I'm trying to decide on a race for a warlock character I'm making. I was watching some D&D videos when I re-watched a video by ABD Illustrates where he discusses a session he had where his warlock character Felix got to meet different forms of his patron. Watching that video again made me really desire a similar roleplay experience with a warlock character. I did play a warlock before, but she quickly changed to a cleric due to plot and I didn't really get the chance to play up her relationship with her patron. It was rather rushed which bums me out quite a bit, so I would really like a second chance at playing a warlock and having them stay a warlock and build up tension with their patron.

The idea I have so far for my new warlock is that her village was attacked when she was a child which led to the entire village being slaughtered. Before my warlock could succumb to her wounds, her patron saved her and formed a pact with her. Not realizing who she had begged to save her, she is horrified when she is healed and realizes that she has become a warlock and is now bound to her patron. She grows up to be very insecure and nervous, desperately trying to seek out a way to break her pact with her patron that doesn't lead to her death. She has no idea what her patron wants of her, which is why she's so absolutely terrified of them and wants to be rid of her warlock powers. I'm planning to go pact of the chain with her so that she can have a familiar to help her possibly balance out with the rest of the party and bring out more character interactions (my last warlock was also pact of the chain, and everyone loved my familiar so much that the DM decided to keep him around even after she lost her warlock powers and became a cleric). I think it would be really cool if my warlock got a character arc where she grows more confident and accepting of her warlock powers. I absolutely love character development and the roleplay and growth that so naturally comes with the warlock class.

With all that said, what are some good races you think would work best with my warlock idea? I like the idea of her possibly being a human, elf or half-elf, but I'm not completely sure. Any suggestions of what races make good warlocks? I'm not going for anything mid-maxing, but could make interesting roleplay. Still, I'm open to ideas.

I might suggest going all in on the saved-by-a-patron-to-be-bound-in-service and go for Reborn. I'd have said Hexblood if you hadn't mentioned your character growing more accepting of her powers, Hexblood might be a bridge too far for that.

Reading it, what with the whole normal village kid who's home is attacked thing you've got going on, I was thinking it sounds very human to me. I think there's a lot to be said for a character coming from humble beginnings and an unassuming background to become a great adventurer. Human doesn't have to be boring like a lot of people say. 

Mechanically, Half-Elf is a good choice because they get a +2 to CHA (assuming you're not using Custom Lineage). It also gives you Darkvision, which is always helpful, compared to Human. I also generally find Half-Elves more interesting, from a roleplay perspective, than pure Human or Pure Elf.

That said, there are more sub-races of Elf than Half-Elf. I'd recommend looking through the sub-races and see if any of them have a unique feature or detail. If one just really sings to you, it could be a lot of fun.

And finally... I personally find humans boring to play in D&D, but maybe that's just me. That said... being able to start with a feat at level 1 can be huge. The most popular options lately are Fey Touched and Shadow Touched... depending on your Patron, it could make a lot of sense to take one or the other, and for a low-level Warlock getting two free spell casts per day plus the chance to learn some spells that normally aren't available to you as a warlock can be a major game changer and define your character for the rest of your campaign.

Oh, I think you may have misunderstood something. My warlock never actually died in her backstory. She was on the verge of death, but was saved at the last moment. She's alive alive, not some form of undead or reborn.

I have nothing against the human race, either. Human is actually one of the races I'm heavily considering.

I was thinking of half-elf. I was also thinking of human or elf. I personally don't think there's anything wrong with playing a human. Especially if you're the only human in the party while everyone else is some form of fantastical creature. It can help you stand out in a less assuming way. Even if there are other humans, you can still be interesting if you play as a human.

Quote from MidnightWonder3 >>

I'm trying to decide on a race for a warlock character I'm making. I was watching some D&D videos when I re-watched a video by ABD Illustrates where he discusses a session he had where his warlock character Felix got to meet different forms of his patron. Watching that video again made me really desire a similar roleplay experience with a warlock character. I did play a warlock before, but she quickly changed to a cleric due to plot and I didn't really get the chance to play up her relationship with her patron. It was rather rushed which bums me out quite a bit, so I would really like a second chance at playing a warlock and having them stay a warlock and build up tension with their patron.

The idea I have so far for my new warlock is that her village was attacked when she was a child which led to the entire village being slaughtered. Before my warlock could succumb to her wounds, her patron saved her and formed a pact with her. Not realizing who she had begged to save her, she is horrified when she is healed and realizes that she has become a warlock and is now bound to her patron. She grows up to be very insecure and nervous, desperately trying to seek out a way to break her pact with her patron that doesn't lead to her death. She has no idea what her patron wants of her, which is why she's so absolutely terrified of them and wants to be rid of her warlock powers. I'm planning to go pact of the chain with her so that she can have a familiar to help her possibly balance out with the rest of the party and bring out more character interactions (my last warlock was also pact of the chain, and everyone loved my familiar so much that the DM decided to keep him around even after she lost her warlock powers and became a cleric). I think it would be really cool if my warlock got a character arc where she grows more confident and accepting of her warlock powers. I absolutely love character development and the roleplay and growth that so naturally comes with the warlock class.

With all that said, what are some good races you think would work best with my warlock idea? I like the idea of her possibly being a human, elf or half-elf, but I'm not completely sure. Any suggestions of what races make good warlocks? I'm not going for anything mid-maxing, but could make interesting roleplay. Still, I'm open to ideas.

A lot depends on the campaign setting, but if you really want to lean into the insecurity/nervousness and growth potential, a Small race like goblin or kobold -- or even halfling/gnome if "monster" races don't fit -- could work very well

I was thinking of Goblin or Orc, with the village being wiped and such.  Maybe her village was mostly evil orcs/goblins and she was too young/naïve to see it.  As she explores the world wider, she could begin to come to terms with the past, or it might drive her in a given direction (which you and the DM could work out together)

Mechanically, anything with the 2 Cha (or any race using Tasha's) is ideal.  Thematically and fun, I see the off races being more interesting overall.

Mechanically if you are using Tasha's options it doesn't make a huge difference.

If you are not planning on taking Eldritch sight you might not want to be the only member of the party without darkvision. If you are planning on taking Eldritch sight then darkvision is almost useless (RAW darkvision would mean you would not have to roll perception checks at disadvantage in dim light but I don't know one DM who rules Eldritch sight means you can see better in darkness than dim light)

Feats are nice but so is +4 total ASI (half elf or Mountain dwarf), flight poison immunity etc. Very few racial features affact some classes much more than others.

If you are not using Tasha's options then if you want to go for echanics over roleplay pick a race with an increase to charisma.

From a roleplay pont of view a lot depends on the world and how you want your character to react to it. If a race doesn't exist in the world your DM proably wont let you play it. If a race is very rare or viewed with suspicion or even outright hostility do you want to play such a race and deal with the difficulties it entails as well as dealing with your patron.

From your backstory anything could really work, you could be a goblin whose village was attacked by humans. You could be a Triton Fathomless warlock whose village was under the sea but have now been forced onto land to avoid that threat, but the more obvious read is human or something else very common in the world of your character..

Who is your patron? would they tend to favor a particular race, for example if your Patron is an Archfey they might be more inclined to make a make with an elf (though not necessarily).

Quote from MidnightWonder3 >>

Oh, I think you may have misunderstood something. My warlock never actually died in her backstory. She was on the verge of death, but was saved at the last moment. She's alive alive, not some form of undead or reborn.

I understood that. I'm just saying, she doesn't have to be.  

Okay

Child survivor of a tragedy could honestly be any race, but if you're looking at traditional archetypes the plucky small character is often a halfling. Have you considered the Haunted One Background?

I kind of like the idea of a dwarf. The stereotypical dwarf would be extra stubborn and upset about accidentally binding themselves to some entity outside dwarven society. Maybe their patron is some patron of the underdark, like Lolth or something? Maybe even the one responsible for slaughtering her people?

I have actually chosen the Haunted One background for her. It's the most fitting.

I've actually already chosen human to be her race and, after talking to my DM, we decided her patron should be of the Great Old One called the Black Hood.

Assuming you went with variant human, what feat did you take?

Telepathic to go with her connection to her patron the Black Hood (classified as a Great Old One).

That's kind of a waste of a feat, isn't it? Great Old One already gives you the ability to communicate telepathically, at shorter range but without the restriction that you need to share a language with the person you're talking to. I suppose getting a free cast of Detect Thoughts once per day is pretty useful, especially as a Warlock, but I think you're missing out on a lot of potential with the redundancy in abilities.

Oh, sorry. I didn't realize. We haven't started the game yet, so I can quickly fix that. I've never played a warlock of the Great Old One pact before, so please forgive me for not knowing about the telepathy thing.