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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Yaarel" data-source="post: 7249994" data-attributes="member: 58172">Race Class combo, together, defines a character ‘type’The race-class combo, together, is what defines a character ‘type’.The raw data from Dungeons and Dragons Beyond demonstrates that when players create a character that they want to play, they are selecting a flavorful specific race-class combo, rather than just a class alone or just a race alone.A *character* is a specific character concept that blends together both its race flavor and its class flavor. This concept is what makes a playable ‘type’. Players seem to strongly want overall character concepts that combine a specific race and specific class together into a single comprehensive flavorful idea. It is vital that D&D makes sure that each specific race-class combo can synergize mechanically optimally.If a race-class combo is popular, how much more important it is to get its mechanics right.The most popular classes and the most popular races are an abstraction when considered in isolation from each other. In reality, it is the specific race-class that players care about.In abstraction, on average, the most popular classes are Fighter, Rogue, Wizard, and Barbarian. And the most popular races are Human, Elf, Half-Elf, and Dwarf. But the raw data displays the specific incidences. So the most popular *characters* are as follows.(Technical note. Here the top-20 characters cluster together according to their decimal magnitudes, approximating the proportions of the inverse Golden Ratio.)Top 20 Character ‘Types’Human FighterElf RangerElf WizardHuman WizardHuman RogueHuman ClericHuman PaladinElf RogueDwarf ClericTiefling WarlockDwarf FighterHuman MonkHalf-Elf BardHalfling RogueElf DruidGoliath BarbarianHuman RangerHuman WarlockHalf-Orc BarbarianDragonborn PaladinCommentsSo, the Human Fighter is the most popular character type that players want to play. It is in a magnitude all its own. (Would love to know about stats for Variant Human and Battle Master Fighter.) This is the Bronze Age warrior king archetype, incarnates as King David of the Iron Age, as Alexander the Great in the Classic Age, as King Arthur in the Medieval Age, and still a favorite today as the Jock. Occasionally in both ancient and modern times, a woman hero shows up to incarnate this Warrior King archetype. A Human Fighter, who proves competence in battle and is able to save the population from various threats.Then comes the Elf Ranger and Elf Wizard. Presumably, these two types are Wood Elf Ranger and High Elf Wizard. These two combo types are top priority. For both, it is extremely important to make sure that the mechanics for the Ranger and Wizard classes and their respective Elf cultures, Wood and High, all have extremely good mechanics to synergize excellently with their counterparts.It is important to improve the mechanics for the Ranger. The Ranger class (or several spin-off classes from it) must make players happy − especially Wood Elf players that are most prominent. Already, the Wood Elf culture synergizes with the current Ranger. It is the class that needs to be better. Conversely, the Wizard class is decent, it is the High Elf culture mechanics that need to synergize with the Wizard.The fact the Elf Ranger is so popular, while the Human Ranger is significantly less popular, is one of the indications that players are choosing for the sake of overall character concept and flavor. Not class in isolation. (Even with regard to the Human Ranger, it is likely a specific combo type that players are trying to play. Namely, Aragorn from Tolkien.)The Wood-Elf-Ranger type seems to have inherited all of the traditions from the early D&D High Elf being a gishy ‘Fighter/Magic-User’. The  Eldrich Knight Fighter seems unable to serve in this capacity. Thus, in the  attempts to improve the Ranger class, one of its options must have the  Wood Elf in mind to synergize optimally with it. This kind of Ranger must be a  magical warrior, with strong gishy, overtly magical offense spells, as  well as woodsy wilderness flavor. At the same time, this kind of Elven Ranger is light armored, dex-fighting, and skilled at archery, as well as stealthy. In other words, this is more a magical version of ‘special ops’, rather than a skirmishing ‘light infantry’. But for the Wood Elf, magical warcraft is central to the concept.The Wood-Elf-Ranger type is a stealthy magical warrior. In the top 20 list, the Rogue shows up to emphasize the stealthy warrior aspects of the Ranger and the Druid shows up to emphasize the magic aspects of the Ranger. Yet the prevailing concept of the Wood Elf is both magic and a special ops warrior.The only time the Druid class makes an appearance is because it happens  to be part of the comprehensive Elf Druid combo ‘type’, a woodsy  full caster, tapping into the aspects of the Ranger gish. Nevertheless, Wood Elf flavor is mostly a gish combining  fighting with magic in the form or a Ranger, despite mundane Rogue  and full caster Druid making an appearance. By contrast, the High Elf  flavor is almost entirely a full caster, a Wizard.These two types that  prevail for the Elf are the Wood Elf Ranger and the High Elf Wizard. The  game works better when both of these concepts are mechanically optimal.The most wanted Elf flavor is innately magical, and is either a Ranger gish or a Wizard full caster. These are the vibrant archetypes for the Elf cultures. They are the two ‘types’ that players most want to play.Human Fighter, Human Wizard, and Human Rogue seem good indications for popular classes, but moreso typify the flavor of Human culture itself. Warrior, technologist, badass.In a third magnitude cluster, come the Human Cleric − presumably because of the perceived need for a dedicated healer − and the Human Paladin holy warrior. Both express a sacred mystical dimension to the Human race. The Human as a mysterious ‘soul’.Altho Cleric and Paladin do slightly less well on average when abstracting the most popular classes, they make a good showing here as part of overall Human character concepts. Especially what ‘types’ constitute the Human race.Later in a fourth magnitude cluster, the Human Monk makes an appearance, perhaps blending all of these  Human qualities − warrior, ki-wielding technologist, badass, and  mysterious mystical soul.Dwarf Cleric and Dwarf Fighter. In that order. These are virtually the only concepts that typify the D&D Dwarf cultures. Probably each should dominate one Dwarf culture. Wisdom Cleric prevailing among the Hill Dwarf, and Strength Fighter prevailing among the Mountain Dwarf. Make sure each class-culture combo synergizes mechanically.The fact Tiefling Warlock enjoys significantly more popularity than Human Warlock, suggests most players want the overall character concept that combos both the race and the class together as a single comprehensive concept. Half-Elf Bard. Half-Elf only appears in the top 20 characters as a Bard. This is currently the only place where the Fey flavor can happen for the Charisma as charm, magic, beauty, art, and playing with minds. Similarly, the Elf that is indigenous to the Feywild, the Eladrin, is primarily a Charismatic Bard culture. It is all about magic, beauty, and playing with minds.The only time Halfling makes an appearance is as the childlike Halfling Rogue combo.The only time a Goliath makes an appearance is as the rugged Goliath Barbarian. A surprisingly strong showing for an otherwise less popular race. It is the combo that matters.The only time a Half-Orc makes an appearance is as the savage Half-Orc-Barbarian.The only time a Dragonborn makes an appearance in the top 20 is as an ironically noble Dragonborn-Paladin character type. The flavor of the Paladin is decisively Human. Yet the remix fusion of  the medieval Knight-versus-Dragon archetype, seems to find traction in  the form of an ironically noble Dragonborn Paladin.In sum, the evidence demonstrates how players are choosing specific race-class combos, rather than races alone or classes alone. Together these comprehensive combos are what define a ‘type’, the specific archetype that players want to play. Players choose this because the specific combo is what creates the desirable flavor.Advanced players will occasionally want to play ‘against type’. But each type itself, in the first place, must work well as an optimal synergistic combo.In SumThe character ‘types’ that players most want to play are:Human Fighter, Human Wizard, Human Rogue, Human Cleric, Human Paladin, Human Monk.= warrior, technologist, badass, mystical soulHigh Elf Wizard= only full caster, Harry Potter School for WizardsWood Elf Ranger, Wood Elf Rogue, Wood Elf Druid= stealthy gishDwarf Cleric, Dwarf Fighter= devoted, idealistic, intrepidHalf-Elf Bard= Fey Charisma, charm, magic, beauty, and playing with mindsHalfling Rogue= onlyGoliath Barbarian= onlyHalf-Orc Barbarian= onlyDragonborn Paladin= only</blockquote>

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