Last Updated based on UA Origins August 2022, which is sighted in this post. All rights are given to the owners.
Core Races form the base of the societies in the campaign, will represent the majority of people encountered and are not restricted to player character creation.
Please note: With the December 2022 One D&D playtest release, WotC has made it clear they are moving away from the concept of Race, and will instead refer to "Species" moving forward. I will make an effort to follow this branding decision, but please forgive the occasional slip -up.
Dwarves tend to be Lawful in their nature, living to serve Crom (Mordin in Dwarvish), family and craft.
Elves hail from the Feywild, a bright chaotic mirror of our own world in which they do not age beyond maturity.Elves do age in our campaign world, but have life spans of 1000 yrs. Elves killed in the campaign world have their souls returned to the Feywild and may be resurrected or reincarnated into a new being.
Elves gifted the world with arcane magic, and have formed mighty Empires which have spanned the planes, and often hold root allegiance to their home. The Elves own chaotic nature will change the finer points of the Empires from campaign to campaign, but nearly all will be grounded in a strong military service of its citizens.
High elves are the default in the campaign world, and may take Arcane Proficiency in place of a common language.
Elves form a balanced society with the Patriarch as the social figurehead, and the Matriarch as the power behind the scenes.
Drow can be found under Monstrous Races below.
Halfling are the society that isn’t. They have no great empires, but exist in the fringes of other societies especially those of humans. Often form towns consisting of 5-6 generations of three or more families. Halflings tend to either be homebodies or overcome by wanderlust, with little middle ground between. Some Halflings tending towards the wanderlust side of the spectrum form roving family nomadic camps.
The default Halfling of the campaign is the lightfoot.Male Halflings are capable of growing facial hair, but it is often unfashionable to do so though beards are occasionally worn by high-elders, or those of exceptional Arcane prowess. Halflings often have hair on their feet, and are unapologetically apt to forgo shoes even in adverse conditions.
Halflings are mostly sociable creatures regardless of where they are encountered, but are equally likely to have an anti-social vice like smoking a pipe, belching, or putting feet up on tables regardless of how others view this behavior, and are often surprised if others object to their natural and normal behaviors. This has been known to extend to an unusual lack of regard for personal property and ownership in some cases.
The Halfling language isn’t secret, but halflings rarely share it. They write very little but have a rich oral tradition and are often impressed by other races able to speak the language.
Human
Secondary SRD Races represent the fringe of organized society. They occur as a rarity, but often enough to be recognized by society in general. These are recommended for experience players with aspiration of DM level influence on the game, as the player will have heavy influence on that races place in the campaign, with the DM’s hand reserved for the broad strokes outlined below. Each of these races is restricted to one in each party, no duplication. Example: The party may have a Dragonborn and a Gnome, but not two Gnomes.
I expect the outdated idea of "Evil" races is going away, so anything a player owns the support material for becomes playable as a secondary race.
Dragonborn and Tiefling are both inter-planar refugees from a version of reality where the Dragons never lost their war against the Giants, and thus most of the Core races were never seeded there. Dragonborn where created by the Dragon gods as soldiers in their own conflicts. Their civilization survives and has outgrown this initial place in the world, as they are able to reproduce, and have existed for generations. They are very competitive, and perfectionists by nature. They form proud families, and hold themselves in regard above other families. Of course Humans existed in this reality, but didn’t thrive well in a reality ruled by Dragons and battling Dragonborn.
The fiends saw this reality as a prime place to continue the infernal war, but were unable to reach the plane directly, instead manipulating the humans into entering pacts to save their species. In time this gave rise to the plane-touched race of the Tieflings.
Both races can expect mistrust to outright violence from the common masses outside of their own small territories. No one seems to know how or why they have come here, fueling the general mistrust. They are just above Monstrous Races in civilized society.
Gnomes are an extra-planer species from Bytopia, and have ended up in the campaign world artificially. They are often mistaken for Elves or Halflings based on their physical traits, and can expect to be treated as such by the majority of people who don’t know any better. Gnomes can not produce offspring with other races, even through magical means. All Gnomes are born as twins, and have a nearly psychic bond with their counterpart, and strong family ties to their extended family. Gnomes most often mate for life, and any given pair is only able to have children once, thus any Gnomes only true sibling is their twin. Twins may be a mix of genders, and there is no expectation that they are “Identical” in nature, though more than half are. Cousins in Gnome society are often treated similarly to siblings, as at least one the parents is twin to their own parent.
Halves (Elf & Orc) do not occur naturally, requiring magic to make the union productive. This magic is the privy of Elven arcane spells and Orish Shamanistic rituals.
I have never loved this aspect of Racial Character creation, and it is looking like a welcome change. Below are my campaign worlds(s) assumptions, until such changes become more official.
The offspring of such a union is always sterile, and unable to reproduce even through magical means. Halves are easily mistaken for members of their non-human ancestral race, or can expect base reactions heavily influenced by the assumption regarding that non-human race.
Half-Elves can be the product of love, but are often created for strategic reasons. Elves reproduce infrequently, and have a long road to maturity, thus a Half-Elf can serve the Empire in a much shorter time frame. A Half-Elf with an elven mother is considered an elf by elven society, but treated as a human if not.
Half-Orcs on the other hand are very rarely a product of a loving encounter, and most often the result of a group violation of a Human female, under the supervision of an Orcish Shaman. In such cases the Human female is held captive, and either killed as a result of the un-natural birth, or murdered shortly after, so the the Half-Orc is raised with only Orcish influence. Half-Orc are often created to become leaders of the tribe, most often combining the Orcs superior physical traits with the Human’s superior mental traits, but a half-Orc may have its own ideas regarding their future once they come of age. These are the norms and expectations of the society, but not a limiting factor in character creation. Any given Half should feel free to work with the DM to define their backstory, but be aware of what people are going to assume when they walk in the room.
Monstrous Races
again this appears to be going away, and I look forward to deleting this place holder!
Goblin
Kobald
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