what races do you find the most cool/fun mechanically?

[Rfkannen]

Bassically the title. A lot of the enjoyment when playing a race is with the fluff, but divorced from the fluff, what races do you think are the most fun/cool?


edit; just thought of a secondary question, what do you think they could be refluffed as that would be even more fun/cool?

[Shining Wrath]

That ties into what class you like.

Half elves getting 3 free skills is pretty sweet.

The half-orc "not gonna die this round" feature is also pretty nice.

I like Perception, so elves getting automatic proficiency there is good.

[Mr.Moron]

Half-Elves for me too, bonus skills and Paladin-friendly stats.

[Ralanr]

I enjoy playing dragonborn. Probably for silly reasons, it makes the child in me smile.

Other than that I'm a dwarf player. We have a lot in common, in person I'm pretty stubborn and strict when it comes to rules and tradition.

[Rfkannen]

I enjoy playing dragonborn. Probably for silly reasons, it makes the child in me smile.

Other than that I'm a dwarf player. We have a lot in common, in person I'm pretty stubborn and strict when it comes to rules and tradition.

Yeah playing as a dragon is pretty awesome. Mechanically I love the breath weapon


Bolth your awnsers are related to fluff though, are those your favorites crunch wise to?

[Ralanr]

Yeah playing as a dragon is pretty awesome. Mechanically I love the breath weapon


Bolth your awnsers are related to fluff though, are those your favorites crunch wise to?

I usually avoid crunch reasoning when it comes to races (Not so much in pathfinder). But I do like the resistance choice from dragonborn, plus dwarves get darkvison and anti poison stuff, which is always pretty nice.

Edit: I do feel that dragonborn should get a skill proficiency (Even something like history would be fine. I'd prefer intimidation) but don't because they're trying to nerf/depower them due to their status in 4e :smallfrown:. I haven't even seen any new dragonborn drawings from WoTC.

[JAL_1138]

Feat-variant humans and half-elves are both great.

[Naanomi]

I have always had a weird fondness for water breathing; so air/water genasi making an appearance was welcome

[Giant2005]

Halflings are my favourite for their "I laugh in the face of those natural 1s!" ability.

[Gritmonger]

Variant humans - I really like the idea that I can start a character with a feat plus a background and even without much class ability be close to a character concept. A charlatan with Actor? I can start play as a nearly undetectable con person.

[Rhaegar14]

Tieflings' racial magic is something I've had lots of fun with thus far. My character is a Paladin, so getting a utility cantrip when I otherwise wouldn't have one is pretty nice. Plus, darkvision is really useful with any DM who decides to actually worry about lighting, and my fire resistance has already come up at level 2.

[Jermz]

We just played our first session of 5e last night after years of playing 3.5. I looked at all the races in-depth, and ultimately choose a Wood Elf. I found that the 35-feet movement is a pretty big mechanical plus, especially with the whole disengage mechanic now. Those extra 5-feet are pretty important, and looks like they'll be even moreso during later levels when it can be combined with Cunning Action next level.

[Inevitability]

Aaracokra. I mean, you get to fly. There's a lot of uses for that.

Need to get to the top of the evil wizard's tower? Fly.
Falling to your doom? Fly.
Need to quickly get a message to a nearby town? Flying is faster than walking.
Fighting some pesky airborne foes? Fly!
Want to abuse cunning action? Fly down, attack, disengage, fly up.

[Rfkannen]

Variant humans - I really like the idea that I can start a character with a feat plus a background and even without much class ability be close to a character concept. A charlatan with Actor? I can start play as a nearly undetectable con person.
yeah that is fun and cool, I am kind of sad that by raw not all players start with a feat at first level.


Tieflings' racial magic is something I've had lots of fun with thus far. My character is a Paladin, so getting a utility cantrip when I otherwise wouldn't have one is pretty nice. Plus, darkvision is really useful with any DM who decides to actually worry about lighting, and my fire resistance has already come up at level 2.

ah teiflings. God I love em.


We just played our first session of 5e last night after years of playing 3.5. I looked at all the races in-depth, and ultimately choose a Wood Elf. I found that the 35-feet movement is a pretty big mechanical plus, especially with the whole disengage mechanic now. Those extra 5-feet are pretty important, and looks like they'll be even moreso during later levels when it can be combined with Cunning Action next level.
Oh yeah that 5 feet is deffinitly imporant. With my dwarf archer I found that not haveing 5 feet just kept screwing me over XD


Aaracokra. I mean, you get to fly. There's a lot of uses for that.

Need to get to the top of the evil wizard's tower? Fly.
Falling to your doom? Fly.
Need to quickly get a message to a nearby town? Flying is faster than walking.
Fighting some pesky airborne foes? Fly!
Want to abuse cunning action? Fly down, attack, disengage, fly up.

Yeah, but most dms I know just build their encounters so your not op with your flying.

[VoxRationis]

In a certain, highly limited way, high elves are a gish-in-a-race! Sword & bow proficiency for free plus a free cantrip. (Plus I'm always partial to elves.) Obviously, not in a way which is relevant past low level, but hey.

[Ralanr]

Tieflings' racial magic is something I've had lots of fun with thus far. My character is a Paladin, so getting a utility cantrip when I otherwise wouldn't have one is pretty nice. Plus, darkvision is really useful with any DM who decides to actually worry about lighting, and my fire resistance has already come up at level 2.

Tiefling Paladin? That sounds fun rp wise.

[Rhaegar14]

Tiefling Paladin? That sounds fun rp wise.

It's been pretty good thus far. The campaign setting uses the old fluff for tieflings, where they have a fiendish ancestor somewhere up the line, so he's mistrusted and discriminated against as "devilspawn" a lot. I mostly represent the effect this has on him by giving him trust issues in-character; he tends to assume that others will let him down if he places his faith in them. But he's still really good to people even if he doesn't trust them; he's used Lay-On Hands to heal innocents that could offer him nothing on multiple occasions now.

Also, muttering in Infernal and causing the ground to shake (yay Thaumaturgy) while shooting a death glare is a great way to prompt an Intimidate check lol.

[squiggit]

feats in 5e are really cool, so I have to side with the mention of variant human.

It's funny, in older editions I generally avoided playing humans because I thought they were kind of bland in general, but the feat is so awesome in this edition that I find it almost impossible to not play a human.

[Mrmox42]

I side with the Variant Human for the Feat, but I also have a soft spot for the Halflings. Luck is a fun and useful ability.

[Person_Man]

I honestly don't like the mechanics of how races are set up in 5E at all.

Ability Score bonuses strongly encourage certain race/class combinations and discourage others.

Several have a bunch of small/fiddly benefits, which I generally dislike (more book keeping), and don't make sense. (Every Dwarf everywhere of every age is trained to use a battleaxe, handaxe, throwing hammer, warhammer, and tool of some kind? Really? Its genetically encoded?)

I also personally have a tendency to forget about passive benefits that I don't use frequently, like Advantage vs. Whatever.

I would prefer a small number of potent/active racial abilities.

[Naanomi]

I honestly don't like the mechanics of how races are set up in 5E at all.

Ability Score bonuses strongly encourage certain race/class combinations and discourage others.

Several have a bunch of small/fiddly benefits, which I generally dislike (more book keeping), and don't make sense. (Every Dwarf everywhere of every age is trained to use a battleaxe, handaxe, throwing hammer, warhammer, and tool of some kind? Really? Its genetically encoded?).
It is much less of a problem with rolled stats, but yes with point buy choosing a race without at least +1 in any stat you want 20 in feels like a significant setback in your progress.

And I don't know about the weapons but... Every dwarf is born knowing how to make booze unless society channels it into a more useful pursuit.

[Slipperychicken]

I want to play a goliath barbarian with tavern brawler who uses his huge carry capacity to throw enemies at each other, strike enemies with other enemies, and beat people to death with furniture.

[eastmabl]

I honestly don't like the mechanics of how races are set up in 5E at all.

Ability Score bonuses strongly encourage certain race/class combinations and discourage others.

Several have a bunch of small/fiddly benefits, which I generally dislike (more book keeping), and don't make sense. (Every Dwarf everywhere of every age is trained to use a battleaxe, handaxe, throwing hammer, warhammer, and tool of some kind? Really? Its genetically encoded?)

I also personally have a tendency to forget about passive benefits that I don't use frequently, like Advantage vs. Whatever.

I would prefer a small number of potent/active racial abilities.

While I might prefer a class/race structure more like 13th Age (one bonus to a stat based on class, on bonus on a stat based on race, one cool ability from your race), let's consider this a step ahead of previous editions.

Previously, you had +2/-2 to stats based upon your race, and in 3.xpf, your stats went up to infinity (in theory). If you're a half-orc and you want to be a wizard, it was foolish because you started out 2-4 points behind the curve.

In 5e, there are no stat penalties for PHB races - it's +2, +1 or nothing - and the stats cap out at 20. Now, if you want to be a half-orc paladin or wizard, you're not penalized in your key stat. Just put your highest stat in Int (let's say 15) and you can cast spells without severe impediment. Sure, you're a little behind the races with +2/+1 to Int - but the cap at 20 comes soon enough.

(Or, it could make sense for the orc wizard to use the Amulet of Intellience and turn into a gish by focusing on Str/Con).

***

And for something on topic - I like the lightfoot halfling the most. It's got some fun abilities like Lucky (it turns the probability of crit fails from 1 in 20 to 1 in 400, and makes rolling Death Saving Throw less dangerous) and Naturally Stealthy (cheese aside, it's a fun way to recognize that halflings can get lost in crowds).

[VoxRationis]

What's wrong with having penalties? It makes sense that a gnome the size of a child wouldn't have Strength comparable to a human in the same percentile for their respective races.

[Slipperychicken]

What's wrong with having penalties? It makes sense that a gnome the size of a child wouldn't have Strength comparable to a human in the same percentile for their respective races.

Small characters' weakness is already represented by halved carry capacity and disadvantage on many combat maneuvers against bigger opponents. By pretty much any measure observable in-character, small characters are weaker.

[WickerNipple]

I like that they finally made Human (Variant) feel like it has a reason for being the dominant majority race.

[eastmabl]

What's wrong with having penalties? It makes sense that a gnome the size of a child wouldn't have Strength comparable to a human in the same percentile for their respective races.

Because the gnome and the halfling are markedly weaker in their MM listing than your average human would wind up being.

However, this is D&D. You're not playing Noam, the run of the mill MM gnome. You are Gnomus T. Burrowguard, the strongest gnome in the history of gnomes, or Wholling P. Hornswaggle, the hafling who could carry more treasure than a dwarf!

Most gnomes as PCs will probably wind up having Strength as a mediocre-to-dump stat because of a multitude of reasons. However, a penalty to Str effectively relegates the ability a dump stat for all characters - even for the special little snowflakes.

[Ralanr]

Small characters' weakness is already represented by halved carry capacity and disadvantage on many combat maneuvers against bigger opponents. By pretty much any measure observable in-character, small characters are weaker.

I don't think they have halved carrying capacity. I think that's just for tiny races, not small.

[Slipperychicken]

I don't think they have halved carrying capacity. I think that's just for tiny races, not small.

That is right, thanks for pointing it out. I will concede that a 3ft tall halfling should not have the same carrying capacity as a full-grown human adult.

[burninatortrog]

I think Half-Elves are hard to beat. A total of +4 in stat bonuses, including +2 to Charisma, the only ability that is the spellcasting ability for four different classes. Freedom to choose where the other two +1's go. Not one but two skill proficiencies, player's choice. Darkvision for icing on the cake. All these go together for a very customizable and effective set of features.

[Ralanr]

That is right, thanks for pointing it out. I will concede that a 3ft tall halfling should not have the same carrying capacity as a full-grown human adult.

I agree. The fact that my dragonborn barbarian can carry as much as the gnome Erdrich knight makes no sense.

[Fralex]

I'm really fascinated by rock gnomes' Tinker ability but haven't gotten a chance to play one yet. In the playtest, a rock gnome player found a creative use for it by building an alarm clock. I imagine a thief would be a fun class to take, since then I could use all my devices as bonus actions.

[Steampunkette]

I really want to try an Aarakocra reskinned into a harpy by dropping the Talons for Performance training (and fluffing out the age category and stuff).

Grab a Lance and Dive-Bomb people when I'm not chucking Javelins.

[ChubbyRain]

I absolutely love the Water Genasi. So many DMs forget about their swim movement and their water breathing that it is starting to not be funny anymore.

My character was captured by the enemy and put in chains with 20 lbs weight on it (random note my PC had 16 str). The enemy threatened to push me into a deep lake if the party didn't surrender.

The party did not surrender and I jumped in myself (so that the enemies wouldn't be able to stab me while restrained). The DM was confused and asked if I wanted to roll up a new character. My response as my allies were killing the hell out of the enemies was "water genasi, WATER genasi". The look on the DM's face was priceless. I used my thieves tools to get out of the shackles (in retrospect I could have just done a strength check...) and I swam back up to join the fight.

Fun times fun times...

[Ralanr]

I absolutely love the Water Genasi. So many DMs forget about their swim movement and their water breathing that it is starting to not be funny anymore.

My character was captured by the enemy and put in chains with 20 lbs weight on it (random note my PC had 16 str). The enemy threatened to push me into a deep lake if the party didn't surrender.

The party did not surrender and I jumped in myself (so that the enemies wouldn't be able to stab me while restrained). The DM was confused and asked if I wanted to roll up a new character. My response as my allies were killing the hell out of the enemies was "water genasi, WATER genasi". The look on the DM's face was priceless. I used my thieves tools to get out of the shackles (in retrospect I could have just done a strength check...) and I swam back up to join the fight.

Fun times fun times...

Does heavy armor or similar things even slow you done in water as a water genasi? I can't find anything that says no to that in the book. Or yes for that matter.

[ChubbyRain]

Does heavy armor or similar things even slow you done in water as a water genasi? I can't find anything that says no to that in the book. Or yes for that matter.

Short answer because I'm tired. From what the book says, generally speaking, if you have a swim speed then you traverse water as if you were on dry land (and had a fly speed technically as you move in 3d).

Now if you don't have the proper str to wear the heavy armor then you will be restricted but that isn't due to swimming.

[ShikomeKidoMi]

I'm really fascinated by rock gnomes' Tinker ability but haven't gotten a chance to play one yet. In the playtest, a rock gnome player found a creative use for it by building an alarm clock. I imagine a thief would be a fun class to take, since then I could use all my devices as bonus actions.

If we're talking about mechanical benefits, though, my favorite Gnome ability remains Gnomish cunning. Advantage on all mental saves vs spells? Yes, please. Now I don't have to spend a feat on Resilient (charisma) to have a decent chance of my wizard avoiding being planeshifted into the Abyss. And anything that makes spells like dominate person and feeblemind even less likely to work is gravy.

[Slipperychicken]

If we're talking about mechanical benefits, though, my favorite Gnome ability remains Gnomish cunning. Advantage on all mental saves vs spells? Yes, please. Now I don't have to spend a feat on Resilient (charisma) to have a decent chance of my wizard avoiding being planeshifted into the Abyss. And anything that makes spells like dominate person and feeblemind even less likely to work is gravy.

I've been wondering about potential of a gnome barbarian. Such a combination would have advantage on almost all saving throws aside from constitution. Raging would give advantage on strength saves, danger sense (barbarian class feature) gives advantage on almost all dex saves, and being a gnome would give advantage on pretty much all mental saves. Throw on bear totem and it's also got resistance to pretty much all damage. Such a character might not have as much DPR, but it would help cover up the barbarian's main vulnerabilities without blowing precious feats or ASIs on it.

[Fralex]

I've been wondering about potential of a gnome barbarian. Such a combination would have advantage on almost all saving throws aside from constitution. Raging would give advantage on strength saves, danger sense (barbarian class feature) gives advantage on almost all dex saves, and being a gnome would give advantage on pretty much all mental saves. Throw on bear totem and it's also got resistance to pretty much all damage. Such a character might not have as much DPR, but it would help cover up the barbarian's main vulnerabilities without blowing precious feats or ASIs on it.

You had me at "gnome barbarian."

[ChubbyRain]

You had me at "gnome barbarian."

This is why I hate racial ability modifiers and rules that make strength 16 =/= 16.

A gnome should be able to have a 16 strength (at first level) should be able to greataxe it up just as wellas a human with 16 strength.

To not allow this only restricts fantasy and puts fiddly rules in the game.

[Slipperychicken]

This is why I hate racial ability modifiers and rules that make strength 16 =/= 16.

A gnome should be able to have a 16 strength (at first level) should be able to greataxe it up just as wellas a human with 16 strength.

To not allow this only restricts fantasy and puts fiddly rules in the game.

If you let point buy scale to 16 instead of 15 (with a 16 in a score costing 12 points), you can still get it pretty easily. If you roll for it, you're pretty likely to get a 16 which you'll put into strength anyway.


Personally, I'm just bothered that they didn't put in rules for a small-sized versions of heavy weapons (i.e. something small characters could use which had the heavy tag). For many rules (including things like carrying capacity), it just seems like they didn't really try to scale things down for small characters at all.

[ChubbyRain]

If you let point buy scale to 16 instead of 15 (with a 16 in a score costing 12 points), you can still get it pretty easily. If you roll for it, you're pretty likely to get a 16 which you'll put into strength anyway.


Personally, I'm just bothered that they didn't put in rules for a small-sized versions of heavy weapons (i.e. something small characters could use which had the heavy tag). For many rules (including things like carrying capacity), it just seems like they didn't really try to scale things down for small characters at all.

Well right now I'm playing primarily in AL and it would have been awesome to be able to be an effective Gnome Barbarian...

But my main beef is just that within their own ideology they are going backwards.

Within a game that has a ability score cap, they are putting in rules that effectively make your ability scores cap faster than others for certain effects.

Plus the whole D&D doesn't simulate real life except when it comes to certain things that aren't magic. Then you better believe we are trying to simulate real life!

The excuse of balance is bull crap, a halfling using a great sword will be a bit more mobile but no more damaging than a human, while the human will probably be more versitile (feat). (Fringe / cheese builds excluded)

Str score of 16 or 20 should always equal a strength score of 16 or 20 respectively, especially so in a fantasy game. I absolutely hate that some creatures, due to size and not due to strength score, can't be grappled or shoved. Is my character 20 strength no longer equal to 20 strength? Could you imagine if spells just didn't work on creatures of a certain size? Like not just th moving spells but spells like meteor swarm just didn't effect a creature because of their size? How ape crap crazy would people go? Perhaps because the dragon is huge the dominate monster spell just fizzles...

[VoxRationis]

It stops being "fantasy" and becomes "cartoonish" when the gnome is just as strong as the human barbarian twice his size. -2 is pretty generous in that regard.

[Ralanr]

You can still make a shield barbarian. It's actually pretty good aside from some damage issues. But it's not impossible for gnome or halfing barbarians.

I'd love to be able to grapple an ancient or adult dragon with good grapple check. But I can't by RAW.

Good thing some DMs use rule of cool if described well. Course this can be bad.

[VoxRationis]

You can't inflict the "grappled" condition. In a game as "ask-your-DM" as 5th, you could probably grab onto the dragon, but a gnome is not going to be able to inflict on a dragon the size of a whale the kind of crippling restrictions they could by grabbing another gnome. Imagine a chihuahua clinging to your ankle and biting. You'd still be able to move unfettered. It would hurt, but that's damage, not grappling, and damage doesn't impart disadvantage.