Baldur's Gate 3 is about the enter early access, and many fans have been preparing to play for the last few weeks. Larian Studios has created the long-awaited sequel to the original Baldur's Gate saga, with the latest being an adventure centered around a group of people tangled up in the plans of otherwordly mind flayers.
Just as its predecessors were, Baldur's Gate 3 uses the Dungeons & Dragons ruleset and world in its gameplay. The game is essentially a digital addition to the stories of the Forgotten Realms, and its events become part of D&D canon. And those D&D rules include playable races for the game's protagonist, of which there are already many to choose from, with more to come as the game develops. One playable race, the Tiefling, is a particular fan-favorite, and Baldur's Gate 3's take on the race (and associated sub races) is even more spot-on than expected.
An Introduction to Tieflings
First, it's worth considering the Tiefling in Dungeons and Dragons lore, where they are a combination of human blood and the blood of fiends. They're one of several planetouched races, whic means they're still mortal creatures like the humans who sired them, but they carry a touch of the planes inside of them.
Tieflings in particular can be the descendants of devils, Yugoloths, demons, and related evil deities, all of which fall under the "fiendish" category. However, Tieflings differ greatly from half-fiends. Creatures that are the direct product of a fiend and a mortal are known as half-fiends, and they've automatically got a nasty predisposition to the evil alignment of the fiendish parent. Tieflings aren't beholden to their blood like that; they can be any Dungeons and Dragons alignment, regardless of their parents' influence, same as any regular human.
To be sure, all Tieflings have a certain unsettling air about them that can frighten people who don't really understand their nature. Tieflings unnerve people for the most part because of their features; they can have skin tones ranging from red and purplish hues to more human-like ones. They also commonly display a few fiendish features, including horns, tails, and pointed teeth - some even have cloven hooves, though this is less-common. Meanwhile, their eyes are usually solid orbs, from black to red and even gold.
In 5th edition especially, which is the current ruleset and thus the one used in Baldur's Gate 3, Tieflings can have a variety of different bloodlines. And in Baldur's Gate 3, at least for the initial early access release, three different bloodlines will be playable right off the bat: Asmodeus, Mephistopheles, and Zariel Tieflings.
The Baldur's Gate 3 Iteration
As BG3 introduces them, Asmodeus Tieflings have power in the domains of fire and darkness, Mephistopheles Tieflings are particularly inclined towards arcane magic, and Zariel Tieflings are particularly strong with an emphasis on fire as well.
The Baldur's Gate 3 character creator offers some truly diverse options for every race, and Tieflings are no different. The variations on offer truly encompass everything and anything that a Tiefling can be. And while not every bloodline is covered yet, presumably Larian will keep building up the playable races and subraces as it continues to develop the game and release content over time.
Not only that, but Tieflings aren't just a rarely-seen concept in RPGs like Baldur's Gate 3. Most Dungeons & Dragons-based games that include Tieflings include one Tiefling NPC, if that; Baldur's Gate 3, meanwhile, introduces a whole faction of Tiefling refugees within the first storyline available in-game. The BG3 Tieflings are everything they should be: real people with a range of personalities that basically covers the whole spectrum.
In short, they're more than just the usual Tiefling archetype, which usually means they're somewhere on the neutral alignment scale with a tendency for mischief, more capable of guile than other races, with a dark disposition due to the amount of distrust in Tieflings found throughout Faerun. Baldur's Gate 3 Tieflings really are just people with out-of-the-ordinary features, and they're delightfully refreshing to meet and speak with. Sure, they've still got special abilities granted to them through their bloodlines, but that's the case with most races. The BG3 version of Tieflings manages to capture everything that the creators of Dungeons & Dragons 5th edition wanted them to be, and fans of the race will likely enjoy exploring them in-game.
It's been hard not to notice the absolutely gorgeous graphics Baldur's Gate 3 showcased through the screenshots and gameplay videos that Larian has shared thus far, and that's what will make the players' new visual experience with the 5th edition version of Dungeons & Dragons particularly sweet. With the game now releasing, players won't have to wait any longer to see exactly what Larian has done with Tieflings, character creation, and the Forgotten Realms as a whole.
Baldur's Gate 3 is available in Early Access on PC, Mac, and Google Stadia.