brown borders diffusing complex races

Mongrelfolk

Monsters Curse of Strahd

live on the fringes of civilization in ruins, deserted buildings, or other places that other humanoid races once lived in or built. They tend to be timid and skittish outside their homes and fiercely

fond of camouflage, attaching leaves and twigs to their cloaks, making brown paint to cover their skin, and weaving grass nets under which they can hide. They use such camouflage while hunting in the

Dwarf Legacy

Species Basic Rules (2014)

human standing nearly two feet taller. Their courage and endurance are also easily a match for any of the larger folk. Dwarven skin ranges from deep brown to a paler hue tinged with red, but the most

common shades are light brown or deep tan, like certain tones of earth. Their hair, worn long but in simple styles, is usually black, gray, or brown, though paler dwarves often have red hair. Male

Wood Elf Legacy

Species Basic Rules (2014)

the Kagonesti of Dragonlance, as well as the races called wood elves in Greyhawk and the Forgotten Realms. In Faerûn, wood elves (also called wild elves, green elves, or forest elves) are

reclusive and distrusting of non-elves. Wood elves’ skin tends to be copperish in hue, sometimes with traces of green. Their hair tends toward browns and blacks, but it is occasionally blond or copper-colored. Their eyes are green, brown, or hazel.

Human Legacy

Species Basic Rules (2014)

reckonings of most worlds, humans are the youngest of the common races, late to arrive on the world scene and short-lived in comparison to dwarves, elves, and dragons. Perhaps it is because of their

shorter lives that they strive to achieve as much as they can in the years they are given. Or maybe they feel they have something to prove to the elder races, and that’s why they build their mighty

High Fae Noble

Monsters Monstrous Compendium Vol. 4: Eldraine Creatures

been given dominion over a small aspect of the natural world; there are dukes and duchesses for each of the seasons, and noble archivists track every promise made and broken within the borders of

other complex games of wits against one another. Most high fae remain secluded deep within the wilds of Eldraine. They draw power from motes of light found throughout the wilds, and they use their

Halfling Legacy

Species Basic Rules (2014)

, even by the standards of his diminutive race, with the fluff of his curly brown locks barely cresting the three-foot mark, but his belly was amply thickened by his love of a good meal, or several, as

. They are inclined to be stout, weighing between 40 and 45 pounds. Halflings’ skin ranges from tan to pale with a ruddy cast, and their hair is usually brown or sandy brown and wavy. They have

High Elf Legacy

Species Basic Rules (2014)

other races. The sun elves of Faerûn (also called gold elves or sunrise elves) have bronze skin and hair of copper, black, or golden blond. Their eyes are golden, silver, or black. Moon elves

(also called silver elves or gray elves) are much paler, with alabaster skin sometimes tinged with blue. They often have hair of silver-white, black, or blue, but various shades of blond, brown, and red are not uncommon. Their eyes are blue or green and flecked with gold.

Gnome Legacy

Species Basic Rules (2014)

Skinny and flaxen-haired, his skin walnut brown and his eyes a startling turquoise, Burgell stood half as tall as Aeron and had to climb up on a stool to look out the peephole. Like most

. Gnomes average slightly over 3 feet tall and weigh 40 to 45 pounds. Their tan or brown faces are usually adorned with broad smiles (beneath their prodigious noses), and their bright eyes shine with

Aarakocra

Species Mordenkainen Presents: Monsters of the Multiverse

taper to sharp talons. Feathers cover their bodies—usually red, orange, yellow, brown, or gray. Their heads are also avian, often resembling those of parrots or eagles. Creating Your Character

violent end on an adventure. Members of some races, such as dwarves and elves, can live for centuries. If typical members of a race can live longer than a century, that fact is mentioned in the race

Chapter 2: Creating an Archfey

Compendium - Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Domains of Delight: A Feywild Accessory

complex personalities. Powerful archfey such as the Summer Queen and the Queen of Air and Darkness rule vast domains, and their influence is so great that their courts stretch beyond the borders of their

Githzerai

Species Mordenkainen Presents: Monsters of the Multiverse

ages passed, githzerai explorers ranged out to other planes and worlds of the multiverse. Githzerai are generally slender, with speckled skin in shades of yellow, green, or brown. Eons of cultivating

adventure. Members of some races, such as dwarves and elves, can live for centuries. If typical members of a race can live longer than a century, that fact is mentioned in the race’s description

Kobold Legacy

Species Volo's Guide to Monsters

, designed to collapse under the weight of any creature heavier than a kobold. On occasion, the route through a kobold lair runs along a ledge that borders a cavern or a crevasse, and the kobolds might

races have little good to say about kobolds, but they do admit that the little reptilians do respectable tunnel work using simple tools. If a band of kobolds is enslaved by more powerful creatures

High Elf

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

and other races. The sun elves of Faerûn (also called gold elves or sunrise elves) have bronze skin and hair of copper, black, or golden blond. Their eyes are golden, silver, or black. Moon elves (also

called silver elves or gray elves) are much paler, with alabaster skin sometimes tinged with blue. They often have hair of silver-white, black, or blue, but various shades of blond, brown, and red are

Sun Elves

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

Sun Elves Sun elves, also known as gold elves, or Ar’Tel’Quessir, have a reputation for being arrogant and self-important. Many of them believe they are Corellon’s chosen people and that other races

, or noteworthy other races’ accomplishments might be, there is an inherent superiority to all things elven. This attitude colors sun elves’ relations with other elves, whom they see as diluted or

Wood Elf

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

Greyhawk and the Kagonesti of Dragonlance, as well as the races called wood elves in Greyhawk and the Forgotten Realms. In Faerûn, wood elves (also called wild elves, green elves, or forest elves) are

-colored. Their eyes are green, brown, or hazel. Ability Score Increase. Your Wisdom score increases by 1. Elf Weapon Training. You have proficiency with the longsword, shortsword, shortbow, and longbow

Wood Elf

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

Greyhawk and the Kagonesti of Dragonlance, as well as the races called wood elves in Greyhawk and the Forgotten Realms. In Faerûn, wood elves (also called wild elves, green elves, or forest elves) are

-colored. Their eyes are green, brown, or hazel. Ability Score Increase. Your Wisdom score increases by 1. Elf Weapon Training. You have proficiency with the longsword, shortsword, shortbow, and longbow

High Elf

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

and other races. The sun elves of Faerûn (also called gold elves or sunrise elves) have bronze skin and hair of copper, black, or golden blond. Their eyes are golden, silver, or black. Moon elves (also

called silver elves or gray elves) are much paler, with alabaster skin sometimes tinged with blue. They often have hair of silver-white, black, or blue, but various shades of blond, brown, and red are

Small and Practical

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

. Halflings’ skin ranges from tan to pale with a ruddy cast, and their hair is usually brown or sandy brown and wavy. They have brown or hazel eyes. Halfling men often sport long sideburns, but beards are

nobility or royalty, instead looking to family elders to guide them. Families preserve their traditional ways despite the rise and fall of empires. Many halflings live among other races, where the

Boros Legion

Compendium - Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Guildmasters' Guide to Ravnica

Boros Legion AARON MILLER A brown-bearded, broad-chested man clad in massive-shouldered plate armor led a battalion of soldiers, the symbol of the Boros Legion emblazoned on white cloth draped over

their armor. Their soldiers were a variety of races, including humans, a minotaur with a permanent scowl on her face, an impatient-looking goblin, and even some kind of humanoid fire elemental, whose

Aarakocra Legacy

Species Elemental Evil Player's Companion

brightly colored, with feathers of red, orange, or yellow. Females have more subdued colors, usually brown or gray. Their heads complete the avian appearance, being something like a parrot or eagle with

it hard not to pluck the treasure and bring it back to their settlement to beautify it. An aarakocra who spends years among other races can learn to inhibit these impulses. Confinement terrifies the

Centaur

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

the wild, centaurs avoid conflict but fight fiercely when pressed. They roam the vast wilderness, keeping far from borders, laws, and the company of other creatures. Wilderness Nomads. Centaur tribes

vanish into the wilderness and are never seen again. Those that can bear the loss of their tribe might take up residence among other races. Frontier settlements value the nature knowledge of their centaur

Wood Elves

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

elves don’t come across members of other races. Adventurers, diplomats, couriers, and those who pursue similar professions are the exceptions, traveling far outside their sylvan domains and meeting a wide

variety of folk. Wood elves in Faerûn have the racial traits of wood elves in the Player’s Handbook. They have tan or coppery skin, with hair of wood brown, golden blond, black, or a shining metallic

Quandrix Faculty

Compendium - Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Strixhaven: A Curriculum of Chaos

beak. He is known for the unnerving habit of fully rotating his head around to address his students, while still rapidly chalking up complex theorems and equations on a chalkboard. Imbraham loves

dauntingly complex theories. He offers his students standing bounties on any of his unsolved equations. Adrix and Nev, Twincasters The twins Adrix (neutral good triton Quandrix professor of substance

Shield Dwarves

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

traits of mountain dwarves in the Player’s Handbook. Their skin is usually fair, eyes green, hazel, or silver-blue, and they have brown, blond, or red hair. Full beards and mustaches are commonly seen

there is a complex relationship between family, clan, and the larger society. Some of the dwarf clans in the North are Arnskull, Battlehammer, Blackbanner, Blackhammer, Bucklebar, Darkfell, Deepaxe

Speakers for the Ancestors

Compendium - Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->The Radiant Citadel

under the law. Simultaneously, they manage a complex relationship with the founding civilizations. The Speakers’ first duty is to the Radiant Citadel, which sometimes puts them at odds with the

pragmatic, shrewd leader. For two hundred and fifty years, she has been a consummate councilor and has deftly managed the complex politics of the city. She hopes to find the missing twelve founding

Speakers for the Ancestors

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

under the law. Simultaneously, they manage a complex relationship with the founding civilizations. The Speakers’ first duty is to the Radiant Citadel, which sometimes puts them at odds with the

pragmatic, shrewd leader. For two hundred and fifty years, she has been a consummate councilor and has deftly managed the complex politics of the city. She hopes to find the missing twelve founding

Expert Tunnelers

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

heavier than a kobold. On occasion, the route through a kobold lair runs along a ledge that borders a cavern or a crevasse, and the kobolds might erect a railing or a wall that prevents them from

falling off the edge — high enough to protect a kobold but low enough to serve as a tripping hazard for a larger creature. Those of other humanoid races have little good to say about kobolds, but they do

Seven Secrets of Ravenloft

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

Certain. The Domains of Dread provide malleable settings for any kind of horror adventure. As domains are unmoored from conventional reality, anything can happen within their borders. Normal people

that the most terrifying possibilities come to pass. As a result, even the most familiar races, magic items, and monsters in the Player’s Handbook, Dungeon Master’s Guide, and Monster Manual have places in Ravenloft, but with twists that make them creepy or mysterious.

Lizardfolk

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

of the world. Their hut villages thrive in forbidding grottoes, half-sunken ruins, and watery caverns. Territorial Xenophobes. Lizardfolk deal and trade with other races only rarely. Fiercely

stalked, killed, and devoured. They make no distinction between humanoids, beasts, and monsters. Similarly, lizardfolk don’t like reaching too far beyond their borders, where they could easily become

Chapter 15: Werewolf Den

Compendium - Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Curse of Strahd

Chapter 15: Werewolf Den West of Lake Baratok is a cave complex that the werewolves of Barovia use as a den. Characters who interrogate captured werewolves can learn the den’s location. Most of the

the Vistani. He periodically allows the werewolves to slip past the misty borders as well, so that they can bring or lure others into his domain. Unlike the Vistani, however, the werewolves can’t come and go as they please.

Plane of Air

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

). Rain and snow fall only in the part of the plane nearest to the Plane of Water. Most of the Plane of Air is a complex web of air streams, currents, and winds called the Labyrinth Winds. These range from

make travel difficult. Here and there, ash clusters into floating realms where outlaws and fugitives take shelter. At the other end of the plane, near the Frostfell (the plane of ice that borders the

Halflings

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

Scholars, wizards, druids, and bards of other races have different ideas about how halflings escape peril, suggesting that by virtue of something in their nature, they occupy a special place in the

warm to creatures of other races that don’t try to do them harm, in large part due to the lack of guile that goes along with their innocent nature. Appearance doesn’t matter; what counts is a creature’s

Strongheart Halflings

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

fondly by members of other races as “the good folk,” for little upsets stronghearts or corrupts their spirit. To many of them, the greatest fear is to live in a world of poor company and mean intent, where

colors of humans, with most having brown hair. Unlike their lightfoot cousins, strongheart halflings often have blond or black hair and blue or green eyes. Males don’t grow beards or mustaches, but both

Random Encounters

Compendium - Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Out of the Abyss

telepathically asks the characters to rid the cave complex of the derro cultists (see area 14) because it knows what they’re trying to do and wants to stop them. If the characters agree and seem friendly, the

keep to themselves, feeding on fungi and vermin. The derro have tried to enslave them, without much success. In a weird example of détente, members of the two races have learned to avoid one another

Forest Gnomes

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

humans and other races, but they aid individuals and small groups whom they deem worthy of their help. They create lovely gardens, organic sculptures, and wondrous emerald jewelry — that precious green

communication — and sometimes for no reason other than artistic considerations. A simple illusion can often express a complex idea, such as when the memory of a location is triggered by the illusory sound of a

D&D Beyond

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