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).

 

[Ravenbrook]

It would be interesting to see what the percentages are in other game systems. Most players can relate to traditional fantasy races, I don't know if that's really the case with "unique" new ones. My guess is that most players will then play human characters. This also applies to sci-fi, although Vulcans in Star Trek are basically "space elves."

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

My own lesson about the game of thrones is not everything is about power and astuteness but the help by the right allies. If you aren't a true leader making efforts to get and keep trust and loyalty by subordinates and allies but a tyrant, mafia capo or toxic boss then the sensible people will not want to be sacrificed as cannon fodder to save you neck, and you shouldn't be surprised if you are betrayed in favor a rival for revenge against the suffered mistreatment.

Other matter is if the state can controll everything, even with the best one of the intentions the consequences will be like a child too overprotected and unable to fend for himself.

I tell again a saying by my father: "Mule owned by everybody is eaten by the wolves" (because nobdy worries about take care it).

The true communists in D&D are the kenders because they share everything, and they don't worry about the things being borrowed by others.

---

I love dwarves because they respect their roots, their traditions, defends their families with the warcry "MAKING EREBOR GREAT AGAIN!". They are ready to cooperate for a zombie apocalypse and working together to kick-ass bad people like that governor or Nega, that fool with a spiked bat.

I have got the Endless Quest gamebook "the revenge of the dwarfs", at least the translated version.

 

[Hexmage-EN]

I think this Dwarven tomb epitaph from Dungeon of the Mad Mage says a lot about Dwarven culture: "He is survived by his work."

 

[Crit]

Yeah, I was very much thinking the whole time, "This has the potential to blow up in my face SPECTACULARLY if I'm anything less than puissant with circumspect scruples." Starbound could also do things like take inspiration from can-pass-for-human aliens like Kryptonians or Gallifreyans. I spent easily half an hour trying to come up with anything else that wouldn't have Horrifically Unacceptable Implications and came up empty, which was somewhat disappointing as it broke the otherwise rather nice "every folk has 4 options" symmetry. (I also moved away from using the word race and used "folk" instead; human is the colloquial term, with the "formal" term being wanderfolk, because humans, more than any other folk, are unable to just stay wherever it is they're from. It's both part of why there are Starbound humans--because proudly reaching beyond the circles of the world is just such a gosh darned human thing to do--and why humans do so often build great nations or empires.)

I think that idea for Human sub variants is actually very valuable. It seems like the most efficient way of handling the spectrum of half-human half-(anything) races.

 

[Charlaquin]

Every time my eyes skim past the title of this thread I get a little pang of “Ooh! What a cool adventure premise!” and then I remember it’s about how (in)frequently they’re played and I get a little disappointed

 

[Charlaquin]

You forgot an edition (not that I'm surprised), but it did very slightly continue the pattern.
4e: 51-57 in (4'3" - 4'9")
Though you could argue that 5e, in trying for a looser and more "word-based" style, simply took the 4e measurements and expanded them in both directions to account for unusually tall/short dwarves, e.g. 4'11" is pretty much 5 feet, and 4'1" is pretty much 4 feet, even though that's only two inches outside the usual range from 4e, so just shorthanding that to "four to five feet" is reasonable. If the pattern continues into 6e, we'd be looking at dwarves with a minimum typical height (4'5"-4'7") equivalent to their AD&D maximum typical height (4'6").

If you look at the actual height and weight tables, “4 to 5 feet” isn’t even entirely accurate for 5e. Hill dwarves have a minimum rolled height of 3’10” and a maximum of 4’4”, whereas mountain dwarves have a minimum of 4’4” and a maximum of 4’8”. That kind of thing is actually quite common in 5e, where the description rounds to the nearest half-foot, but the actual numbers in the random height and weight table are a little off. Weights are even more egregious.

 

[Campbell]

Not sure what impact it has on their play, but from a mechanical perspective Dwarves are fairly poorly designed. They offer very little to classes (other than ability bonuses) that are thematically apropriate while offering quite a bit to classes which are not in the Dwarven wheelhouse. If I lean into martial character classes on a half orc I get quite a bit that jives with the role I want to play while with a Mountain Dwarf I pretty much get bumpkiss.

 

[Charlaquin]

Not sure what impact it has on their play, but from a mechanical perspective Dwarves are fairly poorly designed. They offer very little to classes (other than ability bonuses) that are thematically apropriate while offering quite a bit to classes which are not in the Dwarven wheelhouse. If I lean into martial character classes on a half orc I get quite a bit that jives with the role I want to play while with a Mountain Dwarf I pretty much get bumpkiss.

I dunno, +2 Constitution and either +2 Strength or +1 HP/level is pretty good for any martial character. Sure, the proficiencies don’t give you much, but they’re basically just ribbons anyway.

 

[Zardnaar]

I dunno, +2 Constitution and either +2 Strength or +1 HP/level is pretty good for any martial character. Sure, the proficiencies don’t give you much, but they’re basically just ribbons anyway.

If strength and dex is usually just as good and half Orc......

Hill Dwarf not great fighter +1hp isn't that great due to incoming damage.

 

[MGibster]

I'm trying to remember whether I have ever played a dwarf in any game ever. I can't remember that I would have. Perhaps as kid in some one shot and I've just forgotten. But they definitely are one classic fantasy race that I do not find at all appealing.

I'm hard pressed to think of every playing a character that was a dwarf myself. I've even played a gnome, but only because that was my only choice for a thief-illusionist back in the day, but never a dwarf. It'd not that I have anything against the noble dwarf, I once ran an all dwarf campaign on purpose, but I've just never had a desire to run one as a player.