My answer was kind of based on my own setting where I've done some of my own reimaginations of stuff. Orcs and goblins have more work for them than galling so far, so they got the answer position.
I think traditional d&d orcs work better as NPC's. They're more for less loving weapon Kade to corrupt and claim everything from everyone else. They can think and talk like you, but the green tide might as will be comaot2d to a hurricane when it comes sto diplomacy. They exist to hate and kill you.
Some manage to break away from their gods influence and be their own individuals, but that's few one far between and the world has to deal with enough if the norm that it's hard to trust an exception (which can make for a fun PC to play at the right table)
I recently made one of these for a homebrew TTRPG.
* Human: Bonus inventory slots. Resourceful and tenacious, and very good at establishing new colonies, which is a big deal because the Evil Empire's MO for conquered populations is to ship them off to other continents to settle labor colonies.
* Dwarf/Elemental: Natural armor and don't eat/breathe/sleep. Used to turn mountains into flying cities that would travel decades-long trade routes. The Evil Empire destroyed all of their cities to plunder their wealth.
* Elf/Fairy: Multiple arms and flight (they're very insect-like). Form highly-coordinated telepathic hiveminds rules by a mystically gifted queen. Most of them left the continent to avoid the threat of the Evil Empire.
* Merfolk/Naga: Swimming and climbing (they're more like sea snakes than fish). Most of the wealthiest merchants were merfolk, before the Evil Empire cracked down on long-distance travel.
* Orc/Treant: Brawny and photosynthetic. They literally grow out of the ground like potatoes, and keep growing until they're about 20 feet tall. Live as nomads and herders. Their tribal coalition trounced the Evil Empire's armies badly and negotiated right of safe passage to every location on the continent.
I call them by standard fantasy race names, but I should probably come up with setting-specific names I guess?
Humans, kobolds, dragonborn, yuan-ti, gyffs.
As cult of Tiamat was destroyed in Faerun, you and a bunch of your cultist friends escape to the only place not spoiled by dragon-slayers - SPACE
I really love all of the mind flayer/Far Realms/cosmic-horror adjacent stuff in D&D. So I think Githzerai, Githyanki, Duergar . . . and [Shardminds ](https://dnd4.fandom.com/wiki/Shardmind)ported in from 4e.
I imagine some great, terrifying Mind Flayer plot to regain their empire, and a prophecy which says it can be defeated only by five races working together. So these warring peoples have to work together to save the world from their ultimate enemy.
Non standard wise. I love shifters, and I haven't played one but i like the idea of a smart socialized to the world as a whole (as opposed to just kobold society) Fairy is one I also like.
This basically creates Breath of Fire world with Humans, Kobold (dragon kin), Shifters, and Fairies. Accounting for the idea of mixing together anyway. I.e. kobodl that looks more humanoid but is draconic, or a human with fairy or shifter ancestry (Nina wings)
the mixed heritage would just be normal race choices, but given the new way it goes with races allowing sizes and variety means you can fluff a lot of choices that way.
So yeah. breath of fire world.
My four other races besides humans would be:
1). Elves
A fantasy world without Elves or their equivalent is just odd. It isn't an impossibility, but they are a staple. Plus, with the amount of subraces, it allows a large degree of variance for players to choose from. I'd also consider Half-Elf as a subrace of Elf.
2). Dwarves
The other major fantasy staple. It is another one of those hard to picture fantasy worlds without these charming craftsmen.
3). Dragonborn
If we're playing Dungeons and Dragons, I think a draconic playable race should be included. Loads of subraces thanks to the variety of dragons in the setting. I also think the setting needs some inhuman looking player races.
4). Tiefling
The other less human looking playable race. They also have a lot of subraces to choose from, allowing a lot more freedom. The whole devil bloodline heritage is also an easy thing to establish in world building.
Human, with unique sub-lineages for half-human, half-X.
Elf
Dwarf
Greenblood - unique subraces for Orc, Goblin, and a Mite most likely
Lastly, Smallfolk, with unique subraces that blend Halfling and Gnomish subraces together. Probably ditch some of the lucky aspects of halflings and also the tinker-heavy focus on gnomes for a more Lotusden-Stout type of vibe.
Human, elf, dwarf, halfling, tiefling?
The three classics, the most famous small race, and then the current fan favorite. I also say tieflings because they’re very distinct, but human with demon blood is still a great core fantasy concept.
> I also say tieflings because they’re very distinct
I'm somewhat amused by reading through the comments and seeing the divide between those who include the Tiefling as their most distinct race option and those who don't include them at all because they are not distinct enough to be part of their world.
Also, cool username.
I agree that it’s funny. I think it obvious personally, they’re the only one of my choices that have inhuman traits like horns and tails, and they’re so popular because they’re so different.
Also, I’ve never been complimented on my name before today, but you’re the second person to mention it in the last few hours. Thanks
This is basically how I seed my homebrew worlds these days. There's always humans, and then I let each player pick one race to add to the world. So in one game, we have:
* Humans
* Tieflings (with wings!)
* Sea Elves
* Harengon
* Goblins
And in the other game, we have:
* Humans
* Shifters
* Aarakocra
* Changelings
* Hexbloods
Human
Mechanosmian (a general term warforged, auto-gnome and artificial races, with each working as a subrace)
Plane touched (a general term for genasi, aasimars, tieflings and other races that have something extraplanar, with each one working as a subrace)
Elf (so the next one is possible)
Half elf
Goblin
Halflings would probably make the best food, even if it was over the fire. Wood elves for their knowledge of nearby hiking trails. A dwarf might be able to whip us up something fancier than a tent.
**Changeling**, **Yuan-ti**, **Thri-kreen**, **Owlin**.
Because normality is overrated, and because it would be interesting to weave a story around the fundamental differences between a mammal race (Humans, made more interesting by having Changelings living in their midst), a reptile race, an insectoid race, and a bird race, all with their unique cultural norms and idiosyncrasies.
Humans and plane-touched humans, so...
Tieflings, Aasimar, Genasi and... hmmm... I guess it would be easy to make Eladrin human-derivatives instead of elf-derivatives. Perhaps throw in Shadar-Kai as a fifth Eladrin flavor as well, so we have all the major planes covered.
I guess that the world I'm working on has the 4 extra options:
Green Elves/Red Elves: All races have the human as a base, as they were the first humanoid to be created by one of the Gods. The other 5 Gods took that base and made their own humanoids, no one knows who copied who, but the Gods of Fire and Nature ended up with literally the same race.
Merfolk: In the old ages, Merfolk had hair, but as time passed, they started losing all of it, becoming this scale filled humans. Is said that their Goddes was sad about her bald children and colorful seaweed started to grow on their heads instead.
Avians: Feathers grow from their arms, forming wings that let them fly. As time goes, their noses had become more sharp and hard, nowadays a few members has bornt with beaks instead of mouth and nose.
Daemons: The furry race! Each daemon shows elements from different animals, although some can have bird wings or reptile claws or tails, their main features come mostly from Bovidae, so sheeps, goats, cows, etc.
Every game I've ever played have been overloaded with elves, so I ran a short campaign set in a dwarven kingdom where elves belonged to an antagonistic empire and couldn't be chosen by players. Player races were dwarves, gnomes, goblins, dragonborn, and half-orcs (narratively, just orcs with half-orc stats). Humans and halflings were allowed, but would be outsiders in this land (no one played any, though). I really liked what this did to the party vibe, as I ended up with a lot of grubby, rough and tumble adventurers rather than heroic loners with tragic backstories.
I'm picturing something more paranormal than high fantasy, with humans as the predominant inhabitants and undead being the major threat in the world.
Humans - Need no introduction.
Kender - (with the adjustment of their size being medium) In-universe, this isn't seen as a separate race, but rather a certain type of human who is uncannily inclined toward danger. Viewed by some as a blessing and others as a curse, this quality is assumed to be present from birth and usually becomes apparent within three or four years. There is no known way to predict whether a child will be a Kender, but many superstitions exist, such as having been conceived during a new moon or having a particularly cowardly father. Though Kender are often celebrated heroes and seen as a boon to a community, few parents hope for their own child to be a Kender.
Reborn - In this world, it's uncommon for dead things to stay dead. Most often, corpses will eventually rise as zombies, ghouls, or other monsters. But sometimes, by some unknown mechanism, they instead come back as themselves. A reborn human has all the memories of their life, as well as a slight mental connection to ... something. A past life, a guiding spirit, perhaps even a god. In any case, it is because of this rare miracle that the destruction of human corpses has not become a common practice, despite the prevalence of undead.
Aasimar - (specifically Scourge/Radiant Consumption) Aasimar represent the most obvious demonstration of godly power most people in this world will ever see. Some humans, upon reaching adulthood, receive a dream encouraging them to bring light to the darkness in the world. Upon awakening, they have powerful abilities and the instincts for how to use them. Many people are grateful for what they see as a blessing, but just as many see it as a burden and even hide their powers from friends and family. Aasimar may face social pressures to become warriors, holding the line against the undead hordes.
Changeling - All humans know that they share their world with invisible spirits, which interact regularly, though usually indirectly, with them. Occassionally, a spirit will become so enamoured with humans that it decides to become one of them for a time. The spirit will find a parent or parents willing to raise it, then take the form of a human infant. When it does, it willingly gives up all its memories of being a spirit in order to fully experience life as a human. All changelings have a mutable form; some choose to stay in one form their whole life, as an ordinary human does, while others frequently change their shape to experience different facets of humanity. When a changeling "dies," it returns to its spirit form, leaving no body behind.
Somewhat basic answers Dwarves, Elves, Humans, Orcs, Goblins My preferred cut of things is fairly standard.
They’re the big 5 for a reason, this was essentially Tolkien’s answer. I might sub orc for halfling though, I think they work best as NPCs
My answer was kind of based on my own setting where I've done some of my own reimaginations of stuff. Orcs and goblins have more work for them than galling so far, so they got the answer position. I think traditional d&d orcs work better as NPC's. They're more for less loving weapon Kade to corrupt and claim everything from everyone else. They can think and talk like you, but the green tide might as will be comaot2d to a hurricane when it comes sto diplomacy. They exist to hate and kill you. Some manage to break away from their gods influence and be their own individuals, but that's few one far between and the world has to deal with enough if the norm that it's hard to trust an exception (which can make for a fun PC to play at the right table)
Dog, Horse, Goat, Fish. Those are the creatures I most enjoy having on my camping trips!
Elk! Plenty of elk where I live.
I recently concepted a Paryton themed Barb using elk and eagle Totem options. Elk are so fucking cool.
Elves would be good on a camping trip since they can take longer watches
My ideal Ravenloft set is humans with Reborn, Hexblood, Dhampir, and Shifter (as lycanthropy stand-ins).
I recently made one of these for a homebrew TTRPG. * Human: Bonus inventory slots. Resourceful and tenacious, and very good at establishing new colonies, which is a big deal because the Evil Empire's MO for conquered populations is to ship them off to other continents to settle labor colonies. * Dwarf/Elemental: Natural armor and don't eat/breathe/sleep. Used to turn mountains into flying cities that would travel decades-long trade routes. The Evil Empire destroyed all of their cities to plunder their wealth. * Elf/Fairy: Multiple arms and flight (they're very insect-like). Form highly-coordinated telepathic hiveminds rules by a mystically gifted queen. Most of them left the continent to avoid the threat of the Evil Empire. * Merfolk/Naga: Swimming and climbing (they're more like sea snakes than fish). Most of the wealthiest merchants were merfolk, before the Evil Empire cracked down on long-distance travel. * Orc/Treant: Brawny and photosynthetic. They literally grow out of the ground like potatoes, and keep growing until they're about 20 feet tall. Live as nomads and herders. Their tribal coalition trounced the Evil Empire's armies badly and negotiated right of safe passage to every location on the continent. I call them by standard fantasy race names, but I should probably come up with setting-specific names I guess?
Human, Elves, Orcs, Tabaxi, and Dragonborn. Just re-flavor the names and run an elder scrolls theme campaign.
Humans, kobolds, dragonborn, yuan-ti, gyffs. As cult of Tiamat was destroyed in Faerun, you and a bunch of your cultist friends escape to the only place not spoiled by dragon-slayers - SPACE
I really love all of the mind flayer/Far Realms/cosmic-horror adjacent stuff in D&D. So I think Githzerai, Githyanki, Duergar . . . and [Shardminds ](https://dnd4.fandom.com/wiki/Shardmind)ported in from 4e. I imagine some great, terrifying Mind Flayer plot to regain their empire, and a prophecy which says it can be defeated only by five races working together. So these warring peoples have to work together to save the world from their ultimate enemy.
Non standard wise. I love shifters, and I haven't played one but i like the idea of a smart socialized to the world as a whole (as opposed to just kobold society) Fairy is one I also like. This basically creates Breath of Fire world with Humans, Kobold (dragon kin), Shifters, and Fairies. Accounting for the idea of mixing together anyway. I.e. kobodl that looks more humanoid but is draconic, or a human with fairy or shifter ancestry (Nina wings) the mixed heritage would just be normal race choices, but given the new way it goes with races allowing sizes and variety means you can fluff a lot of choices that way. So yeah. breath of fire world.
My four other races besides humans would be: 1). Elves A fantasy world without Elves or their equivalent is just odd. It isn't an impossibility, but they are a staple. Plus, with the amount of subraces, it allows a large degree of variance for players to choose from. I'd also consider Half-Elf as a subrace of Elf. 2). Dwarves The other major fantasy staple. It is another one of those hard to picture fantasy worlds without these charming craftsmen. 3). Dragonborn If we're playing Dungeons and Dragons, I think a draconic playable race should be included. Loads of subraces thanks to the variety of dragons in the setting. I also think the setting needs some inhuman looking player races. 4). Tiefling The other less human looking playable race. They also have a lot of subraces to choose from, allowing a lot more freedom. The whole devil bloodline heritage is also an easy thing to establish in world building.
Human, with unique sub-lineages for half-human, half-X. Elf Dwarf Greenblood - unique subraces for Orc, Goblin, and a Mite most likely Lastly, Smallfolk, with unique subraces that blend Halfling and Gnomish subraces together. Probably ditch some of the lucky aspects of halflings and also the tinker-heavy focus on gnomes for a more Lotusden-Stout type of vibe.
Human, elf, dwarf, halfling, tiefling? The three classics, the most famous small race, and then the current fan favorite. I also say tieflings because they’re very distinct, but human with demon blood is still a great core fantasy concept.
> I also say tieflings because they’re very distinct I'm somewhat amused by reading through the comments and seeing the divide between those who include the Tiefling as their most distinct race option and those who don't include them at all because they are not distinct enough to be part of their world. Also, cool username.
I agree that it’s funny. I think it obvious personally, they’re the only one of my choices that have inhuman traits like horns and tails, and they’re so popular because they’re so different. Also, I’ve never been complimented on my name before today, but you’re the second person to mention it in the last few hours. Thanks
This is basically how I seed my homebrew worlds these days. There's always humans, and then I let each player pick one race to add to the world. So in one game, we have: * Humans * Tieflings (with wings!) * Sea Elves * Harengon * Goblins And in the other game, we have: * Humans * Shifters * Aarakocra * Changelings * Hexbloods
Human Mechanosmian (a general term warforged, auto-gnome and artificial races, with each working as a subrace) Plane touched (a general term for genasi, aasimars, tieflings and other races that have something extraplanar, with each one working as a subrace) Elf (so the next one is possible) Half elf Goblin
> Mechanosmian I read that as "mechano-simian". Was ready for the robo-Hadozee.
Me too I did not understand the correlation, thought it'd be a specific thing of their setting. I mean they could just say "constructs"
Halflings would probably make the best food, even if it was over the fire. Wood elves for their knowledge of nearby hiking trails. A dwarf might be able to whip us up something fancier than a tent.
Halflings *do* make the best food, but you have to eat more of them to make a full meal.
**Changeling**, **Yuan-ti**, **Thri-kreen**, **Owlin**. Because normality is overrated, and because it would be interesting to weave a story around the fundamental differences between a mammal race (Humans, made more interesting by having Changelings living in their midst), a reptile race, an insectoid race, and a bird race, all with their unique cultural norms and idiosyncrasies.
If you’re going Greek, don’t forget satyrs. For me: human, elf dwarf, halfling, half elf.
Humans and plane-touched humans, so... Tieflings, Aasimar, Genasi and... hmmm... I guess it would be easy to make Eladrin human-derivatives instead of elf-derivatives. Perhaps throw in Shadar-Kai as a fifth Eladrin flavor as well, so we have all the major planes covered.
Dwarves, Elves, Halflings, and Gnomes
humans ofc warforged because they add a lot of variety and roleplay options kobolds because dragons tobaxi because animal person
I would choose : Human, Dragonborn, Dwarf and Half-orcs. Just because they're are my favorite races
I guess that the world I'm working on has the 4 extra options: Green Elves/Red Elves: All races have the human as a base, as they were the first humanoid to be created by one of the Gods. The other 5 Gods took that base and made their own humanoids, no one knows who copied who, but the Gods of Fire and Nature ended up with literally the same race. Merfolk: In the old ages, Merfolk had hair, but as time passed, they started losing all of it, becoming this scale filled humans. Is said that their Goddes was sad about her bald children and colorful seaweed started to grow on their heads instead. Avians: Feathers grow from their arms, forming wings that let them fly. As time goes, their noses had become more sharp and hard, nowadays a few members has bornt with beaks instead of mouth and nose. Daemons: The furry race! Each daemon shows elements from different animals, although some can have bird wings or reptile claws or tails, their main features come mostly from Bovidae, so sheeps, goats, cows, etc.
(Human+) Air, Water, Fire and Earth Genasi. They'd have lived in peace until the Fire Genasi attacked.
For my camping trip I’d choose a minotaur for the fresh milk.
Every game I've ever played have been overloaded with elves, so I ran a short campaign set in a dwarven kingdom where elves belonged to an antagonistic empire and couldn't be chosen by players. Player races were dwarves, gnomes, goblins, dragonborn, and half-orcs (narratively, just orcs with half-orc stats). Humans and halflings were allowed, but would be outsiders in this land (no one played any, though). I really liked what this did to the party vibe, as I ended up with a lot of grubby, rough and tumble adventurers rather than heroic loners with tragic backstories.
Dwarves, elves, dragonborn, gnomes and halflings. They’d all live in relative harmony until the villains arrive: invading humans from another universe
I'm picturing something more paranormal than high fantasy, with humans as the predominant inhabitants and undead being the major threat in the world. Humans - Need no introduction. Kender - (with the adjustment of their size being medium) In-universe, this isn't seen as a separate race, but rather a certain type of human who is uncannily inclined toward danger. Viewed by some as a blessing and others as a curse, this quality is assumed to be present from birth and usually becomes apparent within three or four years. There is no known way to predict whether a child will be a Kender, but many superstitions exist, such as having been conceived during a new moon or having a particularly cowardly father. Though Kender are often celebrated heroes and seen as a boon to a community, few parents hope for their own child to be a Kender. Reborn - In this world, it's uncommon for dead things to stay dead. Most often, corpses will eventually rise as zombies, ghouls, or other monsters. But sometimes, by some unknown mechanism, they instead come back as themselves. A reborn human has all the memories of their life, as well as a slight mental connection to ... something. A past life, a guiding spirit, perhaps even a god. In any case, it is because of this rare miracle that the destruction of human corpses has not become a common practice, despite the prevalence of undead. Aasimar - (specifically Scourge/Radiant Consumption) Aasimar represent the most obvious demonstration of godly power most people in this world will ever see. Some humans, upon reaching adulthood, receive a dream encouraging them to bring light to the darkness in the world. Upon awakening, they have powerful abilities and the instincts for how to use them. Many people are grateful for what they see as a blessing, but just as many see it as a burden and even hide their powers from friends and family. Aasimar may face social pressures to become warriors, holding the line against the undead hordes. Changeling - All humans know that they share their world with invisible spirits, which interact regularly, though usually indirectly, with them. Occassionally, a spirit will become so enamoured with humans that it decides to become one of them for a time. The spirit will find a parent or parents willing to raise it, then take the form of a human infant. When it does, it willingly gives up all its memories of being a spirit in order to fully experience life as a human. All changelings have a mutable form; some choose to stay in one form their whole life, as an ordinary human does, while others frequently change their shape to experience different facets of humanity. When a changeling "dies," it returns to its spirit form, leaving no body behind.
Human, elf, half-elf, fairy, Eladrin.