Your favorite and least favorite race

[Sindal]

Simple clean question today yall

What is your favourite and least favorite race, and why?

bonus question: whats a race you really wantto play but haven't had the chance

Notes:
-Any official race from a dnd 5e book qualifies.
-your basis can be mechanical or conceptual.Aka, either you just enjoy playing that race or you really like them theoretically and lore. Or both. Vice versa for least favourite .
-try to narrow it down to 1 or 2 if you can. I know theres alot

For me:

Fave: Tabaxi, because meow. Thats literally it i dont even care about the bonuses.

Least fave: Elves, in general. After being sorta forced to play them as an alternative to humans to be more dex or magic focused in a large number of older games i became a little tired of them.

Bonus answer: Warforged
They just look so coooool and customizable

[Nonah_Me]

Favorite: Halflings. I fell in love with halflings after their entry in Races of the Wild in 3.5.

Least favorite: Gnomes. This is going to be pedantic, but it's because they're not halflings. Hmm, maybe i should make gnomes a halfling subrace. Hmm

[Potato_Priest]

Favorite: Genasi. I’ve had great experiences with these guys before, all their sub races feel very unique (though earth and air need damage resistances), and I love the elemental flavor.

Least favorite: Well, it’s really yuan-Ti, but from the races people are actually allowed to use I dislike tieflings the most. I’m generally not a fan of fiends or the lower planes as a set piece, and a race based on them seems to me to make them a more tangible part of the world.

Bonus question: I want to, but haven’t played a lizardfolk.

[stoutstien]

Fav: goblins. Full speed with cunning action light and a boat load of RP potential. Plus one shot with a punch low Cr NPCs who talk down to use with fury of the small at later lvs in awesome.

Least: humans. Boring and i see so many of them at the table.

[Constructman]

Favourite: Changeling. Having a discount Alter Self for free? Yes please. Plus Keith Baker wrote an article back in 2017 about how their different personas/Masks, which greatly interested me.

Least Favourite: Bugbear. I don't know what to do with these guys. Their racial features are weird.

[Man_Over_Game]

Favorite: Tieflings. People don't play Tieflings for a stat buff, they play Tieflings because they want to play an interesting game. Goliaths, Humans, Dwarves, etc., are all stereotypically boring, but I've rarely seen a Tiefling be boring.

Hated: Yuan Ti or Variant Humans. I'm not a huge fan of races that are chosen for combat benefits. If there wasn't the magical resistance of the Yuan Ti, or the Variant Human option, then it'd probably be Elves. They're very generic and cliché.

[Corran]

Favorite: Tiefling, followed closely by human and halfling.

Least favorite: It's a three way tie. Gnome, warforged and dragonborn.
Though I do have an idea of a rock gnome badass warrior who smokes cigars which he lights with his trinket lighter. Str build, hammer and shiled. Warforged are cool, just not for me. About dragonborn, I am not fan of the design, that is how they look (and they are a bit weak as races go, so that doesn't help).

[SpikeFightwicky]

Favorite: Tieflings. People don't play Tieflings for a stat buff, they play Tieflings because they want to play an interesting game. Goliaths, Humans, Dwarves, etc., are all stereotypically boring, but I've rarely seen a Tiefling be boring.

Hated: Yuan Ti or Variant Humans. I'm not a huge fan of races that are chosen for combat benefits. If there wasn't the magical resistance of the Yuan Ti, or the Variant Human option, then it'd probably be Elves. They're very generic and cliché.

Lol you're basically echoing my exact thoughts, with the exception that I don't hate elves overall (though I do hate the typical Tolkien style superiority complex elf).

Favorite: Every previous edition it was Gnomes, though now Tieflings have risen to the top to share it with them. I'm always the designated DM so I can only make NPCs that rarely have the chance to get fleshed out, but definitely Tieflings.

Least Favorite: As MoG said, I think Variant Human. Bland, but mechanically powerfully.

[MagneticKitty]

Favorite: Tabaxi followed by dragonborn/kobold. Wish dragonborn and kobold were a little more powerful. They are kinda meh on abilities. Wish there were more cool designs like these that weren't considered monsters. Others would make the list if I didn't have to play the same "non evil monster" archetype with them. I like most that don't look like humans.

Least favorite: humans. Humans with pointy ears (elves / half elves) . Short humans (gnomes). Jaundiced yellow humans (gith). Muscle humans (goliath). these are boring. I want to /look/ fantasyish.

[Rukelnikov]

Favorite: Githzerai, because in knowing the teachings of Zerthimon I have become stronger.

"Least Favorite" (more like "the one I dislike the most"): Vhuman, its so mechanically strong it effectively neuters a lot of other races

Would like to play: Warforged, Shifter or Lizardfolk

[Man_Over_Game]

Lol you're basically echoing my exact thoughts, with the exception that I don't hate elves overall (though I do hate the typical Tolkien style superiority complex elf).

I agree on the elf thing. I don't really hate them, I just hate how players play them. They either play Elves like humans, or they play Elves like complete toolbags. There's no in-between. They don't play off of the chaotic/fey ancestry, and they rather just play as the "Super Stoic Dark Side Human" with +2 Dexterity and pointy ears and call it original. Bleh.

If Players were more interesting with their race choices, I don't think there's any race I wouldn't love to see in action.

[Waterdeep Merch]

My favorite's humans. There's less innate baggage with them, which lends itself to better characters in my mind. I'm not expected to play with or subvert any particular tropes. I even pick them when variant human's off the menu.

My least favorite's dragonborn. I dislike them narratively, and apparently someone at WotC caught the office dragonborn photocopying his butt on the corporate copier or something. That's the only way to explain why they're so mechanically terrible, and the office orc really shouldn't have goaded him into doing it.

[Jophiel]

Favorite: Halfling. I like the idea of the cheerful little person who can still be dangerous and they get decent bonuses for it.

Least favorite: Gnomes. I've never wanted to play a half-elf/half-dwarf more than just playing an elf or dwarf. Runner up for Dragonborn which is a greater part of how D&D has made dragons feel so generic by making so many things have dragon blood in them.

I'm agnostic about most of the weirdo +1 Book races since I almost never see them used.

[JackPhoenix]

Favorite? Humans. I'm a human, for one, and it's the only species any world needs.

Least favorite? Dragonborn. So stupid they don't even have a proper name.

[Mercurias]

Favorite: Probably the Kenku or Firbolg. I absolutely love the flavor to them. It instantly adds character to a PC without making every PC of that race act identical. Also, apparently my autocorrect thinks “kenku” should be “Kentucky.”

Least Favorite: Variant Human, hands down. The mechanical benefit of a feat is so powerful in so many ways that it’s become a painfully overplayed race. I really enjoy the idea of how many races you can play in D&D, so I’d like to see that explored more.

[Aprender]

Favorite: anything that isn't an elf or a short race.

Least: you probably guessed this, but elves and short races. I dislike the haughtiness of the elves (previously described as Tolkienesque above). I don't know why, but being short with the penalties to big weapons and lowered speed drives me batty. If they ever make a short elf race, then I guess it's just WOTC trying to mess with me. :)

[RedMage125]

Wow, so much hate for the elves.

Me? I like elves, and they're usually one of my favorite races, have been since 2e. I have, in the past, done the "haughty, superior elf wizard" character, but that's because I was writing in room for character growth. I played that character all the way up until 17th level, and by the time he was level...9 or 10(ish), that "racial superiority" sense was compltely gone, as he had come to value and appreciate what other races had to offer (both his fellow party members and the world outside of Evermeet that he was getting to explore). Ironically, after that point, the story turned to a lot of stuff with restoring Myth Drannor and rebuilding for the glory of elvenkind, but that, too, had a positive effect on my character, who was previously True Neutral (I just want to increase my knowledge and arcane mastery), but became more and more Neutral Good (I want to help restore Myth Drannor and re-found the School of Wizardry for the betterment of all people of Cormanthor).

For 5e, it's hard for me to pinpoint a favorite race. First, because I usually DM, so I don't get a chance to play. But also because I can come up with a fairly compelling story and background for most races or classes (except Ranger...I just never found playing one to be compelling). I've played dragonborn, high elf, tabaxi, hill dwarf, and v.human, and while I liked those characters, I've never been so completely "wowed" by anythng about the race to make me want to repeat the choice.

Now least favorite, I can do: Small Races. Halflings and Gnomes both. I just don't care much for them. I see others play them all the time and that's fine, but I have never felt the desire to play one. Not even a little (pun intended).

Bonus question: I would really want to play...anything from Eberron. I don't know anyone who's been using the Wayfinder's Guide and runnign 5e Eberron near me. I've got crazy fun ideas for almost every race. Changelings are always fun, warforged seem even more enticing than they did in 3.5e, and the dragonmarked races...so much good stuff. I'd even love to play a House Vadalis Human Druid whose class abilities come from his dragonmark and not from any kind of reverence (this is suggested in the WGtE), which means a druid who would rather control and profit from nature, rather than protect it. And I don't normally play druids.

[Xihirli]

I love playing goblinoids. Bugbear zealots, Goblin Rangers, hobgoblin transmuters are all something I’ve tried and I fell in love with each of them. There’s just something special they bring to the table with their very different invariably terrible childhoods.

I don’t dislike any races so far. I’ve been trying to branch out with water Genasi druids, tiefling bards, maybe an Eladrin Ancients Paladin sounds fun.
I have no desire to play as a Dragonborn but I’ve made plenty of NPC Dragonborn and don’t have anything against them - at least, no desire to hurt them any worse than WOTC has already.

[Karnitis]

Favorite Race: Amazingly, apparently, Gnomes. I am generally the most Chaotic person at my table, so and Minor Illusion plus being small lends itself to getting out the problems I invent for myself. I've never much got the popularity of LotR so halflings seem so over-hyped to me (except those using them for the mechanical benefit of Lucky, which is just hypocritical to all you VHuman haters)

Least liked: Elves, or more specifically Half-Elves. Elves always seem so perfect, its incredibly boring to be beautiful, smart, in tune with nature, and immortal (compared to other races). Half-Elves are people just hipsters who recognize how boring elves are and think that being a Half-Elf is somehow better.

My sole exception is a friend who played a homebrewed Half Elf-Orc. That was fun.

[NRSASD]

Favorite Race: Hard to say... but let's say Kenku for now. I really like them all for a lot of different reasons.

Least favorite: Dragonborn. Dragons aren't supposed to be player characters, and trying to go halfway just doesn't work. It's not a lizardfolk, it's a... thing. Aasimar is a close second because I dislike the concept of someone being infused with elemental good.

Bonus- Race I really want to play: Tabaxi. I've been wanting to play one for a while now, and since I just discovered Prequel... well...

[DataNinja]

My favorite race is probably dragonborn, though admittedly a lot of that is 4e nostalgia creeping in - 5e destroyed so much of what made them unique, and just turned them into 'generic honour warrior race that happens to look dragon-like'. They really creep into that least-favorite category, too, admittedly, just because it feels like I'm kneecapping myself if I play as one. :smalltongue:

But, more properly, out of all the core races... my least favorite'd probably be halflings. I like playing as more exotic races if I'm not playing a human, just because they tend to have the most possibilities for me for exploring a far different sense of culture or psychology. I... honestly have no real idea what to do with Halflings. Lord of the Rings did stuff with them already, I've really got nothing that I can come up with that I'd want to explore.

[Bundin]

I'm partial to Githzerai. Stern, serious, mistrustful, and all that with a very good reason. Illithid are my favourite monster type as well. Next character I'll create will be a Githzerai again, last one I played was in 4e. Too bad the Avenger doesn't really properly exist anymore... I liked my Bleach sword and a dress combo.

There are no races I inherently dislike, but I like several common interpretations of races. One dimensional snooty elves, stupid half-orcs, quaffing dwarves.. Those (and when talking classes the 'pickpocket party members, murderhoboing, ninja loot and "pretend" there wasn't any' rogues). Not one shred of originality in many many many characters I've seen playing one of these races. But exceptions exist, so no dislike for the race itself :)

[yellowrocket]

Fav: Tortle. One of the single most fun characters I've had. 17 AC + patient defense (wis to AC) dm had to kill me by fiat during a near impossible, but slim chance to win battle. I gave our rogue advantage by flanking and dodging. Good luck hitting a 20 AC with disadvantage lol.

Least favorite. Hmm. Goliath. Because the only person to play them always played them as chaotic stupid.

I'd like to try a Goblin. They have great mechanics, and ive always been neutral to very good. Neutral to compassionate evil would be a fun switch.

[2D8HP]

Mechanics Favorite: Wood Elves
They just have all the "goodies" I want.
Runner up: Half Elves.

Role-playing Favorite: Humans
I simply can't think like an alien species.
Runner up: Half Orcs, 'cause almost human.

Least Favorite: All the rest. Given the description in Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes, Dwarves would be dead easy to play, but I just want to "Robin Hood" too much for that, and as for the rest?

Just not my jam.

[KorvinStarmast]

Re: Your favourite and leadt favourite race
I am going to assume that you are asking about Player Character Races in D&D 5e.

Favorite: I don't have one.

Least Favorite:
I do not allow Tieflings in my games when I DM, although if we end up with a Planescape setting I'll probably relent on that.

Between Tieflings (PHB) and Yuan-ti (resistance OP, and just way to sloppinly implemented, Volo's) WoTC showed that when they want to be sloppy they can succeed mightily. And don't get me started on Kenku: awful idea, and awful implementation. Just no.

I personally don't care at all for the Monstrous Races in Volos, but a lot of my friends have embraced them so I go along with it. I'll never pick one to play since I prefer other stuff and have not got to play all of them yet.

Genasi: I particularly like what they did with these four in the EE Supplement, I wish more of their add ons were this good.

[Bjarkmundur]

My favorite's humans. There's less innate baggage with them, which lends itself to better characters in my mind. I'm not expected to play with or subvert any particular tropes. I even pick them when variant human's off the menu.

My least favorite's Dragonborn. I dislike them narratively.

I'm glad I decided to read (at least half-way) through the thread before commenting since this has been my opinion on races since I started playing DnD in 4e. My second choice is a halfling.
I really dislike people assuming facts about my character based on my race, and would rather make my own first impression. This is the only thing I dislike about halflings. Even though they appear commonly in most adventure modules as NPC each with his own distinct personality, many people think they are either hobbits or Scrappy Doo.

For the least-faves, it's more directed towards other players. I've never thought about my own least-faves, but when a player goes for Tiefling or (god-forbid) a homebrewed Mind Flayer/Vampire, I know the first four sessions are going to be rough. I know this is not 100% accurate, but based on experience, 8 times out of 10 I'm gonna be asked to play NPC in someone else's sociopathic fantasy.

My love for DnD comes from overcoming challenges as a group, working with each other's strengths and making up for each other's weaknesses. The players I know that generally lean towards monster races usually don't share this opinion. These are old opinions, however, since I haven't had to deal with these problems for years. The other big dislike is when a player picks a specific race, and then does nothing with it. If you end up being the only player of a certain race at your table, you are now our frame of reference to what being of that race means. Please do your race justice, and show us just how great your people are.

I love hearing other people talking about their favorite races (conceptually). The insight I gain into WHY players love their favorite races is invaluable to me as a DM.

[Constructman]

I'm glad I decided to read (at least half-way) through the thread before commenting since this has been my opinion on races since I started playing DnD in 4e. My second choice is a halfling.
I really dislike people assuming facts about my character based on my race, and would rather make my own first impression. This is the only thing I dislike about halflings. Even though they appear commonly in most adventure modules as NPC with very distinct personalities, many people think they are either hobbits or Scrappy Doo.

For the least-faves, it's more directed towards other players. I've never thought about my own least-faves, but when a player goes for Tiefling, Dragonborn or (god-forbid) a homebrewed Mind Flayer, I know the first four sessions are going to be rough. I know this is not 100% accurate, but based on experience, 9 times out of 10 I'm gonna be forced to play NPC in someone else's sociopathic fantasy. yayyyyy -.-
My love for DnD comes from overcoming challenges as a group, working with each other's strengths and making up for each other's weaknesses. The players I know that generally lean towards monster races are usually not the ones complementing other players. I'd love to see a tiefling player who actually plays a tielfing, and not their preconception of a "half-demon".
These are old opinions however, since I haven't had to deal with these problems for years.

/rant

1. Ask your DM to preemptively ban homebrew races except by explicit DM exception. Done.
2. Dragonborn's been attracting problem players? I understand Tieflings attracting "Those Guys", but why Dragonborn? They're not particularly edgy, their racial traits are pretty bad, their racial ASIs push them towards Paladin; why are the problem players at your table going for them?

[Bjarkmundur]

Favorite Race: Amazingly, apparently, Gnomes. I am generally the most Chaotic person at my table, so and Minor Illusion plus being small lends itself to getting out the problems I invent for myself.

You, my friend, are doing it right :)
Have you read the Snorra-Edda's stories of Loki? It's his thing throughout the entire mythology, up to a point when he tied a rope to his balls on one end and a rampaging goat to the other, to solve a problem he created xD

[Bjarkmundur]

1. Ask your DM to preemptively ban homebrew races except by explicit DM exception. Done.
2. Dragonborn's been attracting problem players? I understand Tieflings attracting "Those Guys", but why Dragonborn? They're not particularly edgy, their racial traits are pretty bad, their racial ASIs push them towards Paladin; why are the problem players at your table going for them?

1. an old problem, I was playing a lot as a guest, not as an "original member"
2. You replied too fast, I had yet to edit. I have never had a problem with dragonborns, I misremembered.

Over a long period of time, I've gathered bunch of data on why people love their favourite races and even have my own homebrewed versions to emphasize this. I also do things like remove the ability score bonuses from races, to allow each player to play the race he loves, not the race his class loves. I love customizing races to fit a player's reason for playing it, simply because I want to see the races better represented in my game, RP-wise. I want you to be able to TELL a character is a dwarf, without ever having to ask.

[Delightified]

Favorite: I have to say Changelings, both in terms of mechanics and in terms of flavor. Changelings offer a lot of RP potential and their free alter self feature is actually really useful in a lot of situations, in my experience.

Least Favorite: Tortles. I dislike their flavor immensely, and also the base 17 AC is either over or underpowered, depending on what level you're at or the class you're playing.

I'd also have to say Tieflings, not inherently but Tiefling players in my experience have always been... special, to say the least.

[Yakmala]

Favorite: Variant Human. I know, it sounds like the boring choice but having a starting feat makes it easier to support a number of interesting back stories. Plus I've been roleplaying as a Human in real life for decades and I've gotten pretty good at it.

Least Favorite: Yuan Ti: Most players I've run into with Yuan Ti characters are just doing it to exploit their racial abilities and haven't even bothered to think about the character's story or personality.

Most want to play: Tiefling: For some reason, I've never gotten around to playing one. And as others have already mentioned in this thread, Tieflings make an excellent platform for roleplay. Almost every player I've met who plays a Tiefling gets into the character and the story big time.

[Ironheart]

Favorite race? Mechanically, I think I've had the most fun with wood elves. Mobility and being able to hide when in the woods has helped me avoid quite a few things, and I also really enjoy the fluff that if an elf is old enough, surprises are a genuine happiness for them.
Outside of mechanics, honestly being a dragonborn is loads of fun because there's always a reason they are outside of their clan/tribe and that leads to an entertaining story at the least. Also it's fun to incorporate their breath weapon in their daily life (like a silver dragonborn using his breath to chill a drink, and is a habitual ice cruncher, or a black dragonborn using his acid to produce prints of art through engraving metal plates) and it can go just to "I look like a dragon" all the way to "I act like a dragon- Hey, can I lay on some coins?"

Least favorite? Mechanically, like a few people, I dislike the need to have a feat at level 1 and that ruins variant human for me. I also don't like how dragonborn's don't really scale (heh) well into higher levels. Outside of mechanics?
I don't really like the halfling. 'I caught the adventuring bug' seems a bit simplistic as a typical motivation, and I also don't like how players often use them to excuse 'I sold your soul because it was fun!' behavior.

Honorable mention - Kenkus are fun. A lot of work can be done with their traits to establish interesting characters.

[Great Dragon]

Favorite: Kobolds!!!
These have always amused me, on both sides of the Screen.

The image of my 3.5 D&D LN Kobold Sorcerer literally fighting himself to not Fireball Nuke the Gnome Village!! (LN= A slightly modified version of Kobold tradition) Not because it was a moral issue, so much as because the rest of the Party made him promise not to - plus, he really did want a good night's sleep in a soft bed….

Of course, the Party convincing the Gnomes to also not attack my Kobold was interesting….

2nd: Halflings .
From LotR, to AD&D 1e, to 3.x to 5e.

Least Favorite: Drow.
Simply too many Drizz't clones.

2nd: I agree on V-Human.
I have yet to see a single S-Human.

Bonus: Minotaur
I liked the Dragonlance version, and wouldn't mind giving the Ravnica version a shot.

[Dienekes]

Hobgoblin is kind of both for me. I love the flavor. I've always had a soft spot for the lawful warrior cultures with a focus on cleverness and discipline. But the implementation leaves so much to be desired. Hobgoblins end up just become a cheap way for Wizards to get light armor and darkvision. The stats are just so boring.

[Snowbluff]

Favorite: Kobolds lately. The str penalty is a pain, but pack tactics is a lot of fun. Being small, annoying, but exceedingly deadly is what I did with Marianne, who is a Paladin11/Rogue5 right now (although this combo is propped up by a couple of tomes I've found).

Least: Dwarf. It's just hard to kinda justify using them mechanically and fluff wise. Mechanically because I do a lot of dipping, so armor isn't as good (and even when I'm not I can wrangle some AC), and humans taking tough just have more HP than Dwarves, too. Fluffwise, the scottish dwarf who like axes is a bit of a dead meme in my group, so we just kinda don't want to do it. So every time I look at it I see "I could do better." :smallfrown:

[Constructman]

2nd: I agree on V-Human.
I have yet to see a single S-Human.

Because Standard Human is mechanically trash.

+1 to all stats ends up as +1 to non-proficient skills and non-class saving throws, which might be useful in edge cases due to d20 randomness but is a minor benefit at best. They also get a language. Nothing else. They end up starting a half-step behind all the other races who get features that might synergize with their class build or otherwise increase their survivability and utility. Standard Human's genericness and supposed versatility just cripples it.

[Man_Over_Game]

Because Standard Human is mechanically trash.

+1 to all stats ends up as +1 to non-proficient skills and non-class saving throws, which might be useful in edge cases due to d20 randomness but is a minor benefit at best. They also get a language. Nothing else. They end up starting a half-step behind all the other races who get features that might synergize with their class build or otherwise increase their survivability and utility. Standard Human's genericness and supposed versatility just cripples it.

The way you'd get the most out of it is by investing into several multiclasses.

So you could, for example, go Hexblade Warlock + Ranger (or Monk) and make a really interesting Gish build. Or Drunken Master Monk + Fire Sorcerer to dump Wisdom. Or Moon Druid + Paladin to smite as you Bear.

The reason we don't consider a lot of those multiclasses is because of how inconvenient it is to pay for the multiclassing attribute tax. It isn't inconvenient for a standard Human, though.

[Coffee_Dragon]

Favourite: variant human by far. I really wouldn't mind much if they were the only PC race. I don't hate all xenos, though, and I guess it's OK that the option should be there to have a token xeno in the party (or, once in a while, go all-out crazy with an all-xeno party in a world that fears and hates them).

Least favourite: don't know about all official sources, but in the PHB, I don't think I'll ever play a half-orc, gnome or dragonborn, I can easily go without ever playing a dwarf, halfling or half-elf, and though I can imagine playing a tiefling under the right circumstances, I'm not sure it needs to be a core race.

[Potato_Priest]

Ooh, I need to change my least favorite. The worst race by far is the Kenku, because although I like all their mechanical features, the fluff of the race literally prevents you from being creative. That means, if you want to accurately roleplay a Kenku, you’re nerfing your problem solving ability into the ground, and are forced to rely on stale tactics or those created by other party members.

[Vorpalchicken]

Represent!
Favorite race is human. Essentially I want something I can relate to.
Variant makes more sense to me- I think the standard is really meant for campaigns with no feats. As far as being over-powered, I feel that humans are meant to be the dominant race in most campaigns and players need an incentive to choose what would otherwise be an unpopular choice.
(I actually sometimes pick the standard human especially for mid-high level oneshots where I am playing a goofy MAD build that needs high stats in several places.)

Least favorite is probably War forged or Yuan-Ti. They are each not relatable.
I feel they are taken mostly for mechanical benefits. But worse, sometimes it's RP benefits. The player can play something that doesn't have to behave responsibly- they are either soul-less automatons (even if lore-wise they aren't supposed to be) or they are by nature sociopathic.
The worst murder hobos I've seen have been Yuan Ti or War forged.

[RedMage125]

Least favorite is probably War forged or Yuan-Ti. They are each not relatable.
I feel they are taken mostly for mechanical benefits. But worse, sometimes it's RP benefits. The player can play something that doesn't have to behave responsibly- they are either soul-less automatons (even if lore-wise they aren't supposed to be) or they are by nature sociopathic.
The worst murder hobos I've seen have been Yuan Ti or War forged.

This is a problem people have? EVERY time I ever saw someone play a Warforged back in the 3.5e days, it was always for deep-RP reasons. I think my favorite was a Warforged Monk who had been a soldier during the Last War, and when the war was over, he just stood on the battlefield for months, before some people travelling past made him decide to wander, feeling that he had no purpose. He saw a monk defend himself against some goblin raiders and was amazed and followed him to the monastery, where he quickly learned their disciplines. It fit in well with his inner turmoil. He saw himself as a weapon, but when the war was over, he was told he was not a weapon, but a person. He didn't know how to relate to the world if he wasn't a weapon. Monk training made him once again a weapon, and the monk's dogma and discipline gave him a purpose again (the monastery was dedicated to one of the Sovereigns...the Good aligned war god, forget the name).

[patchyman]

Fav: goblins. Full speed with cunning action light and a boat load of RP potential. Plus one shot with a punch low Cr NPCs who talk down to use with fury of the small at later lvs in awesome.

Least: humans. Boring and i see so many of them at the table.

I’m the opposite. I love humans because I find the bonus feat enables a lot of off the wall concepts that don’t see play otherwise.

I hate, hate, hate “Fury of the small”. NPC goblins don’t have it and there is nothing in the lore that makes sense for goblins to cause bonus damage. To me, it really feels like the archetypical gamey trait.

[Goldlizard]

Fav: Tieflings. there is no race with better lore. love them, especially variants

Least: Halflings. I don't like the luck feature because of it's (in my opinion) low turnout. I also don't really like the lore

Bonus: (Air) Genasi: Just wanted to plat a dex fighter or rouge, but what really hooked my was the "Light breeze" in the flavor text.

[Zakhara]

Favourite: Human. Fantasy lacks impact without the touch of the familiar.

Least Favourite: Tiefling. There's a bunch that could go here, but I see humanizing demons as damaging to the mystique of a fantasy world.

[ko_sct]

Favorite: Human. That's what I am, that's what I play by default. I generally find it the most interesting because how my character act will be because of it's own personality and where they come from in term of culture and how their were raised.

Least Favorite : Hum... that's a hard one. I'd say every small races in 5e annoy me. They don't get any kind of penalty in term of strength or melee fighting despite being 3-4 foots shorter than the other races.

That and long-lived races. I feel living for centuries is such a big deal that it should clearly reflect in all their interaction with shorter-lived races but the books don't put much emphasis on it and so you don't see it in most games. That and it really screw up most world building or cause scales that make no sense at all. The DM make a plot point some secret of foundation of your country that were lost to time ? The elf pc raise his hand and point out that he was there... Or the country was founded 5000 years ago and somehow the information got passed down during all this time no probs !

[zinycor]

Favorite: Warforged; So many cool bonuses and potential for stories!!

Least favorite: Tieflings; Very bad bonuses for something that should be so cool.

[Splynn]

Favorite race: Dwarf. Surprised that I haven't seen much love for the dwarves, but I view dwarves as the closest to the real scary stuff in the world. Where they make their homes puts them next to more threats than most other races. This gives dwarves an extra RP-element that no other race can really grasp. Every day is a battle. There is always a new threat stirring in the Underdark that we, the dwarves, must deal with. The realms of humans are kept safe by dwarven shields. Elves play in their trees, writing songs and toying with arcane powers that they don't understand. All possible because of dwarven steel.

So you say I'm cynical? That I have a grim view of the world? That's because I've lived for hundreds of years, and seen my closest friends die to horrors that have not yet been named. Orcs and goblins breed like rabbits, raising a new army every ten years and it is sent hurtling into dwarven mettle, and metal. And the saddest part is that we are losing. We cannot keep up with the armies of the deep. We need help, but we're too damn proud to ask. And that... that is why I left. To seek out potential allies, and grow in power. Eventually our power will allow us back into the dark. And vanquish the true foes before my people die out to their stubbornness.

So yea, I like dwarves. And I think there is a TON of flavor that can be added without skipping to the viking with a Scottish accent that loves ale.

I also really like half-orcs, because every time I get to RP one I just have a ton of fun with their particular method of "problem-solving".

Least favorite: Tieflings. They're just so boring. And specifically new players don't seem to realize how played out their tiefling characters are. They all seem to think that their characters are "deep" and "original" because of their edgey backstory. What they don't realize is that the race makes those edgey backstories boring and tripe. It's not interesting for the red-skinned man with horns to be run out of a village because he's a devil. It's not interesting if your character that is infused with demon-blood has some existential angst. What's interesting for a tiefling is if s/he is very friendly and well balanced. Because that's what's at odds with what's expected. I expect a tiefling to have a hard life and a grim outlook. I don't expect a tiefling to be friendly and understanding. But nobody plays the happy go lucky tiefling; they're all the same tortured souls.

Bonus question: I've gotten to play it all, really. But I suppose I'd like to be able to play more halflings.

[jaappleton]

Favorite: Eladrin. Yes, very specifically the Eladrin, not Elves as a whole. I’m trash for Aeofel and have been since the first Acq Inc game I ever watched, which got me into D&D. Rewatching the earliest ones was how I taught myself how to play, actually, and then I DMed for my friends and taught them.

Least Favorite: Ironically? All other Elves, including half elves. They just don’t do anything. It’s a Human that lives longer, with a Dex bonus and Darkvision. Meh. Maybe it’s because all depictions I see of Elves plays then as arrogant jackwagons?

Want to play: Kenku but I’ve literally NO idea how to RP one. I feel like I’d struggle and find it frustrating.

[stoutstien]

I’m the opposite. I love humans because I find the bonus feat enables a lot of off the wall concepts that don’t see play otherwise.

I hate, hate, hate “Fury of the small”. NPC goblins don’t have it and there is nothing in the lore that makes sense for goblins to cause bonus damage. To me, it really feels like the archetypical gamey trait.

The irony of V human being held in high regard and goblin Being called gamey 😁.
I didn't like fury at first and I would have liked a version if the goblin boss redirect attack but could you imagine.

[WampDiesel]

Favorite: Halflings by far. Maybe its because I'm over 2m tall IRL (6'8" in freedom units), but I just love playing the short races, with halfling being my most played race in 5e by at least 2 characters. Although I must say the depiction of halflings in 5e is very cartoonish and I much prefer the halflings of 3.5e or Tolkien's hobbits. Either way I love their demeanor of anything can be accomplished with a little bit of luck and a can-do attitude. I really enjoy pulling off amazing feats while being continually underestimated and playing off that in different ways. Whereas my halfling bard would use minor illusion all the time to make sure everyone saw him do crazy stuff, my drunken monk tried to be as subtle as possible because it kept others blind to his true potential. Halflings can be just as varied as humans and sometimes it really is better to be lucky than good.

Least Favorite: Elves of any kind, even half-elves. I'm not sure where my dislike of elves stems from but I have never played one. Maybe its from their depiction in Tolkien, stemming from some dislike for their near immortality and the haughty, pretentiousness that comes with it. Maybe its the one female player in an old group who made 5 separate characters over 4 campaigns that were all elf nobles (twice princesses) who were either exiles or ran away from home to see what the real world was like. Maybe from edge-lord new players wanting to be that one good drow who's tortured inside. Maybe because I have seen way too many half elf orphans who accidentally burned down their house / orphanage killing loved ones. In my main group any new character that is an elf is put on blast out of character for the first few sessions. Nothing serious, a bunch of us just like making fun of elves.

Want to play more of: Lizardfolk. I created a lizardfolk ranger for a campaign that ended up falling apart quickly due to IRL conflicts and would love to keep playing that character. He made bone trophies for people and didn't understand why they were less than thrilled to receive them. More than once got his party wet while catching fish. He would sit motionless, not blinking during important conversations, only speaking up when needed. He ate silver coins to help with his digestion. I miss that character and almost made another lizardfolk in our next campaign but went with dragonborn instead.

[Vorpalchicken]

This is a problem people have? EVERY time I ever saw someone play a Warforged back in the 3.5e days, it was always for deep-RP reasons.

Any kind of "deep" Warforged story I see is always a cliche. It's just another version of Data from Star Trek.

Better than a murder hobo perhaps.

[Constructman]

Least favorite: Tieflings. They're just so boring. And specifically new players don't seem to realize how played out their tiefling characters are. They all seem to think that their characters are "deep" and "original" because of their edgey backstory. What they don't realize is that the race makes those edgey backstories boring and tripe. It's not interesting for the red-skinned man with horns to be run out of a village because he's a devil. It's not interesting if your character that is infused with demon-blood has some existential angst. What's interesting for a tiefling is if s/he is very friendly and well balanced. Because that's what's at odds with what's expected. I expect a tiefling to have a hard life and a grim outlook. I don't expect a tiefling to be friendly and understanding. But nobody plays the happy go lucky tiefling; they're all the same tortured souls.


Any kind of "deep" Warforged story I see is always a cliche. It's just another version of Data from Star Trek.

Better than a murder hobo perhaps.

Something something nothing new under the sun?

Though I read of a character concept for a Warforged that was basically a sapient ice cream vending machine. The original prompt was that it was a Wizard's creation that ended up travelling way, way beyond its programmed operation range due to coding bugs, but it could be easily retooled as a displaced Cyran veteran that got hired by House Ghallanda and discovered that she an affinity for frozen desserts, to the point that she remodeled her entire body to streamline the process of shaved ice and ice cream storage and dispensing.

... new character. This is gonna be my next character.

[Vorpalchicken]

Something something nothing new under the sun?

Though I read of a character concept for a Warforged that was basically a sapient ice cream vending machine. The original prompt was that it was a Wizard's creation that ended up travelling way, way beyond its programmed operation range due to coding bugs, but it could be easily retooled as a displaced Cyran veteran that got hired by House Ghallanda and discovered that she an affinity for frozen desserts, to the point that she remodeled her entire body to streamline the process of shaved ice and ice cream storage and dispensing.

... new character. This is gonna be my next character.


You now officially have the best Warforged backstory ever written!

[Splynn]

Something something nothing new under the sun?

Though I read of a character concept for a Warforged that was basically a sapient ice cream vending machine. The original prompt was that it was a Wizard's creation that ended up travelling way, way beyond its programmed operation range due to coding bugs, but it could be easily retooled as a displaced Cyran veteran that got hired by House Ghallanda and discovered that she an affinity for frozen desserts, to the point that she remodeled her entire body to streamline the process of shaved ice and ice cream storage and dispensing.

... new character. This is gonna be my next character.

My issues with the tiefling aren't really about them not being original; I think I misstated that a little bit. I just dislike when D&D character creation becomes a race to having the most tragic backstory, and being the most angst-ridden. Tieflings only exacerbate that problem because they're tailor-made for that kind of character.

Tieflings, as a race, feel geared towards bad writing. A human backstory in fantasy gives you Aragorn, who has a complicated relationship with humans because they remind him of what he can't have. A tiefling backstory gives you fanfic of Aragorn's half-vampire step brother, Shadowstrike, who hates humans because they remind him of what he isn't.

Obviously your experience may vary. I've just never seen a compelling tiefling character that doesn't feel like Shadowstrike.

Btw, I'm down for your warforged ice cream machine.

[ProsecutorGodot]

Favorite: Human. I find it difficult to get into an alien mindset, I think if I ever did play a decidedly not human character I would only disrespect the flavor of that race. I have played characters that are not human but they tend not to travel so far that I can't just play it off. I've only played two non-human characters, one acting very similar to a human due to his upbringing in Waterdeep and another being in a one shot where his behavior didn't matter.

I also like that, mechanically, they can be played in any class without sacrificing much of anything.

Least Favorite: Elves. Out of all the personalities given to the non-human races, I dislike Elves the most. Hoity toity snooty elf people who look down at most other races are not my cup of tea. You could spend decades going on centuries trying to win the respect of an elf and they could simply never appreciate any accomplishments you make because they're nothing but fleeting farts in the wind.

Generally too stuck up and greater than thou for my taste.

[Crgaston]

Half-Elves were a favorite back in 1e, and they're fantastic in 5e as well. Languages! Skills! Darkvision! Flexibility with stats! They can be anything, really. I like the cross-cultural aspect of them for RP, too.

Wood Elves are probably tied for first, and preferable on some builds. They make fantastic 'wily butt-kicking rednecks.' Although in our world they also have kind of a Russian/Eastern European vibe.

I also love Dwarves, especially now that the Squat Nimbleness feat is available to mitigate their low speed. I also tend to think of them as more Germanic than Scottish.

Splynn, you've got a great take on Dwarves. Thanks!

Least favorite is probably Dragonborn. I really don't like the aesthetic at all.

Haven't had a chance to play an Air Genasi yet as they don't exist in my main campaign's world, but I'd like to.

[Ronnocius]

Sadly I typically DM and do not get a chance to play often.

My favorite race would probably be hobgoblin (bugbear to a lesser extent). Gith would be next. I like the idea of a lawful, militaristic character. It can help aid inner conflict (when you should and should not follow the mission etc) Bugbears are lazy brutes, and I like their racial traits. Plus for either one, they are much more civilized than most other races in standard settings so you can change their alignments and beliefs to fit whatever you want.

Least favorite is difficult. I would say elves rank up there for reasons listed above (also they are never played differently then humans in my experience, same with half-elves). I'd probably go with warforged as my very least favorite. I am not a big steampunk fan.

[Copper_Dragon]

Favorite: Drow, specifically drow rogues and clerics of Vhaeraun ever since I bought Drow of the Underdark back in the 2e days. But with all the Drizzt hate and eye rolling, I usually avoid playing drow.

Runner Up: Wood elves and half-elves, mostly for mechanics.

Least Favorite: Aarakocra... though I don't actually have anything against the race, it seems like every guide online has them listed as one of the MOST UBER POWERFUL RACE EVARRR, so I end up with an aarakocra in every party, usually played by somebody who doesn't really know the game well but Googled something about the strongest character they could play and went with it. (Rant ended)

Want to play more: Humans. I always have them on my short list when character building and then opt for something with darkvision for the convenience. Maybe someday I'll play a human warlock with Devil's Sight or a gloomstalker ranger.

[NiklasWB]

Favorite: Humans (and to a lesser extent Half-elves). I love playing the “badass normal” / everyman. This is why I usually play non spellcasters as well. I also have an easier time creating characters that I relate to by making them human or close to human. Warforged are a close second and one of the few races that I feel really intrigue me, since you can get into the whole “what is a soul?” RP-aspect. Tiefling, Aasimar and Genasi are all cool too, especially if you customize them a bit by fleshing out their lineage and bloodline. Tritons are cool and unique. I like Elves, Dwarves, Half-orc etc as well, but only when someone ELSE is playing them…

Least Favorite: Dragonborn. I hate the special snowflake idea behind the race. “I want to be a PC dragon and breath fire, I’m so cool and edgy that my race defines me more than my class or background”. I also hate Tortles and Taxabi because I just feel weirded out that people want to play basically furries. Same with Aarakocra, but they are also overpowered in most early games. Lizardmen are better, but I still dislike them as well. Also, Halflings a but boring (I prefer Gnomes if we need a small human-ish race).

[DeadMech]

I can't see myself playing a halfling but I think the thing other people play that annoys me the most are Aasimar. I get why people play edgelord tieflings with sob stories... I don't get why every aasimar does as well. Oh no, a race of tall beautiful people who pass for human in human dominated societies except when they wanna grow wings. So tragic. Much sad. I've never seen one played straight alignment wise either. All of them rebels without a cause. Tieflings I at least see the full spectrum of alignments

Tabaxi I always have to keep an eye on but that's a rogue thing more than a race thing.

Haven't played with any dwarves. I imagine I could get sick of them pretty quick if the player choose to play into all the usual stereotypes.

And I loved playing a High Elf. I spent a lot more time and effort learning about Elven history and culture than I have for any other race.

But really I don't think I hate any of them per say. I can see entertaining characters coming out of nearly anything depending on who's playing them. And sometimes I like when people go against trope as much as other times I like people going with them.

[Vorok]

Most favorite:half-orcs, love those big huggable lugs. Especially if the orc lore isn't the "orcs are chaotic evil murderers/pillagers/warmongers" default. Dwarves take the second place, for a more compact version.

Least favorite: elves. I don't like the slender-by-default bodytype, and the dex bonus doesn't help either.

[PhoenixPhyre]

Most: don't really have one. Except gnomes and kenku.

Least: Gnomes & kenku. Gnomes I'm coming around on, but I have no use for the RP elements of kenku. Seems like kender v2.0

[loki_ragnarock]

My favorite are humans, because...


… I assure you, it's because I am one, too. For sure. Yep. Pretty great to be human. Not having to infiltrate societies and keep a low profile just like all the other humans is super relaxing.


My least favorite would be elves.
There are just too many elves. Smart Elves, Fast Elves, Cave Elves, Water Elves, Air Elves, Goth Elves, Glam Elves.
One elf I could take. Three elves I could stand. But there are more elves than there are small races. Enough is enough.

[GlenSmash!]

Favorite: Human

Least favorite: Human

I love to start as a Variant human with a half feat like Tavern Brawler or Resilient. Not only does it let me eek a little more out of Point Buy, but it also lets be start out with shored up defenses or a nice flavor feat.

I dislike standarad human not because of the stats, i could still make those work since I play a lot of MAD characters. I just hate losing out on the Skill Proficiency from the Variant

[Gryndle]

favorite race: Elves or Changelings

least favorite: humans...I got rail-roaded into playing one in real life, that's enough

race I would like to play but haven't had the chance: genasi and tabaxi

Most hated races: gnomes and tieflings....not so much for game reasons but more player issues. I have literally NEVER played in a group with a tiefling that wasn't a super special snowflake edgelord McAngtsypants. Gnomes-every gnome pc except one I've seen in play was chosen because "they were quirky and cute" but in actual play obnoxious and disruptive to the game.
I know those are in actuality player issues, but experiences have left a bad taste for those two races. I would honestly have a less visceral reaction to someone wanting to play a twin scimitar wielding drow ranger with a cat pet named Drizzle Fo'Shizzle.

[ZorroGames]

Okay, I’ll play.

Favorite:

At least one of you knows I quit counting how many times I read LOTR at 25 so the fact that my favorite characters from my favorite fantasy books are Aragorn, Gimli, and Gandalf should key you to my choices.

Dwarf (Currently Mountain in 5e for the challenge but it started with those three booklets in the white Box.). No compromise with Evil!

No Scotty style accents. Just no...

Gnomes. The light hearted side of my Dwarf interests plus those 0D&D days as a Fighter/Illusionist Gnome. “Behind you, oops, I lied.”

Humans and I think Standard Humans are way underestimated and Variant Humans are just about perfect/right for heroic role play.

In between are Earth Genasi, Wood Elves, and possibly Tritons. Especially the second due to the book Legolas, not the movie so much. Maybe a “Reformed” to Lawful Neutral Hobgoblin race character. Still considering that.

Not so much is everything else between that and Least.

Speaking of Least:

High Elves (I think Tolkien’s Elves would scoff at these,) Dragonborn - Zzzz, Half-Elf (way too Common,) Tiefling (no, just no,) Orcs (just too Evil with the capital “E”) and anything Gith or Eberron in nature. Most of these last are just emotional based dislikes TBH.

Done.

[LibraryOgre]

Gnomes are probably my favorite, but the mechanics for half-elves please my skill-monkey heart. Not a standard race, but I also have a fondness for hobgoblins... I like Klingons, I guess.

Least favorite? I am really annoyed with the current takes on Kobolds and Goblins.

[Bjarkmundur]

Did anyone here play a human in 4e?



Human
Size: Medium
Speed: 30ft
Languages: Common, one other
Bonus Feat (equivalent to a quarter-feat in 5e)
Bonus Skill
Heroic Effort: When you miss with an attack or fail a saving throw, you can gain a +4 bonus to the roll. You regain use of this feature at the end of a short rest.

[MilkmanDanimal]

Favorite: I like Halflings just because I prefer to play positive and genial characters, and it's kind of baked into their description in lots of ways. Also a huge fan of Tabaxi just because it means you get to talk like a Khajit and, no, that hasn't gotten old for me yet.

Least favorite: Dragonborn. Mechanically, they're garbage, but the thing I hate about them is I've taught the game to my nephews, and also played with some friends' kids, and they think Dragonborn are super-cool and just want to play them, and I've personally witnessed three occasions where excited teenage boys who were new to the game got to use the breath weapon for the first time, and then realized how completely awful it was, and saw how deflated they got. That race sucks. To me, Dragonborn is the race equivalent of the Beastmaster class; it's something that to new players looks really, really cool, but it's astoundingly disappointing because it's just crap.

[patchyman]

The irony of V human being held in high regard and goblin Being called gamey 😁.
I didn't like fury at first and I would have liked a version if the goblin boss redirect attack but could you imagine.

Different strokes for different folks. The extra feat doesn’t seem gamey to me since “humans are adaptable” has been their schtick since 2e.

[KorvinStarmast]

Dwarves, just stop with the scottish accents pop culture. For the love of everything holy just stop.
There's a Giant in a playground nearby who you may want to have a word with. :smallbiggrin:

[Derpy]

My favorite is halfling, I like brave, I love lucky, moving through enemy spaces is fun; and playing a character who is kind of happy-go-lucky suits me. I've never played a thief or a bard halfling, however. Got to avoid some stereotypes.

I don't really have a least favorite, I've never cared for making a character for min maxing stats, and I've lucked out by not having angsty people playing drow or teifling at my tables, or pretentious elves. I'm actually happy with party's current teifling, an orphan true to some angst, but raised by a church and a paladin for 'good' and pretty upbeat. Which I guess from reading this thread I can be thankful for.

[RedMage125]

Did anyone here play a human in 4e?

A lot of people did not in my experience. And that was because humans got a +2 to only ONE stat (which you got to choose), and every other race got bonuses to TWO stats. This was exacerbated when every race got to have one choice be a "floating" choice. So dwraves, for example, went from CON/WIS to CON/(WIS or STR).

And this was something I dubbed, at the time, Red Mage Fallacy (not actually named after my avatar here, but named after the 8-Bit Theater character, which my avatar here is also named for). This was something I coined on the WotC boards when they still existed (and I had a different forum handle). Red Mage Fallacy is this: Versatility In Choice is not an advantage when that choice cannot later be changed*. So while some argued that the ability to choose which stat your bonus went to was amazing, I countered with this: As soon as you make the choice of which stat to boost (say...DEX), you are now 2 stat points behind every other +2 DEX race, because those races also got a boost to another stat, which would of course be helpful as your secondary stat, or boost a NAD, or at least some skills.

As I recall the Heroic Effort power also didn't come about until D&D Essentials (the same time the floating stats for other races came about), so that was actually a helpful boost. But by that point, almost all my players were already pretty disenfranchised with the idea of playing a human in 4e. Still, they equated +2 to a stat with a feat, if you compare them to other races. Remember that feats in 4e were usually pretty low-powered (the idea was that Feats Should Be Nice But Not Required), at least until the "feat tax" options started appearing. The Expertise ones that gave actual +1 to hit, and especially with a rider, which honestly was an attempt to fix the math, and a lot of DMs gave out the rider-less bonus to hit version for free to everyone.

So no, 4e was, in my experience, usually marked with a party of characters that did not have a single human among them. I think last time I ran a game it was a dragonborn, a deva, a dwarf, a halfling, a tiefling, and a shadar-kai.

*As an aside, this is also why I maintain that the 3.5e Fighter was in Tier 5, but the Pathfinder (non-archetype, even) Fighter should be in Tier 4. Not only did it get actual class features and even more feats, but PF included the option to retrain feats in the core rules. So feats like Great Cleave, which are only useful at lower levels, can be re-trained for something else.


Also a huge fan of Tabaxi just because it means you get to talk like a Khajit and, no, that hasn't gotten old for me yet.

Am I the only one who saw the Volo's Guide as "Skyrim races for D&D"?

Argonian = Lizardfolk
Khajit = Tabaxi

We already had Wood/High/Dark elves, and honestly you could re-fluff Mountain Dwarves as Nords, use regular humans as Imperials, and...I'm actually quite stumped about Reguards.

[GlenSmash!]

One of the most irritating parts of the strip. But at least he took that ball and ran with it to an absurd extreme. If you're going to be annoyingly stereotypical (which 4/6 oots characters are), might as well own it.

Also I think there is a big difference between a well handled implementation of a stereotype and hundreds of haphazard implementations of a stereotype.

Anyway my dwarves sound like the Swedish Chef from the muppets.

[LibraryOgre]

Did anyone here play a human in 4e?

Oh, I did. Human Bard. I aimed for every skill, but did it through Multiclass feats. He could do a large number of things semi-competently.

[GlenSmash!]

He could do a large number of things semi-competently.

I want this on my gravestone.

[Spiritchaser]

Yuan Ti certainly seems a superbly interesting selection: excellent inspiration for backstory, strange mannerisms, strong class synergy, suitable for my favourites and of course... lots of sibilance.

Half elf is also a favourite mechanically, and conceptually it can be a lot of things, but it doesn’t have the identity.

Least favourite? Mechanically anything without darkvision

Conceptually I’m not a fan of halflings

Something I’ve always wanted to play but haven’t been able to? Avariel.

[Worgwood]

I dunno if I have favorites or least favorite races, but I have favorite and least favorite things about races.

Humans are both boring and interesting. You can do just about anything with humans and nobody bats an eye. Then again, I always found "humans are adaptable/versatile" as a hat to be kind of a cop-out? Their racial abilities are kind of dull, too, which often puts me off.

Dwarves are super cool but they never bring anything new to the table - they're always big-bearded beer-drinking miners/smiths, usually with a strong ancestral thing, and it's so entrenched in fantasy culture that you can't really do anything different with them and still call them dwarves.

I like elves a lot, personally. They have a lot of interesting RP potential, and in 5E, they get some cool racial abilities. They're also, ironically, probably more diverse than humans are - considering the number of elven subraces. High/wood/dark elf are pretty standard, but you can see wildly different kinds of elves from one setting to the next. On the other hand, the standard-issue 'haughty jackass' is a super dull way to portray their alienness. I don't often see them roleplayed very well, but I like it when I do.

Gnomes seem kind of redundant - dwarves have a lock on "expert craftsman", elves already do the "magical fey creature" thing, halflings have the "quirky pastoral folk" schtick. Then again, halflings never seem to bring much of interest to the table.

Planetouched races are kind of dull - I sort of roll my eyes at "humans, but with X". That said, edginess notwithstanding, I like the "marked by the Beast/cast out of society" thing Tieflings can bring (although I wish their demonic heritage was a little less hard fact), I like to flavor Genasi as a lesser form of genie, and a friend of mine has done a "Tyrael-from-Diablo" thing with an Aasimar character, which I thought was pretty interesting.

If I had a least favorite, it would be Dragonborn. All the most superficial parts of dragons with none of what makes them interesting.

[Dr. Cliché]

Favourite races:

Variant Teiflings. I like the general idea of being descended from some sort of fiendish creature and also the sheer degree of customisation possible.

Elves. I understand why people dislike elves, but (at least from my perspective) D&D elves seem pretty good in that regard. Not least because they're not just outright better than humans. They have strengths and weaknesses, just as humans do. I also like the fey aspect of them, though U'll confess that I probably don't explore it with my elf characters as much as I should.

Oddly, one thing I never liked about D&D elves was that they go into a trance instead of sleeping. For some reason that just never clicked with me.

Changeling. I've yet to play one but I love the concept.


Most hated races:

Standard Tieflings. I know this might seem a bit odd, but one of the things I most despised from 4e (which 5e decided to keep) was that it took all the variety and creativity from Tieflings and threw it all in the bin. Now every Tiefling is just Asmodeus, complete with red skin, impractically-large horns and a fat tail. How unimaginably thrilling. Boy would I hate it if the tiefling race happened to include characters who aren't Hellboy.

Half-Orc. I don't know if 'hate' is the right word for these. 'Apathy' would probably be closer. I could see myself playing most of the other races, even if only very occasionally, but half-orcs just never interested me.

Dragonborn. Lizardmen MK2: New colours available! More seriously though, these guys seem like far too much human/lizard and far too little dragon. Their fluff is so dull I can't even remember it. I don't know, especially mechanically, it just seems like someone re-skinned lizardfolk rather than actually making a race born of dragons.

[Yora]

Favorites probably wood elves. I think they make for an interesting dominant race in wilderness settings.

Least favorite are dragonborn. There's just nothing appealing about them that justifies their existance. I rather have sophisticated lizardmen empires.

[Great Dragon]

I suppose that I agree that the Lore/Fluff for Kinku is also on my Least Favorite list.



Most hated races:
<Snip>
Dragonborn. Lizardmen MK2: New colours available! More seriously though, these guys seem like far too much human/lizard and far too little dragon. Their fluff is so dull I can't even remember it. I don't know, especially mechanically, it just seems like someone re-skinned lizardfolk rather than actually making a race born of dragons.

Right. What I really don't like is WotC trying to give everything to everyone. With the "Dragonborn may or may not be descended from Dragons" bit.
Looking at *you* Faerun!!

What? Like Dragonborn are "mini" Kiju?
(Reference to classic Godzilla movies and cartoons, where Giant Creatures with Elemental Powers just "suddenly" appeared - for "The King of Monsters" to fight.)

The biggest part of the Dragonborn Lore/Fluff that I hate: was that everything was just blended together, were they were all one "color", and any Dragon "type" could come from any "Dragonborn Clan". Like, the "father" had the Breath and Resistance of a Green Dragon, the "mother" had the Breath and Resistance of a Blue Dragon; but when the PC cames along, they have the Breath and Resistance of (somehow) a Gold Dragon!!

And seems like the Gem and Ferris Dragons were "ignored". Although I do understand not listing all the various "other" Dragons.
(I'm not fond of the Shadow Dragon "template")

I changed the Fluff in my games: so that each Dragonborn "Clan" is actually a single Dragon type, and the various Clans don't "all just get along". Also, Alignment was more of a "Personal Preference" deal, where so long as you "helped the Clan", you were at least tolerated.
Crossbreeding is possible, but usually with Humans/Humanoids, before other Dragonborn types.

[SkipSandwich]

Fav: Lizardfolk - because i loved the reptites in Chrono Trigger and as such cant help but headcannon Lizardfolk as awesome dinosaur-people.

Least fav: Bugbears, because like wtf are they even supposed to be? Some sort of big long-armed goblin-thing?

[Arctus Tyrvar]

Favorite: A two way tie. Dwarf and Lizardfolk. Dwarf makes the list in almost every fantasy game I play. I've always felt an affinity for the Dwarvish race and they have long been one of my favorite elements of any fantasy setting. As for Lizardfolk, they are a new obsession of mine. Partially because of my love of Argonians in Elder Scrolls, and partially because I realized I'm a scaley. >.>

Least Fave: Human. Hands down. Does matter about variant or not. Hate it. I got stuck being a human in real life and I really hate it here, why would I play one in a fantasy game? (my hate of playing humans even went as far as making my last campaign in a world where humans went extinct. It has been received super well so far)

Edit: Honorable favorite mention to Kobolds. Always a lot of love for my little scaley schemers.

[Wizard_Lizard]

Favourite: Dragonborn
Least favourite: Halfling (I have had bad experiences with a group of ninja halflings)

[Scripten]

I'm usually a DM and I have a few preferences because of that specifically. When I'm a player my preferences change a bit, so I split my list into two.

DM Favorites:
- Humans, because I find that many players focus more on distinguishing their characters
- Halflings, because Break the Cutie is a great trope

DM Disfavorites:
- Gnomes, because their default niche is weird and fuzzy against halflings and dwarves
- Tritons, because they're just haughtier high elves with gills
- Drow, because they generate all of two characters: the Drizz't clone and the anti-Drizz't clone

Player Favorites:
- Humans
- Lizardfolk, because they're fun and strange without feeling too gimmicky
- Kenku, because a well-done Kenku can still play all sorts of different roles despite their signature inability to actually talk
- Kobolds and Goblins, because playing a smelly little ankle-biter appeals to me somehow

Player Disfavorites:
- Gnomes, because their default niche is weird and fuzzy between halflings and dwarves
- Dragonborn, because their mechanics don't scale well and they always feel tacked on to settings I play in
- Firbolgs, because they're too weird and niche for me to come up with good defining traits

[xroads]

Favorite: Gnomes. I've enjoyed gnomes since I first played a gnome illusionist back in 2nd D&D.

Close Runner Up: Lizardmen. Because they're walking alligators. What's not too love?

Least Favorite: Goliaths. So basically huge grey-skinned babarians? Bleh. Boring. Maybe if they had some more engaging fluff I'd change my mind.

[ZorroGames]

I suspect role players of the first water can make characters of any race uniquely theirs. Boring means you just have not found the right character design (note I did not say build,) yet.

Since 1973 I have played with world designs where humans were the dominant race in game setting reality (non-human NPCs were rare and hard to find) and designs where another race was that dominant - Dwarf were the ruling nobility Ancien Régime of the world like in the late 1700s and the Goblins were the Revolutionary Masses of France essentially in one game.

In the end for generic fantasy where anyone can be any race it is the skill of a DM and a Player who alone determines the fun factor of a race in a game.

YMMV

[Mikaleus]

Most Fav- Half elf and water genasi.

Least Fav- Dragonborn. I like them, but mechanically I feel they got the short end of the stick.

Would love to play an Aasimar paladin, Gnome Wizard and a Tortle Druid.

[sambojin]

I almost exclusively play druids, so my answer is flavoured a litte by that.

Favourite:
Firbolg. There's just so much you can do. It's not really powerful, it's just useful. Having super-Disguise Self is a big part of this. Be 6'4"-6'8" at character creation and you can be almost anyone. Because, should the big reveal happen, you're not actually a horribly evil race. Just a nature-centric mini-giant that was trying to "fit in". So, no problems. Speech of Leaf and Beast is fun too, especially once the DM clicks that you can't turn it off. Ever.
Having one of the best racial defensive manuoevers is nice as well, popping invis on a bonus action at the end of your turn. And flicking on magic-vision, whenever you think it could be useful, even though you don't have darkvision, is great. More helpful than you'd ever think of preparing the spell is. Making a dump-stat good is nice too, because sometimes Strength can get checked, especially if you're wildshaping into the heavy lifter or a tiny creature (and is easy to explain why that racial carries over. It's because there is big and strong versions of beasts, just like you).

2x lvl1 spells/short rest, tell-animals-what-to-do "forever", and a combat defense "pop" that is essentially another lvl1 spell but that can also very vaguely be used out of combat for hiding/situationally? So 3x lvl1 spells/short rest, and a constant ability that is usually a spell. And you can carry 270lbs at dump-stat levels in a not-huge-form? Yeah, love 'em. Firbolgs are great. Sort of a blank slate since their re-write, so you can go other ways with them from there, old, new, or yours. Volo don't know everything. Their intro blurb of "F'off adventurers!" to their "noble savages" view of Volo shows just how many ways, shapes and forms a Firbolg can take.

Work great as druids, clerics, fighters, monks, barbarians, rogues, wizards and probably some other things.


Least favourite:
Variant human or High Elf. Vhuman is just too damn good, even though I love the options it offers. High Elf is actually kind of nice, but they seem kinda bad on background and character, because elf-with-a-cantrip-and-some-weapons is easy to fit into anything, but it kinda doesn't feel like it "gels" easily into a world. Same with most elves actually. Semi-immortal always makes stuff weird.

It's strange that I dislike some of the most flexible races while liking a side-serve outlier, considering how highly I prize versatility, but there it is. Cool racial magic is cool.

[Desteplo]

My go to race:
Forest gnomes. They’re everything I want in a character. Small, animal affinity, innate versatile magic. That on top of any class makes this my go to

Races I don’t play:
Dwarves, in a similar sense to the Elf argument. They’re always drunk and some sort of European accent. I can’t seem to separate that from them

Bonus:
Kalashtar, tortle, tabaxi
-ninja turtle, cats!, dual minds with a psionic twist

[TalksAlone]

Most liked:

Variant Humans - I dislike the predominance of Darkvision, and VHuman is the most flexible race without it so I tend to gravitate towards it very strongly. The in-game tension of delving deep into murky caverns bearing only torchlight as one's "safe" zone and wondering the horrors beyond is so good. Or the danger of being spotted when sneaking around a castle carrying a lantern. The terror of your last candle being blown by a ghastly wind at the cemetery. Otherwise, Feat and Skill is such a strong incentive to build a unique character, hardly anything can compare.

Drow/Tieflings/Yuan-ti pureblood - Despite finding the edginess of these a bit cringy, I love the versatility their racial features/spells/feats can bring to a character. I actually like the Drow's sunlight sensitivity as a limitation. Also these race's challenges to perform social encounters is interestingly increased while also encouraged due to the CHA bump.


Most disliked:

Humans - Just too bland. Loosing the skill proficiency along with the feat makes no sense to me from a design standpoint, and it bothers me greatly. The stat bumps aren't terrible, if completely unfocused.

Dragonborn - I dislike their lore and concept. It just doesn't work for me. Their ****ty features also don't help.

Goliath - Their power creeping on Half-orcs on lower tiers leaves me with a bad taste in my mouth. Decent lore, but gets repetitive.

Warforged/Rock Gnomes - Don't like the mix of steampunk feels these bring me, and Warforged is plain overpowered.


Bonus:

Grungs/Bullywugs - I have this concept of a chivalrous, knightly frog-folk who served as the squire of a righteous Paladin who once spared him. It's silly, but I love the tactical possibilities of their Standing Leap features and the imagery of it.

[Cerefel]

Favorite: Half-elves. I think they fall into a sweet spot of being both fantastical and relatable, and mechanically they're very flexible and can be a good race pick for many concepts.

Least Favorite: Dragonborn. They're mechanically weak and every new edition has tried to rework their lore but only made them less interesting. They have so much potential that's just going to waste.

[Benny89]

Variant Human. It's best overall race as it fits into every build, makes other builds possible, makes multiclass builds be online 4 levels faster and boost your hero from the start to the last levels. So many great builds get that perfect feats/stat combos thanks to this race. Probably best Point Buy race in game.

Least fav- Half-Elfs. Overall overrated imo, same as Elven Accuracy is overrated in most cases (apart from some specific builds like Samurai Archer) and Darkvision. Since Elven Accuracy was introduced too many people try to shove Half-Elf into every build without doing math (or asking people that can do math like I do) which would show them that EA is not worth their time in 8/10 builds they think it would be great.