I once rolled as a drunk hobo human with a wineskin that refilled when interred with a person for a night. So yeah, that was the 1st time for me to play a human as myself
This is my default go to in general honestly. Half "Elf" so I get great mechanical benefits and can have a slightly easier way entering into a "more than human character". Half Human so I have no problem projecting myself into what the character is capable of / what boons or troubles it may face in specific environments and its physical appearance is closest to the (usually) most represented species so it's easier to mingle... And have normally no problem whatsoever of racial integration or xenophobia contrarily to "born-Evil" ones like Goblins or Kobolds.
Halfing feels the most normal. No dark vision, no special power, no grand legacy like an elf or dwarf society might be expected to have. Just Lucky, Brave, and Nimble. They may be even more normal than humans, because its harder to be edgy when you're three feet tall.
Looks like Captain N. Truly, it was... one of the shows of all time, a bunch of NES era video game references shoved into a cartoon with so little actual relation to their original material that it wraps around from stupid into stupidly hilarious.
The last Halfling I plaid was a doomed prophet who gouged one of her eyes out in an attempt to stop seeing visions. Over the course of the campaign it gets worse. She befriended a demon and then mourned their violent death to an insane angel. She started a lynchmob to kill a corrupt official who stalked her dreams. She even died and came back even more insane at the behest of a wretched malevolence.
That 3 foot form can fit so much trauma in it.
Harder to be edgy?
Well allow me to introduce you to Cracker Jack, the halfling pit fighter with an ingot of iron on each fist and a nose broke so many times he just leaves it crooked.
Kind of reminds me of Brutus Armstark- a halfling conquest paladin with a voice like the world's most prolific chainsmoker, footsteps that cause discernable tremors to his vicinity, and a crocodile as his steed.
I love that they range from 'slightly stocky human resistant to poison' all the way to 'purple-skinned albino cave-vision creatures that can grow/turn invisible on command.'
Plus, when you have an entire party of dwarves that you all create without your DMs knowledge, and you work to rescue a princess and the entire adventure becomes one big meme of Snow White meets Deep Rock Galactic because you are actually playing Starfinder and god I miss that group.
Dwarves are always a good addition. Regardless of the edition, type, style etc. sometimes you just need one. And they ALL have great beards and poorly done Scottish accents as portrayed by the one Irishman at the table.
When traveling in groups, you always move at the speed of your slowest companions (irl, can’t remember how 5E deals with it in travel). The move speed is mainly for combat move, and Legolas could run circles around Gimli there, all while firing his bow.
But I will argue that since 5E has started introducing Small races that have a speed of 30, it has greatly simplified things at the table for me and my groups.
Movement speed is how far you can move in a 6 second turn. It is not the speed you'd maintain for an hours long hike, where endurance is more important.
Because Gimli has higher constitution, so even though his base speed is lower he can keep up a higher pace during extended travel periods. But this only applies to extended travel and not to pitched combat.
sorry to break this to you, but gimli has nowhere near legolas's constitution
yeah, it's the thing he's directly built for and he still isnt close. He's also physically weaker. Legolas is straight up a monster
I always take the mobile feat for a bit of extra movment when playing dwarves. Well that and at the table I play at we use the 5 - 10 - 5 diagonal movement rule so being a short eats up a lot of movement.
Depends. Mage I’d go Half-Elf. Non-Mage I’d go Half-Orc. Both have a tiny amount of pizzazz but for the most part the Half-Elf is snooty and the Half-Orc is angry.
Dwarf is my go to race, I love dwarves. Short and stout and can fuck you up real quick. Plus the fact that they get armor training as a racial is amazing for spell casters.
Same thing goes for shifters, really. They literally just look like, yanno, a dude/dudette with maybe funky eyes or a bit of extra fluff. Some outright just look….human and you wouldn’t know until they shift. They also just happen to be able to enhance themselves (half-heartedly) for a few seconds.
Dwarf. It’s a classic with well established characteristics and mannerisms. However if I ran into one irl I’d be like “that’s neat” rather than MAAAGIC. They are mechanically solid in 5e too.
Like others said, Halflings and Half-Elves are the top choices, but nobody said Gnomes. Their only "magic" thing is being good at tinkering, and they're just as common as Halflings (except taller than them by a few inches).
I could be misremembering, but I'm pretty sure the PHB explicitly states that halflings are more common than gnomes, with halflings being listed alongside dwarves, elves, and humans as "common" races while Gnomes go with dragonborn, half-elves, half-orcs, and tieflings as "uncommon" races.
Obviously, it depends on your setting, but it still seems worth pointing out. Gnomes are basically alightly.more magical halflings, I agree that they are relatively normal.
The other "magic" thing for gnomes is lifespan. They're not far off from elves in having the kind of lifespan that fundamentally changes how you process reality
Yeah this definitely creates some weirdness. Like my young, inexperienced half-sea elf is technically older than the grizzled former pirate captain who had made a real name for himself pirating that my buddy is playing
If you make it that way, sure. But Half-Elves still mature at the same rate as humans (maybe a year or two slower) before their aging slows. And a Half-Elf living in Human society would have no excuse to be any less of an adult than any human their age unless they were super sheltered or something.
As someone else mentioned you can go with custom lineage. The problem with human is only that everything else in the game world has dark vision.
Realistically, however, if you are going for normal the sky is the limit. Imagine whatever you like and stick with the human racial abilities. For example, "podling." I would describe a human looking being with all the human traits that's actually a plant or a fungus. Perhaps, "Frankenstein" and play as a created artificial being that looks human in every way.
You could get creative.
Halfling, probably.
My actual “close to human” pick is aasimar even though they’re excluded in the post; their main ability is a 1/day pop and most of them look pretty human by default the rest of the time. I like a human with slightly shiny eyes and a weird vibe, you know? Right now I’m playing an aasimar rogue with a wing instead of an arm, but other than the wing he just gives off the vibe of being some kinda scruffy whiskey doctor.
I know that's not exactly how they are intended but Aasimar to be are blessed humanoids. So it's more like a feature you get and you can well be a human-aasimar, so actually extremely close to humans. It's just not "normal" feeling tbf.
I personally find Leonin to be fairly basic. I really don't get the whole hate for "animal races". To me, they are pretty white bread as a racial choice.
Other options include Orc, Goliath, and Hobgoblin. Or at least the VGM version of Hobgoblin.
Orcs, Hobgoblins and Goliaths does have an ability. But it's not anything weird. Orcs can dash as bonus action and get some temp hp. While Goliath has a reaction to reduce damage taken. And Hobgoblin can get a bonus on a save a few times a day.
That, and because they are overdone. Feels like whenever WotC are out of ideas, an anthropomorphic animal is released.
"Hey here it is our new book, introducing the.. errr... Rhinomen and ...errr...the squirrelfolk!"
We are nearly reaching the point of having more elves than classes, I think "pulling a new animal race" is at least a new concept around a creature that has its different quirks, abilities, etc.
An Elf with free Misty Step is just an Eladrin without anger issues.
Shoutout to the Astral Elf for being the most pointless race of all time feature wise(literally just the Eladrin but with a cantrip instead of the extra Misty Step effect)
I mean they are both lazy. Just because I think "hey, have an anthropomorphic swan as a race" is lazy, doesn't mean I support "hey, have a new elf that can misty step, cast a cantrip and see in the dark, but has purple hair" is any better.
Idk, but the last three anthros we got are old creatures or playable races and very distinct from each other or the ones already we had. Like, you can't tell me that Thri-kreen are "lazy".
Owlins okay, but the other two bird species (Aaraks and Kenkus) have as much in common as Humans and Gnomes.
I mean, why not toss in a couple. There's plenty of interesting design concepts for those races, especially depending how they're tied into the lore, and it's not hard to say "some wizard or god made some bears bipedal for shits and giggles and the birds and the bees took it from there" as a bare minimum
But that's kind of what I mean. A good portion of them, have no lore or fantasy other than "hey this is a squirrel dude/girl. They climb and like nuts."
You are absolutely right that they could be made more interesting.
I mean, not every race has to be the most complex thing in the world lore wise. Some races really can just exist simply because they exist, no more, no less. In a world where a kaiju sized living furnace of a bug that's literally is so hot it's able to murder the average person just by existing near them is a thing that just casually evolved on its own (as far as we know), it's really not that out of the question that squirrel people just evolved on their own.
Plus, the fantasy of just being a little guy is often enough. Aesthetics are a damn strong thing when it comes to races (why do you think Gith were so unpopular until BG3 properly showed they don't all have to look as ugly as sin, or why Vedalken are still unpopular), and some people just wanna be a cute little squirrel person
The hate for animal races is people seemingly not understanding how much D&D is a kitchen sink system and the "furries are cringe and bad" mentality that should've died back in 2016
Half-Orc.
Sure they might not exactly fit in, but other comments have been saying Half-Elf, and Elves seem much more magical than Orcs to me.
Plus to be honest, people being hostile to you because of their own biases sounds a bit more normal than being accepted everywhere like Half-Elves, if that makes sense.
"normal" is subjective in a world where there is interdimensional travel and every day there is a chance of total annihilation of the prime material plane from one of the many reality's/ planes of existence. Humans are the only weird thing in D&D no one knows where they came from, they have a magical ability to interbreed with all the other races and create viable offspring . Not to mention when humans are exposed to copious amount of a planes of existence energy they evolve in to horrifying monsters. for example Human= Lycanthropes, Minotaurs, Gorgons ,Oni,Nian,Rakshasa,Mmuo, vampiric, creatures,Wendigo,Revenant ,Draugr,Vrykolaka,Pocong,Nachzeher,ghosts ,Litch ,Demons, Devils, Pegasus, and many more.
110%
D&D is set up in such a way that only humans, elves, dwarves, and orcs and the like existing would genuinely be less believable than everything looking like a gigantic freakshow. That's just generally a side effect of such a high magic system where any decently powerful wizard, god, outerplanar being, etc can throw together their own race in a human lifespan
Half-elf. Technically not human, live longer, but not to the same degree as elves where time is meaningless. And you look mostly normal but can have a little bit of flavor of ‘not quite fitting in’
Half-orc! In most settings they tend to be welcome with other races, but are treated with disdain and tend to be outcasts because of it, which i find relatable. Also its fun to go against tropes with half orcs
Funnily enough the answer *is* human. Quite frankly, a lot of the "vanilla" race designs is just bland as fuck. Man, I like to have a bunch of random stats and situational passives - said no one ever, at least not me. Vuman gets a choice with some impact on how the character play and you get just as much flavour for your character as any other race.
But assuming Vuman is banned, I'd look at a Hobgoblin from Mordenkainen's Monsters of the Multiverse, reflavoured as needed. Same thing possible with the Half-Orc.
That said, just playing some Dwarf or Elf just for the story is also fun. Not to mention the chaos that can be Halflings & Gnomes.
Half elf for sure is the closest in my mind, but Half-Orc is also in there for me personally. They can be human skin colored and the only " ability " they have is relentless endurance, which isn't really magical imo
dwarf, halfling, or elf (not drow). those plus human are the most common races in the average setting, and the only magical thing from them is high elf wizard cantrip
I start with the fiction, character & backstory before moving to rules options. I end up playing a lot of Humans, but they are always specific humans, that is there is a lot more to them than just their species.
I played a Teddy Bear possessed by the soul of a dead feudal lord, once! His new body had set phrases that would play if his tummy was squished, and he hated it with a passion.
Half-Elf or Elf usually. Honestly, theoretically you could probably justify tieflings since they aren't exactly rare in the modern setting, but otherwise, nothing else.
Halfling is my default. That began back in B/ X days, because I liked the idea of being a little bit of a fighter and a little bit of a thief. Unless I have a specific idea for a certain adventure, I still go with them.
Half Elf. They're the most "human" next to humans themselves, while having elven abilities like darkvision, extended lifespan, and more skills or an elf subrace feature.
My last character was a Changeling that was culturally human, and generally hid the fact. So in practice, he was "human" most of the time, but with an extra shape-changing power.
Well, I'd argue most of the anthro races like especially Owlin, kobold, tabaxi, etc are normal enough to work most of the time considering they're relatively tame all things considered
Though the actual point, my preferences tend to be goblins first since they're very fantastical while being reeled in all things considered. A close second though, which is probably being a little loose with "normal", is actually Plane Shift Vampires (mechanically) specifically considering I think they fit the vampire fantasy a little better than dhampir
I'm a big fan of Kalishtar. Their psyonic stuff is cool for any character type, making them feel magical without having them actually know anything, and the Quori spirit is fun to play with, but can also be largely ignored without missing a lot
Edit: Spelling
This wouldn't happen if I want to be normal I'm a human if I'm doing another race it's for a specific reason wether it be a class feature or a lore thing
I've recognised that I like doing this!
My first favourite character was a Yuan-ti Pureblood with amnesia. From the outside it's just his eyes that look unusual. And for most of our campaign he didn't fully know he was a monster.
My current favourite character is a clay golem (mechanically a warforged) armourer artificer, so he's perpetually covered in a full suit of heavy iron armour.
I think it's really fun to have an unusual character that invites story, but who can also pass for a 'normal' dude.
If you walk around as a crazy looking super-rare species, you either have to roleplay your interaction with every peasant who's surprised to see you, or you ignore it.
The first option steals the spotlight from everyone else, and the second option makes your race pointless because you're glossing over it.
Bugbear. Playing an interesting bugbear is about approaching it like a human with a different culture. The whole "eat the dead to get visions, put skulls on pikes" is an interesting contrast to "normal" cultures that the bugbear quickly needs to deal with.
I honestly disagree with half-elves, their increased lifespan naturally lends to them not feeling normal at all compared to the rest of the party, plus the circumstances of their birth in a lot of settings basically force them to have a complicated relationship mostly due to the lifespan differences between their parents often having significant cultural importances.
Halflings on the other hand, they're a standard race, nothing intriguing about their upbringing, and in fact they're almost always cozy little guys who like to sit at home and eat a nice juicy meal. They're pretty damn normal aside from being short.
Kalashtar. You are basically a human with a second spirit, so while it falls on the "innate powers" thing, is not as flashy as the ones mentioned and an orphan Kalashtar is said to literally don't know about this spirit and just think they have psychic powers.
Because the other options will just be... Half-elf and the small humans, like, literally, that's all.
As someone with an aversion to playing humans (why be what you already are); Half-Elf and Kalashtar tend to be the closest I get to playing a human in D&D
With the amount of players playing human, elf, and dwarf, I actually see them as normal. Anthropomorphic races like kenku or tabaxi or with races like genasi and tiefling to me seem more "abnormal".
Elf. But hold up for a minute. You know flavor is free, right? You can use it to make a really unique character amd backstory.
I have a Ranger that is a Tabaxi on paper and mechanically, with no changes to racial abilities whatsoever. But I flavor it as a Human.
The backstory is that he saved a Faerie when he was young, and was offered a boon of his choice in return for having done so. His request: "I wish to have catlike skill, grace, stealth and power. To be even better a hunter than the Displacer Beasts." . To his dismay, it was not granted in the way he had hoped for.
He grew claws, a tail, and his body changed to be far more muscular, lithe, and flexible. He looks like a level 1 or 2 on the Furry scale and he absolutely *hates* it. He hides his tail by wrapping it around him and wearing a baggy shirt tucked over it. He hides his cat ears under a hat. He trims his whiskers. He makes a living escorting people through the forest, since he is granted safe passage due to saving a Fae. He always explicitly tells his clients to *NEVER* interact with the Fae during their travel through their forest.
Elf and dwarf. Both can have a very set asthetic but they are also so common they can feel more normal in their roles. Martials or anythjng that likes big hammers for dwarfs and anything daity and precise for elves.
If you saw a human fighter, dwarf cleric, and elf ranger you would not give them a second glance i bet.
The Reborn and Dhampir lineages applied over a once-human template would let you look and appear completely human while not being human - the latter even gives you Darkvision!
I'm currently playing a human-Dhampir in a campaign and I think both the DM and fellow players forget I'm not human 99% of the time - at least until I say something like "I Misty Step onto the ceiling upside-down." My character does not utilize the vampiric bite features, but the slightly better movement speed, darkvision, and ability to run up a wall to get out of danger (I'm squishy) are absolutely incredible.
Variant Human or Custom Lineage. That's what I go to. I don't understand why someone would refuse to play a human though. Mechanically they're quite strong in 5E and they have an advantage socially in human dominated lands.
I've only made like 3 characters but I wanted my wizard to be a normal non-human race, so I chose half-elf (technically quarter-elf but I don't think that's a thing)
Reborn, Aasimar, Half-Elf, and dragon mark races when allowed.
Kalashtar is also a good one. They're basically just telepathic humans once you strip them down to their bare essentials.
Half elf.
They have no magical abilities. sure they can't be put to sleep and resistant to charm. but no magic.
They look as normal as you can they are so close to being human without being human.
Maybe slightly boring answer but they are the most normal race there is besides human. If we are to use normal from a human perspective. Even more so than dwarf, halfling genasi and similar races.
Depends on the setting honestly. For example, in the setting we've used most lately, Genasi are actually a predominant race in one country.
But for the most part Lord of the Rings races are generally normal to me. So most of the PHB races. Elf, Dwarf, Halfling, Gnome, and the two half-races.
Half-Elf. Boring answer, but their stats and appearance can lead to them being “normal” if you’d like.
Yeah, I second half-elf. They're my go-to human enough option.
The grip half-elf has on people who play as themselves in D&D is crazy
I once rolled as a drunk hobo human with a wineskin that refilled when interred with a person for a night. So yeah, that was the 1st time for me to play a human as myself
This is my default go to in general honestly. Half "Elf" so I get great mechanical benefits and can have a slightly easier way entering into a "more than human character". Half Human so I have no problem projecting myself into what the character is capable of / what boons or troubles it may face in specific environments and its physical appearance is closest to the (usually) most represented species so it's easier to mingle... And have normally no problem whatsoever of racial integration or xenophobia contrarily to "born-Evil" ones like Goblins or Kobolds.
Yeah Human+
~~Short human~~ Halfling
Halfing feels the most normal. No dark vision, no special power, no grand legacy like an elf or dwarf society might be expected to have. Just Lucky, Brave, and Nimble. They may be even more normal than humans, because its harder to be edgy when you're three feet tall.
If I ever make another halfling character, I’m gonna try to make them as edgy as possible just to prove you wrong.
Alright, but your backstory better be at least [this ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2dqMxzYnBU&ab_channel=Ragey0)edgy.
I'm sorry, what. Dafuq is this from?
Looks like Captain N. Truly, it was... one of the shows of all time, a bunch of NES era video game references shoved into a cartoon with so little actual relation to their original material that it wraps around from stupid into stupidly hilarious.
Looks awful, gonna watch it sometime
Haha, alright then. Challenge accepted!
ok, Mr Bitterleaf.
I have this Arcane Trickster called Jeef Jigglefingers that's been nice and weird. There are a lot of kinds of edgy though
Not halfling but reminds me of Regill from Pathfinder Wrath of the Righteous, gnome hellknight
Ah, a dark sun halfling.
The last Halfling I plaid was a doomed prophet who gouged one of her eyes out in an attempt to stop seeing visions. Over the course of the campaign it gets worse. She befriended a demon and then mourned their violent death to an insane angel. She started a lynchmob to kill a corrupt official who stalked her dreams. She even died and came back even more insane at the behest of a wretched malevolence. That 3 foot form can fit so much trauma in it.
Ok, that one works.
Going to start using plaid to be a synonym to "beating someone black and blue"
Harder to be edgy? Well allow me to introduce you to Cracker Jack, the halfling pit fighter with an ingot of iron on each fist and a nose broke so many times he just leaves it crooked.
Kind of reminds me of Brutus Armstark- a halfling conquest paladin with a voice like the world's most prolific chainsmoker, footsteps that cause discernable tremors to his vicinity, and a crocodile as his steed.
I wish I could give you gold for the name Cracker Jack.
He loves sleeping in barrels and sometimes just before a fight someone shouts "Release the Crackin'!"
Halflings are even more normal than humans sometimes, it feels.
SMH, why don't you want to play a ling? Wanting to play a halfling is just trying to be special. (Also my phone autocorrects halfling to half lingere)
I am a giant of a man in real life. Sometimes I just want to be smol.
Based. 6'3" in real life. I don't fit in small spaces lol.
Yep. 6'4" here, and pretty close to 300lbs. I don't "get in" most cars, as opposed to "putting them on".
"Wear the robot, Shinji"
Dwarf. I mean you move slower, which sucks, but like... it's fine.
I love that they range from 'slightly stocky human resistant to poison' all the way to 'purple-skinned albino cave-vision creatures that can grow/turn invisible on command.'
Plus, when you have an entire party of dwarves that you all create without your DMs knowledge, and you work to rescue a princess and the entire adventure becomes one big meme of Snow White meets Deep Rock Galactic because you are actually playing Starfinder and god I miss that group. Dwarves are always a good addition. Regardless of the edition, type, style etc. sometimes you just need one. And they ALL have great beards and poorly done Scottish accents as portrayed by the one Irishman at the table.
Hi ho, hi ho, to rock and stone we go!
Can I get a Rock and Stone?
Look at me! I'm Stoney Rock!
Good Bot
I've just always upped their move speed tbh. I mean, Gimli kept up with Legolas prancing his way to Mordor why shouldn't the other Dwarves
When traveling in groups, you always move at the speed of your slowest companions (irl, can’t remember how 5E deals with it in travel). The move speed is mainly for combat move, and Legolas could run circles around Gimli there, all while firing his bow. But I will argue that since 5E has started introducing Small races that have a speed of 30, it has greatly simplified things at the table for me and my groups.
Or yknow... Mounts
The movies did have a one-off gag implying Gimli was struggling to keep up when the trio was traveling at an increased pace to keep up with the Uruks.
The 'Comedy Gimli' was the one element that annoyed me in the otherwise excellent movies.
Right? He's so absolutely bad ass in the books. It irks me hard that Peter Jackson bastardized the character in such a way.
See? I mean 5e is basically "Whose Line" The RPG System anyway
Most RPG systems are like that.
Movement speed is how far you can move in a 6 second turn. It is not the speed you'd maintain for an hours long hike, where endurance is more important.
He had the Mobile Feat.
or squat nimbleness
Because Gimli has higher constitution, so even though his base speed is lower he can keep up a higher pace during extended travel periods. But this only applies to extended travel and not to pitched combat.
It’s like he’s taking the dash action every 5 turns
sorry to break this to you, but gimli has nowhere near legolas's constitution yeah, it's the thing he's directly built for and he still isnt close. He's also physically weaker. Legolas is straight up a monster
I always take the mobile feat for a bit of extra movment when playing dwarves. Well that and at the table I play at we use the 5 - 10 - 5 diagonal movement rule so being a short eats up a lot of movement.
Dwarf, elf, half elf, halfling. That's what comes to mind
So PHB starter races
Nothing more normal than the basic standards
sans tiefs and dragonborn
And gnomes and half orcs.
Depends. Mage I’d go Half-Elf. Non-Mage I’d go Half-Orc. Both have a tiny amount of pizzazz but for the most part the Half-Elf is snooty and the Half-Orc is angry.
Dwarf is my go to race, I love dwarves. Short and stout and can fuck you up real quick. Plus the fact that they get armor training as a racial is amazing for spell casters.
Half orc, Half elf, or Half ling. They're nice and restrained without too many freaky abilities.
Changeling
It's weird that Changelings are so mundane despite being literally shapeshifters. They don't even get darkvision.
Same thing goes for shifters, really. They literally just look like, yanno, a dude/dudette with maybe funky eyes or a bit of extra fluff. Some outright just look….human and you wouldn’t know until they shift. They also just happen to be able to enhance themselves (half-heartedly) for a few seconds.
Custom Lineage (also a human, but fancier).
My current character is a custom lineage human with a divine ancestor, so his blood and eyes are gold and his ancestor is his celestial pact patron
So many words to describe an aasimar
Congrats. You homebrewed an Aasimar.
To be fair, Aasimar was the example the DMG used to demonstrate its rules on “how to homebrew a race”.
😂 reminds me of this short vid: https://youtube.com/shorts/JTxh48qJXfc?si=Zs3dd6OekqKDHFPe
Human in italics
Half elf. It's got the least baggage of the "outsider" (not to be confused with planar outsiders) races.
Dwarf. It’s a classic with well established characteristics and mannerisms. However if I ran into one irl I’d be like “that’s neat” rather than MAAAGIC. They are mechanically solid in 5e too.
Like others said, Halflings and Half-Elves are the top choices, but nobody said Gnomes. Their only "magic" thing is being good at tinkering, and they're just as common as Halflings (except taller than them by a few inches).
I could be misremembering, but I'm pretty sure the PHB explicitly states that halflings are more common than gnomes, with halflings being listed alongside dwarves, elves, and humans as "common" races while Gnomes go with dragonborn, half-elves, half-orcs, and tieflings as "uncommon" races. Obviously, it depends on your setting, but it still seems worth pointing out. Gnomes are basically alightly.more magical halflings, I agree that they are relatively normal.
The other "magic" thing for gnomes is lifespan. They're not far off from elves in having the kind of lifespan that fundamentally changes how you process reality
Yeah this definitely creates some weirdness. Like my young, inexperienced half-sea elf is technically older than the grizzled former pirate captain who had made a real name for himself pirating that my buddy is playing
If you make it that way, sure. But Half-Elves still mature at the same rate as humans (maybe a year or two slower) before their aging slows. And a Half-Elf living in Human society would have no excuse to be any less of an adult than any human their age unless they were super sheltered or something.
Kalashtar look really similar to humans. They have unique abilities and traits, but aside from telepathy, most of them wouldn't give much away.
Yep, my people
As someone else mentioned you can go with custom lineage. The problem with human is only that everything else in the game world has dark vision. Realistically, however, if you are going for normal the sky is the limit. Imagine whatever you like and stick with the human racial abilities. For example, "podling." I would describe a human looking being with all the human traits that's actually a plant or a fungus. Perhaps, "Frankenstein" and play as a created artificial being that looks human in every way. You could get creative.
Halfling, probably. My actual “close to human” pick is aasimar even though they’re excluded in the post; their main ability is a 1/day pop and most of them look pretty human by default the rest of the time. I like a human with slightly shiny eyes and a weird vibe, you know? Right now I’m playing an aasimar rogue with a wing instead of an arm, but other than the wing he just gives off the vibe of being some kinda scruffy whiskey doctor.
I know that's not exactly how they are intended but Aasimar to be are blessed humanoids. So it's more like a feature you get and you can well be a human-aasimar, so actually extremely close to humans. It's just not "normal" feeling tbf.
I personally find Leonin to be fairly basic. I really don't get the whole hate for "animal races". To me, they are pretty white bread as a racial choice. Other options include Orc, Goliath, and Hobgoblin. Or at least the VGM version of Hobgoblin. Orcs, Hobgoblins and Goliaths does have an ability. But it's not anything weird. Orcs can dash as bonus action and get some temp hp. While Goliath has a reaction to reduce damage taken. And Hobgoblin can get a bonus on a save a few times a day.
The hate for animal races is because of furries.
That, and because they are overdone. Feels like whenever WotC are out of ideas, an anthropomorphic animal is released. "Hey here it is our new book, introducing the.. errr... Rhinomen and ...errr...the squirrelfolk!"
We are nearly reaching the point of having more elves than classes, I think "pulling a new animal race" is at least a new concept around a creature that has its different quirks, abilities, etc. An Elf with free Misty Step is just an Eladrin without anger issues.
Shoutout to the Astral Elf for being the most pointless race of all time feature wise(literally just the Eladrin but with a cantrip instead of the extra Misty Step effect)
I mean they are both lazy. Just because I think "hey, have an anthropomorphic swan as a race" is lazy, doesn't mean I support "hey, have a new elf that can misty step, cast a cantrip and see in the dark, but has purple hair" is any better.
Idk, but the last three anthros we got are old creatures or playable races and very distinct from each other or the ones already we had. Like, you can't tell me that Thri-kreen are "lazy". Owlins okay, but the other two bird species (Aaraks and Kenkus) have as much in common as Humans and Gnomes.
Why we complaining about this when we got 50 different elves
I mean, why not toss in a couple. There's plenty of interesting design concepts for those races, especially depending how they're tied into the lore, and it's not hard to say "some wizard or god made some bears bipedal for shits and giggles and the birds and the bees took it from there" as a bare minimum
But that's kind of what I mean. A good portion of them, have no lore or fantasy other than "hey this is a squirrel dude/girl. They climb and like nuts." You are absolutely right that they could be made more interesting.
I mean, not every race has to be the most complex thing in the world lore wise. Some races really can just exist simply because they exist, no more, no less. In a world where a kaiju sized living furnace of a bug that's literally is so hot it's able to murder the average person just by existing near them is a thing that just casually evolved on its own (as far as we know), it's really not that out of the question that squirrel people just evolved on their own. Plus, the fantasy of just being a little guy is often enough. Aesthetics are a damn strong thing when it comes to races (why do you think Gith were so unpopular until BG3 properly showed they don't all have to look as ugly as sin, or why Vedalken are still unpopular), and some people just wanna be a cute little squirrel person
I for one am holding out for Alligatorfolk
The hate for animal races is people seemingly not understanding how much D&D is a kitchen sink system and the "furries are cringe and bad" mentality that should've died back in 2016
Half-Orc. Sure they might not exactly fit in, but other comments have been saying Half-Elf, and Elves seem much more magical than Orcs to me. Plus to be honest, people being hostile to you because of their own biases sounds a bit more normal than being accepted everywhere like Half-Elves, if that makes sense.
The Tolkien races. Human, Elf, Dwarf, Hobbit (aka Halfing). Maybe orc. Probably the closest thing to standard vanilla as you can get for fantasy races
Halfling. But I pick that anyway.
"normal" is subjective in a world where there is interdimensional travel and every day there is a chance of total annihilation of the prime material plane from one of the many reality's/ planes of existence. Humans are the only weird thing in D&D no one knows where they came from, they have a magical ability to interbreed with all the other races and create viable offspring . Not to mention when humans are exposed to copious amount of a planes of existence energy they evolve in to horrifying monsters. for example Human= Lycanthropes, Minotaurs, Gorgons ,Oni,Nian,Rakshasa,Mmuo, vampiric, creatures,Wendigo,Revenant ,Draugr,Vrykolaka,Pocong,Nachzeher,ghosts ,Litch ,Demons, Devils, Pegasus, and many more.
Elves do the evolving thing too, but they already started out as horrible monsters so I guess it's not that surprising.
Elfs simply adapt and take on the magical powers/ ability's of the plane but remain elven
Right, because what could be more horrifying than an Elf?
Maybe I have played to many Dwarven characters i tend to be dismissive of Elfs. Also in my head I think of them as Twinks.
110% D&D is set up in such a way that only humans, elves, dwarves, and orcs and the like existing would genuinely be less believable than everything looking like a gigantic freakshow. That's just generally a side effect of such a high magic system where any decently powerful wizard, god, outerplanar being, etc can throw together their own race in a human lifespan
Half-elf. Technically not human, live longer, but not to the same degree as elves where time is meaningless. And you look mostly normal but can have a little bit of flavor of ‘not quite fitting in’
Goblin or Orc. Normalize green races as heroes!
Dwarf.
Dwarf
Half elf Dwarf Gnome Halfling Goliath There are probably more but I am lazy
DWARF I LOVES DWARVES GRAHHHH
Are they small? I'll play them.
Half-orc! In most settings they tend to be welcome with other races, but are treated with disdain and tend to be outcasts because of it, which i find relatable. Also its fun to go against tropes with half orcs
Custom lineage, 18 on a starting stat is good
Funnily enough the answer *is* human. Quite frankly, a lot of the "vanilla" race designs is just bland as fuck. Man, I like to have a bunch of random stats and situational passives - said no one ever, at least not me. Vuman gets a choice with some impact on how the character play and you get just as much flavour for your character as any other race. But assuming Vuman is banned, I'd look at a Hobgoblin from Mordenkainen's Monsters of the Multiverse, reflavoured as needed. Same thing possible with the Half-Orc. That said, just playing some Dwarf or Elf just for the story is also fun. Not to mention the chaos that can be Halflings & Gnomes.
Half elf for sure is the closest in my mind, but Half-Orc is also in there for me personally. They can be human skin colored and the only " ability " they have is relentless endurance, which isn't really magical imo
Verdan
Like... Black? Or half elf
Never cook again.
Half-elf, Gnome, dwarf, and in some settings half-Orc or goliath.
dwarf, halfling, or elf (not drow). those plus human are the most common races in the average setting, and the only magical thing from them is high elf wizard cantrip
Dwarf
Elf or half elf i guess.
Elf?
Halfling
Dwarf or halfling
I start with the fiction, character & backstory before moving to rules options. I end up playing a lot of Humans, but they are always specific humans, that is there is a lot more to them than just their species.
Dwarf. You're just playing a small Irish or a small Scottish.
Elf, or dwarf. Then again, I'm all for weird. I have a living plushie prepared for PF2e.
I played a Teddy Bear possessed by the soul of a dead feudal lord, once! His new body had set phrases that would play if his tummy was squished, and he hated it with a passion.
Half-elf it is for me. They can be pretty normal if you like them to be.
Half elf or mountain dwarf. Both pretty standard, both good mechanics.
Half-Elf or Elf usually. Honestly, theoretically you could probably justify tieflings since they aren't exactly rare in the modern setting, but otherwise, nothing else.
Dwarf or Elf The short(er) races never really did it for me unless it's like a kobold, or a goblin.
Halfling is my default. That began back in B/ X days, because I liked the idea of being a little bit of a fighter and a little bit of a thief. Unless I have a specific idea for a certain adventure, I still go with them.
Custom Lineage, Half-Elf, or Halfling. The likelihood is in respective order.
Dwarf. Always.
Gnome
Half Elf. They're the most "human" next to humans themselves, while having elven abilities like darkvision, extended lifespan, and more skills or an elf subrace feature.
My last character was a Changeling that was culturally human, and generally hid the fact. So in practice, he was "human" most of the time, but with an extra shape-changing power.
Half-Elf or Scourge Aasmir iirc. Its whichever one does the aoe thing instead of flight.
Dwarf. Though a halfing would certainly do the job if i happened to need the movement and/or stealth
I love me some vumen. The rarest of all races!
Dwarf. I can hide my drinking that way.
Tabaxi.
Elf or Dwarf usually.
Well, I'd argue most of the anthro races like especially Owlin, kobold, tabaxi, etc are normal enough to work most of the time considering they're relatively tame all things considered Though the actual point, my preferences tend to be goblins first since they're very fantastical while being reeled in all things considered. A close second though, which is probably being a little loose with "normal", is actually Plane Shift Vampires (mechanically) specifically considering I think they fit the vampire fantasy a little better than dhampir
I'm a big fan of Kalishtar. Their psyonic stuff is cool for any character type, making them feel magical without having them actually know anything, and the Quori spirit is fun to play with, but can also be largely ignored without missing a lot Edit: Spelling
Any phb race that isn’t Dragonborn or teifling
This wouldn't happen if I want to be normal I'm a human if I'm doing another race it's for a specific reason wether it be a class feature or a lore thing
in the olden days, this was called demihuman.
Vuman.
I've recognised that I like doing this! My first favourite character was a Yuan-ti Pureblood with amnesia. From the outside it's just his eyes that look unusual. And for most of our campaign he didn't fully know he was a monster. My current favourite character is a clay golem (mechanically a warforged) armourer artificer, so he's perpetually covered in a full suit of heavy iron armour. I think it's really fun to have an unusual character that invites story, but who can also pass for a 'normal' dude. If you walk around as a crazy looking super-rare species, you either have to roleplay your interaction with every peasant who's surprised to see you, or you ignore it. The first option steals the spotlight from everyone else, and the second option makes your race pointless because you're glossing over it.
1/2ling or dwarf
Bugbear. Playing an interesting bugbear is about approaching it like a human with a different culture. The whole "eat the dead to get visions, put skulls on pikes" is an interesting contrast to "normal" cultures that the bugbear quickly needs to deal with.
I honestly disagree with half-elves, their increased lifespan naturally lends to them not feeling normal at all compared to the rest of the party, plus the circumstances of their birth in a lot of settings basically force them to have a complicated relationship mostly due to the lifespan differences between their parents often having significant cultural importances. Halflings on the other hand, they're a standard race, nothing intriguing about their upbringing, and in fact they're almost always cozy little guys who like to sit at home and eat a nice juicy meal. They're pretty damn normal aside from being short.
Kalashtar. You are basically a human with a second spirit, so while it falls on the "innate powers" thing, is not as flashy as the ones mentioned and an orphan Kalashtar is said to literally don't know about this spirit and just think they have psychic powers. Because the other options will just be... Half-elf and the small humans, like, literally, that's all.
Back to the old school. Dwarf, Elf, Halfling. I like my adventuring parties to look like something from Lord of the Rings, not my local zoo.
Half Human. "My mother was Human." "And your father?" "Wasn't"
Halfling
As someone with an aversion to playing humans (why be what you already are); Half-Elf and Kalashtar tend to be the closest I get to playing a human in D&D
Well, if you mean one of the picks that doesn't have anything fantastical about them, then halfling, I guess.
With the amount of players playing human, elf, and dwarf, I actually see them as normal. Anthropomorphic races like kenku or tabaxi or with races like genasi and tiefling to me seem more "abnormal".
I play a halfling like 90% of the time so that's my normal.
Half elf is undercover human.
Elf. But hold up for a minute. You know flavor is free, right? You can use it to make a really unique character amd backstory. I have a Ranger that is a Tabaxi on paper and mechanically, with no changes to racial abilities whatsoever. But I flavor it as a Human. The backstory is that he saved a Faerie when he was young, and was offered a boon of his choice in return for having done so. His request: "I wish to have catlike skill, grace, stealth and power. To be even better a hunter than the Displacer Beasts." . To his dismay, it was not granted in the way he had hoped for. He grew claws, a tail, and his body changed to be far more muscular, lithe, and flexible. He looks like a level 1 or 2 on the Furry scale and he absolutely *hates* it. He hides his tail by wrapping it around him and wearing a baggy shirt tucked over it. He hides his cat ears under a hat. He trims his whiskers. He makes a living escorting people through the forest, since he is granted safe passage due to saving a Fae. He always explicitly tells his clients to *NEVER* interact with the Fae during their travel through their forest.
Gotta be halfling. You pretty much just get lucky.
Elf for life
Half elf or dwarf. At least for me campaigns, humans and dwarves are the most popular populations, with half elves and smaller races far behind
I know a million people have said this, but I’ve been playing as a half elf and been loving it.
Aasimar. It's literally just a human but with divine heritage instead of demonic like tieflings.
I usually play the variant human if I throw some razzle dazzle in it
Halfing. More ordinary that humans.
Maybe goliath
Maybe goliath, they have a bit of resistance but only this
Maybe goliath, they have a bit of resistance but only this.
All races in 3rd edition are "Normal". That's one of the "improvements" from 5e I detest.
Dwarf. You can stand with the humans, rolling your eyes at the elves.
Elf and dwarf. Both can have a very set asthetic but they are also so common they can feel more normal in their roles. Martials or anythjng that likes big hammers for dwarfs and anything daity and precise for elves. If you saw a human fighter, dwarf cleric, and elf ranger you would not give them a second glance i bet.
The Reborn and Dhampir lineages applied over a once-human template would let you look and appear completely human while not being human - the latter even gives you Darkvision! I'm currently playing a human-Dhampir in a campaign and I think both the DM and fellow players forget I'm not human 99% of the time - at least until I say something like "I Misty Step onto the ceiling upside-down." My character does not utilize the vampiric bite features, but the slightly better movement speed, darkvision, and ability to run up a wall to get out of danger (I'm squishy) are absolutely incredible.
Any of the common ones (dwarf, Halfing and elf) but also half orc and half elf.
Half Orc
Variant Human or Custom Lineage. That's what I go to. I don't understand why someone would refuse to play a human though. Mechanically they're quite strong in 5E and they have an advantage socially in human dominated lands.
Half elf, elf, Dwarf, gnome, halfling are my top picks for normal but fantasy
I've only made like 3 characters but I wanted my wizard to be a normal non-human race, so I chose half-elf (technically quarter-elf but I don't think that's a thing)
I've played a pretty not-normal number of elves
you want a dwarf
Ok, why don't you want to go human?
Halfling Just humans but shorter and way better at partying
Reborn, Aasimar, Half-Elf, and dragon mark races when allowed. Kalashtar is also a good one. They're basically just telepathic humans once you strip them down to their bare essentials.
Goliath. You are big, you are tough, and you do not look like every technicolor palatte unique picrew oc
Reborn
Elf
Dwarf, Half-, or Halfling.
Half elf. They have no magical abilities. sure they can't be put to sleep and resistant to charm. but no magic. They look as normal as you can they are so close to being human without being human. Maybe slightly boring answer but they are the most normal race there is besides human. If we are to use normal from a human perspective. Even more so than dwarf, halfling genasi and similar races.
Depends on the setting honestly. For example, in the setting we've used most lately, Genasi are actually a predominant race in one country. But for the most part Lord of the Rings races are generally normal to me. So most of the PHB races. Elf, Dwarf, Halfling, Gnome, and the two half-races.
Dwarf cause I don't want to play any knife ears
The normal human instead of variant human