Every single D&D race explained

I am a human don't believe me watch this I can't see anything cuz it's dark and I don't have dark vision if you're new to D and D and just getting into creating your first character then first of all welcome if you're anything like me this is the start of a lifelong crippling addiction that will Define your personality for decades the two most important things to choose when making your first character are of course your class which defines what your character does I have a whole video about classes right somewhere on it's somewhere on the screen but we don't care about class right now cuz we're worried about race race defines if you have pointy ears and are tall or if you have pointy ears and are short or if you don't have pointy ears at all unfortunately there's more to each race than just the pointiness of their ears so in this video we're going to break down every part of each of the races in the players handbook and hopefully by the time this video is over you'll be ready to commit to one of these races for your character and then have them be your lifelong partner or you know just some character you play with in a one shot and then make a million other characters whichever you want to go with the most important characteristics for each race are the three s's or as I like to call them those are size speed and Specialty size is a category that just means how big your character is it's most important in combat when you're taking up tiles on a battle map characters who are considered small take up one tile but can squeeze past bigger characters characters who are medium take up one tile and can't squeeze past and then you have things like large and huge which take up multiple tiles but none of the races we're talking about today go to large or huge so we're just worried about small and medium speed is also something that is mostly important in combat it determines how many feet you can move per turn but the most important part of each race is what I call their specialty each race comes with a few special attributes that differentiate them from the other races every race has what's called an ability score Improvement which adds a few points to one of the ability scores those being strength dexterity Charisma Constitution intelligence and wisdom and then typically each race gets a few more special attributes that help them out in certain situations or make them more resilient in certain situations but we'll get to each of those the specialty is definitely what is going to have the biggest impact on your character but I would highly recommend just picking whatever race sounds the coolest or looks the coolest to you I wouldn't go for optimizing on your first character unless that's how you want to play you'll have a lot better of a time at the table if you feel like you can connect with the character you've created and race goes a long way to doing that that sounds a little nerdy but we are talking about DND so it's it gets pretty nerdy dwarves are short little buggers who have been around for quite a while cuz they can live up to 400 years sometimes even more in typical fantasy like Lord of the Rings which is a huge inspiration for D and D races as you'll see as we go through all of them dwarves are mountain people usually like miners or Warriors or any other rugged profession that they can possibly be they're also known for talking like this oh God I can't do a Scottish accent this is probably a good time to say that there's a lot of things in the player's handbook and in other source material that tells you how a certain race acts but you should feel completely free to ignore that it's a useful jumping off point for making your character to know the typical behaviors of a race but a race is made up of people and people are different from one another so if you want to make a dwarf who's not rugged and is more like a magic user Druid who's really in tune with nature go for it dude freaking do it it's a fantasy game what's stopping you but what is an objective truth about dwarves is that they're small but they're not classified as small despite being short dwarves are very stocky they're very rounded out and for that reason D and D classifies them as a medium which means they're not going to be squeezing around other creatures on a battle map despite this dwarves only get 20 5 ft of movement speed per turn or five tiles the average is 30 ft but smaller characters usually get 25 because of their small legs so dwarves unfortunately are not considered small and still get lower movement speed so sorry guys that's that's a tough draw for them but now we get to the good stuff the Specialties first of all dwarves get dark vision which means they can see up to 60 ft in dim light and they can see in darkness as if it was dim light so it's a really useful ability to have when dungeon delving and it's one that luckily almost every single race has unfortunately we as humans do not have that even in DND D but we'll get to it as for their ability scores dwarves get plus two to their constitution because you know they're so rugged and resilient and this means they have things like more hit points and are able to stay concentrated on spells or are just less likely to be affected by poison actually that brings me to the next special ability they have dwar dwar resilience Dwarven resilience literally means they are less likely to be affected by poisons and if they do take damage from poison that damage is cut in half so dwarves are really built around this idea that they are strong and resilient but this is not where it ends with dwarves because dwarves are one of a few races that have a subrace that you need to pick when you make your character the first subrace is the hill dwarf which is the less rugged version of a dwarf they get a plus one to their wisdom score and they get one hit point per level they level up which can be pretty useful the other subrace is the mountain dwarf which is the much more stereotypical dwarf the rugged resilient Lord of the Rings gimly dwarf that you know from typical fantasy these guys get a plus two to their strength score in addition to the plus two in their constitution they already got so these people are ready to rumble in melee combat if that's the direction you want to take them overall dwarves are cool I think they're pretty neat and I especially like to see stereotype breaking dwarves because dwarves get a lot of personality and I think that that's cool this must be the 2023 Oscar's best actor category where they're announcing Austin Butler's movie in which he played the titular role because we're talking about elves Elvis D and D elves much like dwarves are pretty close to the tolken style elf they're about the same size as humans but they are described as being hauntingly beautiful so feel free to make an ugly elf the player handbook also says that they like jewelry so one of the defining characteristics of elves in D and D is that they live for a super long time by far the most of any race they can live as much as 700 years and sometimes more they're not Immortal but they're pretty close to it relative to other races what I like about that lifespan is it leaves a lot of room for creativity in your character's backstory there's a lot of time for them to have had defining moments or time to have learned combat Styles or magic it's just it it gives you a lot of creative freedom unsurprisingly elves are classified as medium and can move 30 ft and they also get dark vision as you'll soon come to see this is basically the standard package as far as those categories go 30 ft movement medium size dark vision the like so many races are that elves get quite a few Specialties but let's start with the ability score elves get a plus two to their dexterity score because they're so damn graceful dexterity helps you fight with finesse weapons like rapers and also helps you shoot things like bows and other ranged weapons so basically if you're trying to make a legalist character D and D has you covered with elves they're ready to shoot bows elves get something called Keen senses which just means they're really good at perception checks and they also get Fay ancestry which means they're less likely to be magically Charmed and they cannot be put to sleep by Magic which is a very Danger ous condition to be put in and also means you're going to have way fewer turns in combat where you're not doing anything so good for you elves and just like dwarves we've got subraces the first is the high elf which is basically the hoyy toyy mightier than thou elf that you see in a lot of other fantasy they're really really intelligent and almost every single member of the highelf society has been trained in some form of magic so even if you're a barbarian highelf which you totally can be you're going to learn what's called a canant trip cantrips are spells that you can cast whenever you want without using any other resource than your action it's a really useful thing to have in your back pocket no matter what you're playing so it's cool that these guys get it High Elves also get plus one to their intelligence score because you know they're so damn smart wood elves have mastered the forests that they've grown up in and are able to move around them and hide within them with complete ease wood elves get a plus one to their wisdom score and also get plus five 5T of movement speed so instead of moving 30 ft per turn they can move 35 ft per turn which is surprisingly useful they're also able to stealth a little bit easier than other races but stealth is a little bit of a confusing thing and I could make an entire video just on that so for now just know that they're able to stealth easier and they get more movement speed which is the cool part anyway and finally we have the Dr the Dr are elves that are from a place called the underd dark the underd dark is known for being and also being dark and also being very spooky it's a really cool place and if a campaign ever takes you there be prepared but it's also going to be a lot of fun since the Dr are from the underd dark they have darker skin typically and they also get Superior dark vision which means they can see twice as far in darkness as any other race with dark vision the Dr will also learn a can trip at level one much like the highelf but will continue to learn canant trips as they level up which is super cool but there's a reason for this and that's because the Dr are the only race with a debuff they actually have a negative effect when they're in the sunlight if you're a Dr in the sun trying to make an attack or do any sort of ability check that requires your sight you're going to have disadvantage which means you're much less likely to succeed at whatever you're doing this seems bad and I mean like it is but it's also so cool to have this kind of flavor with a race and again no other race has something like this and I'm I'm a huge fan of it and that's all there is to say about elves h i only there was some sort of Elf that was not quite fully elf half elf half elves are human elf hybrids and I know what you're thinking oh are there human hybrids of every other race nope the player's handbook describes half elves as being viewed as elves by humans and as humans by elves which means they have a lot of times an identity crisis and I think that's a really cool part of your backstory that you can incorporate or you could ignore it altogether again it's your story do what you want half elves are also great for people who kind of want to be a human but want a little bit of a fantasy Edge to it boom half elves they're basically the same size and traits as humans but they have pointy ears and a bit of Elven ancestry half elves of course are classified as medium with 30 ft of movement speed and you guessed it dark vision but they also get plus two to their Charisma score and + one to any two scores you want which is really cool they also share the Fay ancestry trait that I mentioned with elves just a little bit earlier on and they can gain Proficiency in any two skills of their choice if you want to know what those skills are look up a list of the skills there's quite a few of them maybe I'll make a video about them someday in my experience half elves are a fan favorite race I think because they're the easiest race to relate to while still having a bit of a fantasy twist to them and for that reason it's not a bad starter pick if that's what you want to go with humans are um well they're they're humans there's a good chance that if you're watching this you're a human unless you're showing this video to your cat in which case meow humans are of course medium and have of course 30 ft of movement speed but humans do not have dark vision I can't see in the dark so that's actually just realistic good job good job D and D you did it you made it realistic I'll be honest not having dark vision isn't the end of the world you can just take a c trip that casts light or grab a torch the worst part of not having dark vision is actually just everyone else in your party who probably does have dark vision bullying you because you're blind humans are kind of the good at everything Master at nothing of DnD as far as races go because instead of getting plus two to any ability score they get plus one to every single ability score this is pretty cool because that's five total points added to your ability scores whereas other races just get two or or three so it's pretty decent but I'm pretty sure that's to compensate for the fact that the humans don't really do anything else they're just they're just kind of humans I do want to add that if you're feeling iffy about playing a human because you're like oh I'm playing a fantasy game why would I be a human in my experience humans are one of the rarest races that my characters play like no one wants to be a human so if you want to be a truly Fantastical race feel free to be a human I've talked a lot about how much inspiration DN D took from Lord of the Rings and that is no more evident than in the halfling because these guys used to be called Hobbits and then tolken the token estate was like no don't do that when you read the players's handbook about halflings they really are the silly little guys of DnD but they don't have to just be that however if you're thinking about playing a silly little guy a halfling might be a good pick for you the player handbook also describes them as appearing relatively harmless for that reason Reon a halfling barbarian is really really fun because of their short legs halflings can only move 25t much like the dwarf but unlike the dwarf they actually are considered small so you can squeeze around your taller allies in combat and it's great for that reason I love that unfortunately halflings don't get dark vision but to compensate they get plus two to the dexterity and one of the single best racial features in DND D which is called lucky lucky means that whenever you do an attack roll or an ability check or a saving throw if you roll a one you can roll the die and take the higher result that basically means that whenever you're rolling a D20 as a halfling if you roll a one it didn't happen roll it again if you roll another one that's unfortunate but I mean this is just so good it really makes these silly little guys so much more but wait there's more there are sub braces for halflings two to be exact the first is the Lightfoot halfling which is really the Bilbo baggin of halfing Lings they are described as having a huge sense of wonder lust and use their Charisma and stealthing abilities to Traverse the world for that reason they get a plus one to the Charisma score and are able to stealth behind any NPC or character that is larger than them the second sub race is the Stout halfling which has a lot more in common with dwarves in that they have that same poison resistance and they get a plus one to their constitution scores whichever you pick you get lucky wait no that sounds wrong while we're talking about silly little guy let's move on to gnomes who are definitely little but definitely very smart and don't have to be silly but the player's handbook does describe them as having an enthusiasm for living that is completely evident in everything they do so that's neat but I will say that if you have play balers Gate 3 then you know that not all gnomes are these happy go-lucky little people some of them are terrorists gnomes have the same small size and 25 ft movement speed as halflings but they do get dark vision and also to emphasize just how smart they are they get a plus two to their intelligence score gnomes also get gnome cunning which is something that just means they're less likely to be affected by wisdom intelligence or Charisma based magic and as you may have guessed there are two subraces with gnomes the first of these is the forest gnome which are gnomes that you know were raised in the forest forest gnomes get a plus one to the dexterity I assume because they've been bobbing and weaving through the trees all their life and they're also able to communic with small beasts through the use of hand gestures and noises which I'm pretty sure means that you can talk to a bird by just making bird calls and doing doing this I'm pretty sure Forest gnomes are also able to use the minor illusion can trip which can help distract enemies and it basically just makes a mirage up here Rock gnomes are the much more Hardy and inventive type of gnome they get a plus one to their constitution score and are also really good at tracing the history of magic items and other mysterious objects Rock gnomes also get What's called the Tinker trait which lets them use a set of tools called Tinker tools to make Clockwork items these Clockwork items can be a Clockwork toy that moves around and makes a little bit of noise can be really useful to serve it the distraction you can make a fire starter so you're able to light fires easier or you can make a music box that plays a song if you want I guess these two sub races are cool cuz they're very different from one another and have a lot of personality to them so I think it's a cool thing to pick out when you decide to make your character if you go with gnome but enough with the small people let's get back to big people specifically the half Ork the half or along with the half elf are the only hybrid braces in D and D fifth edition but I will say there are more coming in a future Edition half work's appearances and behaviors vary wildly from half workk to half workk and that's because they have that human ancestry and the orcish ancestry if they grew up with Orcs then they're much more likely to be tribal and to be mired in scars which are signs of Honor in orcus tribes but if they grew up in human society they might be like any other human they could be very intelligent Librarians or they could still be you know a little bit brutish from the underbelly of society it all depends where they grew up so there's a lot of stuff you can do with half works it's basically a clean pallet for you to work with you just have you look really cool you look like an orc but you can talk like any other person it's great I love half Works half Works get the standard set of being medium can move 30 ft and of course have dark vision but because of their generally larger size they do get a plus two to their strength and a plus one to their constitution scores in addition to that half orks get what's called menacing which makes them really good at intimidating people which feels a little bit you know a little bit mean they don't have to be so so menacing and they also get Savage attacks which just means you do even more damage on a critical hit than you already do but by far my favorite part of half works is their relentless endurance Relentless endurance just means that once per day when your hit points drops to zero when you normally fall unconscious you can actually fall to one hit point instead it's really useful for getting an extra action in combat before you go unconscious or healing so you can avoid it entirely and it can be really a make or break in a lot of situations so with menacing Savage attacks and Relentless endurance it really drives home just how badass half ORS are I'm a huge fan but if we're going to talk about races that I'm truly a huge fan of we're going to talk about my favorite race the tling you might be wondering why they're my favorite race is it because they have a lot of special features or some crazy high movement speed or anything no they're pretty average it's because they look so damn cool they've got horns teelings are humanoids with an infernal bloodline which basically you can see as being human demon hybrids this means they can have skin colors r in from Deep Purple to a bright red to blue even they get the cool horns and you can make the horns look however you want you can have them curl or you can have them be like small or you can have them be broken off like what happened why is your horn broken T Lings are also one of the only races that doesn't have a Homeland they tend to live among humans and can be in whatever part of society with humans but in D and D lore they're typically relegated to the fringes of society because of how they look that might not be true in your world or in your DM's world but in D and D lore that is how they're treated because of this though they have learned how to subsist basically on their personalities and their smarts for this reason they get plus two to their Charisma score and plus one to their intelligence score teelings get the standard set medium size 30 ft movement speed and dark vision but the racial features they get is what really makes them feel like they're from an infernal hell the first thing they get is called hellish resistance which means they take half damage from fire damage which just makes sense if you're supposed to be from the underworld T flings also get something called infernal Legacy which lets them cast thury as a cantrip thury is awesome it lets you have a bunch of magical effects happen you can make your eyes glow when you're talking to someone or make your voice boom three times louder or make flames rise or change color it can really help add to the atmosphere of an interaction you're having with an NPC if you're really trying to like intimidate them or convince them that there's like a poltergeist going on it leaves a lot of room for RP I love it infernal Legacy will give you more cantrips as you level up but at level one you get thury and that's what we're going to focus on for now I think T Lings just have so much room for creativity because of their backstory at least in the classic D and D lore but also they just look so cool so if you play a tling you have my support and last but certainly not least we have the most exotic of the DN races the dragon born if you've played Skyrim then this is not that dragon born this is a different dragon born entirely these dragon born are Dragon humanoid hybrids they basically look like dragons who are walking on their hind legs they're also generally taller and heavier than humans so they can be pretty damn imposing because of this imposing size dragon born get a plus two to their strength score but they also get a plus one to their Charisma score I assume because they can be pretty intimidating which is a charisma skill they do get the standard set of 30 ft movement and medium size but they don't get dark vision which I think is weird but I guess they didn't want to make humans the only race with no dark vision the coolest part about dragon born is unlike other races where you don't choose a subrace or there's only a couple of sub rces to choose from with dragon born you choose what kind of dragon you're descended from there are 10 different dragons to choose from and they have different attributes based on what you choose your draconic ancestry will change two things the first being your breath weapon every dragon born gets a breath weapon if you choose to be descended from a Red Dragon for example you'll spew out fire damage like a very stereotypical Dragon but if you choose to be descended from a white dragon you'll spit out this icy breath that does cold damage and on the other side of that coin your draconic ancestry grants you resistance to that damage so red dragons are resistant to fire damage white resistance to cold there's a whole table in the player's handbook that defines all this and also tells you exactly the size of your breath weapon dragon born in my opinion are easily the most unique of all the races in the player's handbook I mean they're the only one that doesn't look strictly humanoid in some way for that reason they're also the one I've seen played the least I think because you kind of want to be able to relate to your character a little bit and it could be maybe a little hard to relate to like a lizard person but if you're trying to play something that's out there and really cool and extremely customized ible I think dragon born are a good pick my light just turned off well that's probably a sign that I've talked for too long but that is all the races in DD which one is your favorite which one are you going to play if you're like me you'll just start making characters and eventually have made a character for each of them but I'm gonna go um I'm gonna go to sleep now

Channel: Alphagnome

Views: 64,357

Keywords: dungeons and dragons, D&D, dnd, dungeons & dragons, tabletop rpg, rpg, TTRPG, tutorial, d&d classes, how to play d&d, how to, guide, d&d races, every dnd race explained, dwarf, tiefling, half orc, half elf, halfling, hobbit dnd, how to play dnd, gnome dnd, dragonborn dnd, elf dnd

Id: opYeED0W8Z8

Length: 24min 18sec (1458 seconds)

Published: Thu Jan 25 2024