The 10 Player Races in Volo's Guide Revealed

Jester David · Nov 3, 2016

Aasimar Sounds like they want to redo them from the DMG. Makes sense: the DMG was a poor book to serve as a player reference product. Happier to have them given the full meal deal. I just hope they worked in a deva variant.
Already allowed at my table.

Bugbear A surprise. They're sneaky CE brutes. Murderers and serial killers. Hard to picture them as Player Character material. But I imagine the stealthy medium sized creature role is well served by them.
They're sociopaths!! Yeah... not at my table.

FirbolgThis race does have some unfortunately changes to lore. It'd be nice if they kept the Celtic look with the big red beards to at least tie the visual similarities of the two races together. Hopefully there's more art in the book that offers and alternate take. Personally, I don't mind the slight lore tweak, as they could use a realignment to be closer to the mythological version. And more fey creatures are nice.
I'll probably allow, if a player asks. The Feywild is open enough for there to be lots of places a firbolg could hail from.

Goblin Expected. People love their gobos.
I'd probably allow.

Goliath Sad. I liked having Elemental Evil races remain there, to keep that product useful...
They don't really have a solid place in my world. So I wouldn't allow for that reason. Or I'd discourage/ ask for a great story hook.

Hobgoblin A bit of a surprise. But they fill a military/martial role that isn't served by most other PC races. They work for any mercenary race quite nicely.
Would allow if the player had a good story.

KenkuUnexpected but hoped for. I love kenku as a ravenfolk.
They don't have a strong presence in my current campaign setting sadly. So I won't push them towards my players like kobolds. But allowed.

KoboldExpected. People love their kobos.
Kobolds have a big presence in my world. Definitely allowed.

LizardfolkNot a huge surprise.
Have a place in my world, and as a neutral race they're easier to work in than hobgoblins, orcs, etc.

OrcExpected. Warcraft and all.
Would allow.

TabaxiHuh... I knew they were bringing in "catfolk" so I was expecting that. As a Monstrous Manual race - a book I have supreme nostolgia for - this is a bit of a surprise. And has some stronger ties to D&D history than generic "catfolk", while still allowing people to play catfolk. Okay, nice. I like when they go for a callback while also doing fan service rather than just inventing something.
They don't really have a place in my world. I could work them in if a player had their heart on the race, but I'd prefer not to.

TritonAn aquatic race does fill a pretty big niche in the player toolbox. Great for a lot of campaigns.
But not mine. Not allowed: they're all dead.

Yuan-ti PurebloodSomewhat of a surprise. Like the bugbear they're a good human-ish stealthy race. For people who want to be a good rogue but not be a halfling.
If the player had a solid hook, I'd allow it.

gyor · Nov 3, 2016

Jester David said:
Aasimar Sounds like they want to redo them from the DMG. Makes sense: the DMG was a poor book to serve as a player reference product. Happier to have them given the full meal deal. I just hope they worked in a deva variant.
Already allowed at my table.

Bugbear A surprise. They're sneaky CE brutes. Murderers and serial killers. Hard to picture them as Player Character material. But I imagine the stealthy medium sized creature role is well served by them.
They're sociopaths!! Yeah... not at my table.

FirbolgThis race does have some unfortunately changes to lore. It'd be nice if they kept the Celtic look with the big red beards to at least tie the visual similarities of the two races together. Hopefully there's more art in the book that offers and alternate take. Personally, I don't mind the slight lore tweak, as they could use a realignment to be closer to the mythological version. And more fey creatures are nice.
I'll probably allow, if a player asks. The Feywild is open enough for there to be lots of places a firbolg could hail from.

Goblin Expected. People love their gobos.
I'd probably allow.

Goliath Sad. I liked having Elemental Evil races remain there, to keep that product useful...
They don't really have a solid place in my world. So I wouldn't allow for that reason. Or I'd discourage/ ask for a great story hook.

Hobgoblin A bit of a surprise. But they fill a military/martial role that isn't served by most other PC races. They work for any mercenary race quite nicely.
Would allow if the player had a good story.

KenkuUnexpected but hoped for. I love kenku as a ravenfolk.
They don't have a strong presence in my current campaign setting sadly. So I won't push them towards my players like kobolds. But allowed.

KoboldExpected. People love their kobos.
Kobolds have a big presence in my world. Definitely allowed.

LizardfolkNot a huge surprise.
Have a place in my world, and as a neutral race they're easier to work in than hobgoblins, orcs, etc.

OrcExpected. Warcraft and all.
Would allow.

TabaxiHuh... I knew they were bringing in "catfolk" so I was expecting that. As a Monstrous Manual race - a book I have supreme nostolgia for - this is a bit of a surprise. And has some stronger ties to D&D history than generic "catfolk", while still allowing people to play catfolk. Okay, nice. I like when they go for a callback while also doing fan service rather than just inventing something.
They don't really have a place in my world. I could work them in if a player had their heart on the race, but I'd prefer not to.

TritonAn aquatic race does fill a pretty big niche in the player toolbox. Great for a lot of campaigns.
But not mine. Not allowed: they're all dead.

Yuan-ti PurebloodSomewhat of a surprise. Like the bugbear they're a good human-ish stealthy race. For people who want to be a good rogue but not be a halfling.
If the player had a solid hook, I'd allow it.

I could see human churches taking orphan Bugbears in and training them to be good/neutral Avenger Paladins, which the Bugbears would be da bomb at. Of course they're also the best race for assassins.

And what makes you say Yuan Ti Purebloods are good at sneaking? They get +2 Charisma and +1 intelligence last time I heard and I haven't seen what features they get yet.

Jester David · Nov 3, 2016

gyor said:
And what makes you say Yuan Ti Purebloods are good at sneaking? They get +2 Charisma and +1 intelligence last time I heard and I haven't seen what features they get yet.

Where did you hear that? I only see the images above. Don't see any stats there...

But, with Cha, they do make a good deceptive/liar race, which makes sense. They're the snake oil salesmen of the D&D world.

gyor · Nov 3, 2016

Jester David said:
"svirf" like in "smurf" (likely the source) + neblin.
Simple.

Screw it, just say Deep Gnomes.

SkidAce · Nov 3, 2016

turkeygiant said:
I think something to remember is kobolds, orcs, and goblins are MONSTEROUS RACES, they aren't necessarily intended to fill the really versatile roles of traditional PC races. Yes you can play as these races, but the goal wasn't to make them playable as all classes, just those that fit their monsterous natures.

Quoted for truth.

GarrettKP · Nov 3, 2016

Aasimar have 3 subraces: The Protector (+1 Wis, can grow Wings and deal extra Radiant damage with attacks), The Scourge (+1 Con) and The Fallen (+1 Str, can activate a fear Aura and deal extra Necrotic damage with attacks)

Base all Aasimar have +2 Charisma and have the other features that the DMG Aasimar had except the spellcasting and +1 Wis (Those were replaced by the subraces).

SkidAce · Nov 3, 2016

TheHobgoblin said:
It is a good thing the spoilers warned me now not to buy the god damn book. I just feel bad for anyone who was stupid enough to pre-order it.

I think all races should not neccesarily be good at all things, and have no problem with the orc as presented. I like the fact that it inclined to a particular type of wizard.

And if I didn't like it, I would change the penalty for my game to something else, or negate it completely and game on.

The previews have me even more stoked for the book.

PS, I am not stupid.

gyor · Nov 3, 2016

The reddit where some of these images come from, which is now closed.

If you look at the Yuan Ti Pureblood in the MM, its even lots of caster/magic stuff. Like Animal Friendship at will (snakes only), and Poison Spray/Suggestion 3 times a day, magic resistance, poison immunity, darkvision.

So if I had to guess, poison spray cantrip, animal friendship (snakes only) at will, suggestion 1/short rest, poison immunity, but I think the PC verison won't get magic resistance. Just a guess.

The Jenneral · Nov 3, 2016

Why's the Kobold so garbage? Between sunlight sensitivity and the strength penalty I really don't see a scenario where I'd want to use one over a goblin (if I wanted a small monstrous race) or a dragonborn or lizardfolk (if I wanted to play a dragon or reptile). Plus, they should really get some kind of bonus to int for the inevitable artificer/inventor type class. Honestly, I really really hate to see stat penalties return. They're not 5e's style at all. Pretty disappointed with all of the "monstrous" PC races, actually. Kind of killed a lot of my hype for this. Still going to pick it up for the monster manual/monstrous arcana component, though.

gyor · Nov 3, 2016

GarrettKP said:
Aasimar have 3 subraces: The Protector (+1 Wis, can grow Wings and deal extra Radiant damage with attacks), The Scourge (+1 Con) and The Fallen (+1 Str, can activate a fear Aura and deal extra Necrotic damage with attacks)

Base all Aasimar have +2 Charisma and have the other features that the DMG Aasimar had except the spellcasting and +1 Wis (Those were replaced by the subraces).

I think they still get the light cantrip, its Lesser Restoration and Daylight that got dumped, for the ability at 3rd level to transform into some kind of Angel form for 1 minute (basically Guardian Angel, Avenging Angel, and Fallen Angel kind flavour from the sounds of it).