D&D 5E What are your (up to 3) favorite character races? - Wizards Survey Duplication

[Scribe]

Warforged and Changelings are beating out some PHB races like Dragonborn, Half-Orcs, and Tieflings.

I think it makes sense. The Eberron races have a well defined setting.

Dragonborn and Tieflings have been under or even misused, and Half Orcs don't really have a great hook either.

The big traditional ones (Human/Elf/Dwarf) just keep on rolling.

 

[Bolares]

I think it makes sense. The Eberron races have a well defined setting.

We are almost there! Give it a week and I will have Scribe tatooing a dragonmark...

 

[Lanefan]

The big traditional ones (Human/Elf/Dwarf) just keep on rolling.

As they should.

Add in Hobbits, Gnomes, and Part-Orcs and really, what more do you need? Part-Elves, I suppose.

And if that's not enough variety, there's room for some in sub-species of these (Elves have had a bunch over time, Hobbits have often had three, and it's easy enough to make some up for Humans, Dwarves and Gnomes). You can also have it that more exotic creatures are technically available as PCs but keep them hard-gated behind a very difficult die roll (in my game it's 00 on d%) in order that they remain rare and unusual in play.

 

[Scribe]

As they should.

Add in Hobbits, Gnomes, and Part-Orcs and really, what more do you need? Part-Elves, I suppose.

And if that's not enough variety, there's room for some in sub-species of these (Elves have had a bunch over time, Hobbits have often had three, and it's easy enough to make some up for Humans, Dwarves and Gnomes). You can also have it that more exotic creatures are technically available as PCs but keep them hard-gated behind a very difficult die roll (in my game it's 00 on d%) in order that they remain rare and unusual in play.

Yeah I'm going to selfishly use these results to confirm my own settings assumptions.

I dont need to exclude the big ones, but I've been giving Half-X the side eye for some time. I understand the narrative space, and again Tanis as a character has been with me a VERY long time, but I'm not sure that I either need it, or what it even, conceptually.

In that regard I'm hoping that the strength of Half-Elf traditionally mechanically, is why its results are what they are and I'm kind of formulating these into logical teirs.

Dwarf/Elf/Human/Gnome/Halfing - Traditional
Lizard/Warforged (Construct)/Changling - Divergent World View/Mindset.
Aasimar/Genasi/Tiefling- Planetouched (Human subrace in my view so I wouldnt even count these..).

Add in a few other races for flavour (the exotic/monster ones most likely) and you have a pretty rounded selection imo, without getting over 20, let alone pushing 35 like we will be soon.

 

[Bolares]

Add in Hobbits, Gnomes, and Part-Orcs and really, what more do you need?

OBVIOUSLY you need a sentient construct built for war trying to live a life in a continent neck deep in a cold war, shapechangers strugling with self-identity, a people divided between flesh and spirit and part lycanthropes trying to live under the prejudice of being judged by the actions of werewolves...

 

[Scribe]

OBVIOUSLY you need a sentient construct built for war trying to live a life in a continent neck deep in a cold war, shapechangers strugling with self-identity, a people divided between flesh and spirit and part lycanthropes trying to live under the prejudice of being judged by the actions of werewolves...

Lets not be silly here.

 

[Lanefan]

Yeah I'm going to selfishly use these results to confirm my own settings assumptions.

I dont need to exclude the big ones, but I've been giving Half-X the side eye for some time. I understand the narrative space, and again Tanis as a character has been with me a VERY long time, but I'm not sure that I either need it, or what it even, conceptually.

We went the other way a long time ago and leaned into the idea that if Humans and Elves* (and Humans and Orcs*) are genetically compatible enough to interbreed, then their offspring would - or should - also be able to interbreed with each other and-or with either parent species, eventualy leading to 3/8 Elves or 9/16 Orcs etc.

And from there comes a massive - and I mean huge! - can of worms around what in the game world can interbreed with what, and what the down-generation genetic results might be. Is a Tabaxi, for example, the genetic result of Human-feline interbreeding sometime way long ago? Can a Tabaxi and a Human reproduce? What about Tabaxi and various types of large cats? And that's just one Human-ish species of - these days - hundreds!

This is why I always call these guys Part-X rather than Half-X; we mechanically gradate for each 1/8th non-Human and assume finer gradations exist without mechanical effect.

* - Elves and Orcs are too divergent to interbreed directly, but a Part-Elf and a Part-Orc? Very open question....

 

[Lanefan]

OBVIOUSLY you need a sentient construct built for war trying to live a life in a continent neck deep in a cold war, shapechangers strugling with self-identity, a people divided between flesh and spirit and part lycanthropes trying to live under the prejudice of being judged by the actions of werewolves...

Yeah, those all sound like good cannon fodder for the PCs' next three or four adventures...

 

[Scribe]

And from there comes a massive - and I mean huge! - can of worms around what in the game world can interbreed with what, and what the down-generation genetic results might be. Is a Tabaxi, for example, the genetic result of Human-feline interbreeding sometime way long ago? Can a Tabaxi and a Human reproduce? What about Tabaxi and various types of large cats? And that's just one Human-ish species of - these days - hundreds!

Exactly what I think I want to avoid, by just cutting it off at the root.

 

[Bolares]

The thing about the "35 races" to me is that sure, having 35 different cultures with interesting and deep stories, that are not just humans with hats is really tough. BUT if I was to DM a homebrew setting I would probabbly give my players a run down of the main races (those would have those rich developments) but still let them choose any official race, under the condition that for that we would have to talk and find the place of that race in the wolrd. That could be done in various ways:

• A small number of members of the race always existed but never formed a relevant society;
• Traveler/planar accident brought the character to a place were the race doesn't exist;
• Scientific experimentation;
• Whim of a god;

The list can go on almost for ever, but I'd say "you can chosse whatever you want, but not everything will have a great impact on the game wolrd, sometimes you are just one of a kind".