A good Paladin Race

[A Fat Dragon]

I’m stuck on whether to make a new character (Paladin) a Yuan-Ti, an Avariel Elf, or a Tiefling (Winged).

The Avariel Elf and Tiefling, I may ask the DM to see if I can make them slightly draconic (Only fluff stuff, not changing any mechanics), and I’m planning on starting them off as a Paladin of the Ancients, and if the DM allows it, turning them to an Oathless.

What’s a good race to choose?

[Naanomi]

Winged Feral Tiefling seems to hit all the things you are going for (DEX, wings, vague evilness)

[Morphic tide]

Do you want to go bow-based? If so, Winged Tiefling is probably best. The more-draconic stuff could be Kobold, rather than conventional human, heritage on the non-Fiendish side, which also helps with wings being a thing. Winged Kobolds exist in 5e, right? And now I want to write up a subrace-accepting version of Kobolds to pack full of odd things...

[A Fat Dragon]

Thinking Sword and Board for the character. Up front fighting, perhaps a bit of cowardice, but most of the time, mercilessly fighting against the darkness (Which may turn to simply mercilessly fighting when becoming Oathless).

[A Fat Dragon]

Also, I have a Winged Kobold Artificer.

My DM allows Winged Kobolds, so that might be interesting, though I’ve never been too fond of playing a small character. I prefer medium-sized, or Goliath sized.

[Specter]

If your DM allows Winged, then it's not even a decision. You are taking care of Paladin's biggest weakness (movement) and still getting Charisma and neat racial abilities.

[A Fat Dragon]

So, Winged Kobold?

Would it be wrong to say, remove one of the passive perks, and make the character medium-sized?

Edit: Guessing you meant Winged Tiefling, in hind sight. Sorry, I can be a bit oblivious sometimes.

[zinycor]

Don't underestimate small guys, they are awesome

[Arkhios]

One particularly interesting bit of past edition lore: relatively late in 3.5 era there was some book that introduced a firebreathing dragon native to the hells (or was it abyss, not quite sure about which one) which had an alternate form that closely resembled a tiefling. In this light, I would actually allow the Dragon Hide feat from XGtE for tieflings as well as dragonborns.

A friend has already approved the idea if I ever chose to play one in his games, but I have been thinking about making a Winged Dragon Hide Tiefling Sorcerer with Draconic bloodline. Of course you wouldn't have to be sorcerer, but sorcerer would gain access to Dragon's Breath spell, which I would definitely take for this one. Especially because it's not a dragonborn.

The base idea of this would be that since Draconic Sorcerer gains effectively a d8 hit die, it would be more tough and more likely to survive in melee, I would use those retractable claws as much as possible :P

In your case, I would consider taking at least 6 levels in Draconic Sorcerer while remaining a paladin otherwise.

Oath of Conquest would be pretty thematic for a "Fiendish Dragon Knight" because of that aura of fear, which most dragons (at least used to) have.

So in the end you would gain:
1. Scaled skin (works as armor if you don't want to wear one)
2. Retractable Claws (unarmed attacks deal 1d4+str slashing damage)
3. Wings (fly speed 30 ft. without armor restrictions)
4. Aura of Fear (as explained above)
5. Dragon's Breath spell
6. Tail (although it doesn't do anything)

As close to a dragon as you can get while still mostly within RAW.

[DarkKnightJin]

My personal Racial picks for a Paladin, if I want to make at least something halfway 'optimized', are Dragonborn, Tiefling, and Aasimar.

Quick note about the Feral Tiefling suggestion I spotted.. You'd be trading the +2 Cha for a +2 Dex.
Effectively making them a sort of High Elf. Without innate weapon training, and a pre-picked cantrip. That scales with your Charisma. Which you no longer get a +2 for.

Feral Tiefling would make for a great EK or AT. Paladin.. Not quite so much.

But that's my take on the matter. Do with it as you will.
The entire point is that you get a character that you enjoy playing as.

Final thought: Ask you DM if the winged race options and/or Yuan-ti Pureblood is open to you.
I've heard plenty DM's just outright banning both races with innate Flight, and Yuan-ti for being 'OP'.
And I can sorta see where they're coming from with the Yuan-ti and their Advantage on saves vs magic effects. That's pretty major.

[Malifice]

I’m stuck on whether to make a new character (Paladin) a Yuan-Ti, an Avariel Elf, or a Tiefling (Winged).

The Avariel Elf and Tiefling, I may ask the DM to see if I can make them slightly draconic (Only fluff stuff, not changing any mechanics), and I’m planning on starting them off as a Paladin of the Ancients, and if the DM allows it, turning them to an Oathless.

What’s a good race to choose?

I thought you wanted to be a Dragon.

Be a Dragonborn

Take the feat that gives you wings from U/A (it may also be from XgtE).

Dragon Wings. Prerequisite: Dragonborn. You sprout draconic wings. With your wings, you have a flying speed of 20 feet if you aren't wearing heavy armor and aren't exceeding your carrying capacity.

http://www.enworld.org/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=72654&d=1451313276

[Angelalex242]

I cast greater laziness:

http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?375696-Good-is-Not-Nice-A-Paladin-s-Guide

[Zanthy1]

I cast greater laziness:

http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?375696-Good-is-Not-Nice-A-Paladin-s-Guide

One of the greatest guides out there for the 5e paladin.

I am currently playing a dragonborn paladin which I am loving however if I could go back to when I rolled up this character with the options from th newer books (made this before SCAG, Volo's, or XGtE was out), I would make it a protector aasimar probably.