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For me, I love playing as goblins and kobolds. I love their lore and the mechanics of playing them. And I love it when my players pick warforged cause it opens up a lot of role-playing.
I roll my Warforged as an HK-47 parody. I love how he would state the categorization of what he says before he says it.
"Veiled Threat: Your present course of actions would lead to an unfortunate and messy demise, Master."
Pathfinder does playable goblins very well. They're so much fun. One of their traditional weapons is the dogslicer, as they hate dogs, but love eating them.
Dwarves. All sub-races and variants.
I only play dwarves from the same clan (called Ironsoul). I simply love all lore and depiction associated with dwarves. Their clans, traditions, culture, pantheon (I even have a physical ring with Moradin symbol that I use day to day) and all the possibilities related with that. From characters that are traditional and conservative upon dwarven law to rebellious dwarves who want to defy the status quo.
Can’t remember who I stole this from, but my favorite way to play a dwarf is to go all-in on dwarves conspiracy theories. You see, “wood” is just an inferior mineral, and the notion that it comes from “trees” is fake news spread by those untrustworthy Elves…
Muh Dwarf!
I do the same thing. All are dwarves of the Trueforger clan. Most have of mine have Snow White themed names. For example- my current one is a bard wannabe Grim Morose-son. (Grim, son of Morose, son of Dhour, son of Grumpeh)
There is a series of books by Markus Heitz. I believe the first one is titled simply “The Dwarves”
To the best of my knowledge, it is an original world with its own lore. I enjoyed them very much.
“Forgotten Realms Dwarves Deep” is a really good source for the forgotten realms dwarves. It was a sourcebook for 2nd edition, but I find it lore wise really useful for my 5e campaigns.
There was also “the complete book of dwarves” which was a player handbook for 2nd edition.
Dwarves are the best. I've now played 4 dwarves over my time in 5th edition, despite being mostly a Forever DM. There's just so much storytelling potential in their lore, and I love playing characters who are connected with history or crafting.
Yep! Love Dwarves, currently playing Gotrek Firewine, heir to the famed Firewine clan. Although it’s a clan of master winemakers (and he loves them to bits), he has absolutely no motivation to continue their legacy and instead became a wandering Bard and a walking Firewine advertisement.
I have my own clan too. Ironfist. Former Moradin followers and now Vergadain. They took over Old Owl Well and turned it into trading hub. They started the Iron Coasters began a network of trade along the Sword Coast. They also plant agent in every location they establish a route or a post, relaying information back to the clan hold. The clan will use the information to gain advantage or sell it. Their main interest is lost dwarven holds. They want the lost magic items made by dwarves return to them.
I'm big on half-orcs. I always find nature versus nurture very interesting to explore in different characters and ways, depending on the back story of a specific character.
Dragonborn. I just think they’re neat.
I just really enjoy the racial variety of colors/metals/gems you can use to flavor a character theme. And breath weapons are fun.
I dunno. They get a resistance which is nice. And the breath weapon has good flavor and any good DM will allow some non-combat use like lighting a torch, etc. I just wish the breath weapon’s DC scaled a bit better while leveling.
Every time I hear a DM say "I don't know what to do with dragonborn" my first thought is "just let them breathe on things!" The only reason I think it happens is because 'breath weapons' is limiting language compared to just 'dragonbreath'
I also love warforged, newish to playing dnd in person but played warforged mainly in dnd online and have only played them in campaigns. So far have only played a druid warforged in two campaigns and always a motherly caring figure 😊
So much potential. My next character waiting in the wings is a Warforged Druid who is slowly replacing his parts with magical wooden replacements. Every time they level up, new piece; new piece means less metal and stronger druid. Very excited to play him, just need a game!
I know it's boring, but I usually go with variant human. They're just so versatile, and the 1st level feat is always great for getting through those lower levels and unlocking your subclass.
Surprised I haven't seen anyone mention it yet but the playable Lizardfolk from Volo's is so badass. A bite attack that gives you temporary HP, built in bone crafting. They're just fun to flavor as a barbarian or druid or whatnot. Always love making one
Same, and I like how very different their way of thinking is. You can pick your favorite lizard to look like (just like with aarakokra). I played as a paladin swamp-knight.
I have so many lizardfolk characters created just ready for the day I can be a player in multiple campaigns. I’ve developed all this internal lore of my lizardfolk culture and everything.
Half-elf.
I often enjoy the versatility that comes with playing a human and over the years found myself to slipping more and more into half-elf instead. They are still flexible with some little extra goodies. I personally love the whole "They often don't feel like they fit in with human society or elven society." Just having a half-elf grow up in an elven society or a human one can change a lot about their personality and that's a lot of fun to play with!
Depending on the setting you can even play with the kind of elf they are *half* with. There's just so much you can do with a half-elf!
My sister said something about finding a table and formula for making realistic half-races with any combo you could desire. I think it’s high time I actually find it 😂
My favorite races to play, in this order, are halflings, firbolgs, and teiflings.
As a DM, my favorite players pick is human. There is SO much one can do with a human; the 'cool' stuff isn't baked in from the get-go, and the character arcs are so much fun. I haven't DMed one yet, but I think a halfling would be cool too; they are such surprising characters.
Humans. Rolling up a human tells me that you only want your character to be remembered for what they do and not what they are, which is always a good sign.
I like the idea of playing an awakened creature. Nobody ever wants to play an awakened rat sorcerer, born in a den of wild magic, struggling through life pretending to be the familiar of a wizard
My answer on this changes based on setting, especially when I am a player. However, my top three would be Changelings, Warforged and Aasimar.
For Changelings, its because I love Charisma builds and Skill builds. Being able to change your face, eye color, and voice on the fly is just perfect for this, and makes playing certain classes a little more flavorful.
Warforged, but specifically I am a fan of 3.5e Warforged, or the first iteration of 5e Warforged, where you have the Juggernaut, Envoy, and whatever the third form is called. The ability to integrate weapons and armor, the idea of being able to modify or improve your actually physical form, its all really cool to me.
But really, I think Aasimar does it for me the most. Both as a player and as a DM, I like to build characters who change over the course of their existence, whether it is for good or bad. The fact that Aasimar can change sub-race variants through their actions and deeds is really cool to me, and makes the concept of playing a character who becomes "better" over time not only something we see emotionally, but also physically with these characters.
As a player, I lean heavily towards Warforged. As a DM, I pepper my homebrew settings with benevolent ancient robots.
Thinking about it, it’s totally a wish-fulfillment thing. I have a lot of physical limitations, so living forever in a body of incorruptible magical alloy is extremely appealing.
warforged underwater exploration adventure is particularly amusing
DMing adventure where pc’s cant drown but the space is underwater means you can play with vertical space.
I’ll rank them in tiers for how much I like playing them
S : Human
A : wood elf, high elf, drow, mountain dwarf, Warforged, orc
B : Halfling, Gnome, half elf and half orc
C : Hill Dwarf, aquatic races, Goblin
D : planetouched races (aasimar, tiefling, genasi)
F : anthro - animal races (tabaxi, aarakocra)
Gith have always had my favorite lore.
My favorite overall, though, has got to be Fremlin. They were only playable in ad&d 2e and are tiny winged goblinoids with gray skin, only standing about a foot tall. They're almost always at least a little bit chubby, if not fat, and are immune to non-magic damage but are also useless in combat.
I adore them so much. They're a blend or fairy, goblin, and halfling.
I really really really love fairies. I love small races and I love being able to fly. It fits my idea of a silly and quick character (which basically all my characters are). I mostly play ranged characters, which fairies are perfect for. They are still human enough that I don’t have a hard time drawing them and finding references, but due to being a fey, I can still include more fantastical elements without it being very out of place. I also really like them mechanically, especially Faerie Fire is a fun spell.
I like orcs / half-orcs a lot. Especially playing them as something more noble and refined like a paladin. I think Irabeth Tirablade from Pathfinder inspired a lot of that for me.
I like playing into the whole Mark of Gruumsh idea that half-orcs have quite intense emotions and can get overcome with anger, and playing a character who does their best to rein that in while still having their moments where it comes out. It’s a fun bit of nuance that fits quite well in adventuring parties.
Hobgoblins, love their lore and style before *Monsters of the Multiverse*.
Others are Duargar, Deep Gnomes, and half Dark Elves because the Underdark races all rule. Theres also Lizardfolk (again before Monsters of the Multiverse) and Kobolds at least in lore, in stats Kobolds are kinda lacking.
Just the standard Human because you can do anything you want with them, you’re never stuck with a certain piece of lore or what not that you have to build or play around in my opinion
I do play a Half Orc Barbarian in and off for the past four years since I started playing and he’s one of my favorite characters because he was my first character that I put effort in and went through a couple campaigns
I know OP said it already but Kobalds are definitely my favorite I also think Dragonborn are fun but something really tickles me about the non elemental aspects of being a “dragon”
I like the old school planetouched. Back when Tieflings, Aasimar, Genasi and the like were all just ever so subtle.
Instead of big bright blue Genasi or bright red tieflings it was just a humanoid that looked like the common folk but with a subtle horn protruding somewhere or a skin an irregular temperature to the touch or a faint unusual smell.
As a player, I've only ever played a gnome and that was only like 3 sessions but it was a ton of fun.
As a DM i historically homebrew a lot of the lore out things, but I love using Illithids in my worlds
I get the feeling that i am really basic, but it's Human and Variant Human. They are just too comfy. But recently i also came to know the greatness of Genasis.
I usually make it a habit not to play the same race twice, so I can experiment with different builds, but so far I've really enjoyed the Reborn lineage. Both of my Reborn characters have been my favorites and it's such a neat way to add a little mystery to your character's origins.
I *want* Lizardfolk to be the answer. The problem is that mechanically they're so narrow in scope that I never get to play one.
Otherwise it's probably like Shadar-kai or Goliaths or something. Honestly I don't like pretty much any of the races in 5e. Part of it is I think there are a lot of thematically or flavorful races that I *want* to really like. But because mechanics are so deeply tied to race I often end up hating most of them in 5e; either racials are too narrow in scope, are demonstrably worse than another race, or are just straight up way too good compared to everything around it.
I will give a shout out though to a third party/homebrew race though - Mycelian (Heliana's Guide to Monster Hunting) who are corpse infecting fungus. Mechanically interesting and flavorful while not being overly strong or feeling useless. They gain racials related to their host corpse (but not all racials related to it either.) They also get a chance to survive death if another corpse in nearby when you die (d100 roll based on distance from you to a different corpse) where you lose your old assimilated racials and gain new ones. And they have a reaction limited uses spore burst on being hit.
Half Elf.
I moved a lot as a kid, and as an adult too. It was a lot of being welcome, but without ever really fitting in.
Also being weirdly good at a lot of different little things even if you aren't always an expert, and having the gift of the gab. I tend to end up in leadership, speaking, or teaching positions IRL, so the CHA makes sense. At work I'm the guy they call to smooth out difficult conversations.
IDK, ever since I played BG1 when I was 12 I have always been into them.
Dhampire race is an awesome flex because you can play on the idea of hiding it to the others while doing good (Paladin Lawful Good here)
Also have some ideals that are fun to pursue while seeking a status quo until discovered (both undiscovered and discovered as Dhampire makes it thrilling to play!)
Firbolg, gentle giants, best race for the +2 Wisdom, can turn invisible, disguise themselves, works great with cleric to give them some stealth options.
I personally love to play half elves because one, they're super easy for me (I'm very new to DND). Two, they're very versatile. Three, my character is constantly with non-elves and uses his elven side as an excuse for EVERYTHING and it's so funny to me.
To play as Bug Bears or varient human, varient humans perks are always great, and bug bears I live for their extra reach, I'm made some pretty fun characters with both
lore and story wise hard core Drow fan, especially reading legend of Drizzt, it's even become a bit of a joke among some of the ground I played with in the past due to the fact I always happen to have bad luck when it involves Drow's
I like elves as a race simply for the fact they can live almost eternally, because when they “die” they go to elf limbo with the elf god then go back, and remember almost if not everything about their past lives. I can keep playing the same character essentially forever! Of course I play as different classes and such when they come back, usually with the same name or a variation of it.
Easily Changeling!! Gives you soooooo many fun roleplay opportunities and you can be really creative. Once when I was a player I had a changeling swashbuckler rogue and I effectively Fistful of Dollarsed two warring factions in like the third session :P
My goal is to play every campaign a fitting rate I've never played before. My Favorit right now is a satyr in a quite dark feywild campaign. He is has very annoying little Brother energy and full Support. Everyone loves and hates him at the same time.
3rd edition's "Oriental Adventures" was problematic but it had my favorite race of all time. Vanarans. Monkey people with a prehensile tail and a natural climb speed? Yes please.
In order my top 3
Genasi - love the built in lore of how you came to be, plus the flavours make for in my experience intuitive character making
Dwarves - love how stubborn they are. Just be crazy opinionated and you got yourself a dwarf.
Firbolgs - the free spirited, go with the flow, gentle giant I find endearing. Nice compliment to the edgy rouge.
I love playing as Drow, especially ones that chose their own path instead of being a normal Drow, or never had firsthand experience of the underdark. Straying from their usual culture for some reason, or even outright being raised as a normal person; what could their life be like? I just like to find out what their different path holds for them.
Kender. They're fun to play as, and as a DM, I always enjoy when a player plays one. Granted, if you have the wrong kind of players, kender become the thing of DnD Horror stories.
Warforged are prob my favorite; I just think they're cool. I am currently playing a Harengon bard tho, and I'm really enjoying the role-playing possibilities of being a cocky, horny, drunken rabbit who flings spells as well as insults
Dragon(born). I have the option for players to play as dragons, but no one has picked it yet. Not that I mind. Every story is unique, and as long as my players are having fun, I'm having fun.
Just finished a campaign and I’ve got to say I had a blast playing a swashbuckling rogue Harengon. It was a blast. The Hop ability is super clutch to get out of sticky spots. Plus played as a small creature. The roll play with him was amazing!
As a player; Satyr, Gith, and Changeling are my immediate go-tos, and after that, Variant Human (mechanically, sometimes with the flavor of something *just completely else*… but also othertimes *just* human).
I’d very much want to play a game as a Glitchling from that one UA.
As a DM, I primarily stick to the classics: Human, Elf, Dwarf, occasionally Tiefling and Dragonborn. Either that or something incredibly custom that *shouldn’t exist* as a playable option in its current state.
In both cases, it's humans.
* I like being human. Simple as.
* I like it when by players use humans because it makes all the craziness of the world *actually seem crazy*.
Genasi. They've been my fave since 3.X and nothing's really dislodged them since. Only thing that comes close is the Saurian Shifter, which doesn't officially exist in 5E.
Dwarf - i love their brutish and simple way of living and their lore and artwork (from the smithy haha).
They are kinda direct, simple minded and a bit rough like me, therefore i just enjoy playing them
Their abilities are relatively basic, but I love to add flavour and describe how I do things, Harengon's are great for that! Plus the blood hunter/Rogue combo is so fun. I go in all sneaky like, scoping things out, but when things get lairy I just go hybrid form and start tearing people to shreds. I love the idea of being a rabbit werewolf. Only about 5ft tall but acrobatic as fuck, leaping around dodging arrows everywhere pouncing on people and tearing them up.
I thought loxodons were silly, but one of my current players is running one and he’s been a lot of fun.
I also love the idea of running a fallen immortal trapped in a mortal body, using the mechanics of an aasimar. Kind of inspired by Diablo 3.
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For me, I love playing as goblins and kobolds. I love their lore and the mechanics of playing them. And I love it when my players pick warforged cause it opens up a lot of role-playing.
I roll my Warforged as an HK-47 parody. I love how he would state the categorization of what he says before he says it. "Veiled Threat: Your present course of actions would lead to an unfortunate and messy demise, Master."
Pathfinder does playable goblins very well. They're so much fun. One of their traditional weapons is the dogslicer, as they hate dogs, but love eating them.
And the horse chopper if I remember right
GET TO DAH HORSE CHOPPAH!
Yes, that's the other one!
we’re about to get the korean mythos inspired heritage for it too which is what im excited for
I played a Mongram Monogramming
How do they roleplay with warforged?
Dwarves. All sub-races and variants. I only play dwarves from the same clan (called Ironsoul). I simply love all lore and depiction associated with dwarves. Their clans, traditions, culture, pantheon (I even have a physical ring with Moradin symbol that I use day to day) and all the possibilities related with that. From characters that are traditional and conservative upon dwarven law to rebellious dwarves who want to defy the status quo.
Can’t remember who I stole this from, but my favorite way to play a dwarf is to go all-in on dwarves conspiracy theories. You see, “wood” is just an inferior mineral, and the notion that it comes from “trees” is fake news spread by those untrustworthy Elves…
Muh Dwarf! I do the same thing. All are dwarves of the Trueforger clan. Most have of mine have Snow White themed names. For example- my current one is a bard wannabe Grim Morose-son. (Grim, son of Morose, son of Dhour, son of Grumpeh)
Oh, that's awesome.
Me too. Have you found any good fantasy books that go into Dwarven lore and culture?
There is a series of books by Markus Heitz. I believe the first one is titled simply “The Dwarves” To the best of my knowledge, it is an original world with its own lore. I enjoyed them very much.
Some of the Discworld books touch on this, particularly the City Watch series.
“Forgotten Realms Dwarves Deep” is a really good source for the forgotten realms dwarves. It was a sourcebook for 2nd edition, but I find it lore wise really useful for my 5e campaigns. There was also “the complete book of dwarves” which was a player handbook for 2nd edition.
This. All of my dwarf PC’s are from Clan Axbeard.
Dwarves are the best. I've now played 4 dwarves over my time in 5th edition, despite being mostly a Forever DM. There's just so much storytelling potential in their lore, and I love playing characters who are connected with history or crafting.
Yep! Love Dwarves, currently playing Gotrek Firewine, heir to the famed Firewine clan. Although it’s a clan of master winemakers (and he loves them to bits), he has absolutely no motivation to continue their legacy and instead became a wandering Bard and a walking Firewine advertisement.
This and it’s not even close. Dwarves are the best.
I have my own clan too. Ironfist. Former Moradin followers and now Vergadain. They took over Old Owl Well and turned it into trading hub. They started the Iron Coasters began a network of trade along the Sword Coast. They also plant agent in every location they establish a route or a post, relaying information back to the clan hold. The clan will use the information to gain advantage or sell it. Their main interest is lost dwarven holds. They want the lost magic items made by dwarves return to them.
I'm big on half-orcs. I always find nature versus nurture very interesting to explore in different characters and ways, depending on the back story of a specific character.
Dragonborn. I just think they’re neat. I just really enjoy the racial variety of colors/metals/gems you can use to flavor a character theme. And breath weapons are fun.
Yeah, but I feel like they deserve more racial traits.
I dunno. They get a resistance which is nice. And the breath weapon has good flavor and any good DM will allow some non-combat use like lighting a torch, etc. I just wish the breath weapon’s DC scaled a bit better while leveling.
Every time I hear a DM say "I don't know what to do with dragonborn" my first thought is "just let them breathe on things!" The only reason I think it happens is because 'breath weapons' is limiting language compared to just 'dragonbreath'
Warforged. Both as a DM & a player. People ask this question a lot, and I don't think my answer has ever changed. They're so versatile and flavorful.
I played a Warforged Barbarian with a virus program called R463.exe. I was honestly surprised how long it took for people to get it.
I’m not picking up what you’re laying down, what am I missing…?
It spells RAGE.
They are awesome.
I also love warforged, newish to playing dnd in person but played warforged mainly in dnd online and have only played them in campaigns. So far have only played a druid warforged in two campaigns and always a motherly caring figure 😊
So much potential. My next character waiting in the wings is a Warforged Druid who is slowly replacing his parts with magical wooden replacements. Every time they level up, new piece; new piece means less metal and stronger druid. Very excited to play him, just need a game!
I know it's boring, but I usually go with variant human. They're just so versatile, and the 1st level feat is always great for getting through those lower levels and unlocking your subclass.
Little boiis!!!!! Halflings and goblins!
Surprised I haven't seen anyone mention it yet but the playable Lizardfolk from Volo's is so badass. A bite attack that gives you temporary HP, built in bone crafting. They're just fun to flavor as a barbarian or druid or whatnot. Always love making one
Same, and I like how very different their way of thinking is. You can pick your favorite lizard to look like (just like with aarakokra). I played as a paladin swamp-knight.
Nothing goes over my head. I'm too fast, I would catch it.
I have so many lizardfolk characters created just ready for the day I can be a player in multiple campaigns. I’ve developed all this internal lore of my lizardfolk culture and everything.
Half-elf. I often enjoy the versatility that comes with playing a human and over the years found myself to slipping more and more into half-elf instead. They are still flexible with some little extra goodies. I personally love the whole "They often don't feel like they fit in with human society or elven society." Just having a half-elf grow up in an elven society or a human one can change a lot about their personality and that's a lot of fun to play with! Depending on the setting you can even play with the kind of elf they are *half* with. There's just so much you can do with a half-elf!
Oh, I can definitely get behind that. I think there should be more half races.
My sister said something about finding a table and formula for making realistic half-races with any combo you could desire. I think it’s high time I actually find it 😂
I wouldn't mind taking a look if you ever find it. Sounds interesting
I’m getting a hold of my sister now, I’ll reply here again as soon as I get my hands on it!
Please find this and share with us! That sounds awesome!
One of my friends made a half-elf, half-orc character and we had to BS a lot of their info, since most half-races seem to be fantasy x human.
Bingo. I love playing half-elf characters. Upvoted!
Wing tiefling for the win!
As a DM I hate flying races, but as a player they are so cool and fun!
My players hate that they chose flying races. They think I’m picking on them but smart enemies would recognize air superiority as a huge threat.
Giff, big dumb hippo dudes are just fun.
I don't think I've ever had someone play as one before.
My favorite races to play, in this order, are halflings, firbolgs, and teiflings. As a DM, my favorite players pick is human. There is SO much one can do with a human; the 'cool' stuff isn't baked in from the get-go, and the character arcs are so much fun. I haven't DMed one yet, but I think a halfling would be cool too; they are such surprising characters.
Hooman
Is that a half owl, half human?
It is now!
I recently started using a Harengon Blood Hunter/Rogue. So much fun.
Harengon are my favourite!
Humans. Rolling up a human tells me that you only want your character to be remembered for what they do and not what they are, which is always a good sign.
My current favorite character build is an old retired human rogue.
Harengons, satyrs, and firbolgs. I love fae themed characters and stories I do also have a deep love for the bullywug
I like the idea of playing an awakened creature. Nobody ever wants to play an awakened rat sorcerer, born in a den of wild magic, struggling through life pretending to be the familiar of a wizard
My answer on this changes based on setting, especially when I am a player. However, my top three would be Changelings, Warforged and Aasimar. For Changelings, its because I love Charisma builds and Skill builds. Being able to change your face, eye color, and voice on the fly is just perfect for this, and makes playing certain classes a little more flavorful. Warforged, but specifically I am a fan of 3.5e Warforged, or the first iteration of 5e Warforged, where you have the Juggernaut, Envoy, and whatever the third form is called. The ability to integrate weapons and armor, the idea of being able to modify or improve your actually physical form, its all really cool to me. But really, I think Aasimar does it for me the most. Both as a player and as a DM, I like to build characters who change over the course of their existence, whether it is for good or bad. The fact that Aasimar can change sub-race variants through their actions and deeds is really cool to me, and makes the concept of playing a character who becomes "better" over time not only something we see emotionally, but also physically with these characters.
So have you ever tried a Warforged Artificer build? Integrating those together sounds like it would be awesome!
tieflings are what brought me into d&d, & I'll be a tiefling until i'm dead
When I first learned about tiefings, all I could think was, "They must be protected at all costs! 😭"
Human
Probably the 110m hurdles. Much easier than the 400m hurdles and more exciting.
As a player, I lean heavily towards Warforged. As a DM, I pepper my homebrew settings with benevolent ancient robots. Thinking about it, it’s totally a wish-fulfillment thing. I have a lot of physical limitations, so living forever in a body of incorruptible magical alloy is extremely appealing.
warforged underwater exploration adventure is particularly amusing DMing adventure where pc’s cant drown but the space is underwater means you can play with vertical space.
I have done that and wondered when the air got so thick and why the rest of the party wouldn’t stop levitating. Good times!
What was the wis score on that char?
The only answer is Dwarf.
Potato Sack, followed closely by three-legged
I'm more of a fan of relays, or the Daytona 500.
I’ll rank them in tiers for how much I like playing them S : Human A : wood elf, high elf, drow, mountain dwarf, Warforged, orc B : Halfling, Gnome, half elf and half orc C : Hill Dwarf, aquatic races, Goblin D : planetouched races (aasimar, tiefling, genasi) F : anthro - animal races (tabaxi, aarakocra)
warforged and plasmoids
Gith have always had my favorite lore. My favorite overall, though, has got to be Fremlin. They were only playable in ad&d 2e and are tiny winged goblinoids with gray skin, only standing about a foot tall. They're almost always at least a little bit chubby, if not fat, and are immune to non-magic damage but are also useless in combat. I adore them so much. They're a blend or fairy, goblin, and halfling.
I really really really love fairies. I love small races and I love being able to fly. It fits my idea of a silly and quick character (which basically all my characters are). I mostly play ranged characters, which fairies are perfect for. They are still human enough that I don’t have a hard time drawing them and finding references, but due to being a fey, I can still include more fantastical elements without it being very out of place. I also really like them mechanically, especially Faerie Fire is a fun spell.
I’ve yet to play same race twice but as far as a personal favorite it was playing as a bugbear
Tieflings. Lizardfolk.
My favorite character was a Kenku Paladin who mimicked the voice of his God.
I like orcs / half-orcs a lot. Especially playing them as something more noble and refined like a paladin. I think Irabeth Tirablade from Pathfinder inspired a lot of that for me. I like playing into the whole Mark of Gruumsh idea that half-orcs have quite intense emotions and can get overcome with anger, and playing a character who does their best to rein that in while still having their moments where it comes out. It’s a fun bit of nuance that fits quite well in adventuring parties.
I love Changelings. I tend to play charisma-based characters and love having lots of alternate identities.
Humans
Hobgoblins, love their lore and style before *Monsters of the Multiverse*. Others are Duargar, Deep Gnomes, and half Dark Elves because the Underdark races all rule. Theres also Lizardfolk (again before Monsters of the Multiverse) and Kobolds at least in lore, in stats Kobolds are kinda lacking.
Just the standard Human because you can do anything you want with them, you’re never stuck with a certain piece of lore or what not that you have to build or play around in my opinion I do play a Half Orc Barbarian in and off for the past four years since I started playing and he’s one of my favorite characters because he was my first character that I put effort in and went through a couple campaigns
Humans for if I want to play as me. For playing as a character, I always found the idea of playing a Dwarf fun.
warforged all the way
Seconded!
Honestly depends on class for me. Paladins are always Humans/Dragonborn, Barbarian=Orc/goblin, wizards are drow so I can be an emo necromancer
I know OP said it already but Kobalds are definitely my favorite I also think Dragonborn are fun but something really tickles me about the non elemental aspects of being a “dragon”
Outlive everything that annoys you by being an elf. Unless other elves annoy you...
What about trees? They will outlive all the elves.
I don't think elves are allowed to be annoyed at trees, they'd get their pointy ears taken away.
But what a particular tree is a dick. And every rustle of its leaves is a taunt?
I’m a big Tiefling guy. Yes I was an emo in high school, how did you know?
Shit what does that say about my love of goblins and kobolds
That you were a goblin
Warforged are my guys
Locathah they’re some funny fish guys
I like the old school planetouched. Back when Tieflings, Aasimar, Genasi and the like were all just ever so subtle. Instead of big bright blue Genasi or bright red tieflings it was just a humanoid that looked like the common folk but with a subtle horn protruding somewhere or a skin an irregular temperature to the touch or a faint unusual smell.
As a player, I've only ever played a gnome and that was only like 3 sessions but it was a ton of fun. As a DM i historically homebrew a lot of the lore out things, but I love using Illithids in my worlds
I get the feeling that i am really basic, but it's Human and Variant Human. They are just too comfy. But recently i also came to know the greatness of Genasis.
Didn’t see anyone say this but Bug Bears are fun as hell
So far I'm loving a goblin character my brother is playing in my homebrew campaign, I love all the roleplay aspects of being a goblin
I usually make it a habit not to play the same race twice, so I can experiment with different builds, but so far I've really enjoyed the Reborn lineage. Both of my Reborn characters have been my favorites and it's such a neat way to add a little mystery to your character's origins.
Shifter! So versatile
IF YA DON'T ROCK AND STONE, YA AIN'T COMIN' HOME
For Rock and Stone!
Illumians
Elf, or Human.
I *want* Lizardfolk to be the answer. The problem is that mechanically they're so narrow in scope that I never get to play one. Otherwise it's probably like Shadar-kai or Goliaths or something. Honestly I don't like pretty much any of the races in 5e. Part of it is I think there are a lot of thematically or flavorful races that I *want* to really like. But because mechanics are so deeply tied to race I often end up hating most of them in 5e; either racials are too narrow in scope, are demonstrably worse than another race, or are just straight up way too good compared to everything around it. I will give a shout out though to a third party/homebrew race though - Mycelian (Heliana's Guide to Monster Hunting) who are corpse infecting fungus. Mechanically interesting and flavorful while not being overly strong or feeling useless. They gain racials related to their host corpse (but not all racials related to it either.) They also get a chance to survive death if another corpse in nearby when you die (d100 roll based on distance from you to a different corpse) where you lose your old assimilated racials and gain new ones. And they have a reaction limited uses spore burst on being hit.
I’m partial to half-orcs
Gnomes, the archetypal silly little guys!
Hard to pick just one, Fire Genasi, Eladrin, Astral Elf, Kalashtar, and Gith all take the cake in one way or another for me.
Metallic Dragonborn
Humans. I know, I'm lame. I feel Humans give great flexibility and they fit in most campaigns.
Humans aren’t boring, they’re the bread of D&D, the base of many greats.
Half Elf. I moved a lot as a kid, and as an adult too. It was a lot of being welcome, but without ever really fitting in. Also being weirdly good at a lot of different little things even if you aren't always an expert, and having the gift of the gab. I tend to end up in leadership, speaking, or teaching positions IRL, so the CHA makes sense. At work I'm the guy they call to smooth out difficult conversations. IDK, ever since I played BG1 when I was 12 I have always been into them.
Dhampire race is an awesome flex because you can play on the idea of hiding it to the others while doing good (Paladin Lawful Good here) Also have some ideals that are fun to pursue while seeking a status quo until discovered (both undiscovered and discovered as Dhampire makes it thrilling to play!)
Dragonborn, zero competition. I don’t care that they’re underpowered I just love dragons 🐉
Aasimar bb. So much flavor
I love warforged but I've never been able to play a game where it's an allowed race
Horse races. They’re fast and exciting, even if I don’t win
Firbolg, gentle giants, best race for the +2 Wisdom, can turn invisible, disguise themselves, works great with cleric to give them some stealth options.
Tabaxi. Love me some speeeeeed!
I personally love to play half elves because one, they're super easy for me (I'm very new to DND). Two, they're very versatile. Three, my character is constantly with non-elves and uses his elven side as an excuse for EVERYTHING and it's so funny to me.
To play as Bug Bears or varient human, varient humans perks are always great, and bug bears I live for their extra reach, I'm made some pretty fun characters with both lore and story wise hard core Drow fan, especially reading legend of Drizzt, it's even become a bit of a joke among some of the ground I played with in the past due to the fact I always happen to have bad luck when it involves Drow's
Goblins always and forever. Just love em.
If we going all races from any book then the Warforged
Githyanki. They fit the Gish role extremely well. And as a mostly DM the Militant society makes great enemies and npc’s.
I like elves as a race simply for the fact they can live almost eternally, because when they “die” they go to elf limbo with the elf god then go back, and remember almost if not everything about their past lives. I can keep playing the same character essentially forever! Of course I play as different classes and such when they come back, usually with the same name or a variation of it.
Changeling.
Aghar
Lol. Only ever had one friend play one. He was hilarious, but I really hope it never happens again.
Easily Changeling!! Gives you soooooo many fun roleplay opportunities and you can be really creative. Once when I was a player I had a changeling swashbuckler rogue and I effectively Fistful of Dollarsed two warring factions in like the third session :P
DRAGONBORN
I played a harengon swashbuckler and loved it. He could disengage then bunny hop 25' away. So much fun with him.
My goal is to play every campaign a fitting rate I've never played before. My Favorit right now is a satyr in a quite dark feywild campaign. He is has very annoying little Brother energy and full Support. Everyone loves and hates him at the same time.
3rd edition's "Oriental Adventures" was problematic but it had my favorite race of all time. Vanarans. Monkey people with a prehensile tail and a natural climb speed? Yes please.
I remember that!
In order my top 3 Genasi - love the built in lore of how you came to be, plus the flavours make for in my experience intuitive character making Dwarves - love how stubborn they are. Just be crazy opinionated and you got yourself a dwarf. Firbolgs - the free spirited, go with the flow, gentle giant I find endearing. Nice compliment to the edgy rouge.
Brothers of the mine rejoice!!!!
I love playing as Drow, especially ones that chose their own path instead of being a normal Drow, or never had firsthand experience of the underdark. Straying from their usual culture for some reason, or even outright being raised as a normal person; what could their life be like? I just like to find out what their different path holds for them.
Changing. Being a changeling moon druid and being able to set your appearance to almost anything is satisfying.
Kender. They're fun to play as, and as a DM, I always enjoy when a player plays one. Granted, if you have the wrong kind of players, kender become the thing of DnD Horror stories.
Dwarves! Hands down my absolute favorite!
Kobold, in all the classes of the spectrum.
Warforged are prob my favorite; I just think they're cool. I am currently playing a Harengon bard tho, and I'm really enjoying the role-playing possibilities of being a cocky, horny, drunken rabbit who flings spells as well as insults
Shadar kai
Goliath
Dragon(born). I have the option for players to play as dragons, but no one has picked it yet. Not that I mind. Every story is unique, and as long as my players are having fun, I'm having fun.
Dragonborn, they’re just super cool! I love elves for their cute long ears. Also a big fan of goblins and kobolds and I think they’re underused.
Half Dragon or Dragonborn
For no particular reason, high orcs. I think they're badass
Gonna be honest, never heart of high orca before.
my bad, i read solo leveling and an image of a red orc is stuck in my head, i meant hobgoblins
Grungs and goblins. My three favourite characters are these two species!
I’m consistently the only sea elf any dm has ever seen.
I love Lizardfolk.
I almost exclusively play dwarves. I can play any class, I just have to make sure my character has a beard.
I honestly like playing as Tortles. Always fun to be a turtle.
I love Goliaths, Aasimar, and Humans
Halfling
Gnomes. Always.
Firbolgs and gnomes
Just finished a campaign and I’ve got to say I had a blast playing a swashbuckling rogue Harengon. It was a blast. The Hop ability is super clutch to get out of sticky spots. Plus played as a small creature. The roll play with him was amazing!
Drow. I love the darkness, the guile. Matriarchal society doesn't really bother me. Fuck Lolth though.
Aasimar, I always want to play a cool holy guy or an Emo formerly holy guy
Kobolds
As a player; Satyr, Gith, and Changeling are my immediate go-tos, and after that, Variant Human (mechanically, sometimes with the flavor of something *just completely else*… but also othertimes *just* human). I’d very much want to play a game as a Glitchling from that one UA. As a DM, I primarily stick to the classics: Human, Elf, Dwarf, occasionally Tiefling and Dragonborn. Either that or something incredibly custom that *shouldn’t exist* as a playable option in its current state.
In both cases, it's humans. * I like being human. Simple as. * I like it when by players use humans because it makes all the craziness of the world *actually seem crazy*.
I love halflings not because of the lucky ability. I just love role play the short lil guys. And also I hate gnomes to make that clear.
I hate any short race that isn't some shade of green or some level of scaly.
Loxodons are my favorite
Who doesn't love those bipedal paciderms
Genasi are cool. They get some racial spells and elemental resistance and add even more flavour to your already flavourful Eldritch Knight.
Drow
The Gith, with Githyanki or Githzerai, very fun to hammer home just how alien having a day-night cycle might be for most of them
I love my Satyr. Party Paladin with 35 speed! Let’s go!
The old kobold, the new one sucks
Genasi. They've been my fave since 3.X and nothing's really dislodged them since. Only thing that comes close is the Saurian Shifter, which doesn't officially exist in 5E.
Sea Elf. They can talk to fish.
Raptorans are pretty cool, it's hard for me to pick an absolute favorite. I generally try to play something different every time.
Dwarf - i love their brutish and simple way of living and their lore and artwork (from the smithy haha). They are kinda direct, simple minded and a bit rough like me, therefore i just enjoy playing them
Big. Usually goliath, sometimes firbolg. It feels right for my favorite play style, hit big thing with big stick.
Elf, of course, I’m not saying I’m better than everyone, but ofc I am /s
HUMAN SUPREMACY
Ever since making Shifters Australian Aboriginal in my homebrew world, I've developed a love for them even outside of my setting.
100 metres
Their abilities are relatively basic, but I love to add flavour and describe how I do things, Harengon's are great for that! Plus the blood hunter/Rogue combo is so fun. I go in all sneaky like, scoping things out, but when things get lairy I just go hybrid form and start tearing people to shreds. I love the idea of being a rabbit werewolf. Only about 5ft tall but acrobatic as fuck, leaping around dodging arrows everywhere pouncing on people and tearing them up.
Tieflings are probably my fav.
I thought loxodons were silly, but one of my current players is running one and he’s been a lot of fun. I also love the idea of running a fallen immortal trapped in a mortal body, using the mechanics of an aasimar. Kind of inspired by Diablo 3.
Kender. I don't know if they still have them in D&D 5E but they were interesting to play
Dragonborn
Im a helpless goliath lover