The mob had gathered, truncheons and pitch forks in their hands. Torches had been lit, and the fire danced in the eyes of the onlookers. Their gazes were fixed on the bloodied figure chained on the block at the edge of the water. With horns cresting from his black hair, and skin red as sin, there had been no trial. No hearing to evaluate the words of those who'd spoken out against him. After all, what could a creature with cloven hooves and a spaded tail truly say in its defense?
"Any last words?" The self-appointed judge asked.
The tiefling nodded his head solemnly. He'd been sitting there, head down, bloody fingers twitching across the stone for nearly ten minutes. He drew himself up, as best he could, and looked into the eye of the man who had sentenced him. He ran his tongue over his bottom lip, ensuring the blood would be a part of what he said. The crowd behind him drew in its breath, as if sensing what was to come. Before anyone could stop him the wizard spoke a single word, his blue forked tongue dancing around the syllables that would have stymied anyone not so blessed.
"Anthiaraxes," he said.
For a moment, nothing happened. It seemed in that second that it had all been a bluff... then the howling began. A wind from nowhere guttered the torches, and darkness bled into the world as if the very air had been stabbed. It congealed, and burst, the shadows birthing something that made all of them draw back. It bore the likeness of a woman, but twisted out of true. The neck was too long, the face too perfect. It bore too many knuckles in its fingers, and its hair whipped like an angry cat's tail, so dark it drank the light. The creature's eyes were the worst; twin voids that would siphon away the soul if one didn't have a will of iron when they met them.
"Before I pass my judgment," Anthiaraxes said, her voice a soft, sibilant whisper that burrowed into the ears and minds of all those present. "Why have you bound and chained my favorite grandson?"
 |
| And make it good. I didn't come all the way here for nothing. |
When You Have Family in Low Places
Infernal power comes in many shapes and forms. For some it's a result of a pact made with dark powers in exchange for their soul. For others it's a mark of a favored servant, with an archfiend empowering them as a servant of their dire faith. For some it's a result of their bloodline, tainted by the back hand of a devil.
This concept is for characters who fall into the final category.
Whether this character is a tiefling, or they merely have some vestigial connection to the blood of the lower planes, the idea is that they know the true name of a powerful entity connected to their family. Perhaps it's the fiend who first mixed their blood into their line, or if the character is descended from a more potent devil, the name of one of that devil's servants who is bound to answer the call when it goes out. While this can also be accomplished with demons and celestial creatures, those are simply variations on the theme presented below.
The Mechanics
The mechanical trick for this story is the Arcane Discoveries option that was added to wizards in Ultimate Magic for Pathfinder. The discovery True Name allows you to learn the true name of a powerful outsider, which you can then summon to you as if by using planar binding as a spell-like ability. You must be 11th level to take this ability, and the outsider in question can have no more than 12 hit dice. However, if you take this ability at 15th level, the outsider can have no more than 18 hit dice. This functions as greater planar binding.
And if you really want to sell the whole, "favored child of an infernal heritage," my recommendation is to make a conjurer wizard who always falls back on summoned devils, hellhounds, and other similar monsters. Maybe they're servants of the conjurer's ancestor, or they simply recognize the lineage and are hoping they will earn favor by providing good service. But it's helpful to establish a theme as you grow in power, and gain access to stranger and more varied creatures.
While you can bring across the flavor using a sorcerer, a warlock (in 5th Edition DND, anyway), they won't give you access to this unique ability. That is, of course, at your discretion.
The Story
What story you make to support this kind of character concept is totally up to you! There are, however, some archetypes and paths you might want to consider.
If you want to play an evil character (keeping in mind all the advice I presented in 5 Tips For Playing Evil Characters, such as being part of a team) you could easily play as an extension of your ancestor's influence on the material plane. This would have many of the same overtones as a cleric of an archfiend; receiving messages from fiends, contacting the outer planes to report on your progress, etc. If you wanted to avoid making the character too edgy or grim, you could even give it a kind of Addams Family vibe where they simply have no idea what it is everyone around them is so upset about. This is just the way things are done at home (petting the hellhounds, laughing at the "playful" imps, etc.).
Alternatively, the character might be actively trying to turn the forces of hell to a good cause. So while the devils they summon are forced by both magic and oaths of allegiance to comply, they know they're going to catch hell from grand mama if she finds out this conjurer was summoning devils to fight against evil cults. You might even be able to set it up as a kind of chess game between the character and the fiend. The Infernal Grandchild thinks they're subverting the fiend's will, but on the grander scale of things it is the Infernal Grandchild who is actually fighting the fiend's foes. For every evil cult they crush, and every demon lord who's plans they undermine, that creates a power vacuum the fiend can then step into in order to expand their own power and position. While their Grandchild might sometimes deal a blow to one of the fiend's allies, or harm their other servants, that's all part of how the game is played. Sometimes you have to sacrifice a pawn or two.
You could even walk a middle path with this story, and create a kind of estranged family relationship. Perhaps the conjurer tries to avoid calling on the servants of the infernal the same way they'd avoid calling home to ask for money after they had a big fight with their father. They wait until there's no other way, and of course the fiend wants to help... because the more often the conjurer asks for help, the easier it will be to become their crutch. So it's a tug-of-war as the fiend tries to ensnare the wizard, and the wizard is trying to remain untethered to the machinations of their line's progenitor.
There's a lot you can do here, and so much of it is left up to you as the player (and your DM, of course). With that said, you might find helpful inspiration for bringing this concept to life in...
- 13 Fiends: A Baker's Dozen of Devils: If you're looking for a powerful fiend to attach mechanics to, the options in here have names, symbols, histories, and purviews you can easily draw on.
- 100 Tieflings To Meet in Your Travels: Whether you just want something to get your wheels turning, or you want to build an extended family, I'll always recommend giving this one a look. You don't have to be a tiefling for this concept to work, but it is fun.
- 5 Tips For Playing Better Tieflings and Aasimar: Again, you don't have to be a tiefling for this concept, but if you're going to be either a tiefling or an aasimar (after all, your ancestor might have fallen from grace), I'd recommend giving this one a look.
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That's all for this installment of Unusual Character Concepts. Hopefully this one gave you something to chew over, whether you're a player, or a dungeon master.
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