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).

 

[Minigiant]

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!

If I were in charge, I'd make D&D bite the bullet and make the dhampir and demigod (hercules/wonderwoman/gilgamesh style) subraces for humans.

 

[grimslade]

Races or lineages are going to need a rework in the post-Tasha's D&D world. The whole base culture of a race or ethnicity will need to be more descriptive than stat bonus and a few ribbons abilities. Players and DMs should have examples of what makes a Dwarven fighter different from a half-orc or human one. Is it favored weapons? Is there a whole 'true' dwarven style? The little we are given is reduced to a caricature, a twisted Tyrion Lannister who 'drinks and fights things'. Why are dwarves so traditional? Why do they live in the mountains? They are long-lived but not so long as elves, why are ancestral history and clan more defining for a dwarf?
The design space of race has been so narrow. In 3.X we had prestige classes and feats to further shape a character's identity, if they wish. What does a dwarf barbarian look like? Is it the Battlerager in funky armor? Or is it a wild dwarf clan living on mountainsides and worshipping the dwarven gods through animal guises? What does a dwarven warlock that is not a heretic look like? Or the dwarven bard? There needs to be space to project these concepts.

 

[FrozenNorth]

One is a clan crafter, who wound up getting seduced by the black market, and lost everything. He's a fighter.

The other is a dwarven priest who served for over one hundred years before his wife died in a cave-in. He started adventuring just to get the materials for a resurrection spell, but now has discovered a mission from Moradin.

The last is my character, a dwarven wizard. Raised to be a kind of historian and leader for his people, he was exiled when he discovered a dangerous truth about a patriarch.

All three are very dwarfy-dwarves, but very different. Their beards are different, their combat style is different... but to all three, being a dwarf is very important!

Lately, I’ve been using dwarves to explore what it would be like to grow up in a Good society that was also profoundly traditionalist and conformist. It ranges from Chaotic characters that were “hammered down” because they didn’t fit in and became voluntary exiles, to more Lawful characters who nonetheless feel an extreme amount of pressure to excel.

It makes for very interesting characters.

 

[prabe]

Lately, I’ve been using dwarves to explore what it would be like to grow up in a Good society that was also profoundly traditionalist and conformist. It ranges from Chaotic characters that were “hammered down” because they didn’t fit in and became voluntary exiles, to more Lawful characters who nonetheless feel an extreme amount of pressure to excel.

It makes for very interesting characters.

I have someone playing something close to the chaotic end of the spectrum you imply there. It's ... interesting--and it gave me some opportunity to think about dwarves on my world.

 

[Hexmage-EN]

I've always wondered what the appeal was for halflings. The gnome subraces at least all have fun gimmicks (inventor, woodland fey, Underdark survivalist). Of course, gnomes are my favorite race, so I'm biased.

 

[Tonguez]

I've always wondered what the appeal was for halflings. The gnome subraces at least all have fun gimmicks (inventor, woodland fey, Underdark survivalist). Of course, gnomes are my favorite race, so I'm biased.

Same, Halflings do seem to have been shortchanged from the very beginning - they’re short dextrous humans with hairy feet but without the fae gimmicks of the Gnomes or the militant traditionalism of Dwarfs.

 

[EzekielRaiden]

Totally on board with these ideas. Sadly, I think any attempt to make the races/folk more coherent that would result in the loss of any existing option (even if it's folded into another race) wouldn't fly with the player base at large. Remember gnomes getting delayed in 4e?

Well, the idea would be that the races are all still there. They're just streamlined together. Gnomes and halflings are the only standard "small" races, so compacting all their rules together would simplify a lot. Forest gnome absorbing Ghostwise halfling would be the only real loss...and the latter's not a standard option in the PHB. Half-orc would be a specific form of Dual-Blooded human, and Orcs would become a proper, PHB-supported race ("goblinoids" or "wildfolk"). My full lineup was:

0. Human or "Wanderfolk" (Standard, Dual-Blooded, Starbound)
~~
1. Beastfolk (minotaur, tabaxi, aarakocra, lupin) [classic "beastfolk," but also finding unity where others see divergence]
2. Dragonborn or "Scalefolk" (Imperial, Badlands, Jungle/Swamp, Coastal) ["imperial" is just a term, not a culture]
3. Dwarf or "Stoutfolk" (Gold/Mountain, Copper/Steppe, Tin/Ocean, Iron/Cavern)
4. Elves or "Feyfolk" (Sun, Moon, Star, Void) [uniting Eladrin/High Elves, Wood Elves, Drow, and Shadar-Kai under a single heading]
5. Forgeborn or "Metalfolk" (Warforged, Envoy, Archivist, Sower)
6. Halflings or Hinnfolk (Plain, Hill, Crag, Deep)
7. Orc or "Wildfolk" (Orc, Goblin, Hobgoblin, Bugbear)
8. Planeborn or "Pithfolk" (Tiefling, Aasimar, Deva, Genasi) [catch-all "planar" ancestry; folk of the "pith" or "stuff" of another plane]
9. Undead or "Soulfolk" (Vampire, Ghost, Revenant, Skeleton) [intended catch-all for playable sapient undead]

Possibly swapping out Undead/Soulfolk for Plantoids/"Greenfolk" (Dryad, Wilden, Floran, Saguaran), with the other being added in a supplement (or both being put in supplements).

Dual-blooded can thus be human+anything, because humans are weird like that, with options for blending other races besides human+something as a sidebar or DMG option. It would explicitly call out half-elf and half-orc as both demonstrated examples, and as "very common, due to living together in the same cultures with notable frequency." As noted, "imperial" refers to a look and bearing rather than a culture, because culture would be handled separately.

 

[Tonguez]

This is a fair point. I think if I were to go in and tinker with all this stuff (no pun intended), I'd make gnomes specifically much more purely artificers and clockwork types. They wouldn't know the first thing about architecture, and building a ship or smithing a sword is for mere laborers, whereas they are ARTISANS. Dwarves--specifically mountain dwarves, given my above stuff--would be engineers who think on the scale of cities and mountains, smiths who build things to last until the end of an age (or being thrown in a volcano!).

Yes very much this Dwarves are Architects and Seige Engineers whereas Gnomes are gadgeteers. The general problem is that D&D doesnt really provide rules for use of Architecture and Seige Engineering and so doesnt really embrace this aspect of the Dwarven culture.

I once had a player who was a real life Engineer and so In order to differentiate from Gadgeteering Gnomes I use De Architectura by Vitruvius to create an Architect Class for one Freeform game I played and designed a ‘principles of Architecture’ tree that allowed the Skill:Architecture to be applied in an ‘adventure’ situation thus:

Spoiler

• Principles of Mensuration : the architect is able to calculate the angle of a surface (eg that a floor is sloping), heights, lengths, volume and depth (eg below ground)
• Principles of Leverage: the architect is able to use leverage to lift and move heavy objects
• Principles of Reinforcement and Stress : the architect is able to use props and bracing to reinforce walls, doors and roofs or apply stress in such away that they can cause beams to warp, buckle or break and even cause locked doors to pop open
• Spatial Awareness: the architects increasing familiarity with how structures are built and awareness of quirks and oddities in design and construction allow them to discover hidden passages, traps and similar hidden secrets with higher likelyhood
• Hydraulics and Pneumatics: the architect understands the nature and flow of water, air and other fluids and is able to channel them in useful ways
• Demolitions : the architects understanding of stress allows them to cause whole structures to collapse
• Urban Planning
• Terrain modification

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

The matter about halflings and gnomes is these are too typecasted into rogues or another stealth class. They are allowed to be more things but they wouldn't be so good.

Dwarves aren't only little vikings. Maybe they aren't so popular among the new generations because they are very traditional, with personalities as Walker the Texas Ranger, or Clark Kent's parents.

Peter Jackson's Hobbit trilogy shows us dwarfes also can be good looking. Female dwarves also are perfect because they can be totally tomboy but also very feminine at the same time.

Usually lots of players want to choose "exotic" races to feel they are different and originals. And the dwarves are like that "old fashion" clothing precisetely because everybody was wearing it.

Other matter is dwarves don't appear in the current fantasy, less in the action-live productions, but they are a classic in the videogames.

I guess dwarves and other little humanoid only need more fiction where they are the main characters.

 

[JiffyPopTart]

The matter about halflings and gnomes is these are too typecasted into rogues or another stealth class. They are allowed to be more things but they wouldn't be so good.

Dwarves aren't only little vikings. Maybe they aren't so popular among the new generations because they are very traditional, with personalities as Walker the Texas Ranger, or Clark Kent's parents.

Peter Jackson's Hobbit trilogy shows us dwarfes also can be good looking. Female dwarves also are perfect because they can be totally tomboy but also very feminine at the same time.

Usually lots of players want to choose "exotic" races to feel they are different and originals. And the dwarves are like that "old fashion" clothing precisetely because everybody was wearing it.

Other matter is dwarves don't appear in the current fantasy, less in the action-live productions, but they are a classic in the videogames.

I guess dwarves and other little humanoid only need more fiction where they are the main characters.

I think Varric from Dragon Age is my favorite dwarf in fantasy....and he is not a mini viking at all, so I think it would be a great idea for D&D to to move on from The Tolkien Gang and Friends Show as they revise how they look at races in the game.