If you could play any race/species/creature, what would you play and why?

[da newt]

If every creature was playable (normal PC leveling and hp progression) what would you want to play and why?

Imp - sure
Beholder - why not
Ghost - boooo
Chuul - if it makes you happy
Marilith - all those arms
Fire Elemental - it burns
Mimic - I hide
Nothic - just looks cool
Gelatinous Cube - I'm super lazy
Rust Monster - old school
Xorn - bipedal is so boring
Treant - I'm a tree

[OldTrees1]

Which would I play? Yes.
There are so many interesting creatures. Savage Species was my favorite 3.5e splatbook.

[nickl_2000]

Dragon
Demon
Celestial
Awakened Beast
Unicorn
Niblog
Flumpf

[Damon_Tor]

One of my favorite campaigns was an "evil" campaign where the DM allowed and encouraged us to play as monsters, the underlings of a now-defeated bbeg. I played a dragon whelp, the offspring of the bbeg's slain mount. All of us were either undead or very long lived, so our campaign spanned centuries, and my character was allowed to grow in size accordingly.

[ScoutTrooper]

Bring back the Vanara !

[MrCharlie]

I'm most intrigued by non-standard body-type characters. Simply imaging with how being, for instance, a sentient slime impacts the typical adventuring life is half the fun. What use does a slime have for treasure? Would a slime want to use gold to purchase food? A place to "sleep"? What would it do for fun? What motivates it?

A slime is a bit extreme-the most "practical" version of this would to be a Beholder, maybe a "baby" beholder to keep it from having too much OP nonsense. I can already imagine the backstory-"One day, daddy Xanathar went to sleep wondering what beholder babies looked like, making a beholder in that image-me!". Beholders can at least manipulate objects, meaning you could theoretically play one as a mage or something.

[Luccan]

I like Dopplegangers a lot. If they brought back Hound Archons that would be cool. In a similar vein, Barghests. I can actually think of their backstory for joining the PCs on that one. They infiltrate a goblinoid stronghold and plan to pick off the goblins, but the PCs bust in and they have to join them or lose all those juicy souls. Oni would be fun (though I liked when they were called Ogre Mages). Troll because being a regenerating monster if terrifying.

[Wizard_Lizard]

Illithid.
Some form of ooze
A gargoyle
an Aerenal Undying takes the cake though i think.

[GentlemanVoodoo]

A simple Awaken animal. Many times I would have enjoyed getting something like Aslan the Lion, Caesar the Ape, or heck event one of the main characters from Wolf's Rain.

[FoxWolFrostFire]

GNOLLS!!! Because those fluffy demon dogs don't get enough love. I've already played one named Dedlock. Thanks to a kind DM. He learned common from trashy romance novels and now seeks true love.

But other than that...awakened wolf is also HIGH on the list. Because I want to try and overcome the many tough life problems lacking hands.(check out Dogs and Dungeons & cats and catacombs btw)

Oh half ogre. Cause I love playing big brutes with deep internal problems

Other than that all my favorites have stats. Orcs, minotaur(wish they were large though) Lizard folk, dwarves...etc

[Dankus Memakus]

I really jam with wood woads. I feel like that's a weird one but it's just a cool monster

[DCraw]

I'm most intrigued by non-standard body-type characters. Simply imaging with how being, for instance, a sentient slime impacts the typical adventuring life is half the fun. What use does a slime have for treasure? Would a slime want to use gold to purchase food? A place to "sleep"? What would it do for fun? What motivates it?

A slime is a bit extreme-the most "practical" version of this would to be a Beholder, maybe a "baby" beholder to keep it from having too much OP nonsense. I can already imagine the backstory-"One day, daddy Xanathar went to sleep wondering what beholder babies looked like, making a beholder in that image-me!". Beholders can at least manipulate objects, meaning you could theoretically play one as a mage or something.

That baby beholder idea is awesome, and I'm stealing it. Play as a Beholder Sorcerer (homebrew race, obviously), and each spell known is a different eye. The spell choice isn't optimal if you go by the book, and would be a bit limiting, but it would be a lot of fun to play. You arguably reach maturity at level 10 (Main eye + 10 other eyes, so 11 spells known). This is a few levels earlier than a traditional CR13 Beholder, but your spells are still developing. You're more of a young adult. As you grow from there, your eyes can cast more than one spell, but only from the same general idea as the original.

Another option would be a Rust Monster polymorphed into a humanoid race and cursed with sapience. Probably a low-int character, and any time the party turns around, they find you've wandered off and are gnawing on the nearest doorknob. I'd suggest playing as a monk or a druid for lack of reliance on metalic weapons/armor.

[Dr. Cliché]

I'm not sure which monster I'd play, to be honest.

I imagine it would depend on the campaign in question (as some creatures may well make more sense than others).

Also, are we thinking monsters with class levels here, or just monsters as-written with no changes?



GNOLLS!!! Because those fluffy demon dogs don't get enough love.

Nice to know I'm not the only one who likes Gnolls. :smallbiggrin:

[DCraw]

I'm not sure which monster I'd play, to be honest.

I imagine it would depend on the campaign in question (as some creatures may well make more sense than others).

Also, are we thinking monsters with class levels here, or just monsters as-written with no changes?

I would assume it works like the monstrous races in Volo's: they work just like a regular race, but require GM approval. Class levels work as normal (no MHD or the like, but care needs to be taken when designing the race).

[Amnestic]

Dragon's the big one for me.

Spooky scary skeleton probably a close second, though you can get most of that pretty well with a refluffed Warforged already.

[da newt]

In order for there to be any semblance of balance, I was thinking monsters with levels (like Volo's monster races).

[Dienekes]

Ogre Mage/Oni are a personal favorite. They’re an amazing mix of frontline dominance with these surprisingly powerful and varied magic to draw from. Of course I just want to play Ganondorf.

Dragons a bit cliched but I’d play them in a heartbeat. Actually I might try to port over the Fantasy Craft rules for playing Drakes. At least as a starting point, anyway.

You know what. For a monstrous one-shot id play a Tarrasque. Don’t think it has enough there to remain interesting for a long time. There’s only so many villages you can eat.

[OldTrees1]

GNOLLS!!! Because those fluffy demon dogs don't get enough love. I've already played one named Dedlock. Thanks to a kind DM. He learned common from trashy romance novels and now seeks true love.

Here is an interesting gnoll in a webcomic. The webcomic is not about them, but they show up enough to be worth mentioning.
Auraugu, champion of the fuzzy peoples!
http://guildedage.net/comic/chapter-16-page-10/

[FoxWolFrostFire]

I'm not sure which monster I'd play, to be honest.

I imagine it would depend on the campaign in question (as some creatures may well make more sense than others).

Also, are we thinking monsters with class levels here, or just monsters as-written with no changes?




Nice to know I'm not the only one who likes Gnolls. :smallbiggrin:

Dang right!! And I think it is monsters with class levels. Kind of take X monster and give it the minotaur treatment.
BTW the guy who I think made ebberon released a 3rd party book with playable Gnolls

[togapika]

Genie
Tanuki (Or just a raccoon person really)
Gnoll
One of those deals where you're a standard race, but the familiar is the actual character and the standard race body is just something they order around or w/e
Psionic Sandwich

[kobo1d]

I had a game where one player played as an Imp.

Specifically, the "player" was the Chain Pact Familiar for a Warforged Fiend Patron Warlock, with the Voice of the Chain Master Eldritch Invocation. The Warforged was played as a semi-autonomous construct forged in hell to be a mech for an Imp (and planar attunement point to repeatedly rematerialize near in the Prime Material, should the player Imp "die" and need to be resummoned.)

[Wizard_Lizard]

I had a game where one player played as an Imp.

Specifically, the "player" was the Chain Pact Familiar for a Warforged Fiend Patron Warlock, with the Voice of the Chain Master Eldritch Invocation. The Warforged was played as a semi-autonomous construct forged in hell to be a mech for an Imp (and planar attunement point to repeatedly rematerialize near in the Prime Material, should the player Imp "die" and need to be resummoned.)

Woah that's so cool! Guess who's gonna make a quasit mech for the next one shot?

[MagneticKitty]

Actual Lycanthropes.. the one labeled as player lycans are way OP.. and shifters aren't really lycans. I want transforming at will
half dragom
dragon wyrmling
satyr/faun
Jacklewere (a creature who can become a man) also other species besides jackle
plant race
half vampire
awakened animal
the more monstrous yuan-ti / Quetzacoatl
Gnoll (maybe a civilized subclass that's like domestic dog) just a playable canine race.

Tired of races that just look like slightly altered humans. basically if you could look like the race with a few simple props (horns, ears, orc tusks) and face paint I don't want to play it.

[FoxWolFrostFire]

Actual Lycanthropes.. the one labeled as player lycans are way OP.. and shifters aren't really lycans. I want transforming at will
half dragom
dragon wyrmling
satyr/faun
Jacklewere (a creature who can become a man) also other species besides jackle
plant race
half vampire
awakened animal
the more monstrous yuan-ti / Quetzacoatl
Gnoll (maybe a civilized subclass that's like domestic dog) just a playable canine race.

Tired of races that just look like slightly altered humans. basically if you could look like the race with a few simple props (horns, ears, orc tusks) and face paint I don't want to play it.

Oh yeah. The snake bodied yuan-th would be great...also saytr are now official

[Evaar]

Quickling. I get to basically be Quicksilver.

[Wizard_Lizard]

A tiny race could be interesting. Always wanted to play a nac mac feegle esque character. I did it with a forest gnome once, but it just wasn't the same...

[FoxWolFrostFire]

A tiny race could be interesting. Always wanted to play a nac mac feegle esque character. I did it with a forest gnome once, but it just wasn't the same...

Your like my opposite lol. I want to play large races. Like a proper minotaur

[Wizard_Lizard]

Your like my opposite lol. I want to play large races. Like a proper minotaur

I mean I'd also be down for playing a huge or gargantuan races.
Warforged Colossus Let's Go!!!

[FoxWolFrostFire]

I mean I'd also be down for playing a huge or gargantuan races.
Warforged Colossus Let's Go!!!

Alright Ven Desle...I hope some one gets that joke

[Angelalex242]

Celestial. You used to be able to do that in 3.5 with the monster races book.

[Wizard_Lizard]

I’d also be interested in playing a Sahuagin. I feel like they could actually adapt to a pc race fairly well.

[Edea]

True Dragon, but not just a great wyrm right out of the gate.

Like, the whole party's dragons; specifically wyrmlings.

They'd have backgrounds as being fairly competent mid-level normal adventurers, but upon confronting an epic-level evil psion attempting to true mind switch his way into a far more powerful great wyrm body, they caused the switch to go haywire, lodging the PCs' minds/souls into the bodies of wyrmlings (pieces of the original great wyrm target) while the psion's psyche gets split up and put into the original bodies of the adventurers (who now, of course, turn evil as hell). The campaign's then about trying to fix this whole mess (obvs), and then deciding at the end whether to stay dragons or go back to being 'normal.'

EDIT: Of course, that's assuming 3.5 though. Not sure how that'd convert to 5e!

[Kyutaru]

I played with a monster squad back in 3E that became like D&D superheroes. The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen was a thing.

Mind Flayer mage, Shade rogue, Iron Golem fighter, Vampire cleric.

So much fun.

[Nagog]

There are so many things I would play. Though I'd have to see the mechanics for each one tbh.

From the top of my head, a Ghost Rogue would be fun, for at-will incorporeality. A Beholder Barbarian or an Illithid Fighter could be fun. I'm honestly not sure.

[Ertwin]

Displacer Beast. Just gotta figure out a way to give it at will teleport. I would go for blink dog, but cats are better than dogs (fight me).

[Spriteless]

Oh, something with wings, or a werewolf.

Or a kraken. Yeah, start as a hand sized octopus and join the dragon wyrmling party. Ugg someone always has to play something weird am i rite?

[Wasp]

I would like to play something
1. tiny, tinier than anyone else in the party
2. flying and/or very fast, if I am tiny I want to be still able to keep up with everyone
3. with speech or telepathy, I want to be able to communicate (verbally)
4. with extremities with which I can hold stuff, preferable hands
5. some kind of attack that would allow to be useful in combat - this could be magic.

[Unoriginal]

I would like to play a Giff.

[Falconcry]

For folks that wish their minotaurs could be large look into the Runeknight UA. The 3rd level ability Giant”s Might lets you be large for one minute.

Since that ability skips medium I have a gnome RK/Armorer UA named Lott Scang that uses Giant’s Might then Enlarge/Reduce to grow huge. I one punched a young dragon in the face and knocked him prone. I then grappled him while the paladin and rogue took attacks with advantage. The wizard was mad that her firebolts were at disadvantage because it was prone even then though lying on its back it was still taller then she was. My gnome can also go tiny for sneaky sneaky.

On topic the race I would love to play is single eyed beholder (think Mike Wazowski). Though having to convert every armour to have an eye window rather then a boob window could get tedious.

[Ertwin]

I would like to play something
1. tiny, tinier than anyone else in the party
2. flying and/or very fast, if I am tiny I want to be still able to keep up with everyone
3. with speech or telepathy, I want to be able to communicate (verbally)
4. with extremities with which I can hold stuff, preferable hands
5. some kind of attack that would allow to be useful in combat - this could be magic.

Sounds like you want to be a Pixie.

I maintain that if I'm ever forced to play 3.5 again, I'm going to be a Pixie Warlock. Eldritch Blast at will, Innate Greater invisibility, and tiny size? Yes please