D&D 5e: The Best and Worst Playable Races, Ranked

With plenty of races to pick from in 5e, Dungeons & Dragons players may find it hard to decide which are worth taking to the table.

Choosing a race is one of the foundational steps of Dungeons & Dragons character creation, and deciding what are the best and worst of the many options offered in 5e is not always easy. Granting unique ability bonuses, skills, proficiencies, and resistances, races often help shape the core aspects of a player's character.

Fifth Edition has added plenty of official playable races over the years, ranging from the Magic: the Gathering inspired Loxodons to the much-beloved Tortle, which can add some additional difficulty to narrowing down the ideal decision. And while no race is ever a bad choice, each comes with unique strengths and weaknesses that make some races mechanically stronger than others.

Best Playable Races

Variant Human

5e's PHB provided a much-needed alternative to what players commonly found to be Dungeons and Dragons'  most uninteresting race. Variant Human replaces the +1 bonus to all Ability Scores with a trio of customizable stat options which present a much stronger start for any Human character.

The Variant Human is often particularly celebrated for the option to choose a feat, something that players usually only get by sacrificing an Ability Score Improvement. 5e provides a host of interesting options for feats, with some being considered nearly overpowered for the benefits they provide. Gaining access to feats at first level is, on its own, a pretty compelling reason to choose Variant Human.

Half-Orc

Half-Orcs are given a host of abilities that all provide excellent utility, especially with class builds made to maximize their potential. Darkvision alone is an incredibly useful feature; sparing players the hassle of adventuring through caves or dungeons. They also get a free bonus dice on critical hits with Savage Attack, gaining a little extra damage on an already powerful hit.

However, what really sets the Half-Orc apart is Restless Endurance, which remains one of the best racial abilities. Being able to avoid hitting zero HP once per long rest is incredibly useful, especially for a race that is often used for tank or DPS roles. No other races have an ability like this, giving the Half-Orc an undeniable advantage.

Lizardfolk

Lizardfolk are a monstrous race that comes with an impressive array of abilities and skills. In terms of exploration abilities, they get a swim speed, extended lung capacity, and an artisan skill that lets players create armor and weapons from harvested enemies. They also get natural armor providing at the very least a 13 AC, which can be especially helpful for beginners at D&D.

Many players point to the Lizardfolk's bite attack as its stand-out ability. Providing both a stronger unarmed attack and a special attack, the Lizardfolk's bite also grants some temporary HP. As a bonus action is can also be combined with weapon attacks, increasing its combat viability. Because of the bite attack and natural armor, many players call Lizardfolk an improved Dragonborn.

Yuan-ti

Yuan-ti are often considered one of the most powerful races in 5e, starting the game off with a host of great abilities. They get Abyssal and Draconic as their additional languages as well as natural darkvision, all of which can provide plenty of utility during exploration or role-playing.

What truly sets the Yuan-ti apart, however, is their resistances and Innate Spellcasting. Yuan-ti characters gain the poison spray cantrip, animal friendship with snakes, and use of the suggestion spell. More significantly, they have complete poison immunity as well as advantage on saving throws for all spells and magical effects. These resistances provide the Yuan-ti with an incredible defensive edge over the other races at the very start of a campaign.

Changeling

Introduced in the Eberron book, Changelings offer plenty of mechanical advantages on top of what many players consider one of the most fun racial abilities. In line with their theme of mutability, Changelings get to choose two skill proficiencies from a list, an ability score +1, and any two additional languages.

What makes the Changeling superior, however, is shapechanger. As an action, a Changeling can change their appearance and voice at will. Unlike many other shapeshifting abilities or spells, combat does not end the transformation and it can not be revealed by a saving throw. This gives the ability much more in-game practicality and the Changeling a huge advantage over the other races.

Worst Playable Races

Base Human

Already considered a pretty average choice by many players, the existence of the Variant Human shines an especially unflattering light on the Human. Base Human provides no racial abilities, skills, or resistances, making it the most 'neutral' of any of the available choices. Some do appreciate this 'blank-slate' quality, finding it easier to mold base human characters to their liking, while others find this makes human characters fall short in comparison to some of the flashier races.

The benefit of Base Human is that they get an automatic +1 to all ability scores, providing a broad improvement. However, players may find that the bonus to stats they don't use is not particularly beneficial to them in the long term.  With the improved customization offered by Variant Human, it's difficult to not see Base as the lesser of the two options.

Earth Genasi

Similar to Base Human, Earth Genasi suffers from comparison. The Genasi subraces each offer their own additional ability bonus and features, with Fire and Water coming out on top--both boasting a free cantrip and spell, one damage resistance, and an element-related environmental advantage (darkvision and water breathing, respectively).

Earth Genasi, on the other hand, falls a little flat. Receiving no damage resistance, its elemental advantage has the ability to ignore difficult terrain in certain circumstances--providing much more limited benefits than the ever-useful darkvision. And while being able to cast Pass Without Trace is useful, it's hampered by being limited to once per long rest. In comparison to the other Genasi, Earth doesn't live up to its potential.

Dragonborn

There is an undeniable appeal in playing a character related to a powerful dragon, but 5e's base Dragonborn are often considered the weakest of the PHB races. Their breath weapon's limited range and poor damage scaling makes it less useful than it looks, especially at higher levels. It also takes a full action and can only be used once per rest, which gives it extremely limited overall combat utility.

Dragonborn are given a damage resistance related to their type of Draconic Ancestry, but receive no other physical advantages. Players often point out the lack of bite or claw attack and natural armor as a missed opportunity, especially as Lizardfolk have both. Playing a part-dragon character will never lose its flair, but the low utility of its racial attributes makes the PHB's Dragonborn overall mechanically unimpressive.

Grung

The grung is a classic monstrous race made playable in one of the newer supplementals. The Grung, counter to almost every other race, does not start with Common as a language--only 'Grung'. While a player can usually take an extra language through their background, this still puts the Grung at a disadvantage--knowing only two languages where most start with three.

Additionally, Grung have the 'water dependency' feature, making it so they need to be fully immersed in water for at least an hour per day or suffer exhaustion. Depending on the type of campaign being run, this can be significantly difficult to accomplish. While the Grung has plenty of appeal with its poisonous skin ability and fun physical features, it ultimately places more restrictions on the player than may be worth dealing with.

Kenku

Kenku are a race whose abilities seem interesting in concept, but are incredibly difficult to use in actual play. Along with a genetic lack of creativity and flightlessness, Kenku are incapable of original speech. While this is an interesting character flaw, it's also a pretty severe obstacle.

And while D&D's open encouragement of creativity and customization means that players are welcome to make their own rules when it comes to 'official' lore-based abilities, those choosing to stick to the book may find it difficult to successfully integrate this feature into actual play. Communication is a fundamental part of gameplay, and having this hurdle in place can make sessions difficult for both the player and their party. This, coupled with their lack of flight, has led to the Kenku being labeled the much inferior bird race.

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