Race popularity?

[Saph]

Which are the most popular PHB races for characters in your gaming group?

For us, the popularity order is:

1. Humans
2. Elves
3. Half-elves
4. Dwarves

5. Gnomes/half-orcs/anything else

Oddly, despite how mechanically strong gnomes and dwarves are, very few play them, whereas the mechanically weak half-elf is always popular. I guess our players prefer races they like to races that are strong (who'd have thought?)

Humans are far and away the most popular characters, probably because they're both easy to identify with and strong and flexible in-game as well.

What's it like in your group?

- Saph

[Skjaldbakka]

For me, the top 4 races are:

1-4 Halfling

Closely followed by Turtles. :smallcool:

OK, more seriously:

Me:
1. Halflings (duh)
2. Half-Elf
3. Human
4. Elf
5. Dwarf
6. Gnome
7. Half-Orc

*note* If they had cut halflings from 4th ed., I would have gone out of my way to pirate a copy and burn it in effigy */note*

[Mordokai]

For me it is:

1. Human
2. Half - elf
3. Elf
4. Half - orc
5. Dwarf
6. Halfling
7. Gnome

Short race don't strike me fancy, no matter the power they might have. Humans I like flavor wise and they are pretty strong and I like half elves because they give me that flavour that so many other races lack. I don't care they are, according to almost everybody, the weakest of races.

[Grizzled Gryphon]

Fo myself, I guess the list is a little odd compared to the others here so far.

1) Humans
2) Dragonborn
3) Elan
4) Elves
5) Dwarves
6) everything else except
Last) Half-Elves

I really don't like small races, either. however, it does depend on what I am making. The idea of a Kobold Sorcerer is intriguing, to say the least. And I know that a Whisper Gnome Rogue is fun, as I have played one.

[J.Gellert]

1. Human
2. Elf
*the void*
4. Dwarf
5. Halfling
6. Half-elf
7. Anything else except...
8. ...Gnome

However, these are not counting races and templates like Half-Dragon, Tiefling, Half-Demon, Vampire, and so on. These might even go above Human, depending on my mood.

I think the half-elf is a great idea, but the associated stats really do not do it any justice.

[Kurald Galain]

From what I've seen,

1. Humans
2. Elves
3. Lizardmen
4. Hobbits
5. Orcs
6. Dwarves
7. Half-anything

[Mordokai]

However, these are not counting races and templates like Half-Dragon, Tiefling, Half-Demon, Vampire, and so on. These might even go above Human, depending on my mood.

I think the half-elf is a great idea, but the associated stats really do not do it any justice.

Well, from my understanding, those are templates. Not thiefling and vampire, but you can still be half demon or half dragon human or elf. So those don't change base race, they just... adjust it. Then again, I could be wrong.

And I agree with you about half elf. We'll see what they've done with them in fourth edition.

[TheGreatJabu]

I guess my gaming group is a little more kind towards the wee folk. There's too many close ties to rank them 1-7, so I'll just have "high tier", "medium tier", and "low tier". The percentages I give are pretty random, since the size of my gaming group has varied wildly (anywhere from 3 people to 8 people).

High tier: on average, around 50-80% of the party
Elves
Humans

Medium tier: on average, 20-50% of the party
Dwarves
Gnomes

Low tier: on average, less than 20% of the party
Half-elves
Halflings
Half-orcs
Other

Edit: Oh hey Mordokai! How's about that game we used to be in that used to make progress? :smallwink:

[Elanorea]

According to our group:
1. Human
*the void*
2. Dwarf
3. Halfling
4. Elf/Half-Elf
5. Half-Orc
Gnomes have yet to be used.

As for me, it would probably be
1. Human
2. Dwarf
3. Half-Orc
*the void*
4. Halfling
5. Elf/Half-Elf
6. Gnome

[Azerian Kelimon]

Like everyone else, numbah 1 race is humans. I just find the extra skill point and feat too useful, not to mention I can make more of a connection to the char I'm playing.

The rest of them:


Elf
Gnome (They messed it up with this guys, didn't they? THEY are the hobbits the halflings should be, and they should have the serious personality)
Dwarf
Halfling
The two halfbreeds

[caden_varn]

Humans are by far the most popular at my gaming group. After that probably dwarves, if my halfling fetish is ignored...

Personally, I'd go
1 Halfling
2 Human
3 Dwarf
4 Gnome
5 Anything that isn't an elf. Don't like elves for some reason. Not really sure why.

[Mordokai]

Edit: Oh hey Mordokai! How's about that game we used to be in that used to make progress? :smallwink:

Hey man, don't know what happened to that :smallfrown: I would also like to continue. If you would however liked to talk it over I propose we continue on PMs.

And to not be completely of topic, I just remembered that vampire is also a template.

[daggaz]

For me its

1. Dwarves
2. Halflings
3. Gnomes (or Lizardman if we go nonstandard)
4. Humans
5. Elves
6. Half-elves
7. Half-orcs (sorry, but two str just isnt worth it)

[Theodoxus]

My current party has 3 halflings, 2 humans and a vastly overpowered Hound Archon that will be dying as soon as he makes a return...

In the past, the party has had a couple of dwarves (one left, the other died and came back as a halfling) as well as a few more humans.

For me personally, it all depends on what I want to play. I like dwarves a lot, but halflings just get me everytime... something about the luck bonuses... Someday I'm going to make a halfling Paladin with the monkeygrip feat and run around with a two-handed medium sized weapon.

[Swooper]

For my group, it's something like:

1. Humans
2. Dwarves
3. Gnomes
4. Everything else

We've got one player who's #1 is hobbits (not kender, the hairy feet type mind you) as well. I sometimes play elves. No-one likes half-elves much, but we do see the occasional half-orc.

[Morty]

Flavor-wise, it's:
1) Half-Elves
2) Halflings
3) Elves, Dwarves and humans ex aequo
4) Half-orcs
5) Gnomes, that don't exist in my games as they're written in PHB.
But that's my opinion, as the rest of my group doesn't have any real preferences for races.

Mechanics-wise, it solely depends on what I want to play. Outside PHB, it's preety much the same, except goblins are on the top in this case.

[Snadgeros]

Ugh....I hate elves, and yet for some reason, everyone in my group insists on being one. Out of 7 people and 10 characters in our campaign, we had a grand total of 5 elf-blooded characters (including one half-elf). It probably breaks down like this:

1. Elves (I hate those prissy little bastards.)
2. Humans (Reserved for those few party members like me who HATE elves.)
*the void*
3. Everything else (These are all of the ORIGINAL characters, like half-orc monks and halfling druids, as opposed to bow-and-arrow elf or just-plain-old human. We pour our creativity into these guys.)

[random11]

In my world PCs can play human only, and half races don't exist at all.
So:

1) Human
2) Other races
3) Half-something

[ALOR]

our group for standard races

1. humans
2. elves
3. dwarves
4. Gnome
5. Halfling
6. Half-Elf
7. Half-orc


flavor-wise personally

1. Half-Elves
2. Elves
3. Dwarves
4. Humans
5. Half-Orc
6. Gnome
7. Halfling

in 2e I played half-elves all the time, but in 3e i've played one.

[Zenos]

For my players:

1) Humans
2) Half- and full-orcs
3) Dwarves and gnomes
4) Elves
5) Half-elves and halflings.

For my own preference:

1) Humans, I just love being able to play absulutely any culture I want, wheter it be kinda arab-like, a viking, or just a peasant boy with a sword and some natural instincts for magic or swords. Plus it's not got any real weaknesses.
2) Orcs, the full-blooded ones. Might be the STR bonus, but I also like to play with that kind of characters.
3) Illithids, although having horrible level adjustments, are plain cool.
4) Grey elves, but only if playing a wizard.
5) Anything else. I don't realy like RAW gnome fluff, and dwarves are slightly boring by now. I dislike practicaly all the elves with the exception of grey elves. I find the half-races rather... *silence*


I am not counting all the different playable monster races, but orc types seem to be strangely popular with my people. Must be because of that book we have, the "Orcs: First Blood"-triology.

[Xefas]

Around my table, with only PHB races in 3.5...

1) Humans
--massive void--
2) Elves
--massive void--
3) Everything Else

Most of my players pick out more unique races for me to a homebrew a less +LA for. I got a +0LA Gnoll, a 3RH 2LA Yuan-Ti Abomination, +0LA Catfolk, Half Catfolk-Half Elf, +0LA Tiefling, etc.

Lots of humans though. Sometimes Half-Dragon Humans.

There's no way in hell I have enough possessions to successfully a bribe a player into using a gnome though.

[Person_Man]

My group tends to use:

1) Humans: 70ish%
2) Mix of anything else, 30ish%

The bonus feat for humans is just too tempting. And most of my players tend to have elaborate fluff that has nothing to do with their racial qualities. If anything, some of my players view potential racial stereotypes as getting in the way of their character back stories.

[Leadfeathermcc]

Eberron Campaign, 4 players and 8 characters later our spread looks something like this

Human - 2
Changeling - 2
Gnome - 2
Dwarf - 1 but was raised once, can it count as 2 :smallsmile:
Warforged - 1

[Telonius]

My own favorites:
1. Human
2. Dwarf
3. Elf
4. Changeling
5. Gnome
6. Shifter
7. Everything Else

[SoD]

In my groups...

Humans top of the list. Most other things are pretty much even. I, however, never play as a human character. My favorite...the chitine.

[AmberVael]

Hmmm.
Humans and Elves are pretty much the only PHB races I use.
However, once expanded into other books, my list gains a bit of diversity.

Orc and Water Orcs are high on the list there, and I'll add in the Gray Elf. I also like the Lesser Tiefling.
Kobold is frankly one of my favorite races. I've oddly never seen them as a weak race- so it isn't me overcoming challenges and the like. Built correctly, those little reptilians can be deadly.

[Dausuul]

For me, it's:

1. Humans
2. *the void*
3. *more void*
4. *even more void*
5. Elves
6. Other

I almost invariably play humans, mostly because I find it easier to connect mentally with a human character, and the extra feat and skill points make it soooo much easier to design the character I want. Every other race shoehorns you into some pre-established concept, but humans can be and do anything, particularly if Able Learner is allowed.

Once in a while I'll play an elf of some kind. I dislike the other standard races mostly on aesthetic grounds. If it fits the campaign and the starting level is high enough to support it, I might consider some weird monster race, but, again, the loss of flexibility in character design usually scotches that idea.

Although I recently played a goblin and had a hell of a lot of fun with it. For some reason, while all the various "short-guy" races in the PHB leave me cold, I really like goblins... probably because the archetypal goblin personality is so much more fun than the archetypal dwarf, halfling, or gnome. I may play more goblins in the future, especially if I can talk the DM into nixing the Charisma penalty.

[Haakon]

I'm currently playing in 2 different campaigns and they break down like this:

First group:
6 humans

Second group:
3 humans
1 halfling
1 elf
1 Spellscale

As mentioned before, humans seem to be the most popular with my group due to the extra feat and skill points. I also find alot of starting players choose humans because thats the race they are most familiar with.

[SpikeFightwicky]

In group:

1. Human
2. Dwarves
3. Elves
4. Halfling and gnome (pretty much picked equally as often).

None of the other races have ever been picked.

[RTGoodman]

I never really thought of it before, but apparently my "home" gaming group (as opposed to the one here at college) is very boring. I'm the only one who has ever played a spellcaster, and the races that they use are:

1. Human (75%)
2. Elf (25%)


That's it. I've played every race besides elf and half-elf, so that balances stuff out I guess.

[Emperor Demonking]

Human
Dwarves
Elves
Half orcs
Healf elves
Gnome
Halfling

[Emperor Tippy]

My default race is the Elan. After that its pretty much build specific.

[SoD]

In my groups, humans are the most common. Obviously. However, I disdain playing as humans, and have never done so (except as NPCs when I DM). My two most played as races are: Chitine and Elan. With Chitine as my personal favorite. In one of my groups, the current races are human (x2), halfling, elf, half orc. In my other, warforged, human, half-elf, half-orc, chitine. My other one is more mixed, and I generally play as the more odd races. They just appeal to me more.

[Thalion]

In my group it looks something like this:
1.Humans
2.Elves
3.Half elves
4.Aasimars, Tiefling, Genasi etc.

[calebcom]

I avoid humans, I play one in real life, why would I want to play one in game?
half elves have the potential for emo fun, but whisper gnomes top my list. I love teh sneaky and they're NASTY sneaky :D

[Kantolin]

My group actually likes most of the races fairly equally. We only seem to have two people double up on races whenever the six of us are at the table.

The only race that's rather unpopular is half-orcs; conversely, they're my favorite race, so we almost always have one half-orc at the table.

There's a slight preference for humans, I believe, but we often get the others equally - half-elves and gnomes included.

I personally dislike playing human above all other options. >_>

[Admiral Squish]

I enjoy heroic sacrifices because my favorites keep changing so much, and they indulge my dramatic flair. I don't like playing humans, much, but that extra feat is nice and attractive to a first-level charrie. My group tends to be off-the-wall with races, dragonborn, changelings, goliaths, warforged, even grigs get their share of play.

[Dhavaer]

Humans, half-elves, elves, in about that order.

[reorith]

1. humans

no one in my group ever plays anything else :(

[Titanium Dragon]

I've found in general, it goes:

1) Human
2) Elf
3) Dwarf
(huge popularity gap)
Everything else is too rare to really get good statistics on, with Gnomes, Half-Orcs, and Half-Elves being more popular than the rest but mostly simply due to being core.