Tiefling Tails Capabilities

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Old Lies Die Harder
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Tiefling Tails Capabilities

Post by Old Lies Die Harder » Mon Apr 10, 2023 8:11 pm

I've seen all kinds of things from across editions of D&D even discussing what the tiefling tail can and cannot do.

Some books suggest Tiefling's tail is vestigial. Some say say they're not vestigial, but aren't prehensile. Some say they are partially prehensile. Some say they are fully prehensile. The topic seems to be hotly debated on some areas of Reddit. These discussions are all very interesting I'm sure, but Arelith is its own beast.

So in the context of D&D lore of an era appropriate to Arelith, what is a Tiefling's capable of doing? Balance? Holding small objects? Giving an unruly friend a thwap on the head? Rocking the ranger and hanging from a tree possum style? Bench pressing the current Cordor legal code?

Do the staff have any thoughts on what these capabilities cannot be, or does this fall under "be reasonable?"


DM Poppy
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Re: Tiefling Tails Capabilities

Post by DM Poppy » Mon Apr 10, 2023 8:54 pm

I'd say, think Cat

I'm the nice one.. I promise :twisted:

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Old Lies Die Harder
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Re: Tiefling Tails Capabilities

Post by Old Lies Die Harder » Mon Apr 10, 2023 11:10 pm

Maybe can't hold a wine glass, but absolutely capable of purposefully knocking things off of tables. Repeatedly. 8-)


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The GrumpyCat
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Re: Tiefling Tails Capabilities

Post by The GrumpyCat » Mon Apr 10, 2023 11:51 pm

I mean, having a tail is purely cosmetic, so under strictly WYSIWYG, one can presume that - like Poppy said, the tails are no more useful (in fact maybe less useful!) than Cat tales.

That said, if someone wanted to rp their tail with some prehensile abilities, as a DM I'm not likely to go down there frothing at the mouth, so long as the micky isn't being taken.

This too shall pass.

(I now have a DM Discord (I hope) It's DM GrumpyCat#7185 but please keep in mind I'm very busy IRL so I can't promise how quick I'll get back to you.)

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Hazard
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Re: Tiefling Tails Capabilities

Post by Hazard » Mon Apr 24, 2023 1:32 pm

Knocking stuff off of tables and thwapping annoyingly into peoples faces.
I think it could be controlled so much as to have expressive movements, but nothing so extreme as being prehensile. IMO.


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