before beings defusing contrast race

Half-Elf Legacy

Species Basic Rules (2014)

. EXCELLENT AMBASSADORS Many half-elves learn at an early age to get along with everyone, defusing hostility and finding common ground. As a race, they have elven grace without elven aloofness and

coloration and features lie somewhere between their human and elf parents, and thus show a variety even more pronounced than that found among either race. They tend to have the eyes of their elven

Aarakocra

Species Mordenkainen Presents: Monsters of the Multiverse

A winged people who originated on the Elemental Plane of Air, aarakocra soar through the sky wherever they wander. The first aarakocra served the Wind Dukes of Aaqa—mighty beings of air&mdash

At 1st level, you choose whether your character is a member of the human race or of a fantastical race. If you select a fantastical race, follow these additional rules during character creation

Githyanki

Species Mordenkainen Presents: Monsters of the Multiverse

cultivated over eons in the Astral Plane. Now all githyanki can use their psychic bond with that plane to access splinters of knowledge left behind by beings who travel, live, and die among the silver

astral clouds. Githyanki who reside in the Astral Plane can live indefinitely. Creating Your Character At 1st level, you choose whether your character is a member of the human race or of a fantastical

Giff

Species Spelljammer: Adventures in Space

Giff are tall, broad-shouldered folk with hippo-like features. Some have smooth skin, while others have short bristles on their faces and the tops of their heads. As beings of impressive size and

divine beings who created giff have likewise been forgotten. Their titanic petrified bodies drift on the Astral Sea, isolated and unrecognizable in their current forms. Although they don’t realize

Diplomats or Wanderers

Compendium - Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Player's Handbook (2014)

get along with everyone, defusing hostility and finding common ground. As a race, they have elven grace without elven aloofness and human energy without human boorishness. They often make excellent

, wandering the wilds as trappers, foresters, hunters, or adventurers and visiting civilization only rarely. Like elves, they are driven by the wanderlust that comes of their longevity. Others, in contrast

Diplomats or Wanderers

Compendium - Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Basic Rules (2014)

get along with everyone, defusing hostility and finding common ground. As a race, they have elven grace without elven aloofness and human energy without human boorishness. They often make excellent

, wandering the wilds as trappers, foresters, hunters, or adventurers and visiting civilization only rarely. Like elves, they are driven by the wanderlust that comes of their longevity. Others, in contrast

Hadozee

Species Spelljammer: Adventures in Space

branch. Today, hadozees are sapient, bipedal beings eager to leave behind the fearsome predators of their home world and explore other worlds. In addition to being natural climbers, hadozees have feet

glide. Hadozees wrap these wings around themselves to keep warm. Creating Your Character When you create your D&D character, you decide whether your character is a member of the human race or one

Genasi Legacy

Species Elemental Evil Player's Companion

Those who think of other planes at all consider them remote, distant realms, but planar influence can be felt throughout the world. It sometimes manifests in beings who, through an accident of birth

of savage humanoids and weird cults in untamed lands. Others gain positions of great influence, especially where elemental beings are revered. A few genasi leave the Material Plane to find refuge in

Deck of Many Things Legacy

Magic Items Basic Rules (2014)

30 feet of you. The fighter is of the same race as you and serves you loyally until death, believing the fates have drawn him or her to you. You control this character. Moon. You are granted the

apply it. The Void. This black card spells disaster. Your soul is drawn from your body and contained in an object in a place of the GM's choice. One or more powerful beings guard the place. While your

Lizardfolk Legacy

Species Volo's Guide to Monsters

hold and controls their actions. In contrast, lizardfolk see emotions as traits assigned to other creatures, objects, and situations. A lizardfolk doesn’t think, “I’m scared.&rdquo

; Instead, aggressive, stronger creatures register to the lizardfolk as fearsome beings to be avoided if possible. If such creatures attack, lizardfolk flee, fighting only if cornered. Lizardfolk aren

Kobold

Species Mordenkainen Presents: Monsters of the Multiverse

Underdark near the lairs of the earliest dragons. In some lands, kobolds serve chromatic or metallic dragons—even worshiping them as divine beings. In other places, kobolds know too well how

, their cry resonates with draconic power. Creating Your Character At 1st level, you choose whether your character is a member of the human race or of a fantastical race. If you select a fantastical

Giants: World Shakers

Compendium - Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Volo's Guide to Monsters

another, but those races have no shared heritage. In contrast, every true giant, regardless of type, can trace its ancestry directly to Annam the All-Father. Most giants believe that Annam took a number

, literally towering over the other, younger beings that crowd the world. Yet nowadays most giants live in isolation or in obscure locations, exhibiting none of the collective grandeur and power of their forebears.

Autognome

Species Spelljammer: Adventures in Space

Autognomes are mechanical beings built by rock gnomes. Sometimes, because of a malfunction or a unique circumstance, an autognome becomes separated from its creator and strikes out on its own. An

, determined to find a greater purpose. Creating Your Character When you create your D&D character, you decide whether your character is a member of the human race or one of the game’s

Plasmoid

Species Spelljammer: Adventures in Space

Plasmoids are amorphous beings with no typical shape. In the presence of other folk, they often adopt a similar shape, but there’s little chance of mistaking a plasmoid for anything else. They

you create your D&D character, you decide whether your character is a member of the human race or one of the game’s fantastical races. If you create a character using a race option

Alien Minds

Compendium - Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Volo's Guide to Monsters

their actions. In contrast, lizardfolk see emotions as traits assigned to other creatures, objects, and situations. A lizardfolk doesn’t think, “I’m scared.” Instead, aggressive, stronger creatures

register to the lizardfolk as fearsome beings to be avoided if possible. If such creatures attack, lizardfolk flee, fighting only if cornered. Lizardfolk aren’t scared of a troll; instead, they

Describing Monsters

Compendium - Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft

descriptions. Sometimes it’s a contrast between mundane and terrifying details that stands out, like a monster’s soulful eyes or pearly teeth set amid vicious features. Make it Personal. There’s a fine line

feelings. Your gut twists in revulsion. The acrid air stings your nostrils. You’re suddenly aware of how small and hollow your dreams are in a world that can spawn beings of pure evil.

Creating a Race or Subrace

Compendium - Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Dungeon Master’s Guide (2014)

Creating a Race or Subrace This section teaches you how to modify existing races, as well as create new ones. The most important step in customizing or designing races for your campaign is to start

with the story behind the race or subrace you wish to create. Having a firm idea of a race’s story in your campaign will help you make decisions during the creation process. Ask yourself several

Dark Elves (Drow)

Compendium - Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Sword Coast Adventurer’s Guide

history, many believed that all drow were beings of inherent and irredeemable evil. In truth, most drow do align with evil, engaging in torture, slavery, murder, and other nefarious activities in the

of these few heroic drow have tempered some people’s opinions toward the race, although the appearance of a dark elf on the surface remains a rare event and a cause for alarm. Many drow in Faerûn hail

Burning Sugar

Compendium - Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Journeys through the Radiant Citadel

through the structure’s roof. Workers race toward the building as smoke billows through the roof and doors. A character who succeeds on a DC 16 Intelligence (Arcana or Religion) check suspects that the

leap up nearby columns and race along the thatched reed roof. A half dozen workers have fallen into the sinkhole and struggle to clamber out. The mill is in chaos as a dozen workers make

Genasi Lands

Compendium - Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Princes of the Apocalypse

Genasi Lands As rare beings, genasi might go their entire lives without encountering another one of their kind. There are no great genasi cities or empires. Genasi seldom have communities of their

to the east. Some remain in their ancient homeland. In contrast, water and earth genasi have no common history. Individuals have difficulty tracing their own lineage, and bloodlines occasionally skip a

Quickling

Compendium - Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Volo's Guide to Monsters

owe their existence — and their plight — to the Queen of Air and Darkness, the dread ruler of the Gloaming Court. Once a race of lazy and egotistical fey, the creatures that would become the

curse gave quicklings their amazing speed but also accelerated their passage through life — no quickling lives longer than fifteen years. They race themselves to death, and scheme as fast as they run

A Race Divided

Compendium - Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes

A Race Divided Once we followed in Corellon’s footsteps, but we strayed from that path. For our whole existence, we pay penance for a misstep. It is just? Mayhap not, but when is love just? Is loss

through no matter which form the entity took. Corellon loved wholeheartedly, broke oaths without reservation, and took pleasure from every encounter with the other divine beings of the multiverse

Goblin Legacy

Species Volo's Guide to Monsters

. Beast Masters and Slave Drivers Goblins know they are a weak, unsophisticated race that can be easily dominated by bigger, smarter, more organized, more ferocious, or more magical creatures. Their god

traps, snares, and nets to catch the unwary, and when their hunting patrols encounter other beings, they always look for ways to capture their foes instead of killing them. Goblins that run up against

Kobold Legacy

Species Volo's Guide to Monsters

they were demigods — mighty beings of divine descent. This isn’t a casual sort of worship or lip service; kobolds are awed in the presence of a dragon, as if an actual avatar of a deity

at the actions or deeds of other races. They aren’t forgiving of other races, and they enjoy nursing their hatred until they get a chance to wreak revenge on a creature or a race that has wronged

Worshiping Klothys

Compendium - Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Mythic Odysseys of Theros

young world of Theros was the godlike race of titans, born from the same swirling chaos as the world itself. Before any order could be imposed on the world, the titans had to be contained. Kruphix and

. Walkers of Woe. The nightmarish creatures known as woe striders are said to be products of Klothys’s punishment. These beings descend from an age when some mortals learned to unshackle themselves

Aarakocra

Compendium - Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Monster Manual (2014)

race of elemental beings called the vaati, which once ruled many worlds. A creature known as the Queen of Chaos arose and initiated an interplanar war against vaati rule. To combat the threat, seven

Seven Things to Know

Compendium - Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Eberron: Rising from the Last War

necessities. Advances in magic item creation have led to everything from self-propelled farming implements to sentient, free-willed beings created in artificers’ forges. With the aid of rare crystals

humans and lycanthropes, a union that grants them limited bestial abilities and feral instincts. The warforged are a constructed race created during the Last War, seeking to find its place in a post

Genies

Compendium - Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Monster Manual (2014)

gender, as well as one or two key personality traits. Although they resemble humanoid beings, genies are elemental spirits given physical form. They don’t mate with other genies or produce genie

their thralls, but never to the extent that they can no longer work. In contrast to their love of servants, most genies loathe being bound to service themselves. A genie obeys the will of another only

The Wards of Waterdeep

Compendium - Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Waterdeep: Dragon Heist

wealth. Yet nothing drives residents to identify with their wards as much as festivals and sport. Nearly every race and parade in the city features a competition between wards as part of the festivities

,” “bullyblades,” and “alleyblades” Those who boast of martial skill but who shrink from violence or lack real ability are “sharpjaws.” In sharp contrast are Waterdeep’s “fastfists” (any lout easily provoked to

Other Religious Systems

Compendium - Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Dungeon Master’s Guide (2014)

), or even forces and philosophies that don’t center on deities. Tight Pantheons In contrast to a loose pantheon, a tight pantheon focuses on a single religion whose teachings and edicts embrace a small

experiences new meaning in life. DIVINE RANK The divine beings of the multiverse are often categorized according to their cosmic power. Some gods are worshiped on multiple worlds and have a

World-Shaking Events

Compendium - Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Dungeon Master’s Guide (2014)

(or unlucky) ones who survived? Describe what the area looks like after the disaster, in contrast to how it looked before. 4. Assault or Invasion One of the most common world-shaking events, an

. The lost resource might be a precious metal, a species of plant or animal that held an important place in the local ecology, or an entire race or culture of people. Its absence causes a chain

Githyanki

Compendium - Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Monster Manual (2014)

race. When their leader Gith perished, she was replaced by her undead adviser, Vlaakith. The lich-queen forbade worship of all beings except herself. Of all their enemies, the githyanki most hate

Mind Flayer Thralls

Compendium - Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Volo's Guide to Monsters

creature retains its Hit Dice, hit points, racial traits (but not proficiencies granted by race), and all of its ability scores except for Intelligence. After the first stage of the process, the creature’s

to use humanoids as thralls, since they have a good balance of physical attributes and proper anatomy. Animals, in contrast, require a lot of direct oversight and lack the ability to use tools to help

Daughters of Sora Kell

Compendium - Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Eberron: Rising from the Last War

possess powers far beyond what’s usual for their kind. They are creatures of legend, beings who have defeated many of the greatest heroes of Galifar. Sora Katra is the voice of the Daughters

and prosperity, they could become envoys of the Daughters in the Five Nations or help to fight their enemies in Droaam. A character of a monstrous race could even become a warlord of Droaam. Even if

Demons of Theros

Compendium - Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Mythic Odysseys of Theros

the incarnate wickedness you desire. (SLAWOMIR MANIAK) Abhorrent Overlord Abhorrent overlords are gaunt, bipedal creatures whose gray, leathery skin is in stark contrast to the gleaming jewelry made

and dominating lesser beings, eaters of hope hoard treasure for the sole purpose of tempting and manipulating mortals. They revel in using creatures’ greed to turn them against one another and their

D&D Beyond

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