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D&D 5E Favorite Unusual Races/Lineages
- Thread starter Paul Smart
- Start date
Baron Opal II
Hero
1) Genasi (would love some para- and quasi- elemental options as well)
2) Changelings
3) Warforged, although mainly to see how WotC tries to balance a character without need to sustain themselves than the mechanical theme.
Honorable Mention: The dralasite conversion? I forget what they were called. They were my favorites in Star Frontiers.
EtA: Plasmoids!
2) Changelings
3) Warforged, although mainly to see how WotC tries to balance a character without need to sustain themselves than the mechanical theme.
Honorable Mention: The dralasite conversion? I forget what they were called. They were my favorites in Star Frontiers.
EtA: Plasmoids!
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RoughCoronet0
Dragon Lover
Oh, I have quite a few favorites among the unusua races. I tend to like them better the the more human-like races personally.
Tortles. I love these turtle/tortoises people. I do tend to play them differently from their traditional lore however, making them more battle hardy and snappish (like snapping turtles).
Lizardfolk. You might start seeing a pattern, but I love reptiles so the Lizardfolk are of course a favorite of mine. I enjoy playing them as skilled hunters or as wild druids.
Yuan-ti. Snakes are my absolute favorite when it comes to reptiles and I often flavor my Yuan-ti as the abomination variant so they can be more snake-like.
Kobolds. My favorite little sorcerers, I enjoy their pluckiness and their strong sense of loyalty.
Gnolls. Another race I greatly like but often play differently, I tend to play them as fierce but wise nomads that stalk wild places to hunt. They often follows primal paths (Barbarian, Druid, Ranger).
Thri-kreen. I love these ant/mantis creatures as well, and one of my favorite characters I ever roleplayed as was a Thri-kreen Artificer. I also like flavoring them with Psionic-like feats, class features and spells.
Warforged. This is a fun race to play, and I enjoy coming up with creative ways to explain how the manifest their powers or features they gain as they level since they are technically constructs.
Kenku. I love these little mimics, they are just so cute and quirky. I also really like pairing them with classes/subclasses that give them options to fly so they can gain back one of the things that was taken from them.
Harengon. I don’t know what is is about these creatures but I just really like them as well.
Some honorable mentions (though I have already listed a quite a few) are 4e’s Wilden and Shardmind, as well as Tieflings and Dragonborns (which I view as unusual despite being Core races)
Tortles. I love these turtle/tortoises people. I do tend to play them differently from their traditional lore however, making them more battle hardy and snappish (like snapping turtles).
Lizardfolk. You might start seeing a pattern, but I love reptiles so the Lizardfolk are of course a favorite of mine. I enjoy playing them as skilled hunters or as wild druids.
Yuan-ti. Snakes are my absolute favorite when it comes to reptiles and I often flavor my Yuan-ti as the abomination variant so they can be more snake-like.
Kobolds. My favorite little sorcerers, I enjoy their pluckiness and their strong sense of loyalty.
Gnolls. Another race I greatly like but often play differently, I tend to play them as fierce but wise nomads that stalk wild places to hunt. They often follows primal paths (Barbarian, Druid, Ranger).
Thri-kreen. I love these ant/mantis creatures as well, and one of my favorite characters I ever roleplayed as was a Thri-kreen Artificer. I also like flavoring them with Psionic-like feats, class features and spells.
Warforged. This is a fun race to play, and I enjoy coming up with creative ways to explain how the manifest their powers or features they gain as they level since they are technically constructs.
Kenku. I love these little mimics, they are just so cute and quirky. I also really like pairing them with classes/subclasses that give them options to fly so they can gain back one of the things that was taken from them.
Harengon. I don’t know what is is about these creatures but I just really like them as well.
Some honorable mentions (though I have already listed a quite a few) are 4e’s Wilden and Shardmind, as well as Tieflings and Dragonborns (which I view as unusual despite being Core races)
Stormonu
Legend
Complete book of Humanoids, 2E. I don't think I've seen them as PCs in any edition since then, but it shouldn't be hard to stat them up.
A quick hot take:
Ability Score Increase. You increase your Strength by 2 and your Dexterity by 1.
Age. Wemics generally live harsh, somewhat brutal lives. They mature at age 13 and usually live around 40 years, though there are those who have lived 80 years or more.
Size. Wemics grow to 10 feet long, reaching heights of six to seven feet when standing erect. They easily weigh over 400 lbs. Your size is Large, but you use medium-sized weapons and armor.*
Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
Leap. Wemics triple the distance they can cover when jumping.
Claws. As a bonus action, you can use your front claws to make a melee weapon attack, using strength or dexterity to hit. On a hit, you deal 2d4 slashing damage.
Natural Hide. When unarmored, your base AC is 14.
Languages. You speak the Wemic language, which consists of gruff growls, posturing, and rumbling words. Most wemic traditions are oral, though they do on occasion make permanent records with pictographs and/or carved beads. You can also speak, read, and write Common.
* Alternately, treat the Wemic as Medium-sized, but treat it as large for calculating carrying capacity and the weight they can push or drag.
Eltab
Lord of the Hidden Layer
Since the stat penalties are gone, a Kobold. I want to re-fluff Grovel, Cower and Beg into Center of Attention and give all my friends Advantage against a group of enemies. Now, how to do that without staying within easy reach of (or in the middle of) a group of enemies when their turn(s) start ...
Mind of tempest
(he/him)advocate for 5e psionics
kobolds seem to be commonly liked I wonder why as I do not see the appeal?
Weiley31
Legend
Well the last UA for 5E did include them in fact.
BookTenTiger
He / Him
Its like playing a dragon puppy!
Weiley31
Legend
Now that the holiday has pretty much passed and I'm a bit more mentally functional/
-Shadar-Kai: Yes I do enjoy them and its especially for the cliche/stereotypical nature that is usually associated with them: they are pretty much the go to Goth race in DND. Of course, it also helps that they are linked to the Raven Queen who happens to be one of my fave recent additions to the varied Pantheon of Dungeon and Dragons deities. Their complete circling of starting out edition life as Fey and ultimately full circling back to their fey roots, by making them Elves, is interesting but one of the elements that I typically ignore when involving them in my session lore. (The part about them being elves.) I much more prefer them as their 4E humanoid variant where they are absolute thriller seekers, boasters/hypemachines, carnal pursuers, stimulation addicts among other things that ENworld would probably frown upon if I started discussing "tags" all of a sudden on here, and athletics. I also add in the part from the original 3.5 Edition lore where they wear the Cold Iron arm bands with the spikes/nail on the inner portion. And that all helps prevent them from fading away due to ennui They are descendants from the original Shadow Fey of the Shadowfell who basically mingled with the original mortal servants of the 4E version of the Raven Queen after she was zapped to there. Nature(with a lot of fading to black) and time happened and boom: the Shadar-Kai came to be from such mingling. So that's how they still have Fey Ancestry in that regard. And if you REALLY want to get into it all, a number of subclasses in 5E can be "designated" as subclasses that Shadar-Kai would mostly be/take which is neat and I wrote a whole list down for session/lore usage.
-Tabaxi: I am a cat person. And my baby/bud for life is my Tuxedo Cat. And while I don't mind the anthro/Elder Scrolls approach to them in the bipedal format, I run them different. For starters, the Tabaxi are not bipedal but look EXACTLY like your regular domesticated house cat. This allows them to blend in more. And since Animal Adventures came out with rules for cats, I pretty much either use the Tabaxi race option or the playable cat options and just label/use the term Tabaxi. It is the term that all Tabaxi use when they identify themselves as. And I pretty much use the Monarchies of Mau background and all for them instead. (Jungle cats/tropical cats are okay but I prefer the more magical cat version of a fictional cat in a fantasy setting.) Fun fact: a group/party of cats is called a Clowder. And thanks to Pathfinder 2, I know what heritage/racial weapons they would use. Aside from all that, they are pretty neat.
-Changelings: I like the "dark fairytale" aspect of them. Yeah the shapeshifting/spy stuff is all great and all. But the whole thing on how Changelings are made/produced/created and the possible bad ending route(become the Hag) really is dark and neat. I like the idea of a Changeling daughter resisting their Hag mother or the possibility of falling into the dark side. Their "Masks/Personaes" also are a neat look into their relationships and how they maybe or even in regards to relationships.
Honorable Mentions:
-Kalashtars. I dig their dual aspects and the background of the Quori themselves. And since I like Soul Knifes/Psylocke from the X-Men, I enjoy having them as Way of the Soul Knife monks.
-Simic Hybrid: I was never really interested in playing one. Until a random post on a Facebook page said they refluffed a Simic Hybrid to play as a Mind Flayer. Especially when they chose the option Grappling Appendages(Tentacles) option for their Animal Enhancement choice. Now I'm waiting for WoTC to add a playable Aberrant race in a UA so I can jack whatever Aberrant natural resistance it gets (ala Reborn/Dhampir) so I can jump the gun with a "Mind Flayer" pc. Might be able to combine such a thing with the third party Nightfell 5E's Vampire class to get to the closet "playable" route of a Mind Flayer stat block using this strat. Aberrant Mind being the second best option.
-Owlfolk: Birbs. I like Owls. And I need an excuse to play as the Hsiao in 5E. And I have Humblewood so I have plenty of options for Racial Feats for Owlfolk (or any Birdfolk) in DND.
-Shadar-Kai: Yes I do enjoy them and its especially for the cliche/stereotypical nature that is usually associated with them: they are pretty much the go to Goth race in DND. Of course, it also helps that they are linked to the Raven Queen who happens to be one of my fave recent additions to the varied Pantheon of Dungeon and Dragons deities. Their complete circling of starting out edition life as Fey and ultimately full circling back to their fey roots, by making them Elves, is interesting but one of the elements that I typically ignore when involving them in my session lore. (The part about them being elves.) I much more prefer them as their 4E humanoid variant where they are absolute thriller seekers, boasters/hypemachines, carnal pursuers, stimulation addicts among other things that ENworld would probably frown upon if I started discussing "tags" all of a sudden on here, and athletics. I also add in the part from the original 3.5 Edition lore where they wear the Cold Iron arm bands with the spikes/nail on the inner portion. And that all helps prevent them from fading away due to ennui They are descendants from the original Shadow Fey of the Shadowfell who basically mingled with the original mortal servants of the 4E version of the Raven Queen after she was zapped to there. Nature(with a lot of fading to black) and time happened and boom: the Shadar-Kai came to be from such mingling. So that's how they still have Fey Ancestry in that regard. And if you REALLY want to get into it all, a number of subclasses in 5E can be "designated" as subclasses that Shadar-Kai would mostly be/take which is neat and I wrote a whole list down for session/lore usage.
-Tabaxi: I am a cat person. And my baby/bud for life is my Tuxedo Cat. And while I don't mind the anthro/Elder Scrolls approach to them in the bipedal format, I run them different. For starters, the Tabaxi are not bipedal but look EXACTLY like your regular domesticated house cat. This allows them to blend in more. And since Animal Adventures came out with rules for cats, I pretty much either use the Tabaxi race option or the playable cat options and just label/use the term Tabaxi. It is the term that all Tabaxi use when they identify themselves as. And I pretty much use the Monarchies of Mau background and all for them instead. (Jungle cats/tropical cats are okay but I prefer the more magical cat version of a fictional cat in a fantasy setting.) Fun fact: a group/party of cats is called a Clowder. And thanks to Pathfinder 2, I know what heritage/racial weapons they would use. Aside from all that, they are pretty neat.
-Changelings: I like the "dark fairytale" aspect of them. Yeah the shapeshifting/spy stuff is all great and all. But the whole thing on how Changelings are made/produced/created and the possible bad ending route(become the Hag) really is dark and neat. I like the idea of a Changeling daughter resisting their Hag mother or the possibility of falling into the dark side. Their "Masks/Personaes" also are a neat look into their relationships and how they maybe or even in regards to relationships.
Honorable Mentions:
-Kalashtars. I dig their dual aspects and the background of the Quori themselves. And since I like Soul Knifes/Psylocke from the X-Men, I enjoy having them as Way of the Soul Knife monks.
-Simic Hybrid: I was never really interested in playing one. Until a random post on a Facebook page said they refluffed a Simic Hybrid to play as a Mind Flayer. Especially when they chose the option Grappling Appendages(Tentacles) option for their Animal Enhancement choice. Now I'm waiting for WoTC to add a playable Aberrant race in a UA so I can jack whatever Aberrant natural resistance it gets (ala Reborn/Dhampir) so I can jump the gun with a "Mind Flayer" pc. Might be able to combine such a thing with the third party Nightfell 5E's Vampire class to get to the closet "playable" route of a Mind Flayer stat block using this strat. Aberrant Mind being the second best option.
-Owlfolk: Birbs. I like Owls. And I need an excuse to play as the Hsiao in 5E. And I have Humblewood so I have plenty of options for Racial Feats for Owlfolk (or any Birdfolk) in DND.
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