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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Autumn Bask" data-source="post: 7585465" data-attributes="member: 6986805">I've seen plenty of players pick Elves, and their weapon proficiencies are also usually wasted. The fact of the matter is that that's just the icing on the cake, and the same is true for Dwarvan Combat Training. In fact, lets compare Elven racials and Dwarven racials, side-by-side.Elves have +2 DexDwarves have +2 ConBoth have DarkvisionBoth have Racial Combat Training. (Yeah, it's baked into the Elven Subclasses. Whatever.)Elves have Keen Senses, which gives them proficiency in Perception.Dwarves have Tool Proficiency, which is more niche, but also harder to come by.Elves have Trance, which varies massively in usefulness depending on the setting.Dwarves have Stonecunning, which varies massively in usefulness depending on the setting.Elves have Fey Ancestry, which gives them advantage on Saving Throws against being Charmed, and magic can't put them to Sleep.Dwarves have Dwarven Resilience, which gives them advantage on Saving Throws against Poison and resistance to Poison damage.So, at base, I would say these two races are fairly comparable. Now let's look at subclasses:Hill Dwarves: +1 Wis, +1 hp per levelThis, in my opinion, is really good. Especially in addition to Dwarf's base +2 Con. You make the tanky classes tankier, and the squishy classes less squishy. And it's important to remember that Spellcasters do benefit from increased Con. Hill Dwarves are good picks for most martial classes, as well a Wisdom casters like Druids, Rangers, and Clerics.Mountain Dwarves: +2 Str, Light and Medium Armor Proficiency.Two +2s to Ability Scores is very rare, and the Armor Proficiencies would be nice, if this wasn't clearly intended for a Strength-based character.High Elf: +1 Int, Cantrip, Extra LanguageA/an extra Cantrip is always nice.Wood Elf +1 Wis, +5 Movement Speed, Hide EasierThe movement is nice, but I'd take the Hill Dwarf's health, any day, assuming we're just speaking from a balance perspective.Overall, I would say that both Dwarves and Elves are the benchmarks for balanced races. I think the reason you don't see Dwarves getting a lot of play has more to do with the races aesthetic, rather than the merits of its mechanics.</blockquote>

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