A visit to one of the great cities in the worlds of Dungeons & Dragons—Waterdeep, the Free City of Greyhawk, or even uncanny Sigil, the City of Doors—overwhelms the senses. Voices chatter in countless different languages. The smells of cooking in dozens of different cuisines mingle with the odors of crowded streets and poor sanitation. Buildings in myriad architectural styles display the diverse origins of their inhabitants. And the people themselves—people of varying size, shape, and color, dressed in a dazzling spectrum of styles and hues—represent many different races, from diminutive halflings and stout dwarves to majestically beautiful elves, mingling among a variety of human ethnicities.
Scattered among the members of these more common races are the true exotics: a hulking dragonborn here, pushing his way through the crowd, and a sly tiefling there, lurking in the shadows with mischief in her eyes. A group of gnomes laughs as one of them activates a clever wooden toy that moves of its own accord. Half-elves and half-orcs live and work alongside humans, without fully belonging to the races of either of their parents. And there, well out of the sunlight, is a lone drow—a fugitive from the subterranean expanse of the Underdark, tryingto make his way in a world that fears his kind. The Player’s Handbook has more information about these unusual races.
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Choosing a Race
Humans are the most common people in the worlds ofD&D, but they live and work alongside dwarves, elves,halflings, and countless other fantastic species. Yourcharacter belongs to one of these peoples.Not every intelligent race of the multiverse is appropriatefor a player-controlled adventurer. Dwarves, elves,halflings, and humans are the most common races toproduce the sort of adventurers who make up typicalparties. Other races and subraces are less common asadventurers.
Your choice of race affects many different aspects ofyour character. It establishes fundamental qualities thatexist throughout your character’s adventuring career.When making this decision, keep in mind the kind ofcharacter you want to play. For example, a halfling couldbe a good choice for a sneaky rogue, a dwarf makes atough warrior, and an elf can be a master of arcane magic.Your character race not only affects your ability scoresand traits but also provides the cues for building yourcharacter’s story. Each race’s description in this chapterincludes information to help you roleplay a character ofthat race, including personality, physical appearance, featuresof society, and racial alignment tendencies. Thesedetails are suggestions to help you think about your character;adventurers can deviate widely from the norm fortheir race. It’s worthwhile to consider why your characteris different, as a helpful way to think about your character’sbackground and personality.
Racial Traits
The description of each race includes racial traits that arecommon to members of that race. The following entriesappear among the traits of most races.
Ability Score Increase
Every race increases one or more of a character’s abilityscores.
Age
The age entry notes the age when a member of the raceis considered an adult, as well as the race’s expectedlifespan. This information can help you decide how oldyour character is at the start of the game. You can chooseany age for your character, which could provide an explanationfor some of your ability scores. For example,if you play a young or very old character, your age couldexplain a particularly low Strength or Constitution score,while advanced age could account for a high Intelligenceor Wisdom.
Alignment
Most races have tendencies toward certain alignments,described in this entry. These are not binding for playercharacters, but considering why your dwarf is chaotic, forexample, in defiance of lawful dwarf society can help youbetter define your character.
Size
Characters of most races are Medium, a size categoryincluding creatures that are roughly 4 to 8 feet tall. Membersof a few races are Small (between 2 and 4 feet tall),which means that certain rules of the game affect themdifferently. The most important of these rules is thatSmall characters have trouble wielding heavy weapons,as explained in Equipement.
Speed
Your speed determines how far you can move when traveling and fighting.
Languages
By virtue of your race, your character can speak, read,and write certain languages.Personalityand Background and lists the mostcommon languages of the D&D multiverse.
Subraces
Some races have subraces. Members of a subrace havethe traits of the parent race in addition to the traits specifiedfor their subrace. Relationships among subraces varysignificantly from race to race and world to world. In theDragonlance campaign setting, for example, mountaindwarves and hill dwarves live together as different clansof the same people, but in the Forgotten Realms, they livefar apart in separate kingdoms and call themselves shielddwarves and gold dwarves, respectively.
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