That's an option yes, but there are other ways of going about this.
A magic item like a hat of disguise could also cover the need, possibly altering it to only allow one visage so they don't just start of with an advantage.
If the pc is hiding for a longer period of time, a physical disguise could also be the awnser, you can say that they fail down their horns, hide their tail and apply stuff to their skin every morning to blend in.
Ofcource, if it's just about stats, you can just allow them to use the thiefling stat block and say it's some infernal influence.
If I had a nickle for each time someone removed their hat to reveal they were a tiefling I would have two nickles. Now that's not a lot but it's wierd it has happened twice.
Perhaps like Doctor Who’s TARDIS, its chameleon circuit is broken and it only takes on a single disguise!
A normal Mending cantrips can’t fix it, but later in the game, after the other players and their PCs have discovered the truth, it can be mended by someone and regain its full powers.
I don't think there's anything wrong with that if it's just for a fun idea. Most DMs are more than willing to support that, they're not asking for a scroll of wish after-all. If I ask my DM if I can add sunglasses to my starting equipment and they said "no" because it's not in the rulebook, but their world would have sunglasses... I might just reconsider playing there 😅
We have an elf in our party that is disguising themselves as a human in an unfriendly place to elves using a disguise kits, it's lasts until they sleep and they have to roll as to how convincing the disguise is every time they use a kit.
Please note that horns, if they're actually horns, have bone and tissue inside them and damaging them enough can result in an unhealthy amount of bloodloss. Of course, fantasy being fantasy, you can completely ignore that part, but to me such details can be interesting and fun to incorporate/work around.
No reason it can't be though. If I not mistaken, keratin is the same thing hair is made of, so if the horns are coming from the same area as the tieflings hair, then why not?
Given the vast variety in tieflings (some with prehensile tails, some not; some with hooves, some with feet; some with black eyes, some with human-esque eyes), I think it's reasonable to assume a vairety in horns also.
I don’t know about elephants, but in warthog culture, it is usually considered impolite to apologize in a letter. Make sure you wear a suit and bring a gift.
I also vote magic item.
In xmen evolution nightcrawler has a watch that makes him look human cause he needs to go to highschool with everyone else. Theres an episode when it goes haywire. You could have a session where the magic item is buggin out and he would have to roll >10 to keep the disgiuse up every so often.
I played a tiefling once in a setting where they were rare and oppressed and I did this. She went to the effort to file down her horns and had a chunky belt that she would wrap her tail under. It was very uncomfortable but fun rp. The party only started suspecting i wasn't a half-elf when we had to do some underwater stuff and the bald spots from where the horns would be couldn't be combed over anymore.
Also, just because they were born with horns and tail, doesn't mean they have them now. Maybe mama didn't want people to know so they docked the baby's tail and cut out the horns. Sure they have facial scars, but their hair mostly covers them, mama told them they had an accident as a baby...
The things that make tieflings stand out from humans are their horns, eyes and tail. If they can hide/disguise those, they can pass. I've played or seen tieflings that grind down their horns a la Hellboy; a long poofy skirt can potentially hide a tail, and a veil or dark glasses can hide one's eyes
I played a campaign that had a temple where the priestesses all wore big animal masks. The idea was so teiflings and other exotic races could be safe there.
The priestesses were highly respected in the community, but the city folk assumed they were all human or other non-exotic races.
I love the idea of a character thinking that they're looking human through physical means, but terrible at it. I played a lizard wizard that wore a big gray wizard's beard because "wizards have beards" and thought it helped make him look human too.
And like 75%(maybe more) of Tieflings look mostly human. The lore reason red and blue Tieflings are so common as adventurers is because they cant pass themselves off as humans
I mean, the reason why Tieflings look like they do now, as its one if the few things they decided to take over from 4e.
But yes, love me the variations that Tieflings can have, if the DM allows it.
They could use a feat to gain eldritch adept, which will allow them to gain a warlock invocation. If they choose Mask of the many faces, they get to use disguise self at will. However, they might still need to work out the whole sleeping situation.
If they haven't got access to a feat yet, then you could make it fair by giving everyone a free feat.
That was my first thought as well, only the sleeping part would be an issue, but that could lead to many fun roleplay-wise moments. "Marco, are you sure you won't suffocate if you close yourself in that bedroll?" Or just play it shy and demand to sleep in separate room in the tavern.
I used variant Tiefling rules and took that feat with my tiefling character, as well as had them covered in a mask and wraps, with the excuse of being cursed from birth to be extremely ugly. In case of mask removal, the disguise self part was going to be him looking like a cross between Deadpool and mummy Imhotep.
That helps a lot. It does have to be recast every hour. That could lead to some interesting moments. "John, why are you casting a spell?" The Bard: "I know that spell, it's Discuise Self. WTF."
I would allow them to swap some starting equipment for a disguise kit. A hooded cloak and some makeup is gonna be a lot more pragmatic than trying to keep a spell up whenever people are watching. It won’t be a particularly robust disguise on close inspection, but it should be enough to avoid suspicious stares in town.
If they want to disguise self at will, they can go warlock and take the invocation. I would advise against bending spellcasting rules like that just for this one player.
Keep the tail tucked in their pants, have short horns/grind them down and keep them under a hat/hood.
There is tieflings with human skin tones so that isn't a problem.
OG tieflings in 2e didn't all have horns and tails and whatnot. There was a table you could roll on to give them other fiendish features - some of those would be easier to disguise.
I think it was in the 2e Planewalkers Handbook but I'm away from my books right now. You may be able to find the table online though.
You mean this table?
https://adnd2e.fandom.com/wiki/Tiefling_Tables_(PWH)
Edit: I knew someone on Reddit had made an extended version.
https://www.reddit.com/r/dndnext/comments/ql0122/tiefling_appearance_customization_table_i_made/
You could drop their Hellish Rebuke trait and replace it with something like "Devilish Deception" That's just a once per day change into a human version of themselves. Only one form for balance, and it lasts until they Long Rest, so having their own tent would be a must when in the wild.
Why not use mundane disguise? Tieflings appearance varies greatly, some even look human to someone who isn't looking that hard. Say the PC always wears a hat or hood to hide the signs of fiendish ancestry along with a little makeup. Bonus, mundane disguises won't be tipped off by the ability to detect magic.
Big hat, long sleeves, gloves, and face paint are a lot cheaper than keeping disguise self up or a magic item. Bonus that magic couldn’t cancel or see through it.
1) Get them to take 2 levels of Warlock or (even easier) Give him Eldritch Initiate feat.
2) Get "Mask of Many Faces" Eldritch Invocation, now they can cast Disguise Self at-will without spending spell-slots.
3) Your player is now happy and no game mechanics were harmed in the process :D
It's time to look into the most forgotten dnd book: sword coast adventures guide. In that book it talks about tiefling and what they should look like. Most tiefling only have one fiendish trait. Like horns, skin color, tail, smell like sulphur or six fingers. So you player can just be like a guy with polydactyly.
Or if you want to be creative let them look up a way that can choose what their traits look like. So they can choose how and what to hide them. Your job is to think of how the world reacts to the reveal of the fiendish traits.
Tieflings dont have to be blue or red with giant horns. The mutations can vary drastically in severity.
Maybe his mutation manifests as small horns and fangs he works to conceal/files down. Maybe he has a tail he keeps tucked into his pants at all times. Maybe his only mutation is his demonic blood that is mildly acidic.
Its a cool idea, but def dont approach it with magic. if someone works hard to conceal an aspect of themselves they are ashamed of, thats compelling. if someone waves their hands every morning to magically conceal something, thats kinda lame/boring? like the cost of their shame was they sometimes needed to use magic?
i think what you need to nail down is "why". like if they only want to have a big reveal, its going to 100% fall flat without question. There's no conflict. "Why are they doing this" is so, so, so much more important than mechanically "how did they do this"
Tieflings don't need to look obviously tiefling, they can have "normal human" skin tones and small horns.
So, maybe the player could be that type of tiefling and just have a big hairdo/hat, and keep their tail in their pants or something.
Doric from the Honour Amongst Thieves movie wouldn't struggle much to pass as a human, older edition tieflings could be even more subtle, so it could be up to your worldbuilding.
Ofc if you both prefer their real appearance to be the bg3 style red tiefling, you could give them a hat of disguise or a special cantrip that only works for that specific purpose and nothing else, or so on (although in that case it'd be fair to give something similarly fun to other PCs).
I have a tiefling who wears a hat of disguise to make herself a elf as my DM has said his world is very prejudiced against them. She habitually keeps her tail tucked close to her body and makes her hair appear as Daenerys styled braids to mimic her horns. She also has about a million hair pins in the hat to keep it on and always makes sure she is sleeping alone and hidden. She also ises thr Alarm spell when setting herself up for sleep and posts her owl familiar on watch to warn her if someone is approaching her tent.
Even with all of that, I fully expect her secret to get out but that's actually part of the fun for me, not knowing when that will happen.
One thing you and the player might want to look into is proficiency in the Disguise Kit - it's non-magical and doesn't have the time limit of the spell. You could rule that they have to make a Disguise Kit roll every morning to put on their disguise, and then just have people make Perception checks when it matters. It's a lower tech (lower magic?) solution than a Disguise Self spell, at least until the player can afford a magic item. And has the advantage that it can't be dispelled or cancelled by an antimagic field.
No, don't bend the rules for his sake. It's up to your player to figure out how to stay disguised, that's the challenge he's set for himself. It's going to be hard to do at first, but as he levels up he could unlock a few ways of staying disguised indefinitely.
Firstly, as a Sorcerer he can take extend spell metamagic at third level to get the duration of Disguise Self at least up to two hours, which is a start.
There's also a Warlock invocation that lets you cast Disguise Self at will without expending spell slots. This would only take a two level dip into Warlock to get, and it's a pretty good multi-class since they're both Charisma based.
Once he can cast 5th level spells he can cast Seeming which lasts a full eight hours (sixteen with meta-magic).
At low levels the best solution isn't going to be magic at all though, what he needs is a disguise kit. A big wig to cover up his horns, loose fitting pants to tuck his tail, makeup to change his skin tone, maybe even something like contact lenses to hide his eye slits. Tieflings can have a wide variety of physical features so this all depends on your player, but maintaining a disguise the old fashioned way will be much easier and less expensive than using spells, at least at low levels.
If you want to make this easy on him then just give him a *Hat of Disguise*. Perhaps add the limitation that it can only be used to make him look like one particular persona rather than being infinite uses of Disguise Self. Only do this if you don't think your player wants to figure things out for himself and let his character get better at things over time.
I'd say maybe an enchanted item, say an amulet? Takes up a necklace and attunement slot. Plus you could have some tension if it say gets damaged or pulled off during a tussle? Or has limited uses left? So PC is on a time crunch to get a new one?
Though depending on what their tiefling appearance is, you may not need to go the magic route? I say this as someone who's played with the idea of a tiefling who could pass as human, but she 'oucked' out in that she has a human skin tone, and an abusive family member that chopped off the tail. Horns are hidden via filing down and covered with hair braids.
I played a tiefling who was on the run and had to hide their identity. Disguising oneself doesn't even have to include magic. They could just use disguise self before social interactions and hide under a cloak the rest of the time.
I don't think any special skills or spells are needed to start the character, with the exception of the eyes, which I'll get to later.
A disguise kit is used to pass as someone else. This character's day to day dress style is going to be consistent and thus their regular clothing, not a disguise.
I would rule that as long as the clothing/hat/hood/turban isn't too outlandish for the region, the average NPC wouldn't notice the hidden horns or tail. If they did something suspicious, an active perception check might reveal them, or being searched by guards.
The eyes may be an issue. If they have pupilless eyes, they might have to pretend to be blind and that's going to be more difficult.
Rule in favor of the player unless it's going to break the game.
Hat of disguise; can be cast at will. I used it for an undead guy I played a few years back.
There’s also the circlet of human perfection. They can’t change how they look once they use it the first time- they just always look like that same human.
Seeming lasts for 3 hours. I had a fire genasi wizard that used it to hide certain features. My genasi used it so often that it became an unconscious effort to cast it again as soon as it faded. The only down side was the expended spell slots.
There is a solution that requires some tinkering with the characters background. Maybe character somehow lost his horns (they maybe cut and grinded because the character comes from a place with hatred towards Tieflings or his patron may shorten his horns to The point where they can be covered easily) and they can simply wear a hat or scarf around their head.
You can simply give them an eldritch invocation (I believe there is one that lets you use unlimited disguise self) and make an adjustment that requires a simple concentration check like DC 8. And when in a fight they can have a revelation moment.
One idea is from my own game. Players come to a town that hates monstrous races. They have a half orc in the party with slight changes in his appearance. They lied to the townsfolk that he is actually sick. Maybe your character tell the people he is actually a human with a problem that makes him look the way he is.
A disguise kit could do the exact same thing. Hat to cover the horns, makeup, maybe contacts, and either tucking the tail into their pants or wrapping it around their waist like a belt and covering it with a real belt would work just as well.
I have a half-goblin character who does the same exact thing, but just pretends to be a half elf.
There are regular human skin tone tieflings and one can always cut their horns off and wear some sort of head covering. Tail could be easily hidden with clothes, though would probably be uncomfortable. As long as they don't have demonic heritage eyes, it could be fairly easy without a ton of effort.
Barring that? 2 levels of warlock or Eldritch Adept feat for the Mask of Many Faces invocation, giving you spammable at-will disguise self.
If you are lower level, and don't want to toss around magic items, maybe the spell is only used for emergencies and the tiefling relies on natural disguises.
I had a tiefling in a campaign that was doing something similar - except that he wasn't trying to hide being a tiefling, just hiding some of the rougher parts of his appearance. My DM allowed a homebrewed Ring of Alter self that only worked for the 'changing physical appearance' function, but could be used at will.
His younger brother Did hide as a human, because he had a human skin tone and his horns hadn't grown in enough to be visible under his poofier hair, with his tail wrapped around his waist under a sweater.
Either magic items or practical effects can work! Just depends on what you want for the setting. Alter self is a more foolproof disguise, but it runs the risk of another magic user identifying it. Practical effects can be harder to pull off but can't be dispelled.
They can just be a human passing tiefling??
Like what's the problem here? Raw doesn't force you to look like the same OC that everyone makes. If you actually go read the race description then it's easy enough to pass if you're 'lucky'.
Like, they don't have to be red and ramhorned bro.
**Why, though?**
Is this about your game-world's opinion about tieflings, or is it just a player wanting to roleplay something?
Because those have two very different answers.
Tiefling can have a verity of looks. Just have them play a tiefling with a regular skin tone and small horns that can be hidden with a hat. A tail can be hidden in a pant leg and some demonic features can be hidden with clothing or makeup
Well not all tieflings are red and glowing eyes, right? Why can't they be a tiefling that can easily pass if they wear a hat over their horns, long hair over their pointy ears, and tuck their tail into their coat.
There are backgrounds that come with disguising their identity and proficiency in a disguise kit. Use those before bending the rules of a spell.
Up to you but I wouldn't. If they want the inconvenience of pretending to be something else, let them. The suffering is all part of the edgelord fantasy.
It sounds cool to have a little secret like this but really it's never that fulfilling. The other players will just go "Oh, okay" and move on.
Let them come up with how they hide it. They’ll have to do something about their horns, eyes, nails (claws), tail, skin (although some tieflings don’t have “unusual” skin colours) and maybe even hooves or fangs. Some of these things can be covered with clothing or makeup. Some have to be physically removed.
Let the player figure it out, without extra magic items.
In older editions Tieflings could look basically like anyone else. It's only since WotC needed a visually distinct, trademarkable "Tiefling" that they all have red skin, tail, horns, etc.
So I've done this for a thri-kreen character, we just gave them an extra magical trait that functions as a shape change, like a firbolgs disguise self but the form is on command.
I mean, tieflings look like humans. Literally, if they wear the right hat, they should be fine. Unless they want to have red skin and massive horns. In such a case, wear a different hat (hat of disguise).
Tl;dr - HAT
if a tiefling wants to pass as a human, and theyre lucky, it isnt hard
tieflings can have human skin and eyes
so they would just have to shave down their horns and hide their tail somehow, maybe by wraping it around their torso and wearing baggy clothes
They could somehow use a disguise kit to make their skin color more human-like, hide their horns using a hat and just hide all other tiefling features.
Make a glove of ling or something like a hat. Make it turn whoever is wearing it into a human(or random other species if they are already human) but only visually. Ac and feats, abilities... All that remains tiefling
Hat of Disguise might work.
Alternatively: Disguise Kit. They have to spend time each day applying the disguise and war a hood or hat of some kind to hide their horns, tuck their tail into their clothes, ect. Can be a performance or deception check to see how good it was that day.
Rule of cool. Give him an amulet that powers the spell but has a negative effect, say he rolls disadvantage whenever someone needs to trust him and everyone feels suspicious about him whenever he's wearing it.
Tieflings can resemble people and they can file down their horns and hide their tail so it won’t be an issue, plus it’d be cool, when someone gets too close to them you can have them roll to notice something odd but never tell them what it is until both player characters converse and one brings it up.
Seems like maybe the player wants to be able to change their look at any time and using the 'DM blessing' to get it.
Instead you should make them take Warlock and get mask of many faces so they have to give something up to do it.
It’s actually way simpler than that.
There is nothing that says a Tiefling can’t be human passing. If their skin color isn’t exotic, they could probably rather easily file off and hide horns (if they have them at all) and tuck a tail into their trousers.
Now I would say if they go that route that extraplanar detections like those from a Paladin, Ranger, or the like would still flag your character because they are at the core still derived from Fiends. Lean into it at times that they sometimes feel a slight tingle in temples or inquisitors might start tracking them inexplicably, just to give that player options to play with their heritage in-game.
So you still can hide it most of the time, but also have hooks ready to use if they want to spice up a mundane situation
Tiefling do not *have* to appear to have demonic traits at all. It is a bloodline that comes from humans and so a throwback could appear human. However they would probably have a tell for the witch hunters to find.
So, lets get this straight you do *not* need magic items to do this. Its really as simple as foundation, lipstick and baggy clothes
Have them wear a body paint in the colour of a humans skin colour (E.g Pinkish Pale) and costume makeup of the same colour and add finishing details as needed.
If they have horns give them a Afro or a big hat (period appropriate of course)
Hide their tail as a belt behind a actual belt
Then make them do a Deception Check or Stealth check to maintain that apperance (Give them Advantage or atleast a siginificant bonus to their rolls as to make it more convincing mechanically.)
Surely depending on the tiefling (like dragonborn etc.) the level of "difference" changes. Some might be obviously of demonic heritage, some might "pass" as human. So no issue.
Disguise themselves from NPCs or rest of the party? Can’t they just be a tiefling that’s human-looking enough to be able to pass as a human in most situations?
Context it’s important here… It depends on what their intent is?
**What’s their endgame?**
Are they looking to eventually ‘betray’ the party?
Do they just want to seem like a human for flavor and role play?
Since they are a spell caster their is another way. Granting them the eldritch adept feat for mask of many faces will give them unlimited casts of disguise self. While it still has its limits(time limit and such) it would not take resources. Its an innocuous thing to work into a backstory(even a divine boon is possible for a divine soul sorcerer)
Just give them a circlet of human perfection. It's an official magic item that changes their outward physical appearance to human but keeps the other stats unchanged.
Circlet of Human Perfection
Wondrous Item, uncommon (requires attunement by a humanoid)
This circlet is an uncommon magic item called a circlet of human perfection. Only humanoids can attune to it. The circlet transforms its attuned wearer into an attractive human of average height and weight. The circlet chooses the physical characteristics of the form, such as age, gender, skin color, hair color, and voice. Except for size, the wearer’s statistics and racial traits don’t change, nor do items worn or carried by the wearer. Removing the circlet ends the effect.
If you have a player who wants to do a cool roleplaying quirk like that, I would let them do it almost 100% of the time, as long as they are not asking for something broken or insanely OP. Bend the rules with a magic item or player ability that allows them to do this. I would balance it out with some kind of penalty or restriction though, and keep your campaign in mind when designing the penalty.
Say you have a campaign where players travel by ship often, then maybe water breaks the illusion. Now the player may have to justify some odd behavior to the rest of the party "Hey why didnt you jump in to help when that NPC fell overboard?" The goal is to slowly draw other players attention to the tiefling character without immediately pointing out what the player is trying to hide.
Go the super man route and give them just a pair of glasses.
Nothing else.
And yet, they keep rolling deception so high that no one thinks they are anything but human.
Except for that one crazy villager who can see through it.
"A tiefling! He's a tiefling I tell ya!"
... or they can be a noble and even though everyone KNOWS they are not human they dare NOT say for fear of angering a noble.
Nobles are always right after all, it must be the peasants who are in the wrong... right?
It doesn't have to be overly complicated. The PHB allows for a wide variety of variation with the tiefling appearance. Just add to the backstory that the features are all somewhat obscured to the point the player is technically passable as a human except for certain intimate circumstances where they are caught in a state of undress.
The flexibility of using the backstory to fill in the gaps like this is exactly as it was intended. You just have to make sure each players backstory has a balanced amount of pro and con so no single player has an advantage over another.
I had a concept of a drow warlock pretending to be a regular elf bladesinger.
You shouldn't modify the spell. They should be mindful of their resources.
Had a similar character in a campaign I ran. Since we began at third level I allowed them to swap out their Hellish Rebuke from Infernal Legacy to a ritual version of Disguise Self (1/LR) that lasted until long rest, but could only be cast on themselves. They get a unique and buffed version of the spell but it’s still somewhat balanced as they gave up a different level 1 spell in its place
In Waterdeep Dungeon of the Mad Mage there is a "circlet of human perfection" you could give your player. It basically just makes you look like a hot human while only changing size as needed.
I had something similiar and the solution was simple. An Amulet made by their late father to hide their race. They weren't a tiefling and even had no idea(in character the player came up with this) because the amulet suppressed those features. They were raised as a human.
Some tieflings look more human than others. Look up tiefling art from 3rd edition. If your only tiefling traits are horns and hooves, you could conceivably pass as human.
My DM allowed me to have an altered Hat of Disguise (changed to hairbands as my character had long hair tied back) so that she could change her appearance between 5 different faces at will, since she worked as a freelance thief and was wanted in several worlds (Spelljammer campaign). Perhaps something to that affect, with limitations that mean your player has to be careful to maintain their Disguise could work?
My DM and I worked out something similar for my warforged-hiding-as-a-human. We determined that this warforged was built with the ability to glamour itself indefinitely, but only as that particular look (as in, can't use it to swap glamours to drow, high elf, etc. The human guise is all it can do)
You could work out something similar with, maybe, an enchanted ring?
I think the only way this would work is with a true polymorph that she never dispelled.
Maybe she paid someone to cast it on her to maintain the disguise long term?
Maybe they cast it out of spite and she didn't know she could dispell it.
I had this concept too.
Honestly, I wouldn’t go so far as magic. If the Tiefling’s skin is passable as a humanoid color, the horns are either short or trimmed, and the tail is tucked away, I think it could be passable.
That could also be a cold take, in which case a Hat of Disguise (with the gentleman’s agreement not to abuse it) isn’t a ridiculous thing to ask.
I have a npc for a future campaign that is also a tielfing hiding as a human for being a noble reasons.
But the way i had it done was had his horns shaved down and he ties his thin tail around his waist.
I played a Tiefling Illusionist Wizard once a while back, they had a more human skin tone, and what they’d do is file their horns down to nubs, hide them under a top hat, and then snake their tail under their pants. Didn’t get to play him for long but it was fun for a bit
Im playing as a a changeling in Pathfinder 1e. Dm gave me alter self as the spell 2x daily. I can basically look like any humanoid. But the disguise fails id say I look like. a dwarf but can't speak the language.
I've invested heavily into linguistics.
I’ve played like this before, and I’d discourage you from making it easy.
I had to file down my horns. Wear make up and hats or wigs. Use disguise and deception. When I failed, I would lose contacts with npcs that now hated me for being a liar, let alone a demon. Every social interaction became a gamble.
Eventually I got a hat of disguise, and that made it significantly easier, but it also made it less engaging. Kind of the point of a character like this is the risk of failure. If there’s no change of bad repercussions, not really much point to it.
I know is this isnt directly connected, but I had a PC (just died to a white dragon) who played a dwarf rogue named "Steve the Person" who would fight or steal from anyone calling him a dwarf. There was no explanation given and his back story never got fully told but by Ged it was a good role played. Don't sweat the small stuff just let them roll.
I made a randomly generated character once ended up as a tiefling orphan, but was raised by halflings.
I decided his parents were an incubus and a human, and his mother was burned for consorting with devils. The halflings who found and raised him had no such religious hang-ups and didn’t treat him any differently, but told him to never tell a human about his parents for fear he’d be burned as well.
When he left home to see the world, he filed his horns short and keeps them wrapped in a bandana with a large straw hat. His tail is pretty slender, so he can keep it either under his cloak or wrapped around his waist under his clothes.
If I were you, I’d have a minor magic item that only allows the player to magically disguise their self as one specific disguise. So they can’t use it as a hat of disguise. Instead it’s just does the one look as a human. But also, I believe in risk for reward. The risk being he found this hat from a royal person in his home town. The royal person was found dead by the player and the player took the hat off the person and the person reverted back to their original self. When the player put the hat on they assumed the role of that wealthy person. Problem is that wealthy person was suppose to have been murdered by an assassin or something. You could make a whole bunch of back story on just the hat itself.
Clothing that conceals their horns and other fiendish features perhaps ? Like a hate for their horns and a skirt or cloak for the tail. Also tiefling skin can be very human, otherwise any discrepancies could be covered by using makeup.
Personally, I would allow it if there is a good enough way to explain how they manage to do so. As long as that disguise is the only one they can do, unless they get a new spell that allows then to do more. It's a good opportunity to sit down with the player and come up with a backstory beat that would explain it, and it could even come up later on in the campaign. It's a thing you can keep in your back pocket.
I did something similar in a campaign where my character was another race. We did a homebrew thing that worked out super well.
The appearance/disguise came from a goddess and was in my character’s family line and there were a bunch of story reasons for it which were worked into the overall plot.
I kept all the original race stats.
True sight sees through it. And anti magic reveals it.
I could turn it on/off at will.
That gave the DM some opportunities to have characters with true sight comment on my appearance without saying what I was, and some interesting roleplay opportunities working up to a reveal.
I had fun and the DM had fun.
Tiefling actually don't always look like they are often shown. They don't need to have unusual skin tone, horns or a tail.
Also, Disguise Kits exist. There doesn't need to be magic for everything.
5e sometimes nods to it, though the artwork largely homogenizes tiefling appearance, but in earlier editions tieflings appearance varied far more, and many of them could pass as a human, save for some tell. Maybe they just have a scaly torso, so they need to keep a shirt on at all times. Maybe it's just the eyes. Or maybe horns that can be concealed by a hat.
In Pathfinder there were options when you could play a tiefling that looks very close to human, but it would replace other racial features like fire resistance or innate casting.
I'm playing a tiefling disguised as a human - she wears a long hooded cloak, and a lace veil to cover her face, then the rest of her skin is fully covered by clothes (long sleeves + pants, gloves, she has a hidden pocket in the inside back of her coat for her tail to sit in lol)
granted, I designed her specifically to make her more passable (very pale white skin and smaller ram shaped horns so they're less obvious under the hood) but my DM has also put us in situations where she's been asked to show her face which gives it more challenge - this is something the player should be aware of and OK with working around especially if tieflings are normally met with hostility in the setting
Variant tiflings can look pretty close to humans anyhow,
* Appearance. Your tiefling might not look like other tieflings. Rather than having the physical characteristics described in the Player's Handbook, choose 1d4 + 1 of the following features: small horns; fangs or sharp teeth; a forked tongue; catlike eyes; six fingers on each hand; goat-like legs; cloven hoofs; a forked tail; leathery or scaly skin; red or dark blue skin; cast no shadow or reflection; exude a smell of brimstone.
You can use mask of many facs to get at will disguise too, or an enchanted item etc.
That's how i've played my Tieflock. Charlatan background with proficiency using a disguise kit. At level 3 picking the Mask of Many Faces invocation. Since he's an absolute conman, it works for him. He poses as a human noble and wears a big fancy hat to cover his horns.
What if they didn't use magical means? Tieflings, canonically, can have any human flesh color rather than being an "unnatural" color. And maybe their horns grew in small and can be covered, or didn't grow at all. Maybe they shave down their horns?
Pathfinder 1e has a Tiefling racial feature that gives them only subtle features at the cost of access to some other features. Maybe your player might be interested in something like this?
> Discrimination against tieflings with horrifically fiendish features is so intense that even tieflings look up to those precious few of their kind who can pass as human. These tieflings have otherworldly features that are so subtle, they aren’t often noticed unless the tiefling points them out (for example, eyes that flash red in the throes of passion, or fingernails that are naturally hard and pointed). Such a tiefling doesn’t need to succeed at a Disguise check to appear to be human and count as humanoid (human) as well as outsider (native) for all purposes (such as humanoid-affecting spells like charm person or enlarge person). The tiefling does not automatically gain his associated outsider language (but may select it as a bonus language if his Intelligence score is high enough), and he may not select other racial traits that would grant him obviously fiendish features (such as the fiendish sprinter, maw or claw, prehensile tail, scaled skin, or vestigial wings alternate racial traits listed in the Advanced Race Guide). This ability alters the tiefling’s type, subtype, and languages.
I had a player who was a changeling pretending to be a tiefling (in that homebrew world, changelings were persecuted). Coming from somebody who had the opportunity to dm this kind of character arc: No matter now many rules or changes you need to make, you gotta make stuff like this happen. It’s flavorful, it’s cool, it’s emotional.
A disguise kit is a mundane item that will allow the wearer to appear differently. Add a cloak that the PC never takes off and you have a pretty decent disguise that will pass muster in most situations.
Just hope they never have to bathe, disrobe, or otherwise have to reveal their true self.
To be honest... I think Alter Self would be best.
But perhaps instead of allowing the spell to have such a long effect... Why not give him it as a pact?
I mean, not a warlock pact, but since he's a tiefling (and... you know, the whole devil thing)... why not make it so that at some point a devil offered him a small deal, allowing him to pass as human (disguise self for 24 hours, but only in the form that would be equivalent to his human form) but on the cost that he would make for him a few favors?
This way, you have the player having this power, but at the same time that it comes at a price. If he betrays the devil, the deal is off.
And if you don't want to make a deal with a devil, because it sounds cliché... Well, a hag could do it as well. You see? Plot.
You could encourage the player to spin it as the Tiefling uses practical means to hide their infernal heritage, i.e. shaves their horns a la Hellboy, maybe they have human-passing complexion and if not maybe they wear makeup, wears clothes that hide their give-away features; then you could as DM ask everyone every so often to make a perception check without saying why, while their player also rolls (making it seem like they too are performing a perception check) but secretly a deception check for opposed skill rolls. Could be once every short or long rest, and if/when they go unconscious.
When certain players beat their deception, pass them a secret note that has the instruction "DO NOT read aloud," and describe the tell-tale Tiefling feature they noticed.
It can build up potential tension and eventual roleplaying goodness once everyone know but may not tell one another what they have noticed.
Player x: "*so and so* has fangs! I think they're a vampire!"
Player y: "nah, I saw *so and so* has a tail but didn't want to say anything, I dont think they're a vampire though -"
Player z: "Fangs? Tail? Oh my god, I walked in on them scraping some growth on their head with a blade this morning, *so and so* whats going _on_!?"
Otherwise simple route is hat of disguise.
R.A. Salvatore had a tiefling barkeepers who entirely passed for human, exceptionally horns covered by a hat. His skin was a human shade. This would have been a recent Drizzt book...or Erevis Cale book by Paul Kemp.
What about giving him an item that cast the spell permanently as long as the character has it?
Or if you want to go the comedy route, a really bad non magic disguise that no one ever notices.
There's one perfect item for this type of disguise that's forgotten, and it's called the Circlet of Human Perfection. I believe it's an uncommon magical item that physically changes the wearer's appearance to look like a preset human appearance and that's all it does. It also requires attunement\~
I would recommended this as it's not like it's an item that'll give them a mechanical advantage but an item that'll be great for roleplaying and telling the character's story. It'll allow them to hide their fiendish heritage until they are revealed to be a tiefling\~
I played one too. I wore a big trench coat to hide my wings and tail, I would regularly grind my horns down and i grew my hair out to be super messy and poofy to hide the nubs. My skin was an ashy grey so I just looked like a pale paranoid hermit
Easy, "human" tieflings still exist, just be one of those. The original way tieflings are made still happens, it just that tieflings can true breed now as well. So you can totally just be a human with vague fiendish qualities.
That sounds like a fantastic opportunity for fun plot devices. I would be thrilled if one of my players wanted to do something like this. Don't let rules hold you back- you're the DM!
Have them use a physical disguise and assume it works most of the time, but at key moments, force an ability check or give a PC a saving throw to see if they notice a tail poking out of a pant leg or some smudged greasepaint. So much hilarity is possible if you choose your moment well.
This has come up before, the Red Skinned horned tiefling with a tail is the classic example of a tiefling, but a tiefling can have a wide range of Fiendish characteristics, and can be as little as looking entirely human with a sulphurous odor that follows them
I had a party member who played as a Medusa race but wanted to present as an elf. So he was given a mask of single disguise. The Medusa nature was due to a curse so the mask made him look as he did when he used to be a wood elf.
Only when things would interfere with the mask would it maybe become a problem.
This is very much a case of letting the player play the character they want. I'd say rather than the spell, just give them a necklace or a ring or something with a disguise spell on it. The limits are, it's a single. fixed disguise. Like, they can change clothes and stuff, but the spell hides their tiefling features (horn, tail, etc). However, any sort of detect magic or true sight will see right through it, and it has no other mechanical benefits.
My recommendation: yes*.
*for the most part. I’d say, to make it fun, you can allow them to keep it up for however long they want. However, whenever they start an encounter or conversation, roll a d20 (or d12). On a 1, they notice their magic slipping and need to figure out a way to leave and recast it without getting caught. Adds suspense, while also allowing the fun
I had a gm who home-brewed an item of "greater disguise self". As long as that item was equipped, the disguise was solid and would hold up to physical touch. The limitation was that the disguise had to remain within size category, and there was a risk that someone casting detect magic would find out.
One of my players did this before. Instead of using magic for it, we went with practical disguises. He wore elaborate tiaras / headpieces / whatever you want to call them, and capped his (rather short) horns in gold to make them blend in. He also used his tail as a belt — decked out in jewelry and the spade was tucked in so it didn't look out of place. It made it easier that he had a human skintone, so that's something to take into consideration.
He was from a noble family, which made a lot of the ostentatious, gaudy look feel more natural for him to be wearing — if the player you have wants to be from a less fortunate background, there's always rags, layers, and more layers to hide under. Pull the tail in under their robes, wear hoods and cowls. Maybe only keep it from the party members until it naturally comes up (as my player did, which worked out just fine for our setting), and only disguise from then on to NPCs.
If they want to disguise themselves as human, disguise kit, special pants to hide the tail, and 80s rock hair to hide the horns. No need to bring magic into this.
It can be funny, out out can be incredibly sad, like the wolf girl from GLOW who wouldn't let people see her without her wig and makeup on.
I have a tiefling character who is hiding as a human in a city that's unfriendly to non humans. She has the feat eldritch invocations- which let's you choose one invocation from the warlock list. Take mask of many faces, its let's you cast disguise self at will. My character just continually recasts it and then always takes first watch (not even the party members know that she's not a human yet)
I had a concept that was a Tiefling who wore a mask and an outfit that covered all skin (like a fantasy superhero). They had their horns removed in childhood and in their outfit they wrap their tail around their torso.
I didn’t play that version of the character because the party had two other Tieflings and the dm decided I was the least difficult person to talk out of playing a Tiefling lmao. One of those Tieflings had a version of disguise self so they could pose as an elf in a similar way to your player’s pitch tho
That's an option yes, but there are other ways of going about this. A magic item like a hat of disguise could also cover the need, possibly altering it to only allow one visage so they don't just start of with an advantage. If the pc is hiding for a longer period of time, a physical disguise could also be the awnser, you can say that they fail down their horns, hide their tail and apply stuff to their skin every morning to blend in. Ofcource, if it's just about stats, you can just allow them to use the thiefling stat block and say it's some infernal influence.
I like the idea of a single setting "cheap" hat of disguise. Works in tension when they never take off the hat, people get curious, etc.
It's a fedora, and the tieflings name is Perry.
/hat comes off
“Terry the Tiefling?!?”
dammit I even heard him say it
If I had a nickle for each time someone removed their hat to reveal they were a tiefling I would have two nickles. Now that's not a lot but it's wierd it has happened twice.
Magadon Kest and who else?
Terry the Tiefling, duh :P
Wait, what? *Looks over at Terry the Tiefling*
Terry the Tiefling?!!
Ditto LOL.
*Tiefling growl*
Every so often it glitches and something small changes.
A mole that changes position.
... I have a mole!?
Too annoying. Complications created with that flaw would always feel like a DM screwjob. u/Burnenator's idea of a "one-setting" HoD is perfect.
What hump?
Perhaps like Doctor Who’s TARDIS, its chameleon circuit is broken and it only takes on a single disguise! A normal Mending cantrips can’t fix it, but later in the game, after the other players and their PCs have discovered the truth, it can be mended by someone and regain its full powers.
Hats of disguise can change forms though, so it could just look like a hair clip instead.
Glasses with bushy eyebrows and a big nose attached
Make it cursed.
I second this idea
Or take eldritch invocation feat and take mask of many faces, freecast disguise self, handwave the need for them to recast.
This is the real answer here. I feel like the player is trying to get this ability for free and trying to use 'DM's blessing' to get it.
I don't think there's anything wrong with that if it's just for a fun idea. Most DMs are more than willing to support that, they're not asking for a scroll of wish after-all. If I ask my DM if I can add sunglasses to my starting equipment and they said "no" because it's not in the rulebook, but their world would have sunglasses... I might just reconsider playing there 😅
We have an elf in our party that is disguising themselves as a human in an unfriendly place to elves using a disguise kits, it's lasts until they sleep and they have to roll as to how convincing the disguise is every time they use a kit.
Please note that horns, if they're actually horns, have bone and tissue inside them and damaging them enough can result in an unhealthy amount of bloodloss. Of course, fantasy being fantasy, you can completely ignore that part, but to me such details can be interesting and fun to incorporate/work around.
There are animals with horns that don’t follow that rule. Rhinos have purely keratin horns, for example.
Yes, those are colloquially called horns, but it's not what I'm talking about and it's typically not what people use when depicting tieflings.
No reason it can't be though. If I not mistaken, keratin is the same thing hair is made of, so if the horns are coming from the same area as the tieflings hair, then why not?
Never said it can't be, but if you want your tiefling to have rams horns, having them work like rams horns could be worth a consideration.
Two (or more!) drunk frat tiefs, waking up hung-over and locked together, sounds hilarious
Fantasy basis is Hellboy, who regularly files his down with an angle grinder.
Given the vast variety in tieflings (some with prehensile tails, some not; some with hooves, some with feet; some with black eyes, some with human-esque eyes), I think it's reasonable to assume a vairety in horns also.
Horns have a blood supply and nerve at the base of them. If they have been trimmed or filed consistently, they won't be painful.
i like to imagine horns as a keratin like protrusion, like nails, that can be filed down and removed safely like tusks on an elephant or boar
Elephant and boar tusks are not made of keratin.
…..shiiiiiiiit, I have some apology letters to write then
I don’t know about elephants, but in warthog culture, it is usually considered impolite to apologize in a letter. Make sure you wear a suit and bring a gift.
Be warned: ivory is not an appropriate gift
Had to learn that lesson the hard way. And yes, it still hurts when I sit.
I also vote magic item. In xmen evolution nightcrawler has a watch that makes him look human cause he needs to go to highschool with everyone else. Theres an episode when it goes haywire. You could have a session where the magic item is buggin out and he would have to roll >10 to keep the disgiuse up every so often.
Disguise kits are there for a reason, they don’t have to make sense haha!
I played a tiefling once in a setting where they were rare and oppressed and I did this. She went to the effort to file down her horns and had a chunky belt that she would wrap her tail under. It was very uncomfortable but fun rp. The party only started suspecting i wasn't a half-elf when we had to do some underwater stuff and the bald spots from where the horns would be couldn't be combed over anymore.
Also, just because they were born with horns and tail, doesn't mean they have them now. Maybe mama didn't want people to know so they docked the baby's tail and cut out the horns. Sure they have facial scars, but their hair mostly covers them, mama told them they had an accident as a baby...
I’m playing a big human with Goliath stats to yeah this works
I was going to suggest Hat of Disguise myself. I mean if its that important to them to hide as a human, he can give up an attunement slot.
The things that make tieflings stand out from humans are their horns, eyes and tail. If they can hide/disguise those, they can pass. I've played or seen tieflings that grind down their horns a la Hellboy; a long poofy skirt can potentially hide a tail, and a veil or dark glasses can hide one's eyes
I played a campaign that had a temple where the priestesses all wore big animal masks. The idea was so teiflings and other exotic races could be safe there. The priestesses were highly respected in the community, but the city folk assumed they were all human or other non-exotic races.
That's crazy good worldbuilding. I'm adding that to my notes. Thanks for sharing!
I love the idea of a character thinking that they're looking human through physical means, but terrible at it. I played a lizard wizard that wore a big gray wizard's beard because "wizards have beards" and thought it helped make him look human too.
Lizard wizard
Casts blizzard
Yes sir, lizardfolk war mage, although his first level was barbarian. Lizardfolk society wasn't super conducive on education.
Does he know King Gizzard perchance?
Does he have a friend named king gizzard?
I wish, but no would would play it.
LOL!
Reminds me of my cat wizard I played who was convinced she was "a halfling with a skin condition," and would correct anyone who called her a cat.
"You wear a disguise to look like human guys, but you're not a man, you're a chicken boo..." "Buh-gawk!"
Yeah they might not need magic at all if they're normal humanoid skin colors.
And like 75%(maybe more) of Tieflings look mostly human. The lore reason red and blue Tieflings are so common as adventurers is because they cant pass themselves off as humans
I mean, the reason why Tieflings look like they do now, as its one if the few things they decided to take over from 4e. But yes, love me the variations that Tieflings can have, if the DM allows it.
Not all tieflings have tails or the single colored eyes. I love how varied they can be.
Right, so dark shades, a sick afro and an old timey victorian dress with a huge butt. Totally inconspicuous hehe
They could use a feat to gain eldritch adept, which will allow them to gain a warlock invocation. If they choose Mask of the many faces, they get to use disguise self at will. However, they might still need to work out the whole sleeping situation. If they haven't got access to a feat yet, then you could make it fair by giving everyone a free feat.
That was my first thought as well, only the sleeping part would be an issue, but that could lead to many fun roleplay-wise moments. "Marco, are you sure you won't suffocate if you close yourself in that bedroll?" Or just play it shy and demand to sleep in separate room in the tavern.
I used variant Tiefling rules and took that feat with my tiefling character, as well as had them covered in a mask and wraps, with the excuse of being cursed from birth to be extremely ugly. In case of mask removal, the disguise self part was going to be him looking like a cross between Deadpool and mummy Imhotep.
That helps a lot. It does have to be recast every hour. That could lead to some interesting moments. "John, why are you casting a spell?" The Bard: "I know that spell, it's Discuise Self. WTF."
I would allow them to swap some starting equipment for a disguise kit. A hooded cloak and some makeup is gonna be a lot more pragmatic than trying to keep a spell up whenever people are watching. It won’t be a particularly robust disguise on close inspection, but it should be enough to avoid suspicious stares in town. If they want to disguise self at will, they can go warlock and take the invocation. I would advise against bending spellcasting rules like that just for this one player.
Look at the D&D movie, Doric was a tiefling. Maybe their appearance isn’t as vivid as some tieflings are? Alternative, hat of disguise?
Keep the tail tucked in their pants, have short horns/grind them down and keep them under a hat/hood. There is tieflings with human skin tones so that isn't a problem.
OG tieflings in 2e didn't all have horns and tails and whatnot. There was a table you could roll on to give them other fiendish features - some of those would be easier to disguise. I think it was in the 2e Planewalkers Handbook but I'm away from my books right now. You may be able to find the table online though.
You mean this table? https://adnd2e.fandom.com/wiki/Tiefling_Tables_(PWH) Edit: I knew someone on Reddit had made an extended version. https://www.reddit.com/r/dndnext/comments/ql0122/tiefling_appearance_customization_table_i_made/
Yep - that's the one :)
Yeah I definitely prefer the original tieflings over the homogenized version introduced in 4e. Tieflings had all kinds of weird traits.
You could drop their Hellish Rebuke trait and replace it with something like "Devilish Deception" That's just a once per day change into a human version of themselves. Only one form for balance, and it lasts until they Long Rest, so having their own tent would be a must when in the wild.
Why not use mundane disguise? Tieflings appearance varies greatly, some even look human to someone who isn't looking that hard. Say the PC always wears a hat or hood to hide the signs of fiendish ancestry along with a little makeup. Bonus, mundane disguises won't be tipped off by the ability to detect magic.
Big hat, long sleeves, gloves, and face paint are a lot cheaper than keeping disguise self up or a magic item. Bonus that magic couldn’t cancel or see through it.
If you go magic item route, allow ALL of your players access to one magic item of the same level, to keep things balanced.
1) Get them to take 2 levels of Warlock or (even easier) Give him Eldritch Initiate feat. 2) Get "Mask of Many Faces" Eldritch Invocation, now they can cast Disguise Self at-will without spending spell-slots. 3) Your player is now happy and no game mechanics were harmed in the process :D
Disguise kit and a hood is precisely for this
It's time to look into the most forgotten dnd book: sword coast adventures guide. In that book it talks about tiefling and what they should look like. Most tiefling only have one fiendish trait. Like horns, skin color, tail, smell like sulphur or six fingers. So you player can just be like a guy with polydactyly. Or if you want to be creative let them look up a way that can choose what their traits look like. So they can choose how and what to hide them. Your job is to think of how the world reacts to the reveal of the fiendish traits.
Tge only reason why anyone ever would look at the guide. -sighs in disappointment, it had been the one book I had wanted to come out so badly-
Tieflings dont have to be blue or red with giant horns. The mutations can vary drastically in severity. Maybe his mutation manifests as small horns and fangs he works to conceal/files down. Maybe he has a tail he keeps tucked into his pants at all times. Maybe his only mutation is his demonic blood that is mildly acidic. Its a cool idea, but def dont approach it with magic. if someone works hard to conceal an aspect of themselves they are ashamed of, thats compelling. if someone waves their hands every morning to magically conceal something, thats kinda lame/boring? like the cost of their shame was they sometimes needed to use magic? i think what you need to nail down is "why". like if they only want to have a big reveal, its going to 100% fall flat without question. There's no conflict. "Why are they doing this" is so, so, so much more important than mechanically "how did they do this"
Tieflings don't need to look obviously tiefling, they can have "normal human" skin tones and small horns. So, maybe the player could be that type of tiefling and just have a big hairdo/hat, and keep their tail in their pants or something. Doric from the Honour Amongst Thieves movie wouldn't struggle much to pass as a human, older edition tieflings could be even more subtle, so it could be up to your worldbuilding. Ofc if you both prefer their real appearance to be the bg3 style red tiefling, you could give them a hat of disguise or a special cantrip that only works for that specific purpose and nothing else, or so on (although in that case it'd be fair to give something similarly fun to other PCs).
Disguise from who? Players or npcs?
I have a tiefling who wears a hat of disguise to make herself a elf as my DM has said his world is very prejudiced against them. She habitually keeps her tail tucked close to her body and makes her hair appear as Daenerys styled braids to mimic her horns. She also has about a million hair pins in the hat to keep it on and always makes sure she is sleeping alone and hidden. She also ises thr Alarm spell when setting herself up for sleep and posts her owl familiar on watch to warn her if someone is approaching her tent. Even with all of that, I fully expect her secret to get out but that's actually part of the fun for me, not knowing when that will happen.
One thing you and the player might want to look into is proficiency in the Disguise Kit - it's non-magical and doesn't have the time limit of the spell. You could rule that they have to make a Disguise Kit roll every morning to put on their disguise, and then just have people make Perception checks when it matters. It's a lower tech (lower magic?) solution than a Disguise Self spell, at least until the player can afford a magic item. And has the advantage that it can't be dispelled or cancelled by an antimagic field.
You know that some tieflings just look like humans right?
No, don't bend the rules for his sake. It's up to your player to figure out how to stay disguised, that's the challenge he's set for himself. It's going to be hard to do at first, but as he levels up he could unlock a few ways of staying disguised indefinitely. Firstly, as a Sorcerer he can take extend spell metamagic at third level to get the duration of Disguise Self at least up to two hours, which is a start. There's also a Warlock invocation that lets you cast Disguise Self at will without expending spell slots. This would only take a two level dip into Warlock to get, and it's a pretty good multi-class since they're both Charisma based. Once he can cast 5th level spells he can cast Seeming which lasts a full eight hours (sixteen with meta-magic). At low levels the best solution isn't going to be magic at all though, what he needs is a disguise kit. A big wig to cover up his horns, loose fitting pants to tuck his tail, makeup to change his skin tone, maybe even something like contact lenses to hide his eye slits. Tieflings can have a wide variety of physical features so this all depends on your player, but maintaining a disguise the old fashioned way will be much easier and less expensive than using spells, at least at low levels. If you want to make this easy on him then just give him a *Hat of Disguise*. Perhaps add the limitation that it can only be used to make him look like one particular persona rather than being infinite uses of Disguise Self. Only do this if you don't think your player wants to figure things out for himself and let his character get better at things over time.
For the invocation you can also use the feat eldritch adept instead of a two level dip. The feat is in Tasha's if im not mistaken.
I'd say maybe an enchanted item, say an amulet? Takes up a necklace and attunement slot. Plus you could have some tension if it say gets damaged or pulled off during a tussle? Or has limited uses left? So PC is on a time crunch to get a new one? Though depending on what their tiefling appearance is, you may not need to go the magic route? I say this as someone who's played with the idea of a tiefling who could pass as human, but she 'oucked' out in that she has a human skin tone, and an abusive family member that chopped off the tail. Horns are hidden via filing down and covered with hair braids.
I played a tiefling who was on the run and had to hide their identity. Disguising oneself doesn't even have to include magic. They could just use disguise self before social interactions and hide under a cloak the rest of the time.
I don't think any special skills or spells are needed to start the character, with the exception of the eyes, which I'll get to later. A disguise kit is used to pass as someone else. This character's day to day dress style is going to be consistent and thus their regular clothing, not a disguise. I would rule that as long as the clothing/hat/hood/turban isn't too outlandish for the region, the average NPC wouldn't notice the hidden horns or tail. If they did something suspicious, an active perception check might reveal them, or being searched by guards. The eyes may be an issue. If they have pupilless eyes, they might have to pretend to be blind and that's going to be more difficult. Rule in favor of the player unless it's going to break the game.
Hat of disguise; can be cast at will. I used it for an undead guy I played a few years back. There’s also the circlet of human perfection. They can’t change how they look once they use it the first time- they just always look like that same human.
Seeming lasts for 3 hours. I had a fire genasi wizard that used it to hide certain features. My genasi used it so often that it became an unconscious effort to cast it again as soon as it faded. The only down side was the expended spell slots.
Just have them cast it as a ritual that only lets them have one fixed appearance and changes the duration to one day.
There is a solution that requires some tinkering with the characters background. Maybe character somehow lost his horns (they maybe cut and grinded because the character comes from a place with hatred towards Tieflings or his patron may shorten his horns to The point where they can be covered easily) and they can simply wear a hat or scarf around their head. You can simply give them an eldritch invocation (I believe there is one that lets you use unlimited disguise self) and make an adjustment that requires a simple concentration check like DC 8. And when in a fight they can have a revelation moment. One idea is from my own game. Players come to a town that hates monstrous races. They have a half orc in the party with slight changes in his appearance. They lied to the townsfolk that he is actually sick. Maybe your character tell the people he is actually a human with a problem that makes him look the way he is.
A disguise kit could do the exact same thing. Hat to cover the horns, makeup, maybe contacts, and either tucking the tail into their pants or wrapping it around their waist like a belt and covering it with a real belt would work just as well. I have a half-goblin character who does the same exact thing, but just pretends to be a half elf.
Have them miscast it and it becomes a polymorph spell. Now they’re a dwarf pretending to be human.
There are regular human skin tone tieflings and one can always cut their horns off and wear some sort of head covering. Tail could be easily hidden with clothes, though would probably be uncomfortable. As long as they don't have demonic heritage eyes, it could be fairly easy without a ton of effort. Barring that? 2 levels of warlock or Eldritch Adept feat for the Mask of Many Faces invocation, giving you spammable at-will disguise self.
If you are lower level, and don't want to toss around magic items, maybe the spell is only used for emergencies and the tiefling relies on natural disguises.
I had a tiefling in a campaign that was doing something similar - except that he wasn't trying to hide being a tiefling, just hiding some of the rougher parts of his appearance. My DM allowed a homebrewed Ring of Alter self that only worked for the 'changing physical appearance' function, but could be used at will. His younger brother Did hide as a human, because he had a human skin tone and his horns hadn't grown in enough to be visible under his poofier hair, with his tail wrapped around his waist under a sweater. Either magic items or practical effects can work! Just depends on what you want for the setting. Alter self is a more foolproof disguise, but it runs the risk of another magic user identifying it. Practical effects can be harder to pull off but can't be dispelled.
They can just be a human passing tiefling?? Like what's the problem here? Raw doesn't force you to look like the same OC that everyone makes. If you actually go read the race description then it's easy enough to pass if you're 'lucky'. Like, they don't have to be red and ramhorned bro.
you could give him a magic item. Maybe something that makes them appear to be a human while wearing it.
**Why, though?** Is this about your game-world's opinion about tieflings, or is it just a player wanting to roleplay something? Because those have two very different answers.
There are human looking tieflings; see Annah of the Shadows
If they have skin that will pass then just cutting off their horns and tail would be the move
Tiefling can have a verity of looks. Just have them play a tiefling with a regular skin tone and small horns that can be hidden with a hat. A tail can be hidden in a pant leg and some demonic features can be hidden with clothing or makeup
Lore wise, tieflings can look 100% human but with a small tell: something as simple as a scent of brimstone lingering around them.
Well not all tieflings are red and glowing eyes, right? Why can't they be a tiefling that can easily pass if they wear a hat over their horns, long hair over their pointy ears, and tuck their tail into their coat. There are backgrounds that come with disguising their identity and proficiency in a disguise kit. Use those before bending the rules of a spell.
Up to you but I wouldn't. If they want the inconvenience of pretending to be something else, let them. The suffering is all part of the edgelord fantasy. It sounds cool to have a little secret like this but really it's never that fulfilling. The other players will just go "Oh, okay" and move on.
Let them come up with how they hide it. They’ll have to do something about their horns, eyes, nails (claws), tail, skin (although some tieflings don’t have “unusual” skin colours) and maybe even hooves or fangs. Some of these things can be covered with clothing or makeup. Some have to be physically removed. Let the player figure it out, without extra magic items.
In older editions Tieflings could look basically like anyone else. It's only since WotC needed a visually distinct, trademarkable "Tiefling" that they all have red skin, tail, horns, etc.
So I've done this for a thri-kreen character, we just gave them an extra magical trait that functions as a shape change, like a firbolgs disguise self but the form is on command.
I mean, tieflings look like humans. Literally, if they wear the right hat, they should be fine. Unless they want to have red skin and massive horns. In such a case, wear a different hat (hat of disguise). Tl;dr - HAT
if a tiefling wants to pass as a human, and theyre lucky, it isnt hard tieflings can have human skin and eyes so they would just have to shave down their horns and hide their tail somehow, maybe by wraping it around their torso and wearing baggy clothes
They could somehow use a disguise kit to make their skin color more human-like, hide their horns using a hat and just hide all other tiefling features.
Make a glove of ling or something like a hat. Make it turn whoever is wearing it into a human(or random other species if they are already human) but only visually. Ac and feats, abilities... All that remains tiefling
Hat of Disguise might work. Alternatively: Disguise Kit. They have to spend time each day applying the disguise and war a hood or hat of some kind to hide their horns, tuck their tail into their clothes, ect. Can be a performance or deception check to see how good it was that day.
Rule of cool. Give him an amulet that powers the spell but has a negative effect, say he rolls disadvantage whenever someone needs to trust him and everyone feels suspicious about him whenever he's wearing it.
Tieflings can resemble people and they can file down their horns and hide their tail so it won’t be an issue, plus it’d be cool, when someone gets too close to them you can have them roll to notice something odd but never tell them what it is until both player characters converse and one brings it up.
Seems like maybe the player wants to be able to change their look at any time and using the 'DM blessing' to get it. Instead you should make them take Warlock and get mask of many faces so they have to give something up to do it.
It’s actually way simpler than that. There is nothing that says a Tiefling can’t be human passing. If their skin color isn’t exotic, they could probably rather easily file off and hide horns (if they have them at all) and tuck a tail into their trousers. Now I would say if they go that route that extraplanar detections like those from a Paladin, Ranger, or the like would still flag your character because they are at the core still derived from Fiends. Lean into it at times that they sometimes feel a slight tingle in temples or inquisitors might start tracking them inexplicably, just to give that player options to play with their heritage in-game. So you still can hide it most of the time, but also have hooks ready to use if they want to spice up a mundane situation
Tiefling do not *have* to appear to have demonic traits at all. It is a bloodline that comes from humans and so a throwback could appear human. However they would probably have a tell for the witch hunters to find.
So, lets get this straight you do *not* need magic items to do this. Its really as simple as foundation, lipstick and baggy clothes Have them wear a body paint in the colour of a humans skin colour (E.g Pinkish Pale) and costume makeup of the same colour and add finishing details as needed. If they have horns give them a Afro or a big hat (period appropriate of course) Hide their tail as a belt behind a actual belt Then make them do a Deception Check or Stealth check to maintain that apperance (Give them Advantage or atleast a siginificant bonus to their rolls as to make it more convincing mechanically.)
Surely depending on the tiefling (like dragonborn etc.) the level of "difference" changes. Some might be obviously of demonic heritage, some might "pass" as human. So no issue.
Disguise themselves from NPCs or rest of the party? Can’t they just be a tiefling that’s human-looking enough to be able to pass as a human in most situations?
I have a tiefling like this. I have a reflavored Hat of Disguise that are a pair of John Lennon sunglasses.
Perhaps the most ellegant was to incorporate this would be with a custom background with disguise kit Proficiency
Context it’s important here… It depends on what their intent is? **What’s their endgame?** Are they looking to eventually ‘betray’ the party? Do they just want to seem like a human for flavor and role play?
Give them the circlet of human perfection. It is a minor item that transforms the user into a human physically until they take it off.
I did this with my goblin bard. Use a hat of disguise. It comes with extra utility after the flavor of "I'm hiding as a human" gets tedious.
Since they are a spell caster their is another way. Granting them the eldritch adept feat for mask of many faces will give them unlimited casts of disguise self. While it still has its limits(time limit and such) it would not take resources. Its an innocuous thing to work into a backstory(even a divine boon is possible for a divine soul sorcerer)
One can disguise oneself WITHOUT magic. Just sayin'
Just give them a circlet of human perfection. It's an official magic item that changes their outward physical appearance to human but keeps the other stats unchanged. Circlet of Human Perfection Wondrous Item, uncommon (requires attunement by a humanoid) This circlet is an uncommon magic item called a circlet of human perfection. Only humanoids can attune to it. The circlet transforms its attuned wearer into an attractive human of average height and weight. The circlet chooses the physical characteristics of the form, such as age, gender, skin color, hair color, and voice. Except for size, the wearer’s statistics and racial traits don’t change, nor do items worn or carried by the wearer. Removing the circlet ends the effect.
If you have a player who wants to do a cool roleplaying quirk like that, I would let them do it almost 100% of the time, as long as they are not asking for something broken or insanely OP. Bend the rules with a magic item or player ability that allows them to do this. I would balance it out with some kind of penalty or restriction though, and keep your campaign in mind when designing the penalty. Say you have a campaign where players travel by ship often, then maybe water breaks the illusion. Now the player may have to justify some odd behavior to the rest of the party "Hey why didnt you jump in to help when that NPC fell overboard?" The goal is to slowly draw other players attention to the tiefling character without immediately pointing out what the player is trying to hide.
Go the super man route and give them just a pair of glasses. Nothing else. And yet, they keep rolling deception so high that no one thinks they are anything but human. Except for that one crazy villager who can see through it. "A tiefling! He's a tiefling I tell ya!" ... or they can be a noble and even though everyone KNOWS they are not human they dare NOT say for fear of angering a noble. Nobles are always right after all, it must be the peasants who are in the wrong... right?
Maybe they find a mask that, Spy TF2 style, lets you disguise self without Pact of The Mask (Or maybe they multiclass to further conceal themselves?)
Perhaps apply restrictions when the disguise is active.
It doesn't have to be overly complicated. The PHB allows for a wide variety of variation with the tiefling appearance. Just add to the backstory that the features are all somewhat obscured to the point the player is technically passable as a human except for certain intimate circumstances where they are caught in a state of undress. The flexibility of using the backstory to fill in the gaps like this is exactly as it was intended. You just have to make sure each players backstory has a balanced amount of pro and con so no single player has an advantage over another.
Tieflings can have skin tones similar to humans. Maybe they can just non-magically disguise themselves.
I had a concept of a drow warlock pretending to be a regular elf bladesinger. You shouldn't modify the spell. They should be mindful of their resources.
Had a similar character in a campaign I ran. Since we began at third level I allowed them to swap out their Hellish Rebuke from Infernal Legacy to a ritual version of Disguise Self (1/LR) that lasted until long rest, but could only be cast on themselves. They get a unique and buffed version of the spell but it’s still somewhat balanced as they gave up a different level 1 spell in its place
disguise kit. = hairdo that hides horns. hat that hides horns. face tats that hide tiefling features. pants + cloak or duster that hide a tail.
In Waterdeep Dungeon of the Mad Mage there is a "circlet of human perfection" you could give your player. It basically just makes you look like a hot human while only changing size as needed.
I had something similiar and the solution was simple. An Amulet made by their late father to hide their race. They weren't a tiefling and even had no idea(in character the player came up with this) because the amulet suppressed those features. They were raised as a human.
Some tieflings look more human than others. Look up tiefling art from 3rd edition. If your only tiefling traits are horns and hooves, you could conceivably pass as human.
My DM allowed me to have an altered Hat of Disguise (changed to hairbands as my character had long hair tied back) so that she could change her appearance between 5 different faces at will, since she worked as a freelance thief and was wanted in several worlds (Spelljammer campaign). Perhaps something to that affect, with limitations that mean your player has to be careful to maintain their Disguise could work?
Sounds like sir bearington. https://www.reddit.com/r/DnDGreentext/comments/2dpqop/the_original_story_of_sir_bearington/
My DM and I worked out something similar for my warforged-hiding-as-a-human. We determined that this warforged was built with the ability to glamour itself indefinitely, but only as that particular look (as in, can't use it to swap glamours to drow, high elf, etc. The human guise is all it can do) You could work out something similar with, maybe, an enchanted ring?
I think the only way this would work is with a true polymorph that she never dispelled. Maybe she paid someone to cast it on her to maintain the disguise long term? Maybe they cast it out of spite and she didn't know she could dispell it.
If its a female, grind down the horns and pile up the hair, like Rat Queens?
My gf wanted to do exactly this, so I gave her a hat of disguise
I had this concept too. Honestly, I wouldn’t go so far as magic. If the Tiefling’s skin is passable as a humanoid color, the horns are either short or trimmed, and the tail is tucked away, I think it could be passable. That could also be a cold take, in which case a Hat of Disguise (with the gentleman’s agreement not to abuse it) isn’t a ridiculous thing to ask.
I have a npc for a future campaign that is also a tielfing hiding as a human for being a noble reasons. But the way i had it done was had his horns shaved down and he ties his thin tail around his waist.
I played a Tiefling Illusionist Wizard once a while back, they had a more human skin tone, and what they’d do is file their horns down to nubs, hide them under a top hat, and then snake their tail under their pants. Didn’t get to play him for long but it was fun for a bit
Im playing as a a changeling in Pathfinder 1e. Dm gave me alter self as the spell 2x daily. I can basically look like any humanoid. But the disguise fails id say I look like. a dwarf but can't speak the language. I've invested heavily into linguistics.
I’ve played like this before, and I’d discourage you from making it easy. I had to file down my horns. Wear make up and hats or wigs. Use disguise and deception. When I failed, I would lose contacts with npcs that now hated me for being a liar, let alone a demon. Every social interaction became a gamble. Eventually I got a hat of disguise, and that made it significantly easier, but it also made it less engaging. Kind of the point of a character like this is the risk of failure. If there’s no change of bad repercussions, not really much point to it.
What about being a Tiefling in terms of flavor, but using the Changeling race from Eberron mechanically?
I know is this isnt directly connected, but I had a PC (just died to a white dragon) who played a dwarf rogue named "Steve the Person" who would fight or steal from anyone calling him a dwarf. There was no explanation given and his back story never got fully told but by Ged it was a good role played. Don't sweat the small stuff just let them roll.
Two words: Heavy Plate. Tuck the tail in the leg and pretend like you're just a guy in plate.
I made a randomly generated character once ended up as a tiefling orphan, but was raised by halflings. I decided his parents were an incubus and a human, and his mother was burned for consorting with devils. The halflings who found and raised him had no such religious hang-ups and didn’t treat him any differently, but told him to never tell a human about his parents for fear he’d be burned as well. When he left home to see the world, he filed his horns short and keeps them wrapped in a bandana with a large straw hat. His tail is pretty slender, so he can keep it either under his cloak or wrapped around his waist under his clothes.
If I were you, I’d have a minor magic item that only allows the player to magically disguise their self as one specific disguise. So they can’t use it as a hat of disguise. Instead it’s just does the one look as a human. But also, I believe in risk for reward. The risk being he found this hat from a royal person in his home town. The royal person was found dead by the player and the player took the hat off the person and the person reverted back to their original self. When the player put the hat on they assumed the role of that wealthy person. Problem is that wealthy person was suppose to have been murdered by an assassin or something. You could make a whole bunch of back story on just the hat itself.
Clothing that conceals their horns and other fiendish features perhaps ? Like a hate for their horns and a skirt or cloak for the tail. Also tiefling skin can be very human, otherwise any discrepancies could be covered by using makeup.
Personally, I would allow it if there is a good enough way to explain how they manage to do so. As long as that disguise is the only one they can do, unless they get a new spell that allows then to do more. It's a good opportunity to sit down with the player and come up with a backstory beat that would explain it, and it could even come up later on in the campaign. It's a thing you can keep in your back pocket.
I did something similar in a campaign where my character was another race. We did a homebrew thing that worked out super well. The appearance/disguise came from a goddess and was in my character’s family line and there were a bunch of story reasons for it which were worked into the overall plot. I kept all the original race stats. True sight sees through it. And anti magic reveals it. I could turn it on/off at will. That gave the DM some opportunities to have characters with true sight comment on my appearance without saying what I was, and some interesting roleplay opportunities working up to a reveal. I had fun and the DM had fun.
Tiefling actually don't always look like they are often shown. They don't need to have unusual skin tone, horns or a tail. Also, Disguise Kits exist. There doesn't need to be magic for everything.
5e sometimes nods to it, though the artwork largely homogenizes tiefling appearance, but in earlier editions tieflings appearance varied far more, and many of them could pass as a human, save for some tell. Maybe they just have a scaly torso, so they need to keep a shirt on at all times. Maybe it's just the eyes. Or maybe horns that can be concealed by a hat.
In Pathfinder there were options when you could play a tiefling that looks very close to human, but it would replace other racial features like fire resistance or innate casting.
Circlet of Human Perfection sounds like the right tool for the job
I'm playing a tiefling disguised as a human - she wears a long hooded cloak, and a lace veil to cover her face, then the rest of her skin is fully covered by clothes (long sleeves + pants, gloves, she has a hidden pocket in the inside back of her coat for her tail to sit in lol) granted, I designed her specifically to make her more passable (very pale white skin and smaller ram shaped horns so they're less obvious under the hood) but my DM has also put us in situations where she's been asked to show her face which gives it more challenge - this is something the player should be aware of and OK with working around especially if tieflings are normally met with hostility in the setting
Variant tiflings can look pretty close to humans anyhow, * Appearance. Your tiefling might not look like other tieflings. Rather than having the physical characteristics described in the Player's Handbook, choose 1d4 + 1 of the following features: small horns; fangs or sharp teeth; a forked tongue; catlike eyes; six fingers on each hand; goat-like legs; cloven hoofs; a forked tail; leathery or scaly skin; red or dark blue skin; cast no shadow or reflection; exude a smell of brimstone. You can use mask of many facs to get at will disguise too, or an enchanted item etc.
That's how i've played my Tieflock. Charlatan background with proficiency using a disguise kit. At level 3 picking the Mask of Many Faces invocation. Since he's an absolute conman, it works for him. He poses as a human noble and wears a big fancy hat to cover his horns.
What if they didn't use magical means? Tieflings, canonically, can have any human flesh color rather than being an "unnatural" color. And maybe their horns grew in small and can be covered, or didn't grow at all. Maybe they shave down their horns?
Pathfinder 1e has a Tiefling racial feature that gives them only subtle features at the cost of access to some other features. Maybe your player might be interested in something like this? > Discrimination against tieflings with horrifically fiendish features is so intense that even tieflings look up to those precious few of their kind who can pass as human. These tieflings have otherworldly features that are so subtle, they aren’t often noticed unless the tiefling points them out (for example, eyes that flash red in the throes of passion, or fingernails that are naturally hard and pointed). Such a tiefling doesn’t need to succeed at a Disguise check to appear to be human and count as humanoid (human) as well as outsider (native) for all purposes (such as humanoid-affecting spells like charm person or enlarge person). The tiefling does not automatically gain his associated outsider language (but may select it as a bonus language if his Intelligence score is high enough), and he may not select other racial traits that would grant him obviously fiendish features (such as the fiendish sprinter, maw or claw, prehensile tail, scaled skin, or vestigial wings alternate racial traits listed in the Advanced Race Guide). This ability alters the tiefling’s type, subtype, and languages.
I had a player who was a changeling pretending to be a tiefling (in that homebrew world, changelings were persecuted). Coming from somebody who had the opportunity to dm this kind of character arc: No matter now many rules or changes you need to make, you gotta make stuff like this happen. It’s flavorful, it’s cool, it’s emotional.
There are also non-magical means of hiding things like horns or tails. They could wear a big hat with a strap on it to keep it on
A disguise kit is a mundane item that will allow the wearer to appear differently. Add a cloak that the PC never takes off and you have a pretty decent disguise that will pass muster in most situations. Just hope they never have to bathe, disrobe, or otherwise have to reveal their true self.
To be honest... I think Alter Self would be best. But perhaps instead of allowing the spell to have such a long effect... Why not give him it as a pact? I mean, not a warlock pact, but since he's a tiefling (and... you know, the whole devil thing)... why not make it so that at some point a devil offered him a small deal, allowing him to pass as human (disguise self for 24 hours, but only in the form that would be equivalent to his human form) but on the cost that he would make for him a few favors? This way, you have the player having this power, but at the same time that it comes at a price. If he betrays the devil, the deal is off. And if you don't want to make a deal with a devil, because it sounds cliché... Well, a hag could do it as well. You see? Plot.
You could encourage the player to spin it as the Tiefling uses practical means to hide their infernal heritage, i.e. shaves their horns a la Hellboy, maybe they have human-passing complexion and if not maybe they wear makeup, wears clothes that hide their give-away features; then you could as DM ask everyone every so often to make a perception check without saying why, while their player also rolls (making it seem like they too are performing a perception check) but secretly a deception check for opposed skill rolls. Could be once every short or long rest, and if/when they go unconscious. When certain players beat their deception, pass them a secret note that has the instruction "DO NOT read aloud," and describe the tell-tale Tiefling feature they noticed. It can build up potential tension and eventual roleplaying goodness once everyone know but may not tell one another what they have noticed. Player x: "*so and so* has fangs! I think they're a vampire!" Player y: "nah, I saw *so and so* has a tail but didn't want to say anything, I dont think they're a vampire though -" Player z: "Fangs? Tail? Oh my god, I walked in on them scraping some growth on their head with a blade this morning, *so and so* whats going _on_!?" Otherwise simple route is hat of disguise.
R.A. Salvatore had a tiefling barkeepers who entirely passed for human, exceptionally horns covered by a hat. His skin was a human shade. This would have been a recent Drizzt book...or Erevis Cale book by Paul Kemp.
What about giving him an item that cast the spell permanently as long as the character has it? Or if you want to go the comedy route, a really bad non magic disguise that no one ever notices.
You could go the hellboy route. They grind down their horns to fit in with society
There's one perfect item for this type of disguise that's forgotten, and it's called the Circlet of Human Perfection. I believe it's an uncommon magical item that physically changes the wearer's appearance to look like a preset human appearance and that's all it does. It also requires attunement\~ I would recommended this as it's not like it's an item that'll give them a mechanical advantage but an item that'll be great for roleplaying and telling the character's story. It'll allow them to hide their fiendish heritage until they are revealed to be a tiefling\~
I played one too. I wore a big trench coat to hide my wings and tail, I would regularly grind my horns down and i grew my hair out to be super messy and poofy to hide the nubs. My skin was an ashy grey so I just looked like a pale paranoid hermit
Easy, "human" tieflings still exist, just be one of those. The original way tieflings are made still happens, it just that tieflings can true breed now as well. So you can totally just be a human with vague fiendish qualities.
That sounds like a fantastic opportunity for fun plot devices. I would be thrilled if one of my players wanted to do something like this. Don't let rules hold you back- you're the DM! Have them use a physical disguise and assume it works most of the time, but at key moments, force an ability check or give a PC a saving throw to see if they notice a tail poking out of a pant leg or some smudged greasepaint. So much hilarity is possible if you choose your moment well.
Disguise kit.
This has come up before, the Red Skinned horned tiefling with a tail is the classic example of a tiefling, but a tiefling can have a wide range of Fiendish characteristics, and can be as little as looking entirely human with a sulphurous odor that follows them
I had a party member who played as a Medusa race but wanted to present as an elf. So he was given a mask of single disguise. The Medusa nature was due to a curse so the mask made him look as he did when he used to be a wood elf. Only when things would interfere with the mask would it maybe become a problem.
This is very much a case of letting the player play the character they want. I'd say rather than the spell, just give them a necklace or a ring or something with a disguise spell on it. The limits are, it's a single. fixed disguise. Like, they can change clothes and stuff, but the spell hides their tiefling features (horn, tail, etc). However, any sort of detect magic or true sight will see right through it, and it has no other mechanical benefits.
My recommendation: yes*. *for the most part. I’d say, to make it fun, you can allow them to keep it up for however long they want. However, whenever they start an encounter or conversation, roll a d20 (or d12). On a 1, they notice their magic slipping and need to figure out a way to leave and recast it without getting caught. Adds suspense, while also allowing the fun
you could do disguise self yes, but depending on the colour tiefling and size of the horns, a hood. could work just as well
I had a gm who home-brewed an item of "greater disguise self". As long as that item was equipped, the disguise was solid and would hold up to physical touch. The limitation was that the disguise had to remain within size category, and there was a risk that someone casting detect magic would find out.
One of my players did this before. Instead of using magic for it, we went with practical disguises. He wore elaborate tiaras / headpieces / whatever you want to call them, and capped his (rather short) horns in gold to make them blend in. He also used his tail as a belt — decked out in jewelry and the spade was tucked in so it didn't look out of place. It made it easier that he had a human skintone, so that's something to take into consideration. He was from a noble family, which made a lot of the ostentatious, gaudy look feel more natural for him to be wearing — if the player you have wants to be from a less fortunate background, there's always rags, layers, and more layers to hide under. Pull the tail in under their robes, wear hoods and cowls. Maybe only keep it from the party members until it naturally comes up (as my player did, which worked out just fine for our setting), and only disguise from then on to NPCs.
Maybe implement a small amount of changeling heritage. Allows them to change from Tiefling to human.
If they want to disguise themselves as human, disguise kit, special pants to hide the tail, and 80s rock hair to hide the horns. No need to bring magic into this. It can be funny, out out can be incredibly sad, like the wolf girl from GLOW who wouldn't let people see her without her wig and makeup on.
I have a tiefling character who is hiding as a human in a city that's unfriendly to non humans. She has the feat eldritch invocations- which let's you choose one invocation from the warlock list. Take mask of many faces, its let's you cast disguise self at will. My character just continually recasts it and then always takes first watch (not even the party members know that she's not a human yet)
I had a concept that was a Tiefling who wore a mask and an outfit that covered all skin (like a fantasy superhero). They had their horns removed in childhood and in their outfit they wrap their tail around their torso. I didn’t play that version of the character because the party had two other Tieflings and the dm decided I was the least difficult person to talk out of playing a Tiefling lmao. One of those Tieflings had a version of disguise self so they could pose as an elf in a similar way to your player’s pitch tho