The most interesting race?

[SangoProduction]

I was wondering what race you guys find the most interesting. Let's exclude humans. As fascinating as we may be (for all the reasons), I think we know all too much about them.
Any edition. As long as it's an explicitly playable race.

My favorite, although I've not been able to play it in absolute ages, has got to be the Dvati. Sure, it's got a +1 LA, and has some errata that actually kills it (but just don't mention that to anyone), and it's bad at spell casting (for both losing a level, and the explicit drawbacks in that regard), but getting a second body to work with is simply very interesting, and not otherwise nonmagically possible. (Well, OK, I guess hirelings... but... who uses them for actual gameplay?)
Don't recommend changing between your characters during RP, unless you're confident with your voice control.

[Dimers]

Elan. (Let's just skip the fun of alter self abuse for an aberrration.) Elans are an amazingly tough race -- unaging, sustenance, ability to boost saving throws and reduce damage. "We're in it for the long haul." Given their somewhat 'secret society' origins, I have a mental picture of a bunch of Masons in oddly-colored suits of familiar cuts and special decoration, in a tall grand hall, with carefully blank faces, silently measuring up the lastest candidate ... sending their report to their Illuminati masters ...

[noce]

I've been playing a total of 4 dwarves, I like them both for fluff and crunch and managed to roleplay them in quite different and enjoyable ways.

[Yael]

Obviously Venerable Dragonwrought Kobold, one can only think wonders of why would such a creature go and adventure when they can barely walk.

Jokes aside, I'm gonna drop a +1 on Elan. I've played a few, and used them in several ways. Their strengths aside as tanks and superb psions, I find their very existence good for character backstories, where they were searching for their own immortality and somehow lost their humanity, or stuff like that. Also my bias for aberrations.

If I had to pick a second favorite, I'd say Tibbit from Dragon Compendium. I absolutely love cats, and having played a lot of them, they make for great characters when you manage to use your class abilities as a house cat.
Not my idea, but making them a psion and making commoners believe they are sorcerers and you are their familiar is funny (albeit sometimes evil), and what can I say, gotta love me some meows~


This post, blue stands for sarcasm.

[ciopo]

I like warforged and shifters very much

[Mordante]

Elan. (Let's just skip the fun of alter self abuse for an aberrration.) Elans are an amazingly tough race -- unaging, sustenance, ability to boost saving throws and reduce damage. "We're in it for the long haul." Given their somewhat 'secret society' origins, I have a mental picture of a bunch of Masons in oddly-colored suits of familiar cuts and special decoration, in a tall grand hall, with carefully blank faces, silently measuring up the lastest candidate ... sending their report to their Illuminati masters ...

If Psionics are not allowed in the game are Elans still worth playing?

[Maat Mons]

I've given thought to a setting dominated by three factions, all promising immortality to their most loyal members. There would be a psionics-dominated faction that turns people into Elans. There would be a divine-caster-dominated faction that turns people into Necropolitans. And there would be an arcane-caster-dominated faction that uses Nybor's Psychic Imprint to craft Warforged with copies of peoples' minds inside... and then they kill the copied people... and tell everyone that what they actually did was transfer the soul.

[pabelfly]

Illumians are pretty fun mechanically with how their sigils can be customised to give different bonuses for their intended build.

Shifters are also interesting race for how customisable they are. My next character is going to be one and I'm interested in fleshing a build out from the mechanics

[Wonton64]

Hellbred are my favorite. Evil souls that repented at the very end and are given a second chance to try and go out in a blaze of righteous glory.

[Soranar]

If Psionics are not allowed in the game are Elans still worth playing?

Elans can still benefit from random sources of power points like the mental pinnacle spell.

And being an aberration makes them really interesting for alter self, so yeah they're still worth it in the right build.

[AnonJr]

I like warforged and shifters very much

Haven't done as much with Shifters as I would like, but I'm a big fan of Warforged and play them with excessive frequency. Some of it's for the things you put on a stat sheet for sure, but mostly I've been a fan of SciFi as well - and how else do you get some Asimov in your Fantasy? :smallbiggrin:

[Metastachydium]

All those wacky races are among my absolute favourite things about 3.5! Let's see some highlights:
–Volodnis: playable planties, complete with the ability to kind of use photosynthesis, all those sweet plant traits and deterrents to people who think stabbing trees is a good idea!
–Sparrow Hengeyokai: playable birdies that fly and can turn into cute little versions of themselves that also fly and talk to regular birdies (and get a crazy AC and a crazier stealth (fine size for the win!))!
–Slyths: big, friendly cavedwellers that can turn into a puddle and play ochre jelly (but smarter and capable of swimming)!
–Diopsids: big, friendly cavedwellers that are also funny oversized bugs (essentially fireflies with BIG eyes) and a lot of perks, including the ability to communicate through bioluminescence and to run around with two stupidly large weapons!
–Poison Dusk Lizardfolk: cute small-sized lizards with no RHD, no INT penalty, chameleon camouflage and more!

[Tzardok]

I like some of the more bizzare races that appeared in 2e. Hadozees are fun (flying apes with a sailor culture), dohvar are great (fang-toothed merchant penguins riding winged pigs) and of course, zygodacts are just awesome:

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[Wildstag]

I’ll second the sparrow hengeyokai and raise you hengeyokai as a whole. I know it’s fun to imagine Eldritch Blast or Dragonfire Adept’s Breath Weapon shot from a sparrow’s beak… But one of the options for Hengeyokai is Crab. In fact, basically every animal option is funny to imagine a blast or breath coming from.

Plus their shapeshiftiness opens up Warshaper really early. They can be good casters, great martials, and go down a path only open to a few. The only downside is that Wild Armor only benefits Wild Shape users.

Diaboli are really unusual and interesting. They have almost as many penalties as benefits and yet end up with +1 level adjustment. Their tail attack poison scales with level but is also a poison so good luck. Outsiders also just don’t get access to a few early level buffs (no Enlarge Person, for example). But then their art is just great. Their appearance is like what every peasant imagines devilspawn to look like, but then tieflings get to look plain; some can even blend in as human with a bit of disguise.

Picking diabolus is like planning for your race to be irrelevant, which is strange to me.

P.S. Tibbits can be fun for all the same reasons as Hengeyokai but also because they just get -8 to Strength in Feline Form, which makes it possible for some cat forms to get a strength bonus on damage (with minimal investment).

[Telonius]

Changelings, for me. Shapeshifters have always fascinated me. Sharakim are a close second.

[loky1109]

Dvati and playtested version of Illumians.

[Thurbane]

Hmm, for me, in no particular order:

Hellbred
Dvati
Tibbit
Bladeling
Half-Ogre
Mephling (all)
Karsite
Daelkyr Half-Blood
Duergar
Hadozee
Jermlaine
Muckdweller
Spellscale
Goatfolk
Skulk
Marrulurk
Maug

[Eldonauran]

Most 'interesting'? Hmm, that's a very subjective term. As much as I love theoretical optimization and the various races you get access to, I've got to say that I am a bit of a vanilla player here. I find much more interest in playing the more humanish of the humanoid races, albeit one step removed from human, such as the half-elf or half-orc, the aasimar, the tiefling, etc, etc. It is that blending of the exotic with the base of the human that really just intrigues me more than anything else.

But, if we have to completely remove that aspect of human-ness and pick different races... Hmmm...

Dvati would likely top that list for me. I've had some real fun theorizing and building characters around that race.
The Elan and Illumian races never really appealed to me and I've never found the desire to really dig deep into what they can do.
Dragonborn are ... interesting, even if I tend to avoid them almost entirely in actual gameplay.

That would be about it. The more you step away from the more human-ish a race is, the less I am interested in playing it.

[Quertus]

I'll second the "subjectivity" of "best". However, if I look back at my experiences, and ask, when was Race itself "an issue"? When was Race interesting for its own sake? Hmmm...
Drow - blah blah blah racism blah.
Elf - blah blah blah elitism blah.
Avariel - special case of Elf, wings make them literally "above" the other elves. :smallamused:
Faerie / Petal / Pixie / other small flying fey - small flying fey open up interesting options, and don't necessarily see / interact with the world the same way the larger party members do.
Undead (Bone / Corpse / Lich / etc) - again, very differently-enabled. Also, racism.
Ghost - special case of undead, not just because incorporeal, not just for body swapping, but "what have you got, that's worth (un)living for?" ("true love")
Constructs (Warforged, other) - much like undead, only less likely to have "life experiences".
Elan (custom setting) - just who were you, that you were willing to throw away your *self*, to volunteer for a Death of Personality?
Demigod - When one parent was a deity, there's often certain expectations... how (if) the PC copes can be interesting


But, all in all, the most interesting race is, IMO, deity. 20 racial HD, excellent stats, portfolio powers, making waves in the campaign is well within their reach. Deities can definitely do the most interesting stuff. Also, very much a "born into privilege" vibe here.

[Particle_Man]

A bit high in LA in both cases but I think it would be interesting to play a ghost or a stonechild.

For a one shot adventure (for obvious reasons) a dryad might be interesting.

I also found warforged interesting but I was a fan of Data from Star Trek: TNG.

[Rebel7284]

- Sharn are nifty (the 3.5 version). 4 HD and 5LA is pretty tough, but boy those abilities are silly and unusual!
- Changeling offers unlimited roleplaying possibilities on a single character
- Incarnate Construct Maug for a stronger robot
- Elans can be very interesting, or painfully edgy, depending on the player.

[Particle_Man]

Another option is dusklings. Blue, furry, Fey, extaplanar, it makes for a fun package.

Another option might be forest gnomes, who are often overlooked.

[pabelfly]

From Pathfinder, I like the Trox. They're large and have a 28RP cost, so it's not going to be playable unless you negotiate with your DM for some LA, but they're a giant insect with a huge strength score and are perfect for a strength-based mundane build, perhaps with Vital Strike. Flavour-wise, they're quite interesting too: a peaceful race who were enslaved by the Druegar before escaping the underground, and due to their size, strength and generally peaceful nature, are also often enslaved by the races on the surface too.

[loky1109]

Add anthro baleen whale to mine.

[remetagross]

I'll second the Illumians. They offer a lot of flexibility, which means it's a race that lends itself to a variety of builds. I've done Illumian Favored Souls, Illumian Trapsmiths, Illumian Loredelvers...this diversity means they're not stuck into a specific "race = class" paradigm like other races: see "whisper gnome = sneaky guy", "(half-)orc = barbarian-like", "dwarf=frontliner", etc. This gives a real depth to their personality. Plus, I like the fact the racial bonus they give is mostly up to the player: it gives me agency even before I have chosen a class.

[pabelfly]

Add anthro baleen whale to mine.

If we're doing anthro animals, giant anthro octopus is my pick. Six arms and good stat boosts for two racial hit dice and two LA.

[loky1109]

If we're doing anthro animals, giant anthro octopus is my pick. Six arms and good stat boosts for two racial hit dice and two LA.

Baleen Whale is one of the only two three Large LA +0 options.

[unseenmage]

Here's my lists of every playable creature (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?401132-Lists-of-Every-Playable-Monster&p=18888380) because it seems relevant.

I always loved the Dvati and the Warforged quite a lot. So much so that I once used the Amalgam Template (https://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/monster-listings/templates/amalgam-creature-cr-special/) to make a "race" combining the two that I then built using PF's Building and Modifying Constructs guidelines.
Was fun times.

[lylsyly]

Tibbits because I am Batman and he was always attracted to Catwoman (besides, you can just do SO much with them. I once played a tibbit sorcerer who always pretended to be a bard's familiar. Sat on his shoulder until the fun started to ran off to the shadows to cast my spells. ;-)

Killoren because I am a nature lover. Despite no bonus feat or skill point or ability adjustments they are very thematic for druids and rangers and their aspect can be interesting too.

[Phhase]

Warforged and Maug. Firmitas Machina! Honorable mention to Thri-kreen for having four arms, sweet jumps, and super cool racial weapons.

[Elkad]

Add another vote for Poison Dusk Lizardfolk.

Love those little guys.