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Guide Overview
This guide is designed to give a preview of all the races available in D&D 5th edition. Your choice of race affects many different aspects of your character (though not as much as class). Your character race not only affects your in-game traits but also provides the cues for building your character's story. Each race's description in this guide includes information to help you roleplay a character of that race. See the sourcebooks for details on any race that catches your eyes. These details are suggestions to help you think about your character; adventurers can deviate widely from the norm for their race. It's worthwhile to consider why and how your character is different, as a helpful way to think about your character's background and personality. As always, try to pick something that fits your personal vision for a character. Hopefully the information below will shed some insight into what race will be best for you!
Flexible Ability Score Increases
Whatever D&D race you choose for your character, you get a trait called Ability Score Increase. This increase reflects an archetypal bit of excellence in the adventurers of this kind in D&D's past. For example, if you're a dwarf, your Constitution increases by 2, because dwarf heroes in D&D are often exceptionally tough. If you'd like your character to follow their own path, you may ignore your Ability Score Increase trait and assign ability score increases tailored to your character. Here's how to do it: take any ability score increase you gain in your race or subrace and apply it to an ability score of your choice. For example, if the Ability Score Increase trait of your race or subrace increases your Constitution by 2 and your Wisdom by 1 , you could instead increase your Intelligence by 2 and your Charisma by 1. This is designed to allow races to pair up with any classes. No need to only pick races with ability score increases with your class' primary ability score. Instead pick any race you want!
Common Races
Dwarf
Kingdoms rich in ancient grandeur, halls carved into the roots of mountains, the echoing of picks and hammers in deep mines and blazing forges, a commitment to clan and tradition, and a burning hatred of goblins and orcs-these common threads unite all dwarves.
| Subrace | Description | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Duergar | The gray dwarves, or duergar, live deep in the Underdark. After delving deeper than any other dwarves, they were enslaved by mind flayers for eons. Although they eventually won their freedom , these grim, ashen-skinned dwarves now take slaves of their own and are as tyrannical as their former masters. |
SCAG pg. 104 |
| Hill Dwarf | As a hill dwarf, you have keen senses, deep intuition, and remarkable resilience. The gold dwarves of Faerun in their mighty southern kingdom are hill dwarves |
PHB pg. 20 |
| Mountain Dwarf | As a mountain dwarf, you're strong and hardy, accustomed to a difficult life in rugged terrain. You're probably on the tall side (for a dwarf), and tend toward lighter coloration. The shield dwarves of northern Faerun are mountain dwarves. |
PHB pg.20 |
Elf
Elves are a magical people of otherworldly grace, living in the world but not entirely part of it. They live in places of ethereal beauty, in the midst of ancient forests or in silvery spires glittering with faerie light, where soft music drifts through the air and gentle fragrances waft on the breeze. Elves love nature and magic, art and artistry, music and poetry, and the good things of the world.
| Subrace | Description | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Dark Elf (Drow) | Descended from an earlier subrace of elves, the drow were banished from the surface world for following the goddess Lolth down the path of evil. Now they have built their own civilization in the depths of the Underdark, patterned after the Way of Lolth. |
PHB. pg. 24 |
| Eladrin | Eladrin are elves native to the Feywild, a realm of beauty, unpredictable emotion, and boundless magic. An eladrin is associated with one of the four seasons and has coloration reminiscent of that season, which can also affect the eladrin's mood. |
MTOF pg. 61 |
| High Elf | As a high elf, you have a keen mind and a mastery of at least the basics of magic. In many of the worlds of D&D, there are two kinds of high elves. One type (sun elves) is haughty and reclusive, believing themselves to be superior to non-elves and even other elves. The other type (moon elves) are more common and more friendly, and often encountered among humans and other races. |
PHB pg. 23 |
| Sea Elf | Sea elves fell in love with the wild beauty of the ocean in the earliest days of the multiverse. While other elves traveled from realm to realm, the sea elves navigated the deepest currents and explored the waters across a hundred worlds. Today, they live in small, hidden communities in the ocean shallows and on the Elemental Plane of Water. |
MTOF pg. 62 |
| Shadar-Kai | Sworn to the Raven Queen's service, the mysterious shadar-kai venture into the Material Plane from the Shadowfell to advance her will. Once they were fey like the rest of their elven kin, and now they exist in a strange state between life and death. Eladrin and shadar-kai are like reflections of each other: one bursting with emotion, the other nearly devoid of it. |
MTOF pg. 62 |
| Wood Elf | As a wood elf, you have keen senses and intuition, and your fleet feet carry you quickly and stealthily through your native forests. In Faerun, wood elves are reclusive and distrusting of non-elves. |
PHB pg.24 |
Halfling
The comforts of home are the goals of most halflings' lives: a place to settle in peace and quiet, far from marauding monsters and clashing armies; a blazing fire and a generous meal; fine drink and fine conversation. Though some halflings live out their days in remote agricultural communities, others form nomadic bands that travel constantly, lured by the open road and the wide horizon to discover the wonders of new lands and peoples. But even these wanderers love peace, food, hearth, and home, though home might be a wagon jostling along an dirt road or a raft floating downriver.
| Subrace | Description | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Ghostwise | Ghostwise halflings trace their ancestry back to a war among halfling tribes that sent their ancestors into flight from Luiren. Ghostwise halflings are the rarest of the hin, found only in the Chondalwood and a few other isolated forests, clustered in tight-knit clans. |
SCAG pg.110 |
| Lightfoot | As a lightfoot halfting, you can easily hide from notice, even using other people as cover. You're inclined to be affable and get along well with others. In the Forgotten Realms, lightfoot halftings have spread the farthest and thus are the most common variety. Lightfoots are more prone to wanderlust than other halftings, and often dwell alongside other races or take up a nomadic life |
PHB. pg. 28 |
| Stout | As a stout halfting, you're hardier than average and have some resistance to poison. Some say that stouts have dwarven blood. In the Forgotten Realms, these halftings are called stronghearts, and they're most common in the south. |
PHB pg. 28 |
Human
In the reckonings of most worlds, humans are the youngest of the common races, late to arrive on the world scene and short-lived in comparison to dwarves, elves, and dragons. Perhaps it is because of their shorter lives that they strive to achieve as much as they can in the years they are given. Or maybe they feel they have something to prove to the elder races, and that's why they build their mighty empires on the foundation of conquest and trade. Whatever drives them, humans are the innovators, the achievers, and the pioneers of the worlds. PHB pg. 29
Uncommon Races
Dragonborn
Born of dragons, as their name proclaims, the dragonborn walk proudly through a world that greets them with fearful incomprehension. Shaped by draconic gods or the dragons themselves, dragonborn originally hatched from dragon eggs as a unique race, combining the best attributes of dragons and humanoids. Some dragonborn are faithful servants to true dragons, others form the ranks of soldiers in great wars, and still others find themselves adrift, with no clear calling in life. PHB pg. 32
Gnome
A constant hum of busy activity pervades the warrens and neighborhoods where gnomes form their closeknit communities. Louder sounds punctuate the hum: a crunch of grinding gears here, a minor explosion there, a yelp of surprise or triumph, and especially bursts of laughter. Gnomes take delight in life, enjoying every moment of invention, exploration, investigation, creation, and play.
| Subrace | Description | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Forest Gnome | As a forest gnome, you have a natural knack for illusion and inherent quickness and stealth. In the worlds of D&D, forest gnomes are rare and secretive. Forest gnomes tend to be friendly with other good-spirited woodland folk and small forest animals. |
PHB. pg. 37 |
| Rock Gnome | As a rock gnome, you have a natural inventiveness and hardiness beyond that of other gnomes. Most gnomes in the worlds of D&D are rock gnomes, including the tinker gnomes. |
PHB pg. 37 |
| Deep Gnome | Also known as svirfneblin, the deep gnomes of the Underdark are a stark contrast to their surface kin, dour and serious compared to the cheerful and generally optimistic rock gnomes and forest gnomes. They share their cousins' obsession with privacy, and their homes below the surface of Faerun are well guarded and deeply hidden. |
SCAG pg. 115 |
Half-Elf
Walking in two worlds but truly belonging to neither, half-elves combine what some say are the best qualities of their elf and human parents: human curiosity, inventiveness, and ambition tempered by the refined senses, love of nature, and artistic tastes of the elves. Some half-elves live among humans, set apart by their emotional and physical differences, watching friends and loved ones age while time barely touches them. Others live with the elves, growing restless as they reach adulthood in the timeless elven realms, while their peers continue to live as children. Many half-elves, unable to fit into either society, choose lives of solitary wandering or join with other misfits and outcasts in the adventuring life. PHB pg. 38 SCAG pg. 116
Half-Orc
Whether united under the leadership o f a mighty warlock or having fought to a standstill after years of conflict, ore and human tribes sometimes form alliances, joining forces into a larger horde to the terror of civilized lands nearby. When these alliances are sealed by marriages, half-ores are born. Some half-ores rise to become proud chiefs of ore tribes, their human blood giving them an edge over their full-blooded ore rivals. Some venture into the world to prove their worth among humans and other more civilized races. Many of these become adventurers, achieving greatness for their mighty deeds and notoriety for their barbaric customs and savage fury. PHB pg. 40
Tiefling
To be greeted with stares and whispers, to suffer violence and insult on the street, to see mistrust and fear in every eye: this is the lot of the tiefting. And to twist the knife, tiefiings know that this is because a pact struck generations ago infused the essence of Asmodeus-overlord of the Nine Hells-into their bloodline. Their appearance and their nature are not their fault but the result of an ancient sin, for which they and their children and their children's children will always be held accountable. PHB pg. 42 SCAG pg. 118 MTOF pg. 21
Rare Races
Aarakocra
Sequestered in high mountains atop tall trees, the aarakocra, sometimes called birdfolk, evoke fear and wonder. Many aarakocra aren’t even native to the Material Plane. They hail from a world beyond—from the boundless vistas of the Elemental Plane of Air. They are immigrants, refugees, scouts, and explorers, their outposts functioning as footholds in a world both strange and alien. EEPC pg. 3
Aasimar
Aasimar bear within their souls the light of the heavens. They are descended from humans with a touch of the power of Mount Celestia, the divine realm of many lawful good deities. Aasimar are born to serve as champions of the gods, their births hailed as blessed events. They are a people of otherworldly visages, with luminous features that reveal their celestial heritage.
| Subrace | Description | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Protector Aasimar | Protector aasimar are charged by the powers of good to guard the weak, to strike at evil wherever it arises, and to stand vigilant against the darkness. From a young age, a protector aasimar receives advice and directives that urge to stand against evil. |
VGTM. pg. 105 |
| Scourge Aasimar | Scourge aasimar are imbued with a divine energy that blazes intensely within them. It feeds a powerful desire to destroy evil-a desire that is, at its best, unflinching and, at its worst, all-consuming. |
VGTM pg. 105 |
| Fallen Aasimar | An aasimar who was touched by dark powers as a youth or who turns to evil in early adulthood can become one of the fallen-a group of aasimar whose inner light has been replaced by shadow. |
VGTM pg. 105 |
Firbolg
Firbolg tribes cloister in remote forest strongholds, preferring to spend their days in quiet harmony with the woods. When provoked, firbolgs demonstrate formidable skills with weapons and druidic magic. VGTM pg. 106
Genasi
Those who think of other planes at all consider them remote, distant realms, but planar influence can be felt throughout the world. It sometimes manifests in beings who, through an accident of birth, carry the power of the planes in their blood. The genasi are one such people, the offspring of genies and mortals. EEPC pg. 7
Gith
Inspired by the great leader for whom the race is named, the gith rose up to overthrow the mind flayers that held them in servitude . But after they won their freedom, two factions among the gith disagreed on what kind of civilization they would forge . That disagreement quickly flared into open hostility, and the two groups distanced themselves from one another to pursue their separate agendas. They remain bitter enemies today, each side willing to fight to the death whenever they cross paths.
| Subrace | Description | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Githyanki | Since winning their freedom from the mind flayers, the githyanki have become corrupt raiders and destroyers under the rulership of their dread lich-queen, Vlaakith. They dwell on the Astral Plane in the city of Tu'narath, a metropolis built on and in the corpse of a deity. |
MTOF. pg. 96 |
| Githzerai | The githzerai were born as a race at the end of the gith's bloody, genocidal uprising against the mind flayers. A gith named Zerthimon, who had gained a significant following during the conflict, challenged Gith's plans and her leadership. Gith was evil , the newcomer proclaimed, and she would lead the people into darkness and tyranny not unlike the one imposed by the illithids. |
MTOF. pg. 96 |
Goliath
At the highest mountain peaks-far above the slopes where trees grow and where the air is thin and the frigid winds howl-dwell the reclusive goliaths. Few folk can claim to have seen a goliath, and fewer still can claim friendship with one. Goliaths wander a bleak realm of rock, wind, and cold. Their bodies look as if they are carved from mountain stone and give them great physical power. Their spirits take after the wandering wind, making them nomads who wander from peak to peak. Their hearts are infused with the cold regard of their frigid realm, leaving each goliath with the responsibility to earn a place in the tribe or die trying. VGTM pg. 108
Kenku
Haunted by an ancient crime that robbed them of their wings, the kenku wander the world as vagabonds and burglars who live at the edge of human society. Kenku suffer from a sinister reputation that is not wholly unearned, but they can prove to be valuable allies. VGTM pg. 109
Lizardfolk
Only a fool looks at the lizardfolk and sees nothing more than scaly humanoids. Their physical shape notwithstanding, lizardfolk have more in common with iguanas or dragons than they do with humans, dwarves, or elves. Lizardfolk possess an alien and inscrutable mindset, their desires and thoughts driven by a different set of basic principles than those of warm-blooded creatures. Their dismal swamp homes might lie hundreds of miles from the nearest human settlement, but the gap between their way of thinking and that of the smooth-skins is far greater. VGTM pg. 111
Tabaxi
Hailing from a strange and distant land, wandering tabaxi are catlike humanoids driven by curiosity to collect interesting artifacts, gather tales and stories, and lay eyes on all the world's wonders. Ultimate travelers, the inquisitive tabaxi rarely stay in one place for long. Their innate nature pushes them to leave no secrets uncovered, no treasures or legends lost. VGTM pg. 113
Triton
Tritons guard the ocean depths, building small settlements beside deep trenches, portals to the elemental planes, and other dangerous spots far from the eyes of land-bound folk. Long-established guardians of the deep ocean floor, in recent years the noble tritons have become increasingly active in the world above. VGTM pg. 115
Useful Links
Sourcebook Acronyms
- PHB - Player's Handbook
- MTOF - Mordenkainen Tome of Foes
- SCAG - Sword Coast Adventuring's Guide
- VGTM - Volo's Guide to Monsters