D&D 5E The Fall Of The Dwarves: What Races Do People Actually Play?

What races are people actually playing, and how much of it is Tolkien fantasy as against other stuff?

Fortunately D&D Beyond provides a better source of data than we've ever had. The most recent data from less than a week ago in December 2020 alas does not provide percentages.

1. Human
2. Half-Elf
3. Dragonborn
4. Tiefling
5. Half-Orc

In February 2019, using stats found via this very site:

1. Human
2. Variant Human
3. Half Elf
4. Tiefling
5. Dragonborn
6. Wood Elf
7. High Elf
8. Half-Orc
9. Goliath
10. Mountain Dwarf
11. Lightfoot Halfling
12. Hill Dwarf

Which is a bit of a change from what people were creating in launch month for D&D Beyond (mid 2017)

1. Human
2. Elf
3. Half-Elf
4. Dwarf
5. Tiefling
6. Dragonborn
7. Genasi
8. Halfling
9. Half-Orc
10. Gnome
11. Goliath

The percentages are presented in different ways in 2019 and the launch month, with launch month merging the various subraces. So to compare like with like:

• Wood elves and high elves taken together in the 2019 data are more popular than half-elves (or variant humans)
• Meanwhile if we split the wood elves and high elves from 2017 they are probably both behind tieflings and dragonborn
• Dwarves taken together in 2019 are only just behind dragonborn. They've still fallen from ahead of tieflings and dragonborn to behind them
• Halflings combined in 2019 are neck and neck with half-orcs and ahead of goliaths
• Genasi combined in 2019 are a little behind goliaths and slightly ahead of combined gnomes

Interesting that dwarves have fallen so heavily out of favour - and half orcs have climbed so strongly into favour; I guess there's been a lot of talk here. The thematics of tieflings and dragonborn (entirely unsurprisingly IMO) have made them core races and even the dwarfs are disappearing in favour of half-orcs (which IMO is a surprise).

 

[Zeromaru X]

Not everything is about maximizing mechanical power.

One may think that, but if you search about dragonborn in forums and the like, you'll see mostly fanmade fixes and people complaining about how weak they are. Given that level of complaints, I was expecting the race not to be as popular as it is.

 

[Don Durito]

One may think that, but if you search about dragonborn in forums and the like, you'll see mostly fanmade fixes and people complaining about how weak they are. Given that level of complaints, I was expecting the race not to be as popular as it is.

Forums are probably not representative of gamers at large. They're a self-selecting group.

 

[Crimson Longinus]

On a serious note, I think that dwarves are kinda backstabbed by gnomes. They're supposed to be brilliant engineers and architects, but since there are better engineers and architects, dwarves are basically just bearded guys.

You're not wrong. I would just kill the gnomes and give their stuff to dwarves and halflings. Dwarves can get the the rock gnome stuff and halflings the forest gnome stuff.

 

[EzekielRaiden]

You're not wrong. I would just kill the gnomes and give their stuff to dwarves and halflings. Dwarves can get the the rock gnome stuff and halflings the forest gnome stuff.

Were I to write the race options for 6e, halfling and gnome would be merged into a single race, probably stealing the FR term and calling them "hinnfolk." They'd loosely be arranged by how they prefer to live: lightfoot halflings prefer a purely above-ground, plains-ranging life; stronghearts prefer the settled and partly-underground life like Bilbo; rock gnomes live underground primarily but near the surface; deep gnomes prefer to live, well, deep and rarely if ever come to the surface. You could probably merge ghostwise halflings and forest gnomes outright, since they're both reclusive, magic-wielding, usually forest-dwelling. Maybe have them be even further divorced from the land than others by primarily living in trees; you don't need massive trees to have a stable village if you're a halfling/gnome-sized person!

But then again if I were in charge of races for a hypothetical future D&D, I'd also actually make human subrace options, so maybe I'm crazy!

 

[Guest User]

The D&D Beyond data I think also shows that at initial release dwarves were a popular race. 6 years into 5e, people on D&D Beyond are trying more exotic races or more optimized builds.

There is no Dwarven Accuracy feat. There is no Dwarven Axesinger class.
It, also, looked liked Half-Elves have faded in popularity.

Elves include: Shadar Kai, Dark, Eladrin, Wood, High, Pale, Plaid, and the very
reclusive Blue Suede.

5e has been a very good edition for Duergar Villains...which might also have an impact on the numbers. The dwarves with the most 'screen time' in modules are villains.

 

[Crimson Longinus]

Were I to write the race options for 6e, halfling and gnome would be merged into a single race, probably stealing the FR term and calling them "hinnfolk." They'd loosely be arranged by how they prefer to live: lightfoot halflings prefer a purely above-ground, plains-ranging life; stronghearts prefer the settled and partly-underground life like Bilbo; rock gnomes live underground primarily but near the surface; deep gnomes prefer to live, well, deep and rarely if ever come to the surface. You could probably merge ghostwise halflings and forest gnomes outright, since they're both reclusive, magic-wielding, usually forest-dwelling. Maybe have them be even further divorced from the land than others by primarily living in trees; you don't need massive trees to have a stable village if you're a halfling/gnome-sized person!

But then again if I were in charge of races for a hypothetical future D&D, I'd also actually make human subrace options, so maybe I'm crazy!

With the last bit, yes. Human subraces wouldn't end well. Hinnfolk stuff was excellent though.

 

[Warpiglet-7]

First of all, I raise my axe and hammer even if they’re in a sea of rapiers!

Secondly, even if we be a diminished race, there is still a proud dwarf here that draws breath!

to me! Axes of the dwarves! To me!

 

[EzekielRaiden]

With the last bit, yes. Human subraces wouldn't end well. Hinnfolk stuff was excellent though.

Well, the only three I could come up with were Standard, Dual-Blooded, and Starbound. Standard is your ordinary human. Dual-Blooded would scoop up all the half-human/half-somethings into a single, one-stop-shopping place; they'd have the human mechanical base, but replace the "Standard human" package with (some portion of) the mechanical base of their other parent. Starbound is humans who have been Weirded™ by having lived in or been born outside the circles of the mortal world--not on another plane, but in Fantasy Space. It was sort of an effort to re-include elan (or, rather, the slan who inspired them), so I admit you could just drop them and have Human alone, treating dual-blooded as a variant or the like if you really wanted to.

 

[Tales and Chronicles]

Make gnomes tiny.
Forest gnomes (aka pixies) with a flight speed.
Rock gnome, industrious mole people.
House gnome, the brownies with household magic.

Then make dwarves small with too subraces:

• Mountain dwarf, the down-to-earth race who loves well tended forge, deep tunnels and mead.
• Hill dwarves (aka halfling), the down-to-earth race who loves well tended gardens, open air and mead.

 

[Crimson Longinus]

Well, the only three I could come up with were Standard, Dual-Blooded, and Starbound. Standard is your ordinary human. Dual-Blooded would scoop up all the half-human/half-somethings into a single, one-stop-shopping place; they'd have the human mechanical base, but replace the "Standard human" package with (some portion of) the mechanical base of their other parent. Starbound is humans who have been Weirded™ by having lived in or been born outside the circles of the mortal world--not on another plane, but in Fantasy Space. It was sort of an effort to re-include elan (or, rather, the slan who inspired them), so I admit you could just drop them and have Human alone, treating dual-blooded as a variant or the like if you really wanted to.

Okay, that was actually not terrible.