No way that I can claim an all time favorite, but I've been on a kobold kick for a while now. As a DM, back during the 80s and 90s, I enjoyed playing them up to their potential, as NPCs. The experienced players in my games would learn that there were kobolds up ahead, smile, and reply with comments like, "Oh shit." and "Is there any way around?" None in my circles played them as PCs, back then. I do now, and love playing them.
The more recent addition of pack tactics, then later 'the cry', I could live without in my PCs. Based on what I have learned of the workings of 5e, I do like the idea of the use of pack tactics among the NPC tribal members. Not for any magical reasons, but because the tribal kobolds live, work, and train for combat very closely together, every day. They hold advantage fighting as a group, because they fight as a highly-coordinated whole; as a larger creature with many eyes, ears, and many weapons coming at the target from many angles. Outside of the tribe which it lived and trained with, no kobold should be allowed pack tactics advantage.
Of course, a ruling based on this logic leaves a huge loophole for players to exploit. An example, "What if our party lived and trained closely, every day, for X months? Our party should get pack tactics too, at least against big monsters." Technically plausible, but the resulting game balance tilt could really suck the fun out of encounters, especially for the DM.
The cry is a decent consolation prize, and useful, but I'm still ambivalent about it being in the rules. There are seemingly so many other ways that a PC can gain advantage for themselves and or their party, that the cry can come across as "Meh". I'll play kobolds whichever way the table rules choose to go.
I do love playing kobolds. They're little, they don't eat much, and can eat almost anything. One can pack a lot of character into that small package. At one table game, I'm currently playing a tribal urd who's learning to exist outside the tribe. Flight speed of 30, noisy and can't carry much during flight, and about as maneuverable as an oversized butterfly when airborne, but she can tow a rope over a chasm, and cast spells and hurl insults from a safer distance. Those safer distances render 'the cry' practically useless; the kobold must remain within pole arm range of the target(s), for 'the cry' to be effective.
I went with Half Elf, as I feel it has the most mechanical benefits as well as being supremely adaptable without being overpowered. It’s interesting to me that the current voting puts Humans and Elves ahead of Half Elves, which is strange to me. By memory the only benefit Elves have over Half Elves is their ability to gain a full nights rest in 4 hours. For humans, I feel people put a higher value on a single Feat than it deserves.
Edit: If it was for stats and my favorite character build (Hexblade / Paladin) I’d have chosen Yuan-ti Pureblood (or at least the one before Monsters of the Multiverse (which I hated)). The main difficulty there though is I generally feel the Half Elf once more exceeds on the multiple backgrounds I can envision.
I like the stats for Goliaths but I dislike the aesthetic. My preference is to call them Nephilim and can be of any alignment. However, I always play them as Chaotic Evil (Gregor Clegane)
I like the stats for Goliaths but I dislike the aesthetic. My preference is to call them Nephilim and can be of any alignment. However, I always play them as Chaotic Evil (Gregor Clegane)
Any D&D race can be of any alignment. In fact, in most games the PJs are not of any alignment since it is something irrelevant. A vestige of bygone times that no longer has practically nothing to do with the mechanics of the game.
By the way, Gregor Clegane would be rather neutral evil. A chaotic being fights against authority and/or civilization. Gregor doesn't do that, at least in the novels.
Oh no he does, but he’s overruled by the military system in place and Tywin Lannister. Chaotic Evil also suits his (non existent battle plans). He could take a shot at Tywin but all the Bannermen would crush him, and even his own men would desert him. And Gregor doesn’t have either the Intelligence or capacity to draw men to him on a more permanent basis, beyond absolute scum that would otherwise be outlaws. Remember, he’s qualified as a mad hound on a leash.
“In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit. Not a nasty, dirty, wet hole, filled with the ends of worms and an oozy smell, nor yet a dry, bare, sandy hole with nothing in it to sit down on or to eat: it was a hobbithole, and that means comfort.”
Interesting, but needs some work. Just as one example, the Unbound Ghost’s visage is said in the flavor text to terrify anyone it reveals itself to, but this is not reflected in the Racial Traits for the ghost.
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I really like D&D, especially Ravenloft, Exandria and the Upside Down from Stranger Things. My pronouns are she/they (genderfae).
So I'm just wondering what the communities' favorite D&D 5E races are, and why you like them. My personal favorite is the Goblin, feisty little fellows.
Are you including eladrin in elves?
Eladrin are almost my favorite, but I prefer their edgy cousin, the Shadar-Kai. Since neither were on the list, I chose dhampir
Just one that's a hard choice, I Always find myself flipping a coin on Dragonborn or Tiefling, Although my last two for oneshots have been Hexbloods. hmmmm......
Didn't choose one because I prefer to come up with a story for the character, then build the character for what fits that story.
I will say, however, that of all the people I know who play there's only 1 that consistently plays a human. Humans are hugely disadvantaged in the game. Darkvision alone is reason enough not to play one, but Darkvision + proficiencies and/or free spells (or other abilities like not needing to breath, not needing to sleep (I'll include 4 hr trances in this category too), damage resistances, etc.). Whether you take a +1 to every ability score (which is only likely to result in a +1 bonus associated with 3 ability scores) or even the alternate build of gaining a Feat - neither of those options come close to the utility of what the other races gain.
The largest disadvantage is darkvision. It wouldn't be so bad if only a few others received it, but the list of those with darkvision is huge. Being able to see underground or at night without needing to use a small area of effect light source is a life saver.
If they are going to be so liberal with the handing out of darkvision, then they need to make it 'cost' more than it currently does. There's always RP reasons for playing, anything (including human), but anyone looking to maximize usefulness, longevity, abilities will avoid playing human. IMHO
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Playing D&D since 1982
Have played every version of the game since Basic (Red Box Set), except that abomination sometimes called 4e.
Tieflings are what does it for me. They are cool, sexy and/or badass, and you have a lot of options to customize their look unless the DM is a purist (which I probably would not play with honestly). I think I have played a tiefling more than all the other species combined as a player. If we count NPCs in my time as a DM, I have played almost every single one on this list. I think the genasi are my second favorite thematically. I love having rock-like skin, or hair that appears like flame… or literal fire for hair.
Humans populate the world. Other races are there for flavor. In other words, if the PC's walk into a shop and there's like, a gnome behind the counter, there's a reason for it. Otherwise, it'll always be a human.
For the same reason, there's like ... maybe 6-7 fairly common races in the world. Humans, orcs, goblins, gnolls, halflings, gnomes. I'm on the fence about hobgoblins and the various other greenskins/goblinoids. Elves and dwarves are essentially non-existant.
Across the impassable mountains, there are 'men with the faces of beasts'. Primarily, that means yuan-ti, minotaurs, kenku, possibly tabaxi, wemics and so on.
Dunno if that's at all relevant to the topic. Bottom line, I voted humans! =)
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Blanket disclaimer: I only ever state opinion. But I can sound terribly dogmatic - so if you feel I'm trying to tell you what to think, I'm really not, I swear. I'm telling you what I think, that's all.
No way that I can claim an all time favorite, but I've been on a kobold kick for a while now. As a DM, back during the 80s and 90s, I enjoyed playing them up to their potential, as NPCs. The experienced players in my games would learn that there were kobolds up ahead, smile, and reply with comments like, "Oh shit." and "Is there any way around?" None in my circles played them as PCs, back then. I do now, and love playing them.
The more recent addition of pack tactics, then later 'the cry', I could live without in my PCs. Based on what I have learned of the workings of 5e, I do like the idea of the use of pack tactics among the NPC tribal members. Not for any magical reasons, but because the tribal kobolds live, work, and train for combat very closely together, every day. They hold advantage fighting as a group, because they fight as a highly-coordinated whole; as a larger creature with many eyes, ears, and many weapons coming at the target from many angles. Outside of the tribe which it lived and trained with, no kobold should be allowed pack tactics advantage.
Of course, a ruling based on this logic leaves a huge loophole for players to exploit. An example, "What if our party lived and trained closely, every day, for X months? Our party should get pack tactics too, at least against big monsters." Technically plausible, but the resulting game balance tilt could really suck the fun out of encounters, especially for the DM.
The cry is a decent consolation prize, and useful, but I'm still ambivalent about it being in the rules. There are seemingly so many other ways that a PC can gain advantage for themselves and or their party, that the cry can come across as "Meh". I'll play kobolds whichever way the table rules choose to go.
I do love playing kobolds. They're little, they don't eat much, and can eat almost anything. One can pack a lot of character into that small package. At one table game, I'm currently playing a tribal urd who's learning to exist outside the tribe. Flight speed of 30, noisy and can't carry much during flight, and about as maneuverable as an oversized butterfly when airborne, but she can tow a rope over a chasm, and cast spells and hurl insults from a safer distance. Those safer distances render 'the cry' practically useless; the kobold must remain within pole arm range of the target(s), for 'the cry' to be effective.
I was at 20 and got a magic tomb, which give me +2, plus a few spells to choose from, of any school.
I'm surprised that Humans and Elves are the highest. I choose races which were not available in 2e.
I like goliaths, being a big strong mountain man that can occasionally just shrug off an injury is just too cool to pass up!
Drow cause l like the idea of Drow overcame his/she, evil teaching of lolth and become a better person.
I went with Half Elf, as I feel it has the most mechanical benefits as well as being supremely adaptable without being overpowered. It’s interesting to me that the current voting puts Humans and Elves ahead of Half Elves, which is strange to me. By memory the only benefit Elves have over Half Elves is their ability to gain a full nights rest in 4 hours. For humans, I feel people put a higher value on a single Feat than it deserves.
Edit: If it was for stats and my favorite character build (Hexblade / Paladin) I’d have chosen Yuan-ti Pureblood (or at least the one before Monsters of the Multiverse (which I hated)). The main difficulty there though is I generally feel the Half Elf once more exceeds on the multiple backgrounds I can envision.
I like the stats for Goliaths but I dislike the aesthetic. My preference is to call them Nephilim and can be of any alignment. However, I always play them as Chaotic Evil (Gregor Clegane)
Any D&D race can be of any alignment. In fact, in most games the PJs are not of any alignment since it is something irrelevant. A vestige of bygone times that no longer has practically nothing to do with the mechanics of the game.
By the way, Gregor Clegane would be rather neutral evil. A chaotic being fights against authority and/or civilization. Gregor doesn't do that, at least in the novels.
Oh no he does, but he’s overruled by the military system in place and Tywin Lannister. Chaotic Evil also suits his (non existent battle plans). He could take a shot at Tywin but all the Bannermen would crush him, and even his own men would desert him. And Gregor doesn’t have either the Intelligence or capacity to draw men to him on a more permanent basis, beyond absolute scum that would otherwise be outlaws. Remember, he’s qualified as a mad hound on a leash.
My new favorite is a homebrewed undead race I found. I highly encourage you to check it out, it’s really good. I will link it here:
https://www.dndbeyond.com/races/828692-unbound-undead
“In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit. Not a nasty, dirty, wet hole, filled with the ends of worms and an oozy smell, nor yet a dry, bare, sandy hole with nothing in it to sit down on or to eat: it was a hobbithole, and that means comfort.”
Interesting, but needs some work. Just as one example, the Unbound Ghost’s visage is said in the flavor text to terrify anyone it reveals itself to, but this is not reflected in the Racial Traits for the ghost.
I really like D&D, especially Ravenloft, Exandria and the Upside Down from Stranger Things. My pronouns are she/they (genderfae).
Eladrin are almost my favorite, but I prefer their edgy cousin, the Shadar-Kai. Since neither were on the list, I chose dhampir
Just one that's a hard choice, I Always find myself flipping a coin on Dragonborn or Tiefling, Although my last two for oneshots have been Hexbloods. hmmmm......
Didn't choose one because I prefer to come up with a story for the character, then build the character for what fits that story.
I will say, however, that of all the people I know who play there's only 1 that consistently plays a human. Humans are hugely disadvantaged in the game. Darkvision alone is reason enough not to play one, but Darkvision + proficiencies and/or free spells (or other abilities like not needing to breath, not needing to sleep (I'll include 4 hr trances in this category too), damage resistances, etc.). Whether you take a +1 to every ability score (which is only likely to result in a +1 bonus associated with 3 ability scores) or even the alternate build of gaining a Feat - neither of those options come close to the utility of what the other races gain.
The largest disadvantage is darkvision. It wouldn't be so bad if only a few others received it, but the list of those with darkvision is huge. Being able to see underground or at night without needing to use a small area of effect light source is a life saver.
If they are going to be so liberal with the handing out of darkvision, then they need to make it 'cost' more than it currently does. There's always RP reasons for playing, anything (including human), but anyone looking to maximize usefulness, longevity, abilities will avoid playing human. IMHO
Playing D&D since 1982
Have played every version of the game since Basic (Red Box Set), except that abomination sometimes called 4e.
Tieflings are what does it for me. They are cool, sexy and/or badass, and you have a lot of options to customize their look unless the DM is a purist (which I probably would not play with honestly). I think I have played a tiefling more than all the other species combined as a player. If we count NPCs in my time as a DM, I have played almost every single one on this list. I think the genasi are my second favorite thematically. I love having rock-like skin, or hair that appears like flame… or literal fire for hair.
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Dhampir didn’t get enough rating. Hands down my favorite race. (It’s actually shadar-kai but that wasn’t on the list)
I don't see variant human (love that feat..)
Humans populate the world. Other races are there for flavor. In other words, if the PC's walk into a shop and there's like, a gnome behind the counter, there's a reason for it. Otherwise, it'll always be a human.
For the same reason, there's like ... maybe 6-7 fairly common races in the world. Humans, orcs, goblins, gnolls, halflings, gnomes. I'm on the fence about hobgoblins and the various other greenskins/goblinoids. Elves and dwarves are essentially non-existant.
Across the impassable mountains, there are 'men with the faces of beasts'. Primarily, that means yuan-ti, minotaurs, kenku, possibly tabaxi, wemics and so on.
Dunno if that's at all relevant to the topic. Bottom line, I voted humans! =)
Blanket disclaimer: I only ever state opinion. But I can sound terribly dogmatic - so if you feel I'm trying to tell you what to think, I'm really not, I swear. I'm telling you what I think, that's all.
Lizardfolk for the natural armor and skill proficiencies. Also they look cool.
Tabaxi. I like how they name themselves.