Dungeons & Dragons 13 Best Playable Races Ranked By Racial Benefits
TheGamer
Something New
Dungeons & Dragons 13 Best Playable Races Ranked By Racial Benefits
There are a plethora of race options in Dungeons & Dragons. These are the best benefits to particular races, ranked. Even though the original 5e Player's Handbook only features 9 races, after over 5 years of published supplementary content players can now choose from up to 40 different races. While each race has its own unique benefits, some races offer more to work with, in a general sense, when viewing from a purely mechanics based perspective. What ten races stand to offer the greatest boon to your character? The following list will answer that question, diving into the specific racial benefits each race possesses as well as why these bonuses are so powerful. The specific ability score bonuses each race offers won't be our main focus, but it is an important part of choosing a race appropriate for your character's class. In other words, don't forget to look at ability score bonuses if you're looking to optimize your build. Updated February 2nd, 2021 by Kristy Ambrose: Players and DMs alike continue to enjoy the options provided by D&D, not only in the basic rules and manuals but also in the various supplements and third-party materials available. That means new playable races have appeared with unique racial traits, some that are only shared by a few and others that only one race can use. How these traits enhance your character will vary depending on your class, your role-playing journey, or how you choose to customize your game. THEGAMER VIDEO OF THE DAY Aasimar
These rumored descendants of the angels carry two racial benefits that make them a powerful selection. First off is their Celestial Resistance. This feature gives the Aasimar resistance to both necrotic and radiant damage. Resistance to a damage type is one of the strongest benefits your race choice can bestow on your character. In the case of the Aasimar, they happen to get two. Unfortunately, Radiant Damage isn't something players encounter very often. On the other hand, Necrotic Damage is incredibly common. The second racial feature that makes Aasimar a great choice is a built-in heal. As an action, the to a creature equal to your total level. While this may not amount to much, it's still capable of bringing an ally back from the brink of death. Tiefling
On the other end of the spectrum, Tieflings have the blood of the overlord of the nine hells running through their corrupted veins. Accordingly, they have resistance to fire damage. Fire is one of the most standard damage types in the game, and you'll find this trait comes in handy in a bevy of situations. The other race feature that makes Tieflings so good is also fire-related. Infernal legacy gives Tieflings like Hellish Rebuke at 2nd level once per long rest. Reactions are incredibly powerful, so having one built into your race is a huge help. Triton
Triton D&D 5e The Triton race can either be found in the depths of the ocean or in Volo's Guide to Monsters. This is a humanoid race with the Amphibious racial ability, which isn't unique to Tritons but is limited to a few. For those , this is the race to choose. Other racial bonuses for the Triton people include constitution, strength, and charisma, and that in turn covers a variety of classes. A variety of bonuses ensures that the Triton adventurer will still be a useful race away from their underwater home. Tabaxi
The cat-like Tabaxi are just as quick as their feline counterparts. It's this inborn agility that earns them their title as one of the best race choices in 5e. First off, Tabaxi have a speed of 40 feet. That's 10 feet more than every other race. In addition, they have a climbing speed, which means they maintain their great alacrity in just about every situation. On top of this, the feline agility feature allows Tabaxi to double their speed at no cost. That's 80 feet of movement, and this ability refreshes after moving 0 feet on one of your turns. Needless to say, your enemies are going to have a hard time keeping up. Lastly, Tabaxi also have a feature called cat's talent which gives them a proficiency in two of the most common skill checks in the game: perception and stealth. Half-Orc
Where the Tabaxi excel at running away from fights, Half-orcs revel in standing on the front lines. makes critical hits they score doubly devastating. This ability allows you to roll the weapon's damage dice an additional time, turning a 2d12 greataxe critical hit into a 3d12 damage roll. Along with their improved damage output, Half-orcs also bring improved survivability. Relentless endurance makes it so that when you are reduced to 0 hit points and not killed outright, you instead drop to 1 hit point. That gives your character one last turn to deliver a fatal blow to your enemies. Aarokocra
The Aarokocra share with other, less intelligent birds. Namely, it's the aarokocra's wings that make this race a somewhat controversial choice at more than a handful of tables. The flight feature gives aarokocra a flying speed of 50 feet, allowing them to rain down death on their enemies. Yet despite the amount of danger that flight allows an aarokocra to avoid, this ability can just as easily lead to their quite literal downfall. In this way, the aarokocra's greatest asset is a double-edged sword. Gith
githyanki, playable race, D&D 5e The Gith, also known as the Githyanki, is a unique race that is often cast as villains in the D&D universe. They escaped the captivity of the mind flayers, and after a while of living in close quarters, they developed similar racial traits. Specifically, psionic powers. That blends nicely with the Intelligence bonus and Darkvision. They often appear as pirates or aggressive warriors and have been getting more attention since their appearance in Baldur's Gate 3. You can only play one with the Mordenkainen’s Tome of Foes supplement and they tend to be Lawful Evil. Gnome
Gnomes are granted more protection than you might think at first glance. While sharp steel and monsters with brutish strength will find no trouble felling your average Gnome, it's a different story as far as magical abilities are concerned. The feature gnome cunning provides gnomes with an advantage on all intelligence, wisdom, and charisma saving throws against magic. While most characters have a lot to fear from a spell such as Hold Person, gnomes see such magic as trifling at best. Furthermore, the small size category of gnome characters is helpful in a number of situations. Halfling
Halfling art via Wizards of the Coast. Like Gnomes, Halflings can fit into small spaces as well. But that's just the beginning of the benefits this scrawny race has to offer. Halflings are also blessed with the brave feature, which gives them an advantage on saving throws against being frightened. While there are many spells that attempt to inflict the frightened condition, there are even more monster abilities that aim to impose the condition. Don't underestimate the wide applications of this feature. More importantly, though, is the racial trait lucky. With this feature, any time you roll a 1 on an attack roll, ability check, or saving throw, you get to re-roll the dice. Where other characters would automatically fail, you end up succeeding half the time. That's a clutch perk. Kobold
The Kobold is yet another small-sized character that also gains access to minuscule spaces. But what really sets the race apart is the pack tactics trait. This feature gives you an advantage on any attack made against a creature as long as one of your allies is within 5 feet of them. Unfortunately, the Kobold's effectiveness at your local tabletop might be hindered by the race's sunlight sensitivity trait. Some dungeon masters see this trait as so debilitating that they remove it from the game. But that isn't always the case. Before you go with the Kobold race, don't forget to check with your dungeon master on their ruling concerning sunlight sensitivity. Shifter
D&D Shifters Shifters are a type of were-human, only available in the Eberron: Rising from the Last War supplement. However, they did appear in the 4th edition of D&D that was published a few years later, so their inclusion as a playable race is up to your DM's discretion. The obvious , and that goes well with that handy Darkvision also possessed by Shifters. They don't change entirely but shift certain parts of their bodies to reflect their animal ancestry. Other handy bonuses this race enjoys include balance, climb, and jump checks. Yuan-Ti Pureblood
In keeping with the part animal theme that many races in this list share, the yuan-ti pureblood is half-person, half-snake. , immunity to a damage type is something that only yuan-ti purebloods can claim. Poison is an incredibly common damage type used in many monster attacks, traps, and even some spells. RELATED: Purebloods can also innately cast the 3rd level spell suggestion, giving them a magical edge in conversation with NPCs. While these two benefits are great, the best bonus yuan-ti receive by far is their magic resistance trait. Magic resistance gives purebloods advantage on saving throws against all spells and other magical effects. Variant Human
How could it get any better than the truckload of benefits the yuan-ti pureblood offers, you ask? When you get to choose a benefit specifically tailored to the rest of your character build. The variant human race gains access to one feat of their choosing at the beginning of the game. While the yuan-ti pureblood and other races provide some astounding benefits, none of them are as powerful as some of the game's strongest feats. Just to name a few, great weapon master, observant, and sharpshooter are all perfect examples of feats that, when paired with the right character, take your build to the next level. A book published by humans made humans the best race. Is that a hint of narcissism in the air?