallenis even saw several tiefling heroes - who were later framed for their evil deeds when it turned out the whole bloodshed was a bad idea.
Many of the entities that spawned half-human offspring kept an eye on them, trying to keep them "pure" (for whatever purpose they had in mind for them). Their rivals often tried diluting the bloodlines, actively trying to create mixed offspring with tieflings. This strategy led to a new subrace - tieflings that were infused with the essence of a variety of fiendish (and sometimes also other) creatures. The mixed heritage of these so-called Ragtag Tieflings not only changed their appearance, but also had an influence on their racial traits.

Subraces

Ragtag Tiefling

Ragtag Tieflings have not just one fiendish heritage - their blood has been infused with the essence of dozens or even hundreds of supernatural creatures over the millennia. This mixed heritage shows in their entire appearance.
Their skin has patches of different colours, they might have two different horns or eye colours, and so on. Some ragtag tieflings show such a variety in physical features that it's hard to decide where to look first.
Due to their diluted bloodlines, the planar entities that originally spawned their ancestors often lost interest in them - either not caring about them at all anymore, or trying to break them, so they would become predictable again. Many ragtags fled, choosing a life of running away just to survive.
In some cases, the supernatural beings were on Virthys when the world ended, and some of them actually died for good. To the ragtag tieflings trying to dodge these entities, the apocalypse meant freedom.
In the new world of Ashandri, a surprisingly high number of ragtags found their way to the Ocean Heart. Whether they ran away from the invading Ravager Elves, or they just sought the freedom of living in a swimming city or even as pirates, the great deep sea seems to call for many of them.
Ragtag Tiefling Traits
Replacing the regular tiefling's Ability Score Increase, Hellish Resistance and Infernal⁠ Legacy, Ragtag Tiefings receive these racial traits:
Ability Score Increase: Intelligence+2, Dexterity+1
Switching Resistance. Theoretically, you have an innate resistance against many different damage types. But only two of these resistances are dominant - and therefore active - at any given time. After finishing a long rest, you roll twice on the following table to determine which resistances become active. Alternatively, you (or your gamemaster) can roll when having a resistance becomes relevant for the first time after a long rest.
If you want to, your character can have a certain "tell" for what type of resistances are active. For example, their hair colour could become red for fire resistance, blue for cold, etc.

d10 Roll	Active Resistance
1	Acid
2	Cold
3	Fire
4	Force
5	Lightning
6	Necrotic
7	Poison
8	Psychic
9	Radiant
10	Thunder

Mixed Heritage: You know the Prestidigitation cantrip. At 3rd level, you can cast Silent Image once. To cast it again, you need a long rest. At 5th level, you can cast Enhance Ability as a second level spell once. To cast it again, you need a long rest. Your spellcasting ability for these spells is Intelligence. The DC for saving throws against these abilities equals 8 + your Proficiency modifier + your Intelligence modifier.

Subraces

• Ragtag Tiefling