D&D 5E Fivethirtyeight Article About D&D Race and Class Combos

[TrippyHippy]

The impact of a mere '+1' or '+2' on Ability scores (associated with Prime scores for Classes) tends to make a big indication of which combo to go with. On that basis, you can see how small changes could balance up some of these things.

Halflings might be chosen for more Class combos if there was more flexibility on Ability bonuses. You could get this by having a greater variety of sub-Races. If there was a sub-Race of Halfling that gave a +1 bonus on Wisdom scores, you might see more Halfling Druids, for example. Likewise, Gnomes used to be considered excellent choices as Bards in previous editions, but because there is no Charisma bonus in this edition, the combo is sub-optimal and so Gnome Bards are practically extinct.

As I said above, the reason why Half-Elves are so highly rated (as a 'rare' Race) is because they are overpowered. They take the best bits of the Elf, an Extra +2 on Charisma and have the versatility of Humans with a +1 on any two Ability scores following on. That versatility just about makes them best at every combo - which is a problem, I think.

 

[Parmandur]

Faulty data - I made dozens of sample characters just to test out the technology. Just because I made a character does not mean I am playing it.

For those that want to see them in order from most common to least common combination:

[sblock=List]
#RaceClass
4,888HumanFighter
3,076ElfRanger
2,744ElfWizard
2,568HumanWizard
2,542HumanRogue
2,339HumanCleric
2,326HumanPaladin
2,257ElfRogue
2,199DwarfCleric
2,188TieflingWarlock
2,009DwarfFighter
1,946HumanMonk
1,808Half-ElfBard
1,797HalflingRogue
1,779ElfDruid
1,729GoliathBarbarian
1,715HumanRanger
1,714HumanWarlock
1,709Half-OrcBarbarian
1,688DragonbornPaladin
1,454HumanBard
1,435HumanBarbarian
1,401Half-ElfWarlock
1,360GnomeWizard
1,349ElfMonk
1,335DragonbornFighter
1,325Half-ElfRogue
1,324HumanSorcerer
1,323DwarfBarbarian
1,258Half-ElfSorcerer
1,242ElfFighter
1,062TieflingSorcerer
1,031DragonbornSorcerer
996HumanDruid
976Half-OrcFighter
971DwarfPaladin
921ElfCleric
891Half-ElfRanger
875DragonbornBarbarian
865GoliathFighter
841ElfSorcerer
835AarakocraMonk
817Half-ElfPaladin
806TieflingBard
801HalflingBard
798TieflingRogue
755ElfWarlock
750GenasiMonk
651ElfBard
648GenasiSorcerer
646Half-ElfFighter
628Half-ElfCleric
611Half-ElfWizard
600GnomeRogue
584DragonbornWarlock
584GenasiDruid
580GenasiFighter
572AarakocraRanger
558GenasiWizard
551HalflingMonk
516TieflingWizard
516Half-ElfDruid
510DragonbornCleric
495GenasiRogue
492ElfPaladin
484DwarfDruid
473TieflingPaladin
459GenasiCleric
457DragonbornMonk
440HalflingRanger
429AasimarPaladin
427Half-OrcPaladin
420GenasiRanger
415DwarfRanger
415GenasiWarlock
405DwarfMonk
400GnomeBard
399Half-ElfMonk
395DwarfWizard
394DwarfBard
389GoliathPaladin
388GenasiBarbarian
379TieflingFighter
371DragonbornBard
362DwarfRogue
362AarakocraRogue
355DragonbornRanger
353TieflingCleric
352GenasiBard
346DragonbornWizard
339HalflingFighter
336ElfBarbarian
332GnomeDruid
326GoliathMonk
325DragonbornRogue
322GenasiPaladin
313AarakocraBarbarian
311GnomeWarlock
310HalflingSorcerer
309TieflingMonk
309DragonbornDruid
308HalflingCleric
306HalflingBarbarian
304GnomeCleric
302HalflingDruid
296HalflingWarlock
286DwarfWarlock
284Half-OrcMonk
281TieflingDruid
279AarakocraBard
275AarakocraDruid
274AasimarCleric
273AarakocraFighter
272Half-OrcCleric
272TieflingRanger
264DwarfSorcerer
257GnomeFighter
257HalflingWizard
257GnomeSorcerer
249AarakocraCleric
245Half-OrcRanger
238GnomeRanger
233Half-OrcRogue
227GnomeBarbarian
215Half-OrcDruid
212Half-OrcWarlock
210AasimarWarlock
207HalflingPaladin
203AarakocraWarlock
199Half-OrcBard
198TieflingBarbarian
196GnomeMonk
192GoliathCleric
190GoliathDruid
187GoliathRanger
181AarakocraWizard
177AarakocraSorcerer
174AasimarSorcerer
153Half-ElfBarbarian
151GnomePaladin
149AarakocraPaladin
144GoliathBard
144AasimarBard
143Half-OrcWizard
139GoliathRogue
136GoliathWarlock
126Half-OrcSorcerer
116AasimarFighter
114GoliathSorcerer
109GoliathWizard
87AasimarMonk
71AasimarRogue
70AasimarBarbarian
67AasimarWizard
65AasimarDruid
60AasimarRanger[/sblock]

The data set is imperfect...but it matches up with what WotC has been saying for years about the spread of preferences, to a tee.

 

[BookBarbarian]

Half Elves, as an uncommon race, are so popular is because their design is overpowered

Maybe, but it could also be that a lot of player's like a to choose a race that is relate-able. Half-Elf has that balance that is just fantasy enough and familiar enough.

I remember playing one in NWN based on 3E when in every case a Human or Elf would have beet better, but gosh darn it, I liked the idea of making "me with pointy ears". I still do.

So I play Half-Elf Fighters, Barbarians, and Rangers. The +2 to Charisma just gets wasted every time.

 

[Demetrios1453]

Aasimar are the rarest of all characters, even more rare than birdmen. Though it doesn't specify if this is the DMG's or the Volo's Guide's take of the race.

It's the DMG version, as the chart states it only includes the races that are available for free.

 

[Mephista]

Also, given that both humans and elves are highly rated, people are picking half-elf as an extension of liking humans and elves. Instead of a race onto itself, we might need to consider it as an extension of human/elf popularity in general. It having good stats might very well be an extension of that.

 

[Rygar]

The data set is imperfect...but it matches up with what WotC has been saying for years about the spread of preferences, to a tee.

Are those counts for the number of each row? If so, there's a more interesting story here. Off the cuff, that'll work out to about 45k-50k. From that...

1. We have to eliminate all of the people who downloaded it, played with it, then forgot about it.
2. We have to eliminate all but one instance for all people who decided to use it to store a bunch of characters they might one day use.
3. We have to eliminate all but one instance for each person who uses it to track more than one character.

That would give us the total subscriber account. Which, being *very* generous and assuming people have an average of two characters, is only 25k-ish. An average of three characters means about 17k users, etc.

Those numbers are *really* bad IMO.

 

[Harzel]

I've listed the results as a percentage of the total below for easy of comparison.

HUMAN 23.1%
ELF 15.1%
HALF-ELF 9.6%
DWARF 8.7%
DRAGONBORN 7.5%
TIEFLING 7.0%
GENASI 5.5%
HALFLING 5.4%
HALF-ORC 4.6%
GNOME 4.2%
GOLIATH 4.1%
AARAKOCRA 3.5%
AASIMAR 1.6%

FIGHTER 12.7%
ROGUE 10.4%
WIZARD 9.0%
BARBARIAN 8.3%
CLERIC 8.3%
RANGER 8.1%
PALADIN 8.1%
WARLOCK 8.0%
MONK 7.2%
BARD 7.1%
SORCERER 6.9%
DRUID 5.8%

I haven't any interpretation to put on it, but the selection of race looks much more skewed than the selection of class. For class, the ratio between most and least chosen is only a bit more than 2x. For race, it's already 4x between the top and the middle.

 

[Azzy]

Human fighters are the go to beginning character. It feels that we are getting more and more new players. That can account for the uneven distribution.

Most traditional fantasy and mythic heroes tend to be what D&D calls fighters. And human. Plus both are some of the most relateable class and races. I seriously doubt that it's merely just new players gravitating towards them.

 

[Cognomen's Cassowary]

Or, alternatively - Variant Human Fighters get the greatest number of ASI's and Feats.

Yeah, I pointed at that likely, alternate explanation in the post originally, but it got edited out with the jump to the front page.

 

[Tony Vargas]

Are those counts for the number of each row? ...

Those numbers are *really* bad IMO.

No, they're statisics: characters per 100k characters. There aren't 109k characters in DDB, there could be any number, less than 100k (if it were a lot less the numbers'd start looking weird) or more - could be a lot more, even millions.