Mommy, why am I a Tiefling?

A Quora user asked the question:
In DND, can a Tiefling be born from two human parents?
My answer to any question along these lines is almost always going to be:
Yes!
(setting norms permitting)

To find out why mummy and daddy are human and you're not, pick or roll 1d20:

  1. Thauma-genetic manipulation at the fertility clinic.
  2. Surrogate birth.
  3. Cuckoo demon left an extra bun in their oven while no one was looking. Your twin sibling looks perfectly human though.
  4. Parents made a pact with the Infernal powers, dedicating their next child to the Grand & Decadent Cause. (ANGSTY TEEN TIEFLING: Jeez! Lay off mom and dad! I don't wanna do your stupid dark destiny plans!)
  5. One of your parents used to be an infernal pact warlock before you were born. They turned from that path a long time ago, repented, and tried to make amends for the things they did during those times. But a part of the pact they'd overlooked ensured their first born would be a Tiefling. So here you are. Sorry honey.
  6. The car you were conceived in was situated in a lower planar energy nexus at the time. Had it been a couple parking spots to the left, you would have shadow-planar traits instead.
  7. The nurse spoke up, "Leave this one alone!" She could tell right away, you were bad to the bone. (approximately 35% of all infants identified as bad to the bone at birth develop Tief-Ling Syndrome prior to the onset of puberty)
  8. Your parents ran afoul of some sort of dubious magician who put the whammy on you in utero.
  9. One of your fairy godmothers really donked up while giving you her blessing. Tiefling is kind of a blessing, right?
  10. Your parents biological child was just a real jerk, and down in the Abyss you were just too nice to be a demon. So a trade was arranged. Everyone likes it better this way. Forget your biological parents, these humans are your real parents.
  11. You were a child born during an eclipse. This kind of thing just happens sometimes in cases like yours.
  12. During the World Rending War one of the ancient nations summoned the vast, bloated avatar of an outer god, which their opponents managed to slay at great cost. But its mountain-sized corpse, though fallen, would not decay. During the decades of famine which followed the war, your ancestors survived by mining into the carcass for still-fresh meat to sustain themselves. But eating strange foods has its consequences. Even now, hundreds of years later, children descended from such stock occasionally manifest the Tiefling trait as a result.
  13. Nah! It wasn't ancient ancestors. You're supposed to give a pregnant woman whatever she craves, right? Well how were we to know her cravings for fried demon liver would make you end up like this!?
  14. If your parents both have the same dream before you're born, it shapes something about who you are and what you'll be. Your poor parents ran afoul of dream demons and their dreams were awful in the months before you arrived.
  15. This is what happens when a child gestates in the presence of excessive heavy metal.
  16. I mean a lot of kids go through a “tiefling phase", right? Parents just hoping you'll grow out of it and become a responsible citizen at some point.
  17. Being a elf or dwarf, etc. has nothing to do with ethnicity or genetics. Like all kids you go through a “Choosing Ceremony” at some point and are magically infused with the archetype you feel most connected to.
  18. Did I say “Choosing Ceremony”? Sorry, I meant you spin a cocoon and emerge as your adult metamorphosized form. Dang, Tiefling!? You wanted to be a Dragonborn.
  19. You merged with a demonoid symbiote. Instant Tiefling! Maybe it means you're chosen to be a hero or something?
  20. You were just an ordinary kid dressing up as your favorite anime character Ty Flynn for cosplay day at the amusement park. Of course your friends insisted on riding that stupid Dragons & Dungeons ride and now you're stuck like this!

Comments

  1. 21 Turns out grandma was right to warn your parents from staying up late to watch the midnight scary movie with that host wearing all that "demon makeup."

    22 Grandma was ALSO right about the satanic influence of playing a certain "let's pretend" game described in a book with an idolatrous statue on the cover. Your parents spent one too many nights playing "let's get lost in the steam tunnels" and here you are.

    23 You were conceived at 6:06 am on June 6th and born at 4:01 am on April Fool's Day the next year. Apparently this is an uncommon but not unheard of occurrence.

    24 Stupid WW Jacobs was right about wishing on a monkey's paw...

    25 Stupid Doris Lessing was right about having that fifth child...

    26 You put on a devil costume one Halloween and never took it off. All your other clothes felt like costumes after that. This is who you are now.

    27 Pre-natal vitamins tampered with by CIA in obscure occult branch of MK-ULTRA program. Your baby photos actually appear in certain heavily redacted documents released by FOIA request. Some busybody journalist kept interviewing your family while writing their bestseller when you were in grade school.

    28 As a kid you made a cardboard box "duplicator machine" and the damn thing actually worked. Your new twin sibling came out as an aasimar. Unfortunately the device was taken out with the recycling before you could reverse the process, and you never got another box to work like that again.

    29 A malevolent fairy helped your mom out a pretty tricky situation when she was a teenager. Unfortunately, she never did guess the fairy's name, and well, a deal's a deal.

    30 You were in a terrible car crash, and needed a massive blood transfusion. Your blood type's pretty rare though, and only one potential donor could be found on short notice. Ever since then...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. LOL
      "Let's get lost in the steam tunnels." Is that what kids are calling it these days?

      Now I have to find a 30 sided die.

      Delete
  2. This is quite fantastic in how much each entry on these tables could be its own world-setting feature (especially cocoons and heavy metal ones).

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks!

      If you take any inspiration from them, feel free to repurpose them however you need.

      Delete

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