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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Jester David" data-source="post: 7088377" data-attributes="member: 37579">Looking at "the list" of D&D races on Wikipedia (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_character_races_in_Dungeons_%26_Dragons" target="_blank">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_character_races_in_Dungeons_&_Dragons</a>) and then cutting out the ones from the 3e Monster Manual, we're left with a staggering list of 97 races. Yikes! And it still doesn't include races from Dragon Magazine.Just copying the ones I know (or can guess) and giving thoughts. I tend to be harder on races from the "mortal" world as cramming a few million individuals into an established campaign setting is hard. Especially with so many existing races already fighting for space. Very different looking races are also tricky, as you can't easily find miniatures. My wife is playing a grippli in my homegame, and that proved tricky.Rating things on a scale of 1 to 5 with 5 being "ASAP" and 1 being "oh gods no."Bladeling Definitely an "evilish" one. Could be interesting in a planar supplement for a native race to extraplanar realms. And doesn't crown the world. 4/5Blue (Goblin) A variant goblin is easy to add, fits the world, and is a simple mini repaint. And can be handled by replacing existing features, being a subclass. 4/5 (when psionics are done)Bullywug These are a little too evil and corruptive. Rather have official grippli. 1/5Centaur Tricky to make work in a dungeon, and potentially Large. But the race is doable in some campaigns, and they skirt the issue of Large weapons and upper body armour. 3/5Changeling Yes. Interesting power, fun and unique role, and ties to existing creatures in the game. And as a hybrid race they're easier to work in as individuals rather than a full sustainable race with its own civilization. 5/5Chitine Spider-folk. Ick. There's a lot of these with ettercaps and drow. Not averse and I tend to have a soft spot for classical critters that have been in the game for many editions (rather than ones you're taking on). But there's a lot of cooler stuff. 3/5Deva I think there's room for both the deva and the aasimar. The idea of a fallen angelic race is cool, and I love the reincarnation angle. I disliked deva being the replacement for aasimar in 4e though, because the lore just didn't mesh with the idea of people descended from angels. They weren't the counterpart of tieflings. But there is less of a need for this race. Might be fun to make them more spiritual and less angelic, perhaps slightly more Eastern/Hindi in origin. 4/5Doppelganger Give us the PC variant with the changeling. No.1/5Draconian I love Dragonlance. Deeply. But I think the dragonborn does the half-dragon PC race better. Plus, the iconic racial ability of the dragonborn doesn't involve dying. 1/5, but a 3/5 if a Dragonlance book is being done.Duskling Between this, and the shadar-kai and dark ones/darklings there's a lot of shadowy races in D&D. I think we really only need one PC shadow race. I think darklings would be the way to go, being more classical, and having some variants through dark ones and dark creepers. 1/5Elan Generic tacked-on psionic race is generic. I bet you could overlap this race with the kalashtar as well, so using that would be a better alternative. 1/2Githyanki Lots of space in the planes, and a pretty iconic race. I'd like to see this as a subrace of a Gith race. 4/5Githzerai See above. 4/5Gnoll I love me gnolls. And they're a big part of my campaign setting. But Volo's Guide to Monsters would have been the place for this race, so it's not happening. Thankfully, Kobold Press has me covered. -/5Grimlock A classic evil Underdark race, and also overlaps with the morlock tropes. I like it, but the blindness aspect would make them super awkward to play with. They'd be immune to a lot, and a lot of ally powers wouldn't trigger. So some fine tuning would be required. 3/5Hagspawn Pathfinder did this with their "changeling" and I dug it. I like my Ravenloft, and hags are cool. And, again, this is a race you can work into existing worlds. But this is a pretty niche race, so while I'd love it, I'm not sure it's high on the list. -/5 (But it'd be interesting to try and do this as an alternative to the variant human. I might try and do a DMsGuild product with hagspawn...)Half-Giant Goliaths killed them and took their stuff.Just reflavour. 0/5Hamadryad D&D does need a "plant" race, but the hamadryad is hindered by the female-only lore. I dislike changing that and going against continuity and mythology, so it's easier to just not-update. Illumian These are funky. I know there were some fans back in the 3e day, but I'm uncertain how much interest they have now. Like the hagspawn, this isn't so much a race as specialized human variant. Could be fun, but could equally work as a feat or prestige class. 1/5Kalashtar Odd and another human variant more than a full race. This race is also super tied to Eberron, and doesn't work as well in other settings, losing its lore, identity, and purpose. 2/5 (Unless Eberron is being updated in which case it becomes a 4/5)Kender Reflavoured halflings. Next.Killoren/ Wilden I hate these guys. Rather than building on stories and lore established by over three decades of D&D and 5,000 years of human mythology, the writers were just creating something themselves. Likely over a long weekend while on a deadline...  I think my dislike for these guys stems from the fact they're unrelated to the myriad other sentient plants in D&D. They're the definition of tacked-on. 0/5Kuo-toa A little to aberrant and twisted to make a good race. I suppose an Underdark supplement could make use of these guys (and grimlocks and others), but apart from such a book I don't see the need. 2/5 Lycanthrope These are weird, as they're basically cursed humans. It's humans with entirely different powers. Plus, it's hard to reconcile the differences in power between the MM versions and a PC version. Better as a prestige class or just being applied to a character. 1/5Maenad Another psychic race that exists to pad out the Psionic Handbook and make it look like psionics isn't just patched onto campaign settings. Very, very, very loosely tied to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maenad" target="_blank">Mythology</a>. Not sure it's enough to justify the race. Instead, this should just become a kalashatar sub-race. 2/5Minotaur The Large version is awkward, but I like the Medium-sized variant found in Dragonlance. And 4e. Another option that could work in an Underdark book! And the race is both iconic and easily found as minis (albeit big ones). 4/5Modron, Rogue Not sure how the balance for this would work, and finding a mini that isn't a die with arms and legs glued to it would be hard. But it's another good option for a Planar book. 3/5Mongrelfolk Funky and a monsterous race, better served as opponents. If you need to play one just reflavour a different race. Would have been good in VGtM or Curse of Strahd but too late now. 2/5Mul Essential for Dark Sun. Could also just be a dwarf or human subrace. Not sure if "half-dwarves" are required for other settings. 2/5Neanderthal Could be interesting but feels like a variant human more than a full race. And there's some weirdness in having a primitive version of humanity in fantasy worlds where evolution isn't generally a thing as intelligent design is very literally what happened. 2/5 Pixie It's tricky to reconcile this as a player race when the existing monster is so potent. It's weird when the PC version can't do nearly as much as the monster. It ends up feeling like a "pixie" in name only. And you end up having to justify flight and work around armour/gear 2/5Pterran There's room for dino-people in the game. I think I'd rather see this as a variant of suarials (which aren't on the list somehow). 1/5 for pterrans and 3/5 for saurials, as dino-men are cool and part of the Realms.Revenant I like how Uneathed Arcana did it. But very funky.Satyr The male-only race also rubbed some people the wrong way. People don't like being told what they can't do. And like the pixie there's certain abilities expected by the creature, that are just hard to present as a player option.Shade Yet another shadow person option. Might be good as a variant human, or as part of a Realms campaign setting - they're really tied to that world. But otherwise "meh". 2/5Shadar-kai As mentioned above, I think we have room for *one* shadow humanoid race, and darklings have the better legacy. Shadar-kai are cool but they have this cliche '90s comic book, edgelord thing going on that is rather cheesy now. They're and gothy and grimdark and feel like they should be walking around a misty Seacouver of the World of Darkness with a black trench coat and wielding a katana. 2/5Shardmind Ugh. So much "meh". I dislike sharminds because they're just forced into the setting. Their whole backstory and origin and lore was invented to make them a thing. They seem to exist solely because someone wanted another living construct. And there's some weirdness in a having a creature made fragments of crystal that's affected by poison, cold, arrows, and the like. Especially when it can fly apart and reform. Shardminds really feel like a race from someone's homebrew world that they tried to make "a thing". 1/5 Shifter A much better way of doing a PC lycanthrope. It works as the offspring of a lychan or someone injured but not fully infected by lycanthrope. Plus there's a good place for them in other settings, like Ravenloft. Bring them back, sooner rather than later. 5/5Skulk A chameleon race. Okay, but more of a lame version of the changeling. They're a pretty classic creature though… But the power is just lackluster and there's little special going on. 2/5Stonechild Goliath redux. Next.Taer Overlaps a little with the neanderthal. Nothing amazing here. I think this archetype of a primitive furry person might work better with a quaggoth race done for an Underdark book. 2/5Thri-Kreen While Dark Sun put these bugs on the map, they predated that setting. They are the D&D insectoid race. They're neat and have a lot of material written about them and their culture/ mindset. 4/5Vampire Way more of a class or prestige class than a race. 1/5 Vryloka These were weird in 4e. We'd already had a couple vampire options, such as the dhampire. Which is much more interesting. With their bright red hair and desire to be a "real" race, these guys felt forced. 1/5Warforged There is very much room for a golem race in D&D. They're a great addition. 5/5Xeph The third fairly generic psionic race that exists to pad the pagecount of the Expanded Psionic Handbook. Again, I think the kalashatar uses this as inspiration for a subrace. 2/5Looking at the above, I think a big planar book with races seems like a good idea at this point. Something that's a mix of Manual of the Planes, Planescape, and Fiend Folio. And a big dungeon/ Underdark book with assorted subterranean races would also be neat. The latter might be harder as it overlaps with both the 3e and 4e Underdark books and 1e's Dungeoneer's Survival Guide.</blockquote>

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