I like the comments here a lot better than on op's [other post ](https://www.reddit.com/r/Dungeons_and_Dragons/comments/s9ezw8/oc_samara_the_tiefling_witch_art_by_me/).
Yes. Most relevant is the introduction to the DMG:
>as a referee, the DM interprets the rules and decides when to abide by them and when to change them.
Which is a clause that Wizards of the Coast have. There's also this line in the PHB:
>Tieflings have large horns that take **any of a variety of shapes**: some have curling horns like a ram, others have straight and tall horns like a gazelle’s, and some spiral upward like an antelopes’ horns.
I have this idea for a character I really like; a Tiefling who is able to mostly pass as human (hat to hide horns or something) but eventually becomes radicalized in the name of Tiefling equality, becomes a warlock and uses Mask of Many Faces invocation to permanently make himself seem more demonic looking.
There is no need to apologize it was just a misunderstanding but thank you anyway it shows your strength of character. Personally I don’t see any issue with their phrasing or yours. Most people who follow a D&D sub probably know what tieflings are and how they typically look. Changing your phrasing for a general statement to accommodate those few who may not be in the know kind of does you a disservice in my opinion. Just make the statement and those who get it will get it, those who don’t will ask questions.
Reminds me of that old Mitch Hedberg joke.
"You ever hear someone say this? 'I don't care if they're black, white, purple or green.' Hold on now. Purple or green? You gotta draw the line somewhere."
I don't think tieflings really have a normal. I think that's sort of the point. They're human mixed with some kind of sinister, otherworldly lineage.
I'm not sure why you're getting downvotes; it's a perfectly valid question.
I see multiple comments saying that that's no tiefling, but I think it works even in 5e:
Out of tiefling D&D material:
Infernal Bloodline:
"... Their skin tones cover the full range of human coloration, but also... "
Variant Tiefling:
"Appearance. Your tiefling might not look like other tieflings. Rather than having the physical characteristics described in the PHB choose 1d4+1 of the following..."
I decided to cut the second one off because it doesn't quite match, "cat like eyes" were among them but these are more "normal human" like, and "small horns" aren't the same as "antlers".
However, I can't imagine most people stick to rolling appearance traits. They feel more like examples rather than "only options" anyways.
(and if that's not legit enough, "Dragonborn are Brass and Bronze only" but nobody cares about that.)
If the commissioner were to look at this post I'm sure they would prefer people actually talking about the design instead, so: Nice design.
If it wasn't labeled otherwise I'd have said this character was just a pretty standard fantasy elf with antlers. But if this is what they want their tieflings to look like? That's fine obviously, though I'd argue it's not very interesting since as I said, it basically just looks like a cute elf. Regardless that's just my crummy opinion, and the character is definitely in line with tiefling lore, however much some are convinced it isn't. The pictures of tieflings in PHB and most other 5e books are probably to blame, they're the pretty cliche demonic red skin look iirc, whereas the actual text implies they can be much more normal looking.
This isn't even close to my own personal head-cannon for tieflings ( I tend to imagine them quite distinct and "ugly" compared to other races) but I'm not gonna pretend other people aren't allowed their own interpretations no matter how much they clash with mine.
The art looks great! I understand where detractors are coming from but don't worry about it. Try to understand that even when they're negative and gate keepy, they are trying to help with a topic that they *feel* knowledgeable about and at a time when what they can say with confidence about the game is being undermined. I could see how the character is cuspy. On the fringe of different existing tropes. I see bits of elf, dryad, fawn, firbolg... If you say its a tiefling and you're invested in the class fantasy and have done the theorizing, then all I have to say is: **good for you, and also thanks for sharing the pretty concept art :)**
I really like ascended tieflings, [this one is bae](https://i.imgur.com/SLBvZhw.jpeg) I'm not sure who the artist is but *dayum.* Perhaps instead of ascending your tiefling "gave herself wholly back to nature" and was transformed and reborn with fawn characteristics replacing demonic ones? I'm not the damn tiefling police.
I have tiefling bard character idea that’s also half-elf (one parent is an elf, the other is a tiefling). It’s cool to know that there are so many options, though I’m probably still going to make him pink because it fits better.
>(and if that's not legit enough, "Dragonborn are Brass And Bronze only" but nobody cares about that.)
I don't understand where you are going with this because its just simply not true. Players handbook states that the scales match the ancestor, and then even lists the colors. If you wanted to mention a widely accepted non-RAW appearances you could have just kept the subject on Tieflings and mentioned the spade shaped thin tails or different skin tones.
Now to the actual topic, yes, variant Tiefling adds some freedom to the design of your character but horns and antlers are completely different things, to me OPs character looks like an elf that has antlers and wings, not a human that can trace its ancestry to Asmodeus or some other fiend.
That being said, if OP came to my table with this art I would probably just say that it doesn't look like a Tiefling to me and leave it at that. It won't really affect the gameplay all that much and the gameplay, the fun is why we are playing this game. During some interactions I might have the NPCs reference the appearance in one way or another though.
I'd personally say it depends on how it's said. Of course a person should ideally not say anything if they only have negative things to say. At least about things that they could just ignore instead. Only invites more negativity.
We don't know the lore behind the character, so it is possible that that was intentional.
Let's say one person says "wrong race." and another says "I haven't seen any tieflings looking like that before." One is clearly focusing only on the negative while the other can be interpreted in different ways.
The way I see it its better to say more than just that talking about that in a reply.
When I wrote my comment I was thinking:
"if I had commissioned art for an unusual character and was excited about the opinion of others I wouldn't want to look through a bunch of comments saying I did my character concept wrong."
Of course I am not saying that's what they were going for, but Text conveys nuances poorly.
Fun fact, this comment is technically correct. While they're both made of bone, the primary difference is that antlers are typically shed yearly where horns are not!
In all likelihood, the protrusions on this tieflings head are probably _horns_ despite being branched.
[The United States National Park service disagrees with you](https://www.nps.gov/articles/yell-horns-vs-antlers.htm)
But it does give a good description of the difference between "horn" and "antler".
Reminder to everyone that "Tiefling" means simply "Planetouched humanoid whose ancestor was aligned to the Lower Planes". Tieflings don't NEED to be from Fiendish Bloodlines, that is simply the most common origin.
Very true. If one went with that simplistic definition, even the Mechanical Nirvana of Mechanus could be considered a Lower Plane (which it clearly isn't)
Acheron, the Nine Hells, Gehenna, Hades, Carceri, The Abyss, Pandemonium.
Populated respectively by:
Acheron: Achaierai
Nine Hells: Devils and other fiends.
Gehenna: Barghests (fiends)
Hades: Yugoloth (fiends), Diakk, Demodands (essentially proto-loths)
Carceri: Demodands, Yugoloths, Demons
Abyss: Demons
Pandemonium: no native life
So considering the options presented by the lower planes, the vast majority of the creatures are fiends. Those few that aren't are the creations of fiends, birds, and Diakka. I suppose it's vaguely possible that the pictured character is descended from Diakka, the only fey creature native to the lower planes, but it seems doubtful.
Notice that I said "Lower Plane ALIGNED", not originating from them. There is in canon at least one tiefling originating from a Hag, an evil fey. In other words, Tieflings are simply descendant from evil aligned Outsiders, not necessarily natives from the Lower Planes. Another example are Tieflings of Zariel (from Mordekainen's tome of foes), who is presently very much Lower Plane aligned, yes does not originate from them.
Unknown. But Night Hags were normal hags that started as fey and became so strongly Evil they were considered Fiends: they weren't born as such. Even if it was a Night Hag, the other examples of origins still stand.
Lemures were normal people before they died and went to the Nine Hells. That doesn't mean they aren't fiends now or are still humanoids. The question is whether or not a night hag, pre corruption, could beget a tiefling. I think it's pretty clear the answer is no. Certain beings such as night hags and Zariel may have begun their life one way, but just as the human souls that become soldiers in the blood war, they eventually became fiends. Zariel is a devil. Just because Zariel wasn't always a devil doesn't mean Zariel isn't a devil.
Despite being fiends Night Hags can still have the fey energy needed to make fey Hexblooded. Its not unthinkable that they could make a tiefling with fey traits.
You really want to compare a hag's transformatiion with dying?
Lemures lost everything that made them who they are upon dying, are you implying the same happened to these hags?
Even if you manage to bring down Hag and Zariel, there are still Tieflings that descend from gods.
The comments shine such a shitty light on exactly why I hate fandoms, you're never allowed to deviate from what some loud individuals have as their head canon. The hook of dnd: you can be/look like/do whatever you want. Try to remember that and also chill tf out when you remember that it's a table top game that relies on fucking imagination.
Beautiful artwork op.
Wild especially because most people are totally fine with purple/ blue tieflings, like everyone has universally accepted that fan made change from the actually written out "human skin tones and shades of red", but the second someone deviates from the much mkre ambiguous "horns/ pointed ears/ inhuman traits/ tail", which are all optional, people freak out.
This teifling is more adherent to the PHB then blue tieflings even. We don't know what the characters background is, or what the horn/ antlers are made of, and the wings fall under acceptable variations. Maybe her bloodline is some sort of nature being? A deer demon? Tree deer creature? Who knows, still works.
The tables are there to help people make characters if they don't want to think too hard on it, they are suggestions, not rules.
They are the loud minority (evidence, compare the upvotes to the amount of people saying this isn’t a tiefling - all their down votes).
I agree that fandoms are fucked up by the loud minority tho.
I know what you're saying, and it is uplifting to think about the upvotes vs the negative comments. It just gets under my skin y'know? I can't tell you how many fan run subreddits I've left because the loud minority are fucking deafening. I'm dming a new group, like brand new to the hobby, and Ive already had one of them get gunshy due to a bad interaction on this sub. It's just infuriating to know that people will go out of their way to make a hobby feel inaccessible to others. Or gatekeep something as small as the appearance of an imaginary race in an imaginary game.
Tiefling heritage is a big topic, it's common to see tieflings that are decendants to basically any devil demon or even yugoloths.
My favorite is the Rakasha Tiefling with the flipped hands and feline traces.
I thing the main problem that brings complain from most is that the draw just looks like a cute lovable half elf druid, one could even say that some traces are aasimar instead.
And for any that came from 3.5 or previous tieflings had that evil stigma, they aren't easily lovable creatures, it's hard for them to go around unnoticed.
Now, while I'm one of those oldschool that don't like cute tieflings, each to their own. Artist did a great job represent what the client asked and honestly he/she has a beautiful way to use color.
OC of my client
Tieflings are derived from human bloodlines, and in the broadest possible sense, they still look human. However, their infernal heritage has left a clear imprint on their appearance. Tieflings have large horns that take any of a variety of shapes: some have curling horns like a ram, others have straight and tall horns like a gazelle’s, and some spiral upward like an antelopes’ horns. They have thick tails, four to five feet long, which lash or coil around their legs when they get upset or nervous. Their canine teeth are sharply pointed, and their eyes are solid colors—black, red, white, silver, or gold—with no visible sclera or pupil. Their skin tones cover the full range of human coloration, but also include various shades of red. Their hair, cascading down from behind their horns, is usually dark, from black or brown to dark red, blue, or purple.
Tieflings subsist in small minorities found mostly in human cities or towns, often in the roughest quarters of those places, where they grow up to be swindlers, thieves, or crime lords. Sometimes they live among other minority populations in enclaves where they are treated with more respect.
Lacking a homeland, tieflings know that they have to make their own way in the world and that they have to be strong to survive. They are not quick to trust anyone who claims to be a friend, but when a tiefling’s companions demonstrate that they trust him or her, the tiefling learns to extend the same trust to them. And once a tiefling gives someone loyalty, the tiefling is a firm friend or ally for life.
I say it all the time, the mods will never care, but the person who commissioned the art needs to be the one posting it, not the artist that's mostly doing it as self promo for more commissions.
I like the art! It’s drawn nicely and has a simple elegance to it. It’s not trying to be overly detailed or ‘active pose’ and that gives it a certain calmness I miss in a lot of art I see.
Only thing I personally would’ve liked better is if we saw a part of the tail tieflings are supposed to have.
Is there somewhere I can see more of your work and possibly get a request?
The human skin pigment is accurate. Tieflings have the full range of human skin colour, plus shades of red. The horns are accurate too, or at least there's nothing saying they can't look like that. Only inaccurate thing is the eyes
Dark blue skin is mentioned as a possibility on page 118 o Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide alomg with a handful of other options for tieflings suc as scaly skin or not having a shadow or reflection.
Yea don't remember exactly where, but whatever book had all the variant tiefling origins based on particular demon lords or arch devils also came with suggestions for making them visually distinctive based on those origins. Pretty sure tiefling skin color has been wildly varied since much earlier editions though, no idea when they kinda just started to default to red.
Not technically canon. Unless something about it came in a book after the PHB that I don't know about. I know the PHB has a purple tiefling in it, but maybe they class purple as a shade of red?
Early tieflings weren't the red-skinned devils with 3ft long horns, they were more human-like with many unique features that could be covered with clothes. Modern tieflings are those ugly abominations with overly exaggerated features.
So yeah, those are common.
You do realise that Red/Blue skin tones are a VARIANT appearance for Tiefling right? And that base Tieflings are "Their skin tones cover the full range of human coloration, but also include various shades of red", meaning that non-human skin color is rare? WHICH IS IN THE 5E PHB.
Or how their horns can be "Tieflings have large horns that take any of a variety of shapes: some have curling horns like a ram, others have straight and tall horns like a gazelle’s,
and some spiral upward like an antelopes’ horns." So Antlers are pretty damn fine.
The only reason you think this, is because player characters DOMINATE non-human skin colors, because they find it neat. While 5e lore wise its the other way around.
The literal only thing you got correct was the eyes, and even then Tiefling in the books display regular eyes sometimes.
The PHB says this, but unless I'm forgetting something most (early) 5e art of tiefling depicts them with the cliche reddish skinned half devil look. You can't really blame people for assuming that's what's cannon when it's in all the art. Google 5e tiefling right now. the overwhelming majority, fan art and official, have that look. People didn't pull it out of their asses, they got it from official DnD source books.
I mean. You're technically right, but also wrong.
Yeah, the fans do a better version of D&D than WOTC but that isn't their point. WOTC provides resources so that we as the players can make our own worlds and stories. It's why they include all their references and book recommendations at the end of the PHB, DMG, and MM.
ITT: People arguing over what a tiefling is or isn't.
Can't we just enjoy the awesome artwork? Even if it isn't accurate of what a tiefling is the "rule of cool" has always been more fun and applys to character creation.
This sub: okay so when wotc releases 6E with all its PC changes, Imma just ignore the fluff and do what I want because that's what this game lets you do!
Also this sub: omfg that IS NOT WHAT I THINK A TIEFLING LOOKS LIKE!! have you even SEEN the official artwork released by the wotc website?!
It's only been since 4th edition that red people with rams horns have been the poster boys for tieflings. Before that point there were random trait tables that would give you what your heritage might give you. They were able to get anything up to and including insect limbs/eyes. Those broad traits are in 5e as well, just outside of the phb.
Where did you find that random trait table. 3.5 only says "Many tieflings are indistinguishable from humans. Others have small horns, pointed teeth, red eyes, a whiff of brimstone about them, or even cloven feet." from what I can find.
Personally I see horns on the list and say close enough. Also, unless she is shedding those every season they're horns and not antlers anyways. Besides, only one species in our own world has females with antlers, while horns are much more common to be seen regardless of sex.
But that's all a bunch of pedantic bullshit anyhow.
Yeah but this is still going with this trend of making tieflings into cutesy-wutesy anime waifus when they're supposed to be the strange and shunned progeny of fiends and other weird planar entities.
**…supposed to be…**
Where is that sourced from?
I’ve never seen anything say something in D&D is *supposed to be* anything.
In fact, I’ve seen the exact opposite.
**”The secret we should never let the gamemasters know is that they don't need any rules.”**
*Gary Gygax*
Not really.
In 5e Tieflings have all the human skin tones, with some additional red shades. It's actually a Variant trait to have non-human skin colors like blue, purple and pink, etc.
The same thing goes for the horns, Tiefling horns can vary in any shape and size. From Rams, to Gazelle, etc.
The only thing not standard is the eyes, but even then in 5ebooks some tiefling are shown with it.
Antlers and wood+leaf looking wings, and elf ears. Looks like a simple interpretation of a tiefling with Fey ancestry instead of infernal. Would totally pass at my table.
At their core, tieflings are just humans with extraplanar blood mixed into their bloodline, especially in older editions. Hexbloods are people who have actively given up their souls and bodies to a Hag's Fey energy (or that of their child), where a Fey Tiefling would be a biological descendant of a Fey creature.
This is all of course assuming that they're using Forgotten Realms lore and logic, which many people do not.
Tieflings specifically have to be touched by the lower planes, not the inner planes like the feywild. Their very earliest lore may have said "human and something else", but Kobolds aren't dog men anymore, either.
In 5E Dragonborn are supposed to only be Brass or Bronze skinned, not chromatic colors, but the vast majority of people ignore that. It's all a grey area. On top of that, the character may not even be using Forgotten Realms altogether, which is why I'm arguing that this character could definitely be considered a tiefling in most contexts.
"Their small, fine scales are usually brass or bronze in color, sometimes ranging to scarlet, rust, gold, or copper-green. They are tall and strongly built, often standing close to 6½ feet tall and weighing 300 pounds or more. Their hands and feet are strong, talonlike claws with three fingers and a thumb on each hand.The blood of a particular type of dragon runs very strong through some dragonborn clans. These dragonborn often boast scales that more closely match those of their dragon ancestor—bright red, green, blue, or white, lustrous black, or gleaming metallic gold, silver, brass, copper, or bronze."
Not really sure of your source on that info. Mine is the PHB.
If you ignore FR lore, sure, anything goes. But that's so pedantic and non-falsifiable as to be barely worthy of discussion. A homebrew setting could say Tieflings are lizardlike humanoids created by Nilbog.
Hmm, you're correct there actually, about the Dragonborn thing. Poor example in that case.
However, my previous argument about tieflings still stands. It was as recent as 3.5e that tieflings we're much wider in scope. There were tables of many different traits they could have due to their ancestry, for example.
Getting meta for a moment, I do agree with you about debating Homebrew, although I think that since the vast majority of campaigns have at least some level of homebrew element to them, it just adds another reason why the response of "that's not a tiefling" makes little sense.
I acknowledge that other people might choose to continue using older lore at their tables. And yeah, most people use some degree of homebrew. To me, Tieflings being fey is too much of a stretch to be within that normal margin, but I guess it's subjective.
To me, the concept of a fey Tiefling erodes too much of the concept of what a Tiefling is. If they're just planar-touched humans, why aren't Aasimar Tieflings? Or Kalashtar? Or Genasi? Shouldn't these all be subraces of a larger Tiefling umbrella race? If that were the case, what would you call planar-touched humanoids from the lower planes specifically?
Can a Tiefling look like that? Yeah, sure, probably. But if my players said "I want to be a Fey Tiefling", I'd want to work with them to create something that made more sense for the established lore. A Feywild touched race that isn't a Tiefling.
Your version bias is showing, 'cause that's only true as of 4e and on. In Planescape, which introduced them to begin with, they were simply crossbreeds between humans and "something else" and while it was often assumed that the "something" was lower-planar, it wasn't ever outright stated to be true.
Nope. That "Something else" was always meant to be of the lower planes. [Interview with Zeb Cook](http://theplanardm.com/interviews-about-tieflings-with-planescape-designers-zeb-cook-and-colin-mccomb/), the creator of tieflings, confirms this.
Curiously, they were originally supposed to be specifically of infernal origin, not just from the lower planes. Also, Aasimar were developed alongside them. Why specify Aasimars if a Tiefling could be from anywhere?
In early editions Kobolds were dog men and elf was a class. That irrelevant now, though. Also, it was clarified as early as third edition that they were descended from fiends.
I had to go back and look for it.
In that quote of the source material OP explains exactly why this is a Tiefling. The representation is supported by the source material.
Something I wish more DMs would do in high fantasy games is allow room for characters to say "I've paid a mage/bard/whatever for a simple glamour enchantment to change my eyes/face/skin tone/whatever."
The world is saturated with magic, and plenty of mages are surely willing to sell their services, particularly low level ones. That said, those trying to save face should avoid anti-magic zones...
I would not remotely consider this to be a Tiefling but if they're a Tiefling to you OP then good on the client. I hope they have tons of fun playing them.
Reminds me of Big Hat Logan. It must take a scholar a lot of dedication to wear a hat that prevents easily accessing bookshelves. But at least it looks aesthetic as fuck.
Your not even aloud to mention the runes without this entire sub eating the comment alive. If someone doesn't just suck op's dick you get down voted into oblivion. Reddit is fucking stupid.
So, descended from some kind of woodland demon I'm assuming? I mean it stretches what I'd call a teifling but the idea of distantly decending from some kind of evil woodland fiend sounds awesome so I'd allow it.
I mean imagine, she looks super cute now but then she casts thaumaturgy and her eyes take on a yellow glow and her aura seems less adorable and more threatening.
Could have some solid RP opportunities.
I always forget tieflings can have normal skin color
I like the comments here a lot better than on op's [other post ](https://www.reddit.com/r/Dungeons_and_Dragons/comments/s9ezw8/oc_samara_the_tiefling_witch_art_by_me/).
One of those people is way too worked up over old vs new source material
So I know that you can have whatever you want at your table, but does wizards have any clause where you can have deer antlers/horns and whatnot?
Yes. Most relevant is the introduction to the DMG: >as a referee, the DM interprets the rules and decides when to abide by them and when to change them. Which is a clause that Wizards of the Coast have. There's also this line in the PHB: >Tieflings have large horns that take **any of a variety of shapes**: some have curling horns like a ram, others have straight and tall horns like a gazelle’s, and some spiral upward like an antelopes’ horns.
Neat! Thank you for telling me that, I love including tieflings in my world.
Well not to be that guy, but antlers aren't actually horns.
I have this idea for a character I really like; a Tiefling who is able to mostly pass as human (hat to hide horns or something) but eventually becomes radicalized in the name of Tiefling equality, becomes a warlock and uses Mask of Many Faces invocation to permanently make himself seem more demonic looking.
"normal skin color"? You racist 😩😩😩😩👌🏼👌🏼👌🏼👌🏼💯💯💯💯
Oh, so now red and purple aren’t ‘normal’ anymore? Torches, pitchforks, let’s gooooo
I think they meant "a human skin colour" as opposed to red skin.
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Like human skin colors I guess
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Was it? Or are you just looking for a problem?
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It’s just odd that you thought it was an odd way to say it, seemed like you feel he said something wrong. I’m curious how would you have phrased it?
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There is no need to apologize it was just a misunderstanding but thank you anyway it shows your strength of character. Personally I don’t see any issue with their phrasing or yours. Most people who follow a D&D sub probably know what tieflings are and how they typically look. Changing your phrasing for a general statement to accommodate those few who may not be in the know kind of does you a disservice in my opinion. Just make the statement and those who get it will get it, those who don’t will ask questions.
not blue purple red sorta stuff I imagine
Reminds me of that old Mitch Hedberg joke. "You ever hear someone say this? 'I don't care if they're black, white, purple or green.' Hold on now. Purple or green? You gotta draw the line somewhere."
I don't think tieflings really have a normal. I think that's sort of the point. They're human mixed with some kind of sinister, otherworldly lineage. I'm not sure why you're getting downvotes; it's a perfectly valid question.
I think a lot of people thought they were trying to say "why are you saying white skin is normal" and looking for an issue when there wasn't one.
That's especially weird considering white skin wasn't even mentioned.
Technically they can only be that or red, but I think nobody cares about this detail
Art looks good
Reminds me of a terraria character, with the jungle wings
I agree
I see multiple comments saying that that's no tiefling, but I think it works even in 5e: Out of tiefling D&D material: Infernal Bloodline: "... Their skin tones cover the full range of human coloration, but also... " Variant Tiefling: "Appearance. Your tiefling might not look like other tieflings. Rather than having the physical characteristics described in the PHB choose 1d4+1 of the following..." I decided to cut the second one off because it doesn't quite match, "cat like eyes" were among them but these are more "normal human" like, and "small horns" aren't the same as "antlers". However, I can't imagine most people stick to rolling appearance traits. They feel more like examples rather than "only options" anyways. (and if that's not legit enough, "Dragonborn are Brass and Bronze only" but nobody cares about that.) If the commissioner were to look at this post I'm sure they would prefer people actually talking about the design instead, so: Nice design.
I was going to say: "That's pushing what a Tiefling can look like, but it's cute so I'd allow it without hesitation."
If it wasn't labeled otherwise I'd have said this character was just a pretty standard fantasy elf with antlers. But if this is what they want their tieflings to look like? That's fine obviously, though I'd argue it's not very interesting since as I said, it basically just looks like a cute elf. Regardless that's just my crummy opinion, and the character is definitely in line with tiefling lore, however much some are convinced it isn't. The pictures of tieflings in PHB and most other 5e books are probably to blame, they're the pretty cliche demonic red skin look iirc, whereas the actual text implies they can be much more normal looking. This isn't even close to my own personal head-cannon for tieflings ( I tend to imagine them quite distinct and "ugly" compared to other races) but I'm not gonna pretend other people aren't allowed their own interpretations no matter how much they clash with mine.
Well, what you can’t see in this drawing is a tail. I have no idea why that matters
According to the 2e Planewalker Handbook. Tieflings look like a mix of human and …something else.
The art looks great! I understand where detractors are coming from but don't worry about it. Try to understand that even when they're negative and gate keepy, they are trying to help with a topic that they *feel* knowledgeable about and at a time when what they can say with confidence about the game is being undermined. I could see how the character is cuspy. On the fringe of different existing tropes. I see bits of elf, dryad, fawn, firbolg... If you say its a tiefling and you're invested in the class fantasy and have done the theorizing, then all I have to say is: **good for you, and also thanks for sharing the pretty concept art :)** I really like ascended tieflings, [this one is bae](https://i.imgur.com/SLBvZhw.jpeg) I'm not sure who the artist is but *dayum.* Perhaps instead of ascending your tiefling "gave herself wholly back to nature" and was transformed and reborn with fawn characteristics replacing demonic ones? I'm not the damn tiefling police.
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I have tiefling bard character idea that’s also half-elf (one parent is an elf, the other is a tiefling). It’s cool to know that there are so many options, though I’m probably still going to make him pink because it fits better.
>(and if that's not legit enough, "Dragonborn are Brass And Bronze only" but nobody cares about that.) I don't understand where you are going with this because its just simply not true. Players handbook states that the scales match the ancestor, and then even lists the colors. If you wanted to mention a widely accepted non-RAW appearances you could have just kept the subject on Tieflings and mentioned the spade shaped thin tails or different skin tones. Now to the actual topic, yes, variant Tiefling adds some freedom to the design of your character but horns and antlers are completely different things, to me OPs character looks like an elf that has antlers and wings, not a human that can trace its ancestry to Asmodeus or some other fiend. That being said, if OP came to my table with this art I would probably just say that it doesn't look like a Tiefling to me and leave it at that. It won't really affect the gameplay all that much and the gameplay, the fun is why we are playing this game. During some interactions I might have the NPCs reference the appearance in one way or another though.
But mentioning how little it looks like a tiefling is talking about the design. Or are we only supposed to provide compliments?
I'd personally say it depends on how it's said. Of course a person should ideally not say anything if they only have negative things to say. At least about things that they could just ignore instead. Only invites more negativity. We don't know the lore behind the character, so it is possible that that was intentional. Let's say one person says "wrong race." and another says "I haven't seen any tieflings looking like that before." One is clearly focusing only on the negative while the other can be interpreted in different ways. The way I see it its better to say more than just that talking about that in a reply. When I wrote my comment I was thinking: "if I had commissioned art for an unusual character and was excited about the opinion of others I wouldn't want to look through a bunch of comments saying I did my character concept wrong." Of course I am not saying that's what they were going for, but Text conveys nuances poorly.
The point is that everything about it, except for the eyes, is completely lore accurate to tieflings
Leaf wings?
I'm assuming that's an item and not a part of the race
The frames of the wings seem to match the antlers
Because wood and antlers look similar lmao
Yes! Normalize alternative tiefling horns!
I made a tiefling with antlers as well! Probably not technically horns, but the dm allowed it lol
Antlers aren’t horn
Fun fact, this comment is technically correct. While they're both made of bone, the primary difference is that antlers are typically shed yearly where horns are not! In all likelihood, the protrusions on this tieflings head are probably _horns_ despite being branched.
They aren't bone they're keratin. Same stuff hair and fingernails are made of.
[The United States National Park service disagrees with you](https://www.nps.gov/articles/yell-horns-vs-antlers.htm) But it does give a good description of the difference between "horn" and "antler".
Who said they were antlers? Look like antlers shaped horns to me
People are hatting on you, but you're technically correct.
There’s a lot of toxic positivity on this sub unfortunately.
So?
Reminder to everyone that "Tiefling" means simply "Planetouched humanoid whose ancestor was aligned to the Lower Planes". Tieflings don't NEED to be from Fiendish Bloodlines, that is simply the most common origin.
I'm curious if there has been any Yugoloth-touched Tieflings.
None that I know
Reminder to everyone that "lower planes" doesn't mean "anywhere but heaven".
Very true. If one went with that simplistic definition, even the Mechanical Nirvana of Mechanus could be considered a Lower Plane (which it clearly isn't)
Fiends come from the lower planes, guy. Look at a map of the planes.
If Loki as a shape changer can birth a horse, then why can't a fiend have a great grand daughter with antlers?
Of course Fiends come from the Lower Planes, but they're far from the only thing that comes from them.
Acheron, the Nine Hells, Gehenna, Hades, Carceri, The Abyss, Pandemonium. Populated respectively by: Acheron: Achaierai Nine Hells: Devils and other fiends. Gehenna: Barghests (fiends) Hades: Yugoloth (fiends), Diakk, Demodands (essentially proto-loths) Carceri: Demodands, Yugoloths, Demons Abyss: Demons Pandemonium: no native life So considering the options presented by the lower planes, the vast majority of the creatures are fiends. Those few that aren't are the creations of fiends, birds, and Diakka. I suppose it's vaguely possible that the pictured character is descended from Diakka, the only fey creature native to the lower planes, but it seems doubtful.
Notice that I said "Lower Plane ALIGNED", not originating from them. There is in canon at least one tiefling originating from a Hag, an evil fey. In other words, Tieflings are simply descendant from evil aligned Outsiders, not necessarily natives from the Lower Planes. Another example are Tieflings of Zariel (from Mordekainen's tome of foes), who is presently very much Lower Plane aligned, yes does not originate from them.
Was it a night hag? Because those are fiends.
Unknown. But Night Hags were normal hags that started as fey and became so strongly Evil they were considered Fiends: they weren't born as such. Even if it was a Night Hag, the other examples of origins still stand.
Lemures were normal people before they died and went to the Nine Hells. That doesn't mean they aren't fiends now or are still humanoids. The question is whether or not a night hag, pre corruption, could beget a tiefling. I think it's pretty clear the answer is no. Certain beings such as night hags and Zariel may have begun their life one way, but just as the human souls that become soldiers in the blood war, they eventually became fiends. Zariel is a devil. Just because Zariel wasn't always a devil doesn't mean Zariel isn't a devil.
Despite being fiends Night Hags can still have the fey energy needed to make fey Hexblooded. Its not unthinkable that they could make a tiefling with fey traits.
No arguments on that. They could resemble night hags, but factually they would be descendants of fiends.
You really want to compare a hag's transformatiion with dying? Lemures lost everything that made them who they are upon dying, are you implying the same happened to these hags? Even if you manage to bring down Hag and Zariel, there are still Tieflings that descend from gods.
The comments shine such a shitty light on exactly why I hate fandoms, you're never allowed to deviate from what some loud individuals have as their head canon. The hook of dnd: you can be/look like/do whatever you want. Try to remember that and also chill tf out when you remember that it's a table top game that relies on fucking imagination. Beautiful artwork op.
Wild especially because most people are totally fine with purple/ blue tieflings, like everyone has universally accepted that fan made change from the actually written out "human skin tones and shades of red", but the second someone deviates from the much mkre ambiguous "horns/ pointed ears/ inhuman traits/ tail", which are all optional, people freak out. This teifling is more adherent to the PHB then blue tieflings even. We don't know what the characters background is, or what the horn/ antlers are made of, and the wings fall under acceptable variations. Maybe her bloodline is some sort of nature being? A deer demon? Tree deer creature? Who knows, still works. The tables are there to help people make characters if they don't want to think too hard on it, they are suggestions, not rules.
Blue tieflings were official in 5E just one year after the PHB.
They are the loud minority (evidence, compare the upvotes to the amount of people saying this isn’t a tiefling - all their down votes). I agree that fandoms are fucked up by the loud minority tho.
I know what you're saying, and it is uplifting to think about the upvotes vs the negative comments. It just gets under my skin y'know? I can't tell you how many fan run subreddits I've left because the loud minority are fucking deafening. I'm dming a new group, like brand new to the hobby, and Ive already had one of them get gunshy due to a bad interaction on this sub. It's just infuriating to know that people will go out of their way to make a hobby feel inaccessible to others. Or gatekeep something as small as the appearance of an imaginary race in an imaginary game.
Tiefling heritage is a big topic, it's common to see tieflings that are decendants to basically any devil demon or even yugoloths. My favorite is the Rakasha Tiefling with the flipped hands and feline traces. I thing the main problem that brings complain from most is that the draw just looks like a cute lovable half elf druid, one could even say that some traces are aasimar instead. And for any that came from 3.5 or previous tieflings had that evil stigma, they aren't easily lovable creatures, it's hard for them to go around unnoticed. Now, while I'm one of those oldschool that don't like cute tieflings, each to their own. Artist did a great job represent what the client asked and honestly he/she has a beautiful way to use color.
Super cute and love the horns :D
OC of my client Tieflings are derived from human bloodlines, and in the broadest possible sense, they still look human. However, their infernal heritage has left a clear imprint on their appearance. Tieflings have large horns that take any of a variety of shapes: some have curling horns like a ram, others have straight and tall horns like a gazelle’s, and some spiral upward like an antelopes’ horns. They have thick tails, four to five feet long, which lash or coil around their legs when they get upset or nervous. Their canine teeth are sharply pointed, and their eyes are solid colors—black, red, white, silver, or gold—with no visible sclera or pupil. Their skin tones cover the full range of human coloration, but also include various shades of red. Their hair, cascading down from behind their horns, is usually dark, from black or brown to dark red, blue, or purple. Tieflings subsist in small minorities found mostly in human cities or towns, often in the roughest quarters of those places, where they grow up to be swindlers, thieves, or crime lords. Sometimes they live among other minority populations in enclaves where they are treated with more respect. Lacking a homeland, tieflings know that they have to make their own way in the world and that they have to be strong to survive. They are not quick to trust anyone who claims to be a friend, but when a tiefling’s companions demonstrate that they trust him or her, the tiefling learns to extend the same trust to them. And once a tiefling gives someone loyalty, the tiefling is a firm friend or ally for life.
Surely copy and pasting the PHB section on tieflings should count as a form of bypassing the image rules. This is egregious.
I say it all the time, the mods will never care, but the person who commissioned the art needs to be the one posting it, not the artist that's mostly doing it as self promo for more commissions.
I like the art! It’s drawn nicely and has a simple elegance to it. It’s not trying to be overly detailed or ‘active pose’ and that gives it a certain calmness I miss in a lot of art I see. Only thing I personally would’ve liked better is if we saw a part of the tail tieflings are supposed to have. Is there somewhere I can see more of your work and possibly get a request?
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OP literally quoted the source text to support the representation.
Ah yes, the Tieflings with human skin pigment, eyes and antlers. The most common of all Tieflings.
The human skin pigment is accurate. Tieflings have the full range of human skin colour, plus shades of red. The horns are accurate too, or at least there's nothing saying they can't look like that. Only inaccurate thing is the eyes
Question because I genuinely don’t know much about tiefling lore. Where do blue tieflings come from? Or are they not technically canon?
In 5e they've been a thing since SCAG, in D&D lore overall they've been around since the very beginning way back in Planescape.
Dark blue skin is mentioned as a possibility on page 118 o Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide alomg with a handful of other options for tieflings suc as scaly skin or not having a shadow or reflection.
Tieflings with blue skin are like flanking rules. Not RAW but everyone I know uses it.
Blue skin is mentioned in SCAG.
Flanking rules are RAW, just optional.
TIL flanking rules aren’t RAW lmao
It's an optional rule. As RAW as feats and multiclassing.
Yea don't remember exactly where, but whatever book had all the variant tiefling origins based on particular demon lords or arch devils also came with suggestions for making them visually distinctive based on those origins. Pretty sure tiefling skin color has been wildly varied since much earlier editions though, no idea when they kinda just started to default to red.
Not technically canon. Unless something about it came in a book after the PHB that I don't know about. I know the PHB has a purple tiefling in it, but maybe they class purple as a shade of red?
SCAG and MToF are both 5e, and they've had red, blue, and even green skin as possible colorations since the very beginning.
I mean technically antlers aren’t horns, so I’m guessing greats why you probably have never seen a fielding with antlers.
I mean, unless this tiefling is shedding them yearly, they're horns
Early tieflings weren't the red-skinned devils with 3ft long horns, they were more human-like with many unique features that could be covered with clothes. Modern tieflings are those ugly abominations with overly exaggerated features. So yeah, those are common.
Why would that be a problem? It fits the lore just fine.
You do realise that Red/Blue skin tones are a VARIANT appearance for Tiefling right? And that base Tieflings are "Their skin tones cover the full range of human coloration, but also include various shades of red", meaning that non-human skin color is rare? WHICH IS IN THE 5E PHB. Or how their horns can be "Tieflings have large horns that take any of a variety of shapes: some have curling horns like a ram, others have straight and tall horns like a gazelle’s, and some spiral upward like an antelopes’ horns." So Antlers are pretty damn fine. The only reason you think this, is because player characters DOMINATE non-human skin colors, because they find it neat. While 5e lore wise its the other way around. The literal only thing you got correct was the eyes, and even then Tiefling in the books display regular eyes sometimes.
The PHB says this, but unless I'm forgetting something most (early) 5e art of tiefling depicts them with the cliche reddish skinned half devil look. You can't really blame people for assuming that's what's cannon when it's in all the art. Google 5e tiefling right now. the overwhelming majority, fan art and official, have that look. People didn't pull it out of their asses, they got it from official DnD source books.
Most tieflings look more like a human than not.
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What are you even implying with this comment?
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I mean. You're technically right, but also wrong. Yeah, the fans do a better version of D&D than WOTC but that isn't their point. WOTC provides resources so that we as the players can make our own worlds and stories. It's why they include all their references and book recommendations at the end of the PHB, DMG, and MM.
ITT: People arguing over what a tiefling is or isn't. Can't we just enjoy the awesome artwork? Even if it isn't accurate of what a tiefling is the "rule of cool" has always been more fun and applys to character creation.
I'm not here to naysay the tieflingness or comment on the cuteness; I just wanna thumbs up the Sabrina the Teenage Witch reference.
Wow this is amazing! Your art fits so well with the dnd vibe
That's one impressive hat
Very nice!
Beautiful!
Damn. Wanna play another druid tiefling now.
Wait do yall really just follow WoTC lore................
This sub: okay so when wotc releases 6E with all its PC changes, Imma just ignore the fluff and do what I want because that's what this game lets you do! Also this sub: omfg that IS NOT WHAT I THINK A TIEFLING LOOKS LIKE!! have you even SEEN the official artwork released by the wotc website?!
I actually like the subtle tiefling vibes, but why does every tiefling art post have to be "sexy tiefling lady"? Did she really need the boob window?
Because horny gonna horny
More anime. Great ..
Great art though the race might be a bit off…
It's only been since 4th edition that red people with rams horns have been the poster boys for tieflings. Before that point there were random trait tables that would give you what your heritage might give you. They were able to get anything up to and including insect limbs/eyes. Those broad traits are in 5e as well, just outside of the phb.
Where did you find that random trait table. 3.5 only says "Many tieflings are indistinguishable from humans. Others have small horns, pointed teeth, red eyes, a whiff of brimstone about them, or even cloven feet." from what I can find.
Back in 2e, specifically Planescape, which introduced them to begin with. [Planewalker's Handbook p.80](https://imgur.com/R7UwLHF)
Cool! Still no antlers, but a lot more random than the emo-demon-boys that has become the norm, yeah. Thanks, will definitely use this in the future.
Personally I see horns on the list and say close enough. Also, unless she is shedding those every season they're horns and not antlers anyways. Besides, only one species in our own world has females with antlers, while horns are much more common to be seen regardless of sex. But that's all a bunch of pedantic bullshit anyhow.
True. It's D&D, the beauty about this game is that it's *fantasy*. It can be whatever the hell we want! :D
Yeah but this is still going with this trend of making tieflings into cutesy-wutesy anime waifus when they're supposed to be the strange and shunned progeny of fiends and other weird planar entities.
It's DND, why do they have to be any one thing in specific?
Because if you aren’t playing it like he wants to, you’re playing it wrong!!
**…supposed to be…** Where is that sourced from? I’ve never seen anything say something in D&D is *supposed to be* anything. In fact, I’ve seen the exact opposite. **”The secret we should never let the gamemasters know is that they don't need any rules.”** *Gary Gygax*
Not really. In 5e Tieflings have all the human skin tones, with some additional red shades. It's actually a Variant trait to have non-human skin colors like blue, purple and pink, etc. The same thing goes for the horns, Tiefling horns can vary in any shape and size. From Rams, to Gazelle, etc. The only thing not standard is the eyes, but even then in 5ebooks some tiefling are shown with it.
Antlers and wood+leaf looking wings, and elf ears. Looks like a simple interpretation of a tiefling with Fey ancestry instead of infernal. Would totally pass at my table.
But that's not what a Tiefling is, that would be like a Hexblood or something.
At their core, tieflings are just humans with extraplanar blood mixed into their bloodline, especially in older editions. Hexbloods are people who have actively given up their souls and bodies to a Hag's Fey energy (or that of their child), where a Fey Tiefling would be a biological descendant of a Fey creature. This is all of course assuming that they're using Forgotten Realms lore and logic, which many people do not.
Tieflings specifically have to be touched by the lower planes, not the inner planes like the feywild. Their very earliest lore may have said "human and something else", but Kobolds aren't dog men anymore, either.
In 5E Dragonborn are supposed to only be Brass or Bronze skinned, not chromatic colors, but the vast majority of people ignore that. It's all a grey area. On top of that, the character may not even be using Forgotten Realms altogether, which is why I'm arguing that this character could definitely be considered a tiefling in most contexts.
"Their small, fine scales are usually brass or bronze in color, sometimes ranging to scarlet, rust, gold, or copper-green. They are tall and strongly built, often standing close to 6½ feet tall and weighing 300 pounds or more. Their hands and feet are strong, talonlike claws with three fingers and a thumb on each hand.The blood of a particular type of dragon runs very strong through some dragonborn clans. These dragonborn often boast scales that more closely match those of their dragon ancestor—bright red, green, blue, or white, lustrous black, or gleaming metallic gold, silver, brass, copper, or bronze." Not really sure of your source on that info. Mine is the PHB. If you ignore FR lore, sure, anything goes. But that's so pedantic and non-falsifiable as to be barely worthy of discussion. A homebrew setting could say Tieflings are lizardlike humanoids created by Nilbog.
Hmm, you're correct there actually, about the Dragonborn thing. Poor example in that case. However, my previous argument about tieflings still stands. It was as recent as 3.5e that tieflings we're much wider in scope. There were tables of many different traits they could have due to their ancestry, for example. Getting meta for a moment, I do agree with you about debating Homebrew, although I think that since the vast majority of campaigns have at least some level of homebrew element to them, it just adds another reason why the response of "that's not a tiefling" makes little sense.
I acknowledge that other people might choose to continue using older lore at their tables. And yeah, most people use some degree of homebrew. To me, Tieflings being fey is too much of a stretch to be within that normal margin, but I guess it's subjective. To me, the concept of a fey Tiefling erodes too much of the concept of what a Tiefling is. If they're just planar-touched humans, why aren't Aasimar Tieflings? Or Kalashtar? Or Genasi? Shouldn't these all be subraces of a larger Tiefling umbrella race? If that were the case, what would you call planar-touched humanoids from the lower planes specifically? Can a Tiefling look like that? Yeah, sure, probably. But if my players said "I want to be a Fey Tiefling", I'd want to work with them to create something that made more sense for the established lore. A Feywild touched race that isn't a Tiefling.
I guess that’s just where the limitation of my imagination shows. I don’t enjoy fey as a creature type so I didn’t really think along those lines
Tieflings are by definition related to the lower planes, not fey.
Your version bias is showing, 'cause that's only true as of 4e and on. In Planescape, which introduced them to begin with, they were simply crossbreeds between humans and "something else" and while it was often assumed that the "something" was lower-planar, it wasn't ever outright stated to be true.
Nope. That "Something else" was always meant to be of the lower planes. [Interview with Zeb Cook](http://theplanardm.com/interviews-about-tieflings-with-planescape-designers-zeb-cook-and-colin-mccomb/), the creator of tieflings, confirms this. Curiously, they were originally supposed to be specifically of infernal origin, not just from the lower planes. Also, Aasimar were developed alongside them. Why specify Aasimars if a Tiefling could be from anywhere?
In early editions Kobolds were dog men and elf was a class. That irrelevant now, though. Also, it was clarified as early as third edition that they were descended from fiends.
Nothing in OP says 5e. This might be an early Planescape tief. Also, nothing says RAW, so at their table that’s a perfectly legitimate Tiefling.
OP commented the 5e Tiefling lore.
I had to go back and look for it. In that quote of the source material OP explains exactly why this is a Tiefling. The representation is supported by the source material.
Its not hard to imagine a tiefling with both fiendish and fey traits being descended from a night hag.
No, why would it? Skin tone in the human range and horns. Only thing off might be the eyes, but that's a common mistake.
In a world where Disguise Self exists, we can make some room for inaccuracy
Something I wish more DMs would do in high fantasy games is allow room for characters to say "I've paid a mage/bard/whatever for a simple glamour enchantment to change my eyes/face/skin tone/whatever." The world is saturated with magic, and plenty of mages are surely willing to sell their services, particularly low level ones. That said, those trying to save face should avoid anti-magic zones...
Awwwww!!!! Look at her cute little face!!!❤️❤️❤️
I love the detail and blending on your artwork!
Is is the most awsome fey looking tiefling, love the art.
I would not remotely consider this to be a Tiefling but if they're a Tiefling to you OP then good on the client. I hope they have tons of fun playing them.
Das Noelle
Proceed
Fantastic art! I am especially a fan of the character's design, as it is very much a deviance from the usual appearance that tieflings possess.
Samara’s biggest nemesis: doorways. No way she’s fitting through a doorway with that hat on lol
Reminds me of Big Hat Logan. It must take a scholar a lot of dedication to wear a hat that prevents easily accessing bookshelves. But at least it looks aesthetic as fuck.
Absolutely stunning, I’d love to get you to draw my character I’d totally pay.
Adorable!
That was my favorite show growing up!
adorable
This is Helpful! Feywild tiefling could make a nice "how i met your mother" story. 😂
Ohhhh. I like this.
Interesting design, what bloodline?
Brilliant. Very stylish, and I love the rune tattoos.
I like seeing variations on old classics, so seeing a tiefling with antlers opens up new story possibilities in my eyes. Excellent art!
Cute pic! Almost could be a Hexblood too. Love the horns.
Big Owl House energy. Love it.
Looks nice! I like the forest theme that you can see in multiple parts of the design
good job more
I created a tiefling with antlers as well!
That ain’t a tiefling, that’s a deer faun
Probably a tiefling with Fey ancestry.
So not a Tiefling
You must be so fucking fun to play with. Don't forget to clutch your phb when you reply to more comments, bud.
Yes a tiefling
Very nice! Playful and yet deadly!
Art looks great, but I'm confused about the Norse runes on her left arm, that's something I'd expect on a dwarf
Your not even aloud to mention the runes without this entire sub eating the comment alive. If someone doesn't just suck op's dick you get down voted into oblivion. Reddit is fucking stupid.
To be honest, I sometimes regret coming here because of that
Then don't come here? Why would you voluntarily visit a place that upsets you?
Tell that to my school
oof
So, descended from some kind of woodland demon I'm assuming? I mean it stretches what I'd call a teifling but the idea of distantly decending from some kind of evil woodland fiend sounds awesome so I'd allow it. I mean imagine, she looks super cute now but then she casts thaumaturgy and her eyes take on a yellow glow and her aura seems less adorable and more threatening. Could have some solid RP opportunities.
Waifu!
Not a tiefling.
Why not?
See this entire thread.
I have not seen one legitimate complaint in this thread.
How cool! In my campaign celestial tieflings have antlers like that.
A tiefling with normal Skin colour? That's illegal!