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 street 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, trying to make his way in a world that fears his kind.
Standard Lineages
These races are included in the Player's Handbook, though variants exist for specific settings that may be used with DM permission, and are considered the standard races allowable for player use in any Dungeons & Dragons setting.
Dragonborn | Dwarf | Elf |
Gnome | Half-Elf | Half-Orc |
Halfling | Human | Tiefling |
Custom Lineage
Typical character lineages in D&D include little or no choice. A Custom Lineage addresses that lack of versatility by allowing you to come up with your own combination of lineage abilities to create a unique lineage for your character.
Custom |
Exotic Lineages
Monstrous Lineages
Bugbear | Centaur | Goblin |
Grung | Hobgoblin | Kobold |
Lizardfolk | Minotaur | Orc |
Shifter | Yuan-Ti |
Setting Specific Lineages
Eberron
Kalashtar | Warforged |
Plane Shift
Aetherborn | Aven | Khenra |
Kor | Merfolk | Naga |
Siren | Vampire |
Ravenloft
Dhamphir | Hexblood | Reborn |
Ravnica
Loxodon | Simic Hybrid | Vedalken |
Theros
Leonin |
Unearthed Arcana
Lineage | Source |
---|---|
Autognome | Unearthed Arcana 80 - Travelers of the Multiverse |
Giff | Unearthed Arcana 80 - Travelers of the Multiverse |
Hadozee | Unearthed Arcana 80 - Travelers of the Multiverse |
Kender | Unearthed Arcana 82 - Heroes of Krynn |
Kender Revised | Unearthed Arcana 83 - Heroes of Krynn Revisited |
Owlfolk | Unearthed Arcana 77 - Folk of the Feywild |
Plasmoid | Unearthed Arcana 80 - Travelers of the Multiverse |
Rabbitfolk | Unearthed Arcana 77 - Folk of the Feywild |
Revenant | Unearthed Arcana 15 - Gothic Heroes |
Thri-Kreen | Unearthed Arcana 80 - Travelers of the Multiverse |
Viashino | Unearthed Arcana 53 - Races of Ravnica |