Honestly? Variant human. It’s the most flexible race in all of D&D- you can be from almost anywhere in any setting, you aren’t penalized for impersonating or trying to blend in with _most_ crowds (unlike, say, a fairy or a Yuan Ti), some skill proficiencies are always nice, and the crown of it all- 1 free feat, any feat you qualify for. Do you want to be a fun loving baker who’s been swept up in an adventure? _Bam_, you’re a Chef who’s cooking helps the party. Do you want to be a veteran with a lot of experience with your weapon? _Bam_, Polearm master / slasher / crusher etc… The one exception is probably in games where DM’s grant 1 free feat (such as my own games). In that case my favorite would move to Changeling or Bugbear.
I LIKE TORTLES!! No seriously tortles are great, they have a base AC of 17, and the ability to retreat into their shell for an additional +4 to AC. You get +2 to strength, +1 wisdom, so great for a melee type, or even a cleric. You could cast Spirit Guardians then retreat into your shell so the enemies would have to hit a 21AC and you get advantage on the con saves for concentration. Or you could go monk and be a Teenage Ninja Tortle. As long as you don’t name them after famous painters you should be fine.
7:00 I thought you were asking philosophical questions like the ship of Theseus. Dude learned to repair himself, and he's 30k years old. Is he still who he was? Is he even himself? Perfect RP opportunities.
6:27 Dual character idea: A tiny race (like a pixie or imp) that's friends with a Warforged and the only one capable of understanding and translating what they're thinking/feeling, like a Rocket & Groot or Iron Giant situation. The Warforged could've been some abandoned infernal project, or maybe a relic from an ancient war left to rust in a deep forest, and their tiny friend found them and brought them back into shape. Or whatever fits your current campaign, there's a lot of freedom here! They would count as a single character for combat purposes (and the DM's sake), the Warforged doing melee combat and heavy lifting while the tiny one takes care of spellcasting/ranged attacks and social interactions. You could also reflavor something like Find Familiar or Mage Hand in cases where they might want to work separately. ☺
In 3.5 there is a awsome lizardfolk meme build. You go monk and after the first feat is spent on deflect missile you pump them all into improved natural armor. Congarts, you have a large mobile unarmored tank that deals al basic damagetypes, tanks like a fully plated paladin and smashes enemy casters to pull agro.
My favorite is full blood orc. I like the fact that the adventurers would trust one enough to travel with. I imagine the side eyes the npc’s give. Good roleplay.
I've played many races in my day, but one that I look back on fondly is my dwarf Elucid, Son of Ak. A banished son, who turned to troll slaying as he sought to restore his honor through death. He turned to giant slaying when he did not find the honorable death he sought. Turned to piracy before becoming a king by his own hand, honor restored. I think I've played more dwarves than anything else. Maybe Humans second.
Tortle, and not just because I’m a huge TMNT fan. That might be a part of it though. I feel like being a humanoid turtle opens up a lot of possibilities for characterization. Are they timid, preferring to stay in their shells? Are they slow and lumbering? Do they move with reckless abandon because they’ve always had protection about their torso? There are so many character angles just from the physical attributes. Then mechanically they make great casters because classes without armor proficiency instantly become less squishy. Or you could run a Barbarian that dumps dex, because you have a good ac without it.
Loxodon, Tortle, Lizardfolk, Warforged, Centaur, Changeling, Kenku, Firbolg, Vedalken, and Forest Gnome are all fun. I play Rogue or Rogue multiclass almost exclusively. The Loxodon was fun, the trunk was great for misdirection, no one could read my lips. He had performance and was a talented chef. His great sense of smell was perfect for it. Also at the time I’d just learned that elephants can communicate with one another using very low frequency sounds, with pitches below the range of human hearing. These low-frequency sounds ( infrasounds), can travel over a mile, and provide elephants with a private communication channel. I got permission to use that as my Loxodon language. My plan was to use that for my verbal components on magic but it didn’t really come up before the game ended. I also played a Kenku chef rogue that copied my Loxodons recipes. I thought it would be hilarious if they ever met. My tortle was fun because of retractable limbs and also hiding things inside my shell. Of course that’s DM discretion, so your mileage may vary. Firbolg and Forest Gnome for communication with animals which I thought was fun. My Lizardfolk talked like Clint Eastwood with a raspy voice. They were all fun races. My Centaur became a thief rogue which was hilarious because he could out climb everyone. Picturing a horse climbing the side of a building was a lot of fun and when he was questioned he would always say, do I look like I climb? He had a dip in Genie Warlock and his ring was full of stuff he’d steal on his climbs.
My favorite race is Kalashtar. I've always been a sucker for psionics in general (Jean Grey was my favorite hero for a long time), so this race is absolutely perfect to me. Their Telepathic Bond has never not been useful, and the adv on wis saves has saved me more times than I can count. Personally, I like to reflavor races to better fit my character concept. For example, I recently played a Kalashtar Aberrant Mind Sorcerer. Instead of being connected to a Quori, instead, he had a somewhat sentient vanishing twin inside of him (which is a phenomenon when one twin eats the other while they are still in the womb). His connection to his vanishing twin is what gave him his psionic powers.
Variant Human. I started my TTRPG-obsession with some low-fantasy-systems were you defaulted to being a human and it sticks with me to this day. It's just nice to be the normal person in a completely crazy world, trying to cope with everything.
For me, tabaxi and awakened cats from the Animal Adventures 5e mod. Not only just for the catgirls but I have been with cats since 5. I am 35 now, going into 36. So for 6/7 of my life; I've always been in the presence of cats. When I began TTRPG, my first character was the awakened ragdoll cat rogue Briask. Ever since Briask; I had created 2 more Tabaxi rogues; one for a one-shot for another 5e mod and one I am currently still playing as. Cats and rogues are practically made for each other. The ability to be sneaky, agile, curious, be present when you want to be seen or be stealthy when you don't want to be seen.
Warforged, I love the mechanical creativity you can have with this class with any class, martial, ranged, AND spellcasters can be amplified with enough with making it always ultra interesting
Grung - a frog race with a Napolean complex. Poison skin that depending on the color of grung you are can have wildly different effects. Grung Caste Caste Poisonous Skin Effect Green The poisoned creature's movement speed is reduced by 10 feet, except when climbing or jumping. If the creature is flying, it can't take reactions and has disadvantage on all strength and dexterity ability checks until it lands. Blue The poisoned creature must make a loud noise at the end of its turn, and the creature yells if it attempts to speak. The poisoned creature is unaware that it is yelling. Purple The poisoned creature feels incredibly dehydrated and experiences a desperate thirst. It can't speak unless it spends a bonus action to drink water or a similar liquid. Immersing itself in water or a similar liquid ends this effect while the creature remains immersed. Red The poisoned creature feels an overwhelming, all-consuming hunger. While it is aware of a nearby source of food, it has disadvantage on strength ability checks and moves at half speed unless it moves towards a food source. Orange The poisoned creature is easily frightened of any creatures it can see or hear. It has disadvantage on all charisma checks against creatures it can see or hear for the duration, and any creature that makes an intimidation check against the poisoned creature does so with advantage. Gold The poisoned creature's mood changes as if you had cast the friends cantrip on it. When the effect ends, the creature does not know its mood was altered. Not to mention having poison immunity or resistance depending on your GM. Amphibious breath air and water. Climb speed and a standing jump. The one downside is being water dependent which amounts to taking a 10 minute bath per day or suffer a level of exhaustion. Mine was - Chief Moak the last surviving member of his tribe. The rightful ruler of the Blue Bog Everglade Grung, AKA the BBEG. The tribe managed to hide him as he was only a young tadpole in the muck under a rock. As his people were slaughtered by groups of would be slaves that called themselves members of the Dragon Queen - Tiamat. After the slaughter he rose from the water weeks later once he gained legs and became more aware of his surroundings. He wandered the area hearing voices and sometimes seeing ghostly spirits of his now dead and long dead ancestors. They taught him their ways and spoke of the ones that murdered his tribe. For months he grieved the loss of his people, but before long that grief turned to anger. He trained for the better part of a year and spent the following year keeping close to the dry skins to learn how they speak. And in turn what they know about the dragon cult. He even managed to kidnap one such traveler to force him to teach him what he didn't know. After several days he let the person go emaciated and starving. He would just slow Moak down but the barrel he had would be of use so Moak take it. Now he finds himself with these strange dry skins, but they seem to know about the tribe that killed my people. So for now I tolerate the dry skins because they can and WILL help Moak avenge his people. And if they serve Moak well he keep them as loyal pet. Basically he was a Guardian Barbarian that went on the arc of being selfish and evil to being selfless and good.
Kobold, whether your fighting or playing them, they have some great flavor, you can go a ton of different ways with backstory, plus a ton of tools to curb certain classes weaknesses/ accentuate their strengths
Elfs and half elves are at the top of my list. They have very long life spans and great extra abilities including resistance to charm, infravision. A half elf with a +2 charisma goes great with eloquence bard and a dip into arcane cleric or a dip into hexblade warlock.
I am really enjoying the Simic Hybrid from the Ravnica book lately, but my all-time favorite race has probably got to be the Shardmind from 4E. I really wish they would come back. No need for food, water, or air like a Warfarged with the added benefit of limited teleport with damage delt to creatures you pass through.
5:05 this depends on if you're using the older or newer version of the aarakocra.. the older had 25 walking and 50 flight and 1d4 slashing unarmed with talons.. the newer has 30 for both walking and flight, 1d6+strength mod slashing with talons, and gets gust of wind at lvl 3.. 9:10 i also disagree with the thing about other races being tropes that you either play into or turn on their heads whereas humans can pull from all sorts of cultures... you can literally do that with any race. example.. the one about the last survivor of a french-themed village.. why could that not be an elf? who says elves can't be french? i listened to a book series where elves had new jersey accents and dwarves were "dude-bros"... you literally can put any race into any role.. thats why its, you know.. "role playing".. (this also applies to the guy talking about dragonborn.. you can apply any personality traits to any race, even if its not "normal" for that race.. you play who you want to play how you want to play them..)
plasmoid is probably my favorite race there varsity to be any class but best at being rouges as they can steal small objects with there pseudopods and slip between door frames and bars
Harengon. Lucky footwork, rabbit hop, hare trigger and a proficiency in perception tends to mean you've got to get up pretty early in the morning to get the drop on one.
The more monstrous the better generally. Also something with darkvision to avoid the hell of having normal sight. Flight is an asset. PF side, Fleshwarped for lovecraftian fun and Fetchling when i want to basically be a human with darkvision (also the shadow abiltiies don't hurt). Dwarf when i want to go full chonk. Tiefling when I want to try to be an oni. Vishkanya when i want a functional poison as a non-alchemist. Automatons (and Warforged D&D side) when I want a different flavour of inhumanity.
My favorite race is the ones i homebrewed myself, that being a slime-creature and a full robot(i didn't know warforged existed at the time). I made those races their own class, and gave them each subclasses or subclass adjascent abilities that i am really proud of.
Bugbear. I once played a bugbear kensei monk with an urumi (reskinned whip) and absolutely wrecked with her. The extra reach from both the urumi and the Long Limbed feature allowed me to hit enemies in a 15-foot melee range. It effectively turned her into a powerful skirmisher, able to use hit-and-run tactics without provoking attacks of opportunity. Higher initiative rolls also meant that she was more likely to deal insane damage due to the extra 2d6. First time I used her, I attacked and used Flurry of Blows, getting a nat 20 on one hit; with a little help from the Drakewarden, she dealt a total of 51 damage on the first round of combat...at level 4.
Call me biased, but my favorite races are probably the Homebrew ones made by a good friend of mine. He's made things like Rat-Men, Kitsune, Man-Ogres, Treefolk. Just some really unique races with their own special traits and some with exclusive feats to help them stand out. Biases aside, though, my favorite race would probably have to be the Warforged. Warforged are so versatile to me in terms of how you design them or how you play them, given their unique disposition as a living machine in a world of fantasy and how most iterations I've seen don't limit you in terms of their design. You can have all kinds of cool ideas for a Warforged, and their bonuses to Con and a natural bonus to AC is always nice.
my favourite are halflings.. reason 1: the Lucky perk - my rng is hella moody, so having a perk that allows me to reroll a Nat 1 has saved me a couple times. Reason 2: the size. I like to punch and be aggressive (halfling barbarian anyone?), so being a size that can just tunnel most party members and enemies to get somewhere is always fun. Also, reason 3, Watchtower mode! You get advantage on rolls when a party member "helps" you, yeah? Well, our DM ruled that it's helping with getting a better visual (aka advantage on perception checks) when one of our larger party members (e.g. our Dragonborn) carries one of our smaller members (e.g. me, the halfling) on their shoulders. Thus we build a watchtower and I get advantage on perception rolls! Not that it has been very successful - I mentioned my rng before and let me tell you: with a 5 and a 9, you do not see goblins hiding 40ft away behind trees in a forest even after an arrow landed in the tree next to you.
Of the races i've played it's a toss-up between Firbolg and Verdan. Of the ones I've never tried Plasmoid, Loxodon, and Hobgoblin seem the most fun for my styles. (Verdan + Sun Soul Monk = Piccolo from DBZ) [as if you didn't know lol ] My Firbolg is a blind samurai fighter called "Looking Bear" who uses the blind fighting style with the Alert & Tough feats and wields a two handed hammer, he smashes things real good. (Note: the Verdan i played was actually a Kensei Monk with the Criminal background for Curse of Strahd.)
It’s a mixed concept for me… I really like Orcs or Half-Orcs, Lizardfolk, or Tieflings. They all are great warrior class characters, but I suppose I lean more towards the Half-Orcs. That is primarily because if the DM allows it, your Half Orc could have traits from his/her other parent, such as my main, Garnoc Quacus. Half Orc, but Half Elf as well, which doubles his lifespan and boosts his charisma (Thanks to my DM for allowing it). What do yall think? Should Half Races have traits from their other halves, or is that just dependent on the DM?
dragonborn closest I'll get to a playable dragon. I'm not a complicated person to please if I can, I always use the Fizban's rework for 5e. Having your breath attack deal more damage for less action economy is a massive win. and those extra bonuses depending on if you are metallic, chromatic or gem at level 5 doesn't hurt either (with Metallic having the weakest of the abilities, imo) not to mention stat distribution is far, FAR more versatile (+2 in one stat and +1 in another, your pick on what stats. or +1 in any 3 stats of your choice) vs PBH's just "+2 in STR and +1 in Cha"
im kind of torn between any of the races that can fly, and the thri-kreen.. on one hand, i love flight.. not just in dnd or ttrpgs but in any fictional setting that allows flight (be it powers, racial abilities like wings, or tech like jetpacks..) flight is just awesome. in dnd flight is often viewed as op and while i don't really agree with that i do acknowledge that is is quite powerful in the right settings. my current favorite flight race is my hexblood whos linage overrode a winged tiefling. i get all the hexblood features and can still fly with medium armor (something most flight races can't do). though fairy is a close second on that. on the other hand... telepathic 4 armed insectoids with a natural armor and stealth skill... like, think about it.. have a thri-kreen with a heavy crossbow and a hand crossbow and crossbow expert (probably swarmkeeper just for extra flavor).. can fire multiple times with the heavy crossbow and still shoot once with your hand crossbow. all while maintaining a free hand for spells if needed. (or you can use two short swords and still have a shield since your secondary arms can wield light weapons).. and you don't need to wear armor and still have a decent ac (as long as you have a decent dex). you're good at stealth and can be a relay for party communications with your telepathy range.. really pretty powerful with all that said... any race you can make a good meme/pun character out of is also a good choice (like the "loxodon rogue whos 1: the biggest mofo you'll never see coming, and 2: the elephant in the room... we don't speak of the elephant in the room".. or the "bork nork, the science orc" that was mentioned in another reddit.. or the "aarakocra 'Duck of many bees' swarmkeeper".. or the "centaur monk"... good luck trying to figure out how a horseman does kungfu)
Ooh, Hat in Time music in the background this time. Lovely. Really enjoying the pick of video game BGMs for these vids so far. Props to the music editor for the vids.
So. I've only been able to play one once, and I had an absolute blast. Harengon. They can be small or medium, have advantage on perception checks regarding hearing, and have rabbit hop. a scaling bonus action movement ability that makes you immune to opportunity attacks. Not much, but they are rabbit people connected to the fey. So... I might have dipped my face into that for my little genie warlock harengons backstory. My DM, by the end of the campaign, quite literally had to use my own nature of CHAOS to force a class change to sorcerer. Thankfully the campaign ended that session. Apparently, having a flying, improved invisibility, highly mobile force of chaos dropping 300 lbs of food (usually oatmeal for the sticky factor) on creatures (that poor adult white dragon...) from 150-300 ft up is not easy to balance. who knew?
After a long discussion with the DM we reached an agreement, I wanted to play as an undead skeleton paladin but only the DM knows my entire past. I asked if I could choose the race of the skeleton, DM says yes, I choose Dragonborn, DM says without organs I don't have a breath attack, after searching on the internet I found Fang Dragonborn "homebrow", DM accepts victory for me. This is what I know: I woke up beneath a pile of ashes of what used to be my village, family and other loved ones. My armor has melted and no longer has its original shape, the same applies to the religious symbol it had, it is no longer distinct enough to be recognized. What I think happened: With the little information I was given, my character accepts that I was betrayed by the church and now wants revenge, am I right? no, the answer is no. With my actions in session 0, the DM said that I was now an oathbreaker paladin, well... I no longer have access to spells, but it doesn't matter, anything is possible with the power of friendship and explosives, lots of explosives. I almost forgot my character doesn't speak, it is capable but doesn't do it.
Genasi, specifically Air Genasi. I know they arent the strongest class around but i really like the flavor of an elemental being and how it plays into their personality
Totally agree with warforged (5:53). Not only a strong race mechanically but the potential lore is crazy. Im my DMs homebrew world, warforged were created by a lonely mortal that rejected godhood as he disagreed with the old gods choice to confine and artificially dark age the mortal world. My warforged Lyben had forgotten all this as they had been struck by fallen debris from the old moon and fell down to the planet from the shell that confines it. Lyben, with the keen mind feat, is an increadibly logical creature that spent their first months of new life memorising every book in a temple of Oghma while living with a cleric of Oghma before the campaign started. Its been incredible exploring the world with no emotion while slowly learning the lore I mentioned above and even unintentionaly unlocking one emotion after another, whether Lyben was ment to have them or not. This story has evolves into my favourite of all after a new party member turned out to be an emotionless humunculous undergoing the same phenomenon. Its awesome being a toddler trying to teach a baby how to emotionally walk as all the fully emotional adults in the room (other party members) have no idea we are having this struggle at all. Its given me a new perspective on people struggling with mental atypicalities or mental health issues.
My favorite race in D&D is the Warforged, and for the same reasons as in the video, plus if the DM allows it, you can make your character into something of a constructor, you can have a whole cabinet of all kinds of modules, parts, equipment, specialized limbs that you literally install it in yourself (this is basically how magical items exclusive to Warforged, such as Docent, work). My first character was a Warforged named Gear (because he was an Artificer, and often worked with mechanisms), according to the lore he was one of the prototypes, which was recognized as a failure, but one of the scientists took him as a servant, so he spent years of his life within laboratory helping scientists in every possible way (hence quite good knowledge in this area), but one day he wanted to run away, see the world, learn all its beauty, which he saw only from book illustrations, so he did it. And during his journey, he wandered into a town where active hostilities were taking place with the participation of his brothers Warforgeds, and he began to help them out of kindness of heart, began to repair right on the spot, and witnessed how even innocent people were ki***d, and then he himself swore that he would not become like them, then he himself was damaged there, but he wandered into some guild of craftsmen, where he was repaired, and he remained for several years. But unfortunately, I got into the wrong company and a bad fate awaited my character, I will not go into details, I will give only one example, he was only a head with one finger for almost all sessions (due to the incident with the flying shark barbarians). But now I will try to run the game myself and I will write his fate as I want [muahaha], plus I plan to develop the plot in one of the future quests for my campaign around the destruction of the enemy factory, where in particular the special Warforged with psionic abilities are made (the subject of my campaign is a confrontation with an organization that is trying to revive Sardior).
I have a huuuuuge hotspots for Kobolds and Dragonborn, regardless of edition, source book or traits. Both Kobolds and Dragonborn have been the closest I could get to playing as a Dragon until recently, and I do really like their histories and just how cool or cute you can make them look. There's also just how much flavour you can stuff into them. The Kobold especially has built in reasons to collaborate with others in order to achieve success, being smal, squishy and generally considered as pests.
I haven't been playing dnd for very long and have not tried out a lot of races, but my current favorite would have to be the kobold. I just really like these small little lizard gremlins scurrying around being either cute or barely unhinged. It helps that my favorite character that I have played to date was my winged kobold artillerist artificer. That gun nut girl was such a blast to play, being kitted out with stuff like a wand of the war mage, an all-purpose tool, and a bag of holding I was able to turn into a mobile workshop by building a little device that creates a bubble of breathable air. Her entire M.O. was flying out of melee range and raining down attacks with guns and ranged attack spells. Coincidentally, she was also the least damaged member of the party. By 16th level, i was able to do up to a dozen attacks a turn thanks to Animate Object (cast on 10 pistols) and wielding double force ballista. And thanks to Pack Tactics, they would all be at advantage if the target was adjacent to any of my melee allies. Was a fun time.
Centaurs, Dwarves, Lizardfolk and Humans. Centaurs for being a little more different than just reskinned humanoids - their bottom half actually changes relevant things. Dwarves for their personality and culture. Lizardfolk because of their more alien outlook. Humans because I like playing characters who are more all-rounders than specialists, so a +1 in every stat is nice. I also like Plasmoids, Reborn and Warforged.
Thri-kreen are fun; 120ft range telepathy makes for some really interesting interactions, like relaying information between party members, talking shit about people behind their backs regardless of proximity, and being able to communicate with skeletons. Chameleon carapace is great for being sneaky and is especially useful on classes limited to just light armour or with no armour at all. The extra arms let you dual wield 2 light weapons (or a light weapon and a one-handed weapon if you get the dual wielder feat), a spellcasting focus, and a shield, making them great gishes and half-casters. Also being a bug person is cool af.
My Favorites have got to be Goblinoids (Goblins, Hobgoblins, Bugbears [As well as Nilbogs]), Kobolds, Autognomes, Changelings, Fairies, Kenku, and a dash of Thri-Kreen, Orc, Plasmoid, Shifter, Warforged, Giff, Firbolg, Harengon, and Gnomes, Elves, and Humans. Typically the First few are what I'd default to if I want to quickly make a character or don't know what I'd want to make, but there are plenty of other racial options that I enjoy playing. Of course, those are the Officially released racial options introduced in 5e, and homebrewed Variants and full racial options are always something interesting to look at.
When I get the inclination to play something a bit more agile I tend to enjoy Tabaxi more than the others, Any other time it’s Dragonborn. I play them all the freaking time. I just love them way too much. There’s not really a better reason to play a race right? No, I don’t care if the breath weapon sucks for any form of damage, I really do appreciate the slight boost to STR and CHA, and no, they don’t have tails. I don’t care what source you pull up for it, I’m going to counter with the 5e PHB, Page 32, Section “Proud Dragon Kin.” Where in the very first sentence it says “Dragonborn look very much like dragons standing erect in humanoid form, though they lack wings or a tail.”
Kobolds, especially legacy kobolds. The moment I made my first kobold, I stopped playing any other race. being a goofy little lizard bean is way too much fun. Go ahead and try playing a kobold who's super friendly and cheerful and you'll become the party's favorite person. legacy kobolds also make great battle smiths because you can mount your steel defender for free and constant pack tactics advantage. best part is kobolds can be incredibly versatile, not just for you but for your party as well. You can hide in a party member's backpack while taking potshots with spells, if your DM allows it (and if they do, they won't for long). Seriously, try it. you'd be surprised at just how much fun you can have with a scaly gremlin.
I don't really have a favorite race. What I have are character ideas that sometimes, admittedly, work better for some races over others. As for Brian von VA's, it's either: A) Any race, as long as it's RP'd well -or- B) Dwarf [ROCK AND STONE!!!]
It’s Kobolds or Orcs/Half Orcs. Kobolds are gremlins and cute af. Orcs and Half Orcs are large, strong (very nice on the eyes) and can lead to some amazing RP moments. My current character that I’m returning to soon is an Orc Fighter/Rogue, who is dating the party druid. Said druid’s family has a history of fighting orcs. So meeting the druid’s family is going to be interesting as HECK. And since my orc was raised by a human (and some half elven) family of nobles, he has to learn Orcish culture from the Half Orc who was raised by his human mother and orcish father.
I have only started playing d&d about a year ago and as such i only have played 2 races, tiefling and bugbear. My favorite has to be my bugbear barbearian named borc, why? Strong build and what ever it is that allows the bugbear to squeeze into smaller places is just funny to imagine, surprise attack is also always greatbecause this character cant sold lower then a 21 on initiative and my dm's homebrew rule that if you roled a nat20 on initiative you get a full extra turn befor your normal turn.
I haven't started any games but i want to play a half human half goblin who reproduces asexually, meaning I can always have another "kid" which means I can specialize in specific skills/stats. Almost like becoming an avatar if skills are retained through generations. Call him: Grugg. Theyre all grugg, but spell it differently (like grog, gragg, etc)
my favorite one is harengon. i really like how they combine charisma and dexterity (which are my two favorite stats) ...i also really like lagomorphs :p
That’s elf race that’s emotions are seasons. Love the RP element of it, and that teleport is super clutch. I’ve only got to play it once but it’ll probably be my go to race.
My favorite race is still Changeling. I played an arcane trickster/hexblade based on historical ninja tactics. She'd shift into a different person usually to hide her identity as a changeling, but my favorite moment came when chasing a wererat down and the DM made the group roll checks to slide or jump over obstacles.... I just shifted into a gnome or halfling and ran under stuff. 😂
Bugbear Surprise attack is actually pretty good... it stipulates that you get that 2d6 when attacking any enemy that hasn't had a chance to do an action yet, which literally just means you get extra damage if you get a high initiative roll & land your hit
I still haven't played (I am working on getting a neighborhood group together, and I'll probably be our first DM), but I do like coming up with character concepts. Here are my top 5 races for concepts I've had. 5. Centaur. The high speed is cool, there's definitely a lot that can be done with having a horse body, and it could definitely be fun to play around with how they can fit in places that are designed for people with two legs. 4. Dragonborn, especially with the options provided by Fizban's Treasury Of Dragons (actually useful breath weapon, yes please). I like dragons, which isn't surprising (I'm on the Autism spectrum and am Ace), so a draconic race feels good. 3. Bug Bear. The long reach sounds amazing to play with. I already know a way to set that up as being able to punch with a 15 foot range! (Via a Monk subclass.) 2. Changeling. Being able to change how you look is amazing, especially since they don't have to stay a fixed gender. Sometimes I feel more masculine, sometimes more feminine. Thus, a character who can change to match is wish fulfillment. 1. Tiefling. And no, it's not me being edgey. I enjoy the idea that what you look like and where you come from don't define who you are (at least completely). Tiefling are great for exploring that, and are incredibly customizable. Different skin colours, different horns, even different inherent abilities via options in Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes.
I have a penchant for rare or outsider races. Drow, Gith-Zarai, Yuan-ti Pureblood and Minotaur. Their outsider status combined with their reason for being where they are beyond just "it's where the party is" usually make a compelling dynamic for me to play.
I don't know what it is, but I love the shorties. They're so cute, but feisty! And my favorite shorty race is the kender. I love their fearlessness, their sense of adventure and the fact that they're more apt to find a strangely colored rock more interesting than a diamond necklace. They have such a huge capacity for love and friendship and wear their hearts on their sleeves. They embody what I crave most in playing D&D - being a soft hearted protector who values nothing more than the friendship with the companions they find themselves with. And I love subverting expectations with them. I only actually have one "handler" kender I ever made. I had a paladin (although he started life as just a fighter calling himself a paladin, but his goddess actually made him her paladin). I had a half kender fire sorcerer and a half kender bard. Then there are the twins, the magic user and the fighter whom I always described as Caramon and Raistlin if they were played by Chip and Dale. Point is, kender have such wonderful role playing opportunities and I love showing how they can be more than what their haters think they are and also unique individuals with their own wants and needs.
Favorite race in general are the dwarves, a people who value honor and can craft anything and everything you could ever want or need, and not only will it outlast you but will always be both practical and awesome looking. Favorite race to play are the tabaxi, a people who's culture is to move from place to place and experience new places and people and add new things to your culture while also sharing it with the world.
I love a lot of the mentioned races, but there's just something about the Leonin that feels intrinsically cool. I have a Leonin big game hunter build based off of Kraven from Marvel comics. He's absolutely vicious and hunts other sentient people.
Dwarves , all the 3 racial options for them are absolutely AMAZING ! if you want the tank with most hp in the game you go for hill dwarf , if you want to have high stats and use half plate as a wizard , mountain and if you want a resistance to one of the most powerful tools to use against a martial while having the potencial to grapple a tarrasque , Duergar.
I still love kobold for the chaotic gremlin shenanigans. Can play these guys like you're reenacting an episode of Tom and Jerry. Also Tabaxi for cat memes like the poster in the video said.
I absolutely love Reborn and Hex bloods. The amount of flavor and general mechanics and bonuses with them are so useful. My personal favorite is 100% reborn, you can just.. sit in a bag of holding and depending on your class you can do some pretty funny things like if you're playing a wizard, fireball out of a bag of holding or if you're playing cleric you can do some pretty funny things such as playing a death domain cleric and when in combat and inside the bag you can just grab someone and rip the life out of them not to mention the advantage on death saves make it to where if you're playing barbarian (zealot) or another hard to kill class and subclass you might just not die unless insta killed
My favourite race are the Illumian. They come from a 3.5e book called Races of Destiny, and they're a kind of human that are infused with the words of magic. They have glowing runes floating around heads, and the player gets to pick a set of magic words that have different effects individually and as a combination. They're designed to get the most out of their words while multiclassing, which 3.5e heavily encourages thanks to the various prestige classes. Also, 1:55 I'd call 3.5e more balanced than 5e, since it works all the way to level 20 and beyond, whereas 5e breaks down in the mid-game. I think this person is probably referring to the martial/caster divide, which is a fair criticism of 3.5e since martial classes heavily rely on the wealth by level table to remain competitive (and DMs running the game SHOULD do their best to stick to that table where possible). So, yeah, PvE is more balanced, even if it's not as much between the classes, which I don't think matters nearly as much.
Mine is the dragonborn (Fisban’s version). First of all, they look awesome and in my mind they have tails and I will die on that hill. Second, they are very customizable through their draconic ancestry feature which you can use to reinforce the fantasy of your character through both mechanics and flavor. Other races I really like are kobolds(second favorite), warforged, tortles, tieflings, goliaths.
Warforged The flexibility, extra proficiency, and added survivability, especially if you use the Wayfinder's Guide to Eberron variant can make some busted combos. Let me tell you that making an AC20 character if you have heavy armor proficiency and a shield shuts down a lot of scary encounters early on due to how hard you are to even hit in the first place (but crits can still wreck you) makes martial classes a breeze. Or you have a medium armor proficient spellcaster, therefore can have upwards of 17 AC just because you are proficient in medium armor, plus whatever you get from your subrace, which might I tell you allows for some INCREDIBLE flexability, making a very general race overall. Basically. I. LOVE. Warforged.
Did NOT expect to hear A Hat in Time music here of all places. Nice. With that out of the way: Satyrs. My _GOD,_ Satyrs. - They have Magic Resistance, so they're like Yuan-Ti, but instead of having no emotion, they have ALL the emotion; they are MAXIMALLY silly. - Free Bard skills. Bottom text. - Depending on the source, you can either have 2 Charisma 1 Dexterity as your racial bonus...or a racial bonus _better than VHuman,_ being able to choose a stat to put 2 in and a stat to put 1 in OR choosing *three* stats to put 1 in. - Better unarmed strikes simply by using your head - 1d4/1d6+STR - again depending on source. That is _as much as, or more damage than a dagger,_ for absolutely free. - 35 ft walk speed and bigger jumps, just for shits 'n' gigs. - To top things all off, you're a fey rather than a humanoid, so no need to worry about Hold Person getting in the way of your antics - though that does open up a little can of worms that gives way to a number of unique interactions, like Paladin and Ranger abilities, the Evil and Good spells, Magic Circle or even Planar Binding, which could perhaps even provide a way to introduce your character as an enemy first, breaking the spell when they're defeated...
I LOVE Harengon, the stat spread AND THE PASSIVES (Rabbit hop, Lupin senses, free dex reroll feet) ALL THE POWER OF MY CLERIC/MONK IS WRAPPED UP IN AN adorable smol package :3
Variant human. Yes, I'm an optimizing and feat hungry player. My personal favorite character using this, was an artificer with the magic initiate (wizard) feat. He was 'loosely' based off of Dr. Doof, and was a massive disappointment to his wizarding parents due to changing from theoretical magics (science) to applied magics (engineering) in college. He had a business creating wands of prestidigitation, primarily for acting as a combination washing machine and spice rack. All in all, I hope to use him again in the future and see what shenanigans he can get into.
Adding on to the bugbear one, there's a new subclass for barbarian, that grows your size to large, if you're medium or lower. It also makes your reach increase by 5 feet, so realistically no one is getting within 20 feet of you.
Changeling. I am everyone. I am no one. I am.
very original of you
Hell yah!
all of me.
gay-
Shape of me
The lack of appreciation for kobolds is downright criminal.
I love kobolds
"Non humans avoid tropes" (proceeds to list three tropey human characters)
thank you i was gonna say this as well, there's nothing a human can do that another race can't
@@dualitydisorder true but too many players make their race their only personality.
Kobolds, little skrunkly scaly gremlins, i love em :)
Agreed
nods in pack tactic abuse
Lets goooo
Honestly? Variant human.
It’s the most flexible race in all of D&D- you can be from almost anywhere in any setting, you aren’t penalized for impersonating or trying to blend in with _most_ crowds (unlike, say, a fairy or a Yuan Ti), some skill proficiencies are always nice, and the crown of it all- 1 free feat, any feat you qualify for.
Do you want to be a fun loving baker who’s been swept up in an adventure? _Bam_, you’re a Chef who’s cooking helps the party. Do you want to be a veteran with a lot of experience with your weapon? _Bam_, Polearm master / slasher / crusher etc…
The one exception is probably in games where DM’s grant 1 free feat (such as my own games).
In that case my favorite would move to Changeling or Bugbear.
I LIKE TORTLES!! No seriously tortles are great, they have a base AC of 17, and the ability to retreat into their shell for an additional +4 to AC. You get +2 to strength, +1 wisdom, so great for a melee type, or even a cleric. You could cast Spirit Guardians then retreat into your shell so the enemies would have to hit a 21AC and you get advantage on the con saves for concentration. Or you could go monk and be a Teenage Ninja Tortle. As long as you don’t name them after famous painters you should be fine.
7:00 I thought you were asking philosophical questions like the ship of Theseus. Dude learned to repair himself, and he's 30k years old. Is he still who he was? Is he even himself? Perfect RP opportunities.
Halflings are my absolute favorite race across all of D&D. I love their inquisitive nature, their nimbleness.
I most enjoy to describe how the reality of adventuring dimms the glow in my eies little by little.
Halfling. I'm notorious for rolling low.
6:27 Dual character idea: A tiny race (like a pixie or imp) that's friends with a Warforged and the only one capable of understanding and translating what they're thinking/feeling, like a Rocket & Groot or Iron Giant situation.
The Warforged could've been some abandoned infernal project, or maybe a relic from an ancient war left to rust in a deep forest, and their tiny friend found them and brought them back into shape. Or whatever fits your current campaign, there's a lot of freedom here!
They would count as a single character for combat purposes (and the DM's sake), the Warforged doing melee combat and heavy lifting while the tiny one takes care of spellcasting/ranged attacks and social interactions. You could also reflavor something like Find Familiar or Mage Hand in cases where they might want to work separately. ☺
I love lizardfolk because I have a lizard stuffed animal and it’s adorable
In 3.5 there is a awsome lizardfolk meme build. You go monk and after the first feat is spent on deflect missile you pump them all into improved natural armor. Congarts, you have a large mobile unarmored tank that deals al basic damagetypes, tanks like a fully plated paladin and smashes enemy casters to pull agro.
@@nes819 thanks for telling me about this, I haven’t played 3.5, I only played 5e, 3.5e sounds fun tho
My favorite is full blood orc. I like the fact that the adventurers would trust one enough to travel with. I imagine the side eyes the npc’s give. Good roleplay.
Same, I also love Half-Orcs too that go more to their Orc side than their other races' side.
I've played many races in my day, but one that I look back on fondly is my dwarf Elucid, Son of Ak. A banished son, who turned to troll slaying as he sought to restore his honor through death. He turned to giant slaying when he did not find the honorable death he sought. Turned to piracy before becoming a king by his own hand, honor restored.
I think I've played more dwarves than anything else. Maybe Humans second.
Tortle, and not just because I’m a huge TMNT fan. That might be a part of it though.
I feel like being a humanoid turtle opens up a lot of possibilities for characterization. Are they timid, preferring to stay in their shells? Are they slow and lumbering? Do they move with reckless abandon because they’ve always had protection about their torso? There are so many character angles just from the physical attributes.
Then mechanically they make great casters because classes without armor proficiency instantly become less squishy. Or you could run a Barbarian that dumps dex, because you have a good ac without it.
Loxodon, Tortle, Lizardfolk, Warforged, Centaur, Changeling, Kenku, Firbolg, Vedalken, and Forest Gnome are all fun. I play Rogue or Rogue multiclass almost exclusively. The Loxodon was fun, the trunk was great for misdirection, no one could read my lips. He had performance and was a talented chef. His great sense of smell was perfect for it. Also at the time I’d just learned that elephants can communicate with one another using very low frequency sounds, with pitches below the range of human hearing. These low-frequency sounds ( infrasounds), can travel over a mile, and provide elephants with a private communication channel. I got permission to use that as my Loxodon language. My plan was to use that for my verbal components on magic but it didn’t really come up before the game ended. I also played a Kenku chef rogue that copied my Loxodons recipes. I thought it would be hilarious if they ever met.
My tortle was fun because of retractable limbs and also hiding things inside my shell. Of course that’s DM discretion, so your mileage may vary.
Firbolg and Forest Gnome for communication with animals which I thought was fun.
My Lizardfolk talked like Clint Eastwood with a raspy voice.
They were all fun races. My Centaur became a thief rogue which was hilarious because he could out climb everyone. Picturing a horse climbing the side of a building was a lot of fun and when he was questioned he would always say, do I look like I climb? He had a dip in Genie Warlock and his ring was full of stuff he’d steal on his climbs.
I honestly love the Harengon, just lovely little rabbit people from the fay wild, also because their made for dex builds
Right?
Also that proficiency in Initiative, tho.
Kobold…they silly
For me, probably half-elf overall. Perfect for those who want to have benefits from both humans and elves without fulling committing to either.
My favorite race is Kalashtar. I've always been a sucker for psionics in general (Jean Grey was my favorite hero for a long time), so this race is absolutely perfect to me. Their Telepathic Bond has never not been useful, and the adv on wis saves has saved me more times than I can count. Personally, I like to reflavor races to better fit my character concept. For example, I recently played a Kalashtar Aberrant Mind Sorcerer. Instead of being connected to a Quori, instead, he had a somewhat sentient vanishing twin inside of him (which is a phenomenon when one twin eats the other while they are still in the womb). His connection to his vanishing twin is what gave him his psionic powers.
Variant Human.
I started my TTRPG-obsession with some low-fantasy-systems were you defaulted to being a human and it sticks with me to this day.
It's just nice to be the normal person in a completely crazy world, trying to cope with everything.
For me, tabaxi and awakened cats from the Animal Adventures 5e mod. Not only just for the catgirls but I have been with cats since 5. I am 35 now, going into 36. So for 6/7 of my life; I've always been in the presence of cats. When I began TTRPG, my first character was the awakened ragdoll cat rogue Briask. Ever since Briask; I had created 2 more Tabaxi rogues; one for a one-shot for another 5e mod and one I am currently still playing as.
Cats and rogues are practically made for each other. The ability to be sneaky, agile, curious, be present when you want to be seen or be stealthy when you don't want to be seen.
Warforged, I love the mechanical creativity you can have with this class with any class, martial, ranged, AND spellcasters can be amplified with enough with making it always ultra interesting
Grung - a frog race with a Napolean complex. Poison skin that depending on the color of grung you are can have wildly different effects. Grung Caste
Caste Poisonous Skin Effect
Green The poisoned creature's movement speed is reduced by 10 feet, except when climbing or jumping. If the creature is flying, it can't take reactions and has disadvantage on all strength and dexterity ability checks until it lands.
Blue The poisoned creature must make a loud noise at the end of its turn, and the creature yells if it attempts to speak. The poisoned creature is unaware that it is yelling.
Purple The poisoned creature feels incredibly dehydrated and experiences a desperate thirst. It can't speak unless it spends a bonus action to drink water or a similar liquid. Immersing itself in water or a similar liquid ends this effect while the creature remains immersed.
Red The poisoned creature feels an overwhelming, all-consuming hunger. While it is aware of a nearby source of food, it has disadvantage on strength ability checks and moves at half speed unless it moves towards a food source.
Orange The poisoned creature is easily frightened of any creatures it can see or hear. It has disadvantage on all charisma checks against creatures it can see or hear for the duration, and any creature that makes an intimidation check against the poisoned creature does so with advantage.
Gold The poisoned creature's mood changes as if you had cast the friends cantrip on it. When the effect ends, the creature does not know its mood was altered.
Not to mention having poison immunity or resistance depending on your GM. Amphibious breath air and water. Climb speed and a standing jump. The one downside is being water dependent which amounts to taking a 10 minute bath per day or suffer a level of exhaustion.
Mine was - Chief Moak the last surviving member of his tribe. The rightful ruler of the Blue Bog Everglade Grung, AKA the BBEG. The tribe managed to hide him as he was only a young tadpole in the muck under a rock. As his people were slaughtered by groups of would be slaves that called themselves members of the Dragon Queen - Tiamat. After the slaughter he rose from the water weeks later once he gained legs and became more aware of his surroundings. He wandered the area hearing voices and sometimes seeing ghostly spirits of his now dead and long dead ancestors. They taught him their ways and spoke of the ones that murdered his tribe. For months he grieved the loss of his people, but before long that grief turned to anger. He trained for the better part of a year and spent the following year keeping close to the dry skins to learn how they speak. And in turn what they know about the dragon cult. He even managed to kidnap one such traveler to force him to teach him what he didn't know. After several days he let the person go emaciated and starving. He would just slow Moak down but the barrel he had would be of use so Moak take it. Now he finds himself with these strange dry skins, but they seem to know about the tribe that killed my people. So for now I tolerate the dry skins because they can and WILL help Moak avenge his people. And if they serve Moak well he keep them as loyal pet.
Basically he was a Guardian Barbarian that went on the arc of being selfish and evil to being selfless and good.
Tabaxi, cats are the perfect apex predator, and are my favorite animals(Snow Leopards specifically)
Kobold, whether your fighting or playing them, they have some great flavor, you can go a ton of different ways with backstory, plus a ton of tools to curb certain classes weaknesses/ accentuate their strengths
Elfs and half elves are at the top of my list. They have very long life spans and great extra abilities including resistance to charm, infravision. A half elf with a +2 charisma goes great with eloquence bard and a dip into arcane cleric or a dip into hexblade warlock.
I am really enjoying the Simic Hybrid from the Ravnica book lately, but my all-time favorite race has probably got to be the Shardmind from 4E. I really wish they would come back. No need for food, water, or air like a Warfarged with the added benefit of limited teleport with damage delt to creatures you pass through.
5:05 this depends on if you're using the older or newer version of the aarakocra.. the older had 25 walking and 50 flight and 1d4 slashing unarmed with talons.. the newer has 30 for both walking and flight, 1d6+strength mod slashing with talons, and gets gust of wind at lvl 3..
9:10 i also disagree with the thing about other races being tropes that you either play into or turn on their heads whereas humans can pull from all sorts of cultures... you can literally do that with any race. example.. the one about the last survivor of a french-themed village.. why could that not be an elf? who says elves can't be french? i listened to a book series where elves had new jersey accents and dwarves were "dude-bros"... you literally can put any race into any role.. thats why its, you know.. "role playing".. (this also applies to the guy talking about dragonborn.. you can apply any personality traits to any race, even if its not "normal" for that race.. you play who you want to play how you want to play them..)
Prestidigitation is light but better, it can create campfires for light but also do so much more
Kobolds, Lizardfolk, Dragonborn, Yuan-Ti, anything reptilian.
I also love Thri-Kreen and Warforged.
Amen to the reptiles, I am obsessed.
@@snow-cheirus *Hisses in rejoice and celebration*
@@TheKillerMime Looking forward to seeing you at GxK opening night.
more tortles, please
@@ReinaSaurus Tortles ARE pretty cool.
Even if the 17 AC makes some combos absolutely insane
PANR has tuned in.
....gnomes. They're perfect
3:
@@neep_the_robo_kobo :3
plasmoid is probably my favorite race there varsity to be any class but best at being rouges as they can steal small objects with there pseudopods and slip between door frames and bars
Harengon. Lucky footwork, rabbit hop, hare trigger and a proficiency in perception tends to mean you've got to get up pretty early in the morning to get the drop on one.
The more monstrous the better generally. Also something with darkvision to avoid the hell of having normal sight. Flight is an asset.
PF side, Fleshwarped for lovecraftian fun and Fetchling when i want to basically be a human with darkvision (also the shadow abiltiies don't hurt).
Dwarf when i want to go full chonk. Tiefling when I want to try to be an oni. Vishkanya when i want a functional poison as a non-alchemist. Automatons (and Warforged D&D side) when I want a different flavour of inhumanity.
My favorite race is the ones i homebrewed myself, that being a slime-creature and a full robot(i didn't know warforged existed at the time). I made those races their own class, and gave them each subclasses or subclass adjascent abilities that i am really proud of.
Bugbear. I once played a bugbear kensei monk with an urumi (reskinned whip) and absolutely wrecked with her. The extra reach from both the urumi and the Long Limbed feature allowed me to hit enemies in a 15-foot melee range. It effectively turned her into a powerful skirmisher, able to use hit-and-run tactics without provoking attacks of opportunity. Higher initiative rolls also meant that she was more likely to deal insane damage due to the extra 2d6. First time I used her, I attacked and used Flurry of Blows, getting a nat 20 on one hit; with a little help from the Drakewarden, she dealt a total of 51 damage on the first round of combat...at level 4.
I get an image of the pokemon urshifu when I read this lol, it's a good character idea
Kobold. They're the reason I look into D&D stuff in the first place! Love those mini dragons!
Any race that's basically an anthropomorphic animal. Yes, I am a furry, but one of the "normal" ones.
So not the rainfurrest ones I have trauma from when my friend told me about that
@@aaverageweeb5660 Yeah, we get into some weird shit. LOL
@@GrantBlackwell-j9r 2 people sh*t in the same pool in under 8 hours
Call me biased, but my favorite races are probably the Homebrew ones made by a good friend of mine. He's made things like Rat-Men, Kitsune, Man-Ogres, Treefolk. Just some really unique races with their own special traits and some with exclusive feats to help them stand out.
Biases aside, though, my favorite race would probably have to be the Warforged. Warforged are so versatile to me in terms of how you design them or how you play them, given their unique disposition as a living machine in a world of fantasy and how most iterations I've seen don't limit you in terms of their design. You can have all kinds of cool ideas for a Warforged, and their bonuses to Con and a natural bonus to AC is always nice.
my favourite are halflings.. reason 1: the Lucky perk - my rng is hella moody, so having a perk that allows me to reroll a Nat 1 has saved me a couple times. Reason 2: the size. I like to punch and be aggressive (halfling barbarian anyone?), so being a size that can just tunnel most party members and enemies to get somewhere is always fun. Also, reason 3, Watchtower mode! You get advantage on rolls when a party member "helps" you, yeah? Well, our DM ruled that it's helping with getting a better visual (aka advantage on perception checks) when one of our larger party members (e.g. our Dragonborn) carries one of our smaller members (e.g. me, the halfling) on their shoulders. Thus we build a watchtower and I get advantage on perception rolls! Not that it has been very successful - I mentioned my rng before and let me tell you: with a 5 and a 9, you do not see goblins hiding 40ft away behind trees in a forest even after an arrow landed in the tree next to you.
Kobolds i dont think i need to explain.
Of the races i've played it's a toss-up between Firbolg and Verdan. Of the ones I've never tried Plasmoid, Loxodon, and Hobgoblin seem the most fun for my styles.
(Verdan + Sun Soul Monk = Piccolo from DBZ) [as if you didn't know lol ]
My Firbolg is a blind samurai fighter called "Looking Bear" who uses the blind fighting style with the Alert & Tough feats and wields a two handed hammer, he smashes things real good.
(Note: the Verdan i played was actually a Kensei Monk with the Criminal background for Curse of Strahd.)
It’s a mixed concept for me… I really like Orcs or Half-Orcs, Lizardfolk, or Tieflings. They all are great warrior class characters, but I suppose I lean more towards the Half-Orcs. That is primarily because if the DM allows it, your Half Orc could have traits from his/her other parent, such as my main, Garnoc Quacus. Half Orc, but Half Elf as well, which doubles his lifespan and boosts his charisma (Thanks to my DM for allowing it). What do yall think? Should Half Races have traits from their other halves, or is that just dependent on the DM?
I have two, one is a Wemic (liontaur)(my first character back in ad&d 2e) and two (which I am playing is a highland Rito (home brew)
dragonborn
closest I'll get to a playable dragon. I'm not a complicated person to please
if I can, I always use the Fizban's rework for 5e. Having your breath attack deal more damage for less action economy is a massive win. and those extra bonuses depending on if you are metallic, chromatic or gem at level 5 doesn't hurt either (with Metallic having the weakest of the abilities, imo)
not to mention stat distribution is far, FAR more versatile (+2 in one stat and +1 in another, your pick on what stats. or +1 in any 3 stats of your choice) vs PBH's just "+2 in STR and +1 in Cha"
Yuan-Ti are fixed, Aarakokra are changed etc etc
im kind of torn between any of the races that can fly, and the thri-kreen..
on one hand, i love flight.. not just in dnd or ttrpgs but in any fictional setting that allows flight (be it powers, racial abilities like wings, or tech like jetpacks..) flight is just awesome. in dnd flight is often viewed as op and while i don't really agree with that i do acknowledge that is is quite powerful in the right settings. my current favorite flight race is my hexblood whos linage overrode a winged tiefling. i get all the hexblood features and can still fly with medium armor (something most flight races can't do). though fairy is a close second on that.
on the other hand... telepathic 4 armed insectoids with a natural armor and stealth skill... like, think about it.. have a thri-kreen with a heavy crossbow and a hand crossbow and crossbow expert (probably swarmkeeper just for extra flavor).. can fire multiple times with the heavy crossbow and still shoot once with your hand crossbow. all while maintaining a free hand for spells if needed. (or you can use two short swords and still have a shield since your secondary arms can wield light weapons).. and you don't need to wear armor and still have a decent ac (as long as you have a decent dex). you're good at stealth and can be a relay for party communications with your telepathy range.. really pretty powerful
with all that said... any race you can make a good meme/pun character out of is also a good choice (like the "loxodon rogue whos 1: the biggest mofo you'll never see coming, and 2: the elephant in the room... we don't speak of the elephant in the room".. or the "bork nork, the science orc" that was mentioned in another reddit.. or the "aarakocra 'Duck of many bees' swarmkeeper".. or the "centaur monk"... good luck trying to figure out how a horseman does kungfu)
Ooh, Hat in Time music in the background this time. Lovely.
Really enjoying the pick of video game BGMs for these vids so far. Props to the music editor for the vids.
So. I've only been able to play one once, and I had an absolute blast. Harengon.
They can be small or medium, have advantage on perception checks regarding hearing, and have rabbit hop. a scaling bonus action movement ability that makes you immune to opportunity attacks.
Not much, but they are rabbit people connected to the fey. So... I might have dipped my face into that for my little genie warlock harengons backstory.
My DM, by the end of the campaign, quite literally had to use my own nature of CHAOS to force a class change to sorcerer. Thankfully the campaign ended that session. Apparently, having a flying, improved invisibility, highly mobile force of chaos dropping 300 lbs of food (usually oatmeal for the sticky factor) on creatures (that poor adult white dragon...) from 150-300 ft up is not easy to balance. who knew?
After a long discussion with the DM we reached an agreement, I wanted to play as an undead skeleton paladin but only the DM knows my entire past. I asked if I could choose the race of the skeleton, DM says yes, I choose Dragonborn, DM says without organs I don't have a breath attack, after searching on the internet I found Fang Dragonborn "homebrow", DM accepts victory for me.
This is what I know:
I woke up beneath a pile of ashes of what used to be my village, family and other loved ones.
My armor has melted and no longer has its original shape, the same applies to the religious symbol it had, it is no longer distinct enough to be recognized.
What I think happened:
With the little information I was given, my character accepts that I was betrayed by the church and now wants revenge, am I right? no, the answer is no.
With my actions in session 0, the DM said that I was now an oathbreaker paladin, well... I no longer have access to spells, but it doesn't matter, anything is possible with the power of friendship and explosives, lots of explosives.
I almost forgot my character doesn't speak, it is capable but doesn't do it.
Genasi, specifically Air Genasi. I know they arent the strongest class around but i really like the flavor of an elemental being and how it plays into their personality
Totally agree with warforged (5:53). Not only a strong race mechanically but the potential lore is crazy. Im my DMs homebrew world, warforged were created by a lonely mortal that rejected godhood as he disagreed with the old gods choice to confine and artificially dark age the mortal world. My warforged Lyben had forgotten all this as they had been struck by fallen debris from the old moon and fell down to the planet from the shell that confines it. Lyben, with the keen mind feat, is an increadibly logical creature that spent their first months of new life memorising every book in a temple of Oghma while living with a cleric of Oghma before the campaign started. Its been incredible exploring the world with no emotion while slowly learning the lore I mentioned above and even unintentionaly unlocking one emotion after another, whether Lyben was ment to have them or not. This story has evolves into my favourite of all after a new party member turned out to be an emotionless humunculous undergoing the same phenomenon. Its awesome being a toddler trying to teach a baby how to emotionally walk as all the fully emotional adults in the room (other party members) have no idea we are having this struggle at all. Its given me a new perspective on people struggling with mental atypicalities or mental health issues.
My favorite race in D&D is the Warforged, and for the same reasons as in the video, plus if the DM allows it, you can make your character into something of a constructor, you can have a whole cabinet of all kinds of modules, parts, equipment, specialized limbs that you literally install it in yourself (this is basically how magical items exclusive to Warforged, such as Docent, work). My first character was a Warforged named Gear (because he was an Artificer, and often worked with mechanisms), according to the lore he was one of the prototypes, which was recognized as a failure, but one of the scientists took him as a servant, so he spent years of his life within laboratory helping scientists in every possible way (hence quite good knowledge in this area), but one day he wanted to run away, see the world, learn all its beauty, which he saw only from book illustrations, so he did it. And during his journey, he wandered into a town where active hostilities were taking place with the participation of his brothers Warforgeds, and he began to help them out of kindness of heart, began to repair right on the spot, and witnessed how even innocent people were ki***d, and then he himself swore that he would not become like them, then he himself was damaged there, but he wandered into some guild of craftsmen, where he was repaired, and he remained for several years. But unfortunately, I got into the wrong company and a bad fate awaited my character, I will not go into details, I will give only one example, he was only a head with one finger for almost all sessions (due to the incident with the flying shark barbarians). But now I will try to run the game myself and I will write his fate as I want [muahaha], plus I plan to develop the plot in one of the future quests for my campaign around the destruction of the enemy factory, where in particular the special Warforged with psionic abilities are made (the subject of my campaign is a confrontation with an organization that is trying to revive Sardior).
I have a huuuuuge hotspots for Kobolds and Dragonborn, regardless of edition, source book or traits. Both Kobolds and Dragonborn have been the closest I could get to playing as a Dragon until recently, and I do really like their histories and just how cool or cute you can make them look.
There's also just how much flavour you can stuff into them. The Kobold especially has built in reasons to collaborate with others in order to achieve success, being smal, squishy and generally considered as pests.
I haven't been playing dnd for very long and have not tried out a lot of races, but my current favorite would have to be the kobold. I just really like these small little lizard gremlins scurrying around being either cute or barely unhinged. It helps that my favorite character that I have played to date was my winged kobold artillerist artificer. That gun nut girl was such a blast to play, being kitted out with stuff like a wand of the war mage, an all-purpose tool, and a bag of holding I was able to turn into a mobile workshop by building a little device that creates a bubble of breathable air. Her entire M.O. was flying out of melee range and raining down attacks with guns and ranged attack spells. Coincidentally, she was also the least damaged member of the party. By 16th level, i was able to do up to a dozen attacks a turn thanks to Animate Object (cast on 10 pistols) and wielding double force ballista. And thanks to Pack Tactics, they would all be at advantage if the target was adjacent to any of my melee allies. Was a fun time.
Centaurs, Dwarves, Lizardfolk and Humans. Centaurs for being a little more different than just reskinned humanoids - their bottom half actually changes relevant things. Dwarves for their personality and culture. Lizardfolk because of their more alien outlook. Humans because I like playing characters who are more all-rounders than specialists, so a +1 in every stat is nice.
I also like Plasmoids, Reborn and Warforged.
Yuan ti and lizardfolk I love snakes and lizards!
Thri-kreen are fun;
120ft range telepathy makes for some really interesting interactions, like relaying information between party members, talking shit about people behind their backs regardless of proximity, and being able to communicate with skeletons.
Chameleon carapace is great for being sneaky and is especially useful on classes limited to just light armour or with no armour at all.
The extra arms let you dual wield 2 light weapons (or a light weapon and a one-handed weapon if you get the dual wielder feat), a spellcasting focus, and a shield, making them great gishes and half-casters.
Also being a bug person is cool af.
My Favorites have got to be Goblinoids (Goblins, Hobgoblins, Bugbears [As well as Nilbogs]), Kobolds, Autognomes, Changelings, Fairies, Kenku, and a dash of Thri-Kreen, Orc, Plasmoid, Shifter, Warforged, Giff, Firbolg, Harengon, and Gnomes, Elves, and Humans.
Typically the First few are what I'd default to if I want to quickly make a character or don't know what I'd want to make, but there are plenty of other racial options that I enjoy playing.
Of course, those are the Officially released racial options introduced in 5e, and homebrewed Variants and full racial options are always something interesting to look at.
When I get the inclination to play something a bit more agile I tend to enjoy Tabaxi more than the others, Any other time it’s Dragonborn.
I play them all the freaking time. I just love them way too much. There’s not really a better reason to play a race right? No, I don’t care if the breath weapon sucks for any form of damage, I really do appreciate the slight boost to STR and CHA, and no, they don’t have tails. I don’t care what source you pull up for it, I’m going to counter with the 5e PHB, Page 32, Section “Proud Dragon Kin.” Where in the very first sentence it says “Dragonborn look very much like dragons standing erect in humanoid form, though they lack wings or a tail.”
Kobolds, especially legacy kobolds. The moment I made my first kobold, I stopped playing any other race. being a goofy little lizard bean is way too much fun. Go ahead and try playing a kobold who's super friendly and cheerful and you'll become the party's favorite person. legacy kobolds also make great battle smiths because you can mount your steel defender for free and constant pack tactics advantage.
best part is kobolds can be incredibly versatile, not just for you but for your party as well. You can hide in a party member's backpack while taking potshots with spells, if your DM allows it (and if they do, they won't for long). Seriously, try it. you'd be surprised at just how much fun you can have with a scaly gremlin.
I don't really have a favorite race. What I have are character ideas that sometimes, admittedly, work better for some races over others.
As for Brian von VA's, it's either:
A) Any race, as long as it's RP'd well
-or-
B) Dwarf [ROCK AND STONE!!!]
It’s Kobolds or Orcs/Half Orcs. Kobolds are gremlins and cute af. Orcs and Half Orcs are large, strong (very nice on the eyes) and can lead to some amazing RP moments. My current character that I’m returning to soon is an Orc Fighter/Rogue, who is dating the party druid. Said druid’s family has a history of fighting orcs. So meeting the druid’s family is going to be interesting as HECK. And since my orc was raised by a human (and some half elven) family of nobles, he has to learn Orcish culture from the Half Orc who was raised by his human mother and orcish father.
Im curious how old the post at 6:02 is that they refer to Warforged as Unearthed Arcana.
Half orcs. Usually because I play Barbarian and good luck taking them down in higher levels
I have only started playing d&d about a year ago and as such i only have played 2 races, tiefling and bugbear. My favorite has to be my bugbear barbearian named borc, why? Strong build and what ever it is that allows the bugbear to squeeze into smaller places is just funny to imagine, surprise attack is also always greatbecause this character cant sold lower then a 21 on initiative and my dm's homebrew rule that if you roled a nat20 on initiative you get a full extra turn befor your normal turn.
I haven't started any games but i want to play a half human half goblin who reproduces asexually, meaning I can always have another "kid" which means I can specialize in specific skills/stats. Almost like becoming an avatar if skills are retained through generations.
Call him: Grugg. Theyre all grugg, but spell it differently (like grog, gragg, etc)
my favorite one is harengon. i really like how they combine charisma and dexterity (which are my two favorite stats) ...i also really like lagomorphs :p
That’s elf race that’s emotions are seasons. Love the RP element of it, and that teleport is super clutch. I’ve only got to play it once but it’ll probably be my go to race.
My favorite race is still Changeling. I played an arcane trickster/hexblade based on historical ninja tactics. She'd shift into a different person usually to hide her identity as a changeling, but my favorite moment came when chasing a wererat down and the DM made the group roll checks to slide or jump over obstacles.... I just shifted into a gnome or halfling and ran under stuff. 😂
Usually, it's a variant human. But this past game, I decided to give Asimar a shot.
Simic Hybrids. They're versatile.
I'd say Warforged, Changeling, Variant Human. In that order.
Dragonborn. I really enjoy there lore.
Bugbear Surprise attack is actually pretty good... it stipulates that you get that 2d6 when attacking any enemy that hasn't had a chance to do an action yet, which literally just means you get extra damage if you get a high initiative roll & land your hit
Kobolds- mini-dragons! also can work as frontline martial characters, witch is kinda funny/ironic concidering how they are supposed to be in lore XD
I still haven't played (I am working on getting a neighborhood group together, and I'll probably be our first DM), but I do like coming up with character concepts. Here are my top 5 races for concepts I've had.
5. Centaur. The high speed is cool, there's definitely a lot that can be done with having a horse body, and it could definitely be fun to play around with how they can fit in places that are designed for people with two legs.
4. Dragonborn, especially with the options provided by Fizban's Treasury Of Dragons (actually useful breath weapon, yes please). I like dragons, which isn't surprising (I'm on the Autism spectrum and am Ace), so a draconic race feels good.
3. Bug Bear. The long reach sounds amazing to play with. I already know a way to set that up as being able to punch with a 15 foot range! (Via a Monk subclass.)
2. Changeling. Being able to change how you look is amazing, especially since they don't have to stay a fixed gender. Sometimes I feel more masculine, sometimes more feminine. Thus, a character who can change to match is wish fulfillment.
1. Tiefling. And no, it's not me being edgey. I enjoy the idea that what you look like and where you come from don't define who you are (at least completely). Tiefling are great for exploring that, and are incredibly customizable. Different skin colours, different horns, even different inherent abilities via options in Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes.
Dragonborn because I love dragons and dragonborn are pretty much dragon people
I have a penchant for rare or outsider races. Drow, Gith-Zarai, Yuan-ti Pureblood and Minotaur. Their outsider status combined with their reason for being where they are beyond just "it's where the party is" usually make a compelling dynamic for me to play.
Kobolds. They have been my favorite ever since I first met Deeku in the PC game Neverwinter Nights. "Doom doom doom~ Doomiede doom~"
Dragon. Cause dragon.
I don't know what it is, but I love the shorties. They're so cute, but feisty! And my favorite shorty race is the kender. I love their fearlessness, their sense of adventure and the fact that they're more apt to find a strangely colored rock more interesting than a diamond necklace. They have such a huge capacity for love and friendship and wear their hearts on their sleeves. They embody what I crave most in playing D&D - being a soft hearted protector who values nothing more than the friendship with the companions they find themselves with. And I love subverting expectations with them. I only actually have one "handler" kender I ever made. I had a paladin (although he started life as just a fighter calling himself a paladin, but his goddess actually made him her paladin). I had a half kender fire sorcerer and a half kender bard. Then there are the twins, the magic user and the fighter whom I always described as Caramon and Raistlin if they were played by Chip and Dale.
Point is, kender have such wonderful role playing opportunities and I love showing how they can be more than what their haters think they are and also unique individuals with their own wants and needs.
Favorite race in general are the dwarves, a people who value honor and can craft anything and everything you could ever want or need, and not only will it outlast you but will always be both practical and awesome looking. Favorite race to play are the tabaxi, a people who's culture is to move from place to place and experience new places and people and add new things to your culture while also sharing it with the world.
I love a lot of the mentioned races, but there's just something about the Leonin that feels intrinsically cool. I have a Leonin big game hunter build based off of Kraven from Marvel comics. He's absolutely vicious and hunts other sentient people.
Aasimar, there is something so fun about their angelic form being a big reveal when before they may have looked like a normal person.
Elf, Dwarf, and Warforged
Dwarves , all the 3 racial options for them are absolutely AMAZING ! if you want the tank with most hp in the game you go for hill dwarf , if you want to have high stats and use half plate as a wizard , mountain and if you want a resistance to one of the most powerful tools to use against a martial while having the potencial to grapple a tarrasque , Duergar.
Dragonborn, verdan, bugbear, elves, etc etc etc, there’s not many I don’t love but one of them is halflings, just not a fan of halflings
I still love kobold for the chaotic gremlin shenanigans. Can play these guys like you're reenacting an episode of Tom and Jerry. Also Tabaxi for cat memes like the poster in the video said.
I absolutely love Reborn and Hex bloods. The amount of flavor and general mechanics and bonuses with them are so useful. My personal favorite is 100% reborn, you can just.. sit in a bag of holding and depending on your class you can do some pretty funny things like if you're playing a wizard, fireball out of a bag of holding or if you're playing cleric you can do some pretty funny things such as playing a death domain cleric and when in combat and inside the bag you can just grab someone and rip the life out of them not to mention the advantage on death saves make it to where if you're playing barbarian (zealot) or another hard to kill class and subclass you might just not die unless insta killed
My favourite race are the Illumian. They come from a 3.5e book called Races of Destiny, and they're a kind of human that are infused with the words of magic. They have glowing runes floating around heads, and the player gets to pick a set of magic words that have different effects individually and as a combination. They're designed to get the most out of their words while multiclassing, which 3.5e heavily encourages thanks to the various prestige classes.
Also, 1:55 I'd call 3.5e more balanced than 5e, since it works all the way to level 20 and beyond, whereas 5e breaks down in the mid-game. I think this person is probably referring to the martial/caster divide, which is a fair criticism of 3.5e since martial classes heavily rely on the wealth by level table to remain competitive (and DMs running the game SHOULD do their best to stick to that table where possible). So, yeah, PvE is more balanced, even if it's not as much between the classes, which I don't think matters nearly as much.
Mine is the dragonborn (Fisban’s version). First of all, they look awesome and in my mind they have tails and I will die on that hill. Second, they are very customizable through their draconic ancestry feature which you can use to reinforce the fantasy of your character through both mechanics and flavor.
Other races I really like are kobolds(second favorite), warforged, tortles, tieflings, goliaths.
Tie between Tiefling and Fairy
Warforged
The flexibility, extra proficiency, and added survivability, especially if you use the Wayfinder's Guide to Eberron variant can make some busted combos. Let me tell you that making an AC20 character if you have heavy armor proficiency and a shield shuts down a lot of scary encounters early on due to how hard you are to even hit in the first place (but crits can still wreck you) makes martial classes a breeze.
Or you have a medium armor proficient spellcaster, therefore can have upwards of 17 AC just because you are proficient in medium armor, plus whatever you get from your subrace, which might I tell you allows for some INCREDIBLE flexability, making a very general race overall.
Basically. I. LOVE. Warforged.
Did NOT expect to hear A Hat in Time music here of all places. Nice.
With that out of the way:
Satyrs. My _GOD,_ Satyrs.
- They have Magic Resistance, so they're like Yuan-Ti, but instead of having no emotion, they have ALL the emotion; they are MAXIMALLY silly.
- Free Bard skills. Bottom text.
- Depending on the source, you can either have 2 Charisma 1 Dexterity as your racial bonus...or a racial bonus _better than VHuman,_ being able to choose a stat to put 2 in and a stat to put 1 in OR choosing *three* stats to put 1 in.
- Better unarmed strikes simply by using your head - 1d4/1d6+STR - again depending on source. That is _as much as, or more damage than a dagger,_ for absolutely free.
- 35 ft walk speed and bigger jumps, just for shits 'n' gigs.
- To top things all off, you're a fey rather than a humanoid, so no need to worry about Hold Person getting in the way of your antics - though that does open up a little can of worms that gives way to a number of unique interactions, like Paladin and Ranger abilities, the Evil and Good spells, Magic Circle or even Planar Binding, which could perhaps even provide a way to introduce your character as an enemy first, breaking the spell when they're defeated...
I LOVE Harengon, the stat spread AND THE PASSIVES (Rabbit hop, Lupin senses, free dex reroll feet) ALL THE POWER OF MY CLERIC/MONK IS WRAPPED UP IN AN adorable smol package :3
Variant human. Yes, I'm an optimizing and feat hungry player. My personal favorite character using this, was an artificer with the magic initiate (wizard) feat. He was 'loosely' based off of Dr. Doof, and was a massive disappointment to his wizarding parents due to changing from theoretical magics (science) to applied magics (engineering) in college.
He had a business creating wands of prestidigitation, primarily for acting as a combination washing machine and spice rack.
All in all, I hope to use him again in the future and see what shenanigans he can get into.
Warforged
I am biased with Mechanical races
Adding on to the bugbear one, there's a new subclass for barbarian, that grows your size to large, if you're medium or lower. It also makes your reach increase by 5 feet, so realistically no one is getting within 20 feet of you.
Human, since I'm a Warhammer fan.