All 10 D&D Species In The 2024 Player's Handbook

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Species are a big part of character customization in , and the new 2024 includes 10 to choose from. Referred to as races in the 2014 edition, species determine key aspects of a character's heritage and place within a fantasy world. There's nothing wrong with just playing a human every campaign, but exploring the other options can lead to exciting roleplay opportunities and some interesting mechanical tweaks.

Although races came with ability score increases in the 2014, the 2024 version moves those to backgrounds, scaling back the impact that species have on general play. The option to play as half-orcs and half-elves has also been removed, although it's still possible to do so from a roleplay perspective. Despite the changes, there are still a variety of special traits to give each species unique advantages both on and off the battlefield.

Making unique characters for D&D can be a challenge since it's easy to fall back on clichés. Some creative thinking can help break the mold.

Aasimar didn't appear in the 2014, having been introduced to 5e a bit later in These partly angelic beings can invoke strains of celestial power to gain a number of unique features, gaining the option of temporary transformations at level three. Although the 2024 is somewhat lacking in species flavor text, established that angelic beings communicate with aasimar through dreams, a concept that DMs could still employ for interesting storytelling opportunities.

General aasimar traits include damage resistances, Darkvision, healing hands, and the cantrip. Celestial Revelation opens up the transformation choices for aasimar, which can manifest as spectral wings that grant flight, a searing radiance that damages nearby creatures, or a necrotic shroud that can inflict the Frightened condition on enemies.

The origins of dragonborn are still subject to some debate in the Forgotten Realms, but whatever the exact nature of their creation, the element of some draconic ancestry is obvious. Although