D&D 5E What Races for the 5E PHB

[Ahnehnois]

Still need to se to believe that all Halfling votes are for people who really play it or just want them in, for the sake of tradition.

I've played halflings. Others in my group occasionally do. Not as popular as elves or dwarves, but easily in fourth place and certainly deserving of inclusion.

 

[Sunseeker]

I voted for exactly 20 races, though I could probably boil it down to 10.

 

[Dausuul]

I voted deva, dragonborn, dwarf (other), elf, eladrin, drow, halfling, gnome, half-orc, human, tiefling, and vampire.

My reasoning:

1. Any race that has been in a PHB1 should be available, same as with classes. This goes even for the races like dragonborn that I personally loathe.
2. People love playing drow. Bite the bullet and put them in. However, I think they should be an elf subrace, along with eladrin. Elf = wood elf, eladrin = high elf, drow = dark elf.
3. If there are tieflings, there ought to be aasimar/devas as well. I like the name "deva" better than "aasimar."
4. People love playing vampires. Might as well get 'em in there from the start.

I also believe the "common/uncommon/rare" scheme should be applied to races:

Common (assumed to be in almost all campaigns): Human
Uncommon (expected to be in most campaigns, DM will tell you if not): Elf, dwarf, halfling
Rare (not expected to be in most campaigns, DM will tell you if they are): Everything else

 

[am181d]

I can't imagine that the standard races will be anything but:

Human, Dwarf, Elf, Gnome, Halfling, 1/2-Orc, 1/2-Elf, Dragonborn + maybe Tiefling + maybe Drow

While there are a few other races I really like (Changeling, Shifter, Warforged, plus Goblin, Kobold, Orc) I don't think that any of those can/would go in the PHB.

 

[Sunseeker]

I can't imagine that the standard races will be anything but:

Human, Dwarf, Elf, Gnome, Halfling, 1/2-Orc, 1/2-Elf, Dragonborn + maybe Tiefling + maybe Drow

While there are a few other races I really like (Changeling, Shifter, Warforged, plus Goblin, Kobold, Orc) I don't think that any of those can/would go in the PHB.

I really wish they could consolidate the ever growing list of elf variants(Eladrin, Sun, Moon, Avriel, Drow, ect...) into something simple like they do in the 4e character builder. Minor variation to bonuses/penalties, different racial ability, but not enough to warrant a whole different write-up on them.

 

[dangerous jack]

I group them into a few levels, but I'd personally like about a dozen races at the start. Give them 1 page each (except humans, which I prefer to be the baseline / no special rules) of compact bullet-point basic description, abilities, and optional abilities.

Level 1: Human - If they decided to go all human, I'd respect that, but it wouldn't really be D&D.
Level 2: Elf, Dwarf - I don't consider halflings on the same level as these 2, despite their history. I'd be happy with humans and these ones.
Level 3: Halfling, Drow, Dragonborn, Eladrin, Warforged - the popular crowd, reproducing Essentials but replacing Half-Elves & Half-Orcs with Warforged
Level 4: Half-Elf, Half-Giant/Goliath, Shifter, Half-Orc, Tiefling - this group on its own would make for a cool campaign of mostly-humans
Level 5: Changling, Gnome, Genasi, Deva - a grab bag of interesting ones... the last ones I'd consider for core

 

[was]

Stormonu didn't forget anything.

They've hidden themselves away on purpose.

All those other races on the list are after their gold!

"Oh no, they're after me lucky charms!"

 

[Ratinyourwalls]

Human
Tiefling
Dwarf
Halfling
Elf (As in Eladrin/Elf. Not separate races.)
Dragonborn
Gnome
Half-Orc

Yeah I'd take out the Half Elf from the PHB1. It just ends up too much of the other "I don't quite fit in anywhere" races thunder.

 

[Ichneumon]

Assuming there's 12 races
Human, Elf, Halfling, Dwarf, Gnome, Dragonborn, Half-Elf, Tiefling, Eladrin, Half-Orc, Goliath, Shifter.

If there's only ten, but WotC let me choose them, they'd be Human, Elf, Halfling, Dwarf, Gnome, Dragonborn, Eladrin, Tiefling, Goliath, and Rakshasa.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

Human,
elf/eladrin
half-elf
Dwarf
Halfling
Gnome
Goliath