D&D 5E 5E Race Survey

[snafuy]

It's been over 2 years since various people created tier ratings for the 5E PHB (sub)classes. After Xanathar's Guide puts its tasty archetypes into official play, I intend to run a new class tier survey. That'll be in 2 weeks, BTW.

In preparation, here's a practice survey comparing the (sub)races. The differences are smaller, but it's clear that some races are more capable or versatile than others. If you'd like to spend about 1d20 minutes clicking a multiple-choice grid, go to https://goo.gl/forms/kRzPtAzzqzxG8Tzv2

Before I launch the class survey, I'll publish race results with numeric totals and pretty graphs.

 

[snafuy]

The survey is going well. I'll close it in a few days and start working on analysis.

 

[snafuy]

Results are in. See https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet...5Sj/pubhtml?oid=1482362775&format=interactive and http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?541190-5E-Race-Survey-RESULTS-ARE-IN

 

[Mephista]

Hmm... apparently, lots of people don't like flying races; that's a clear take away here. Other than that, humans and half-elves are rated as overpowered, again no surprise there. Yuan-ti also seem to get a lot of OPness votes, which is fair enough - the stats and abilities are far better than a dwarf, I'd say, who only get resistance to poison, not immunity. On the other side, lots of people seem to think they're just average. Curious

The results for drow are honestly surprising to me. Light sensitivity is harsh. Though, I suppose that's the mermaid conundrum - its either unplayable, or you get around the drawback and just get insane strengths.


So, when we''re writing up tiers, its basically something like this:

Tier 1 - variant human, half-elf, yuan-ti, anything with wings.
Tier 2 - Aasimar (volo)
Tier 3 - Elves, Dwarves, gnomes, halflings, non-winged tieflings
Tier 4 - , non-feat humans
Tier 5 - dragonborn

 

[Yaarel]

The 5e Race Survey results are comprehensive and the analysis interesting. Normally I prefer the results be presented in the thread here, or at least summarized, rather than go off-site. But in this case, the info is worth it.

 

[Morrus]

The 5e Race Survey results are comprehensive and the analysis interesting. Normally I prefer the results be presented in the thread here, or at least summarized, rather than go off-site. But in this case, the info is worth it.

Agreed. Here you go. ctrl-c/ctrl-v FTW!

It's been over 2 years since various people created tier ratings for the 5E PHB (sub)classes. After Xanathar's Guide puts its tasty archetypes into official play, I intend to run a new class tier survey. That'll be in 2 weeks, BTW. (Edit: moved forward by a week because some stores & DNDBeyond have released it already.)

In preparation, here's a practice survey comparing the (sub)races. The differences are smaller, but it's clear that some races are more capable or versatile than others. If you'd like to spend about 1d20 minutes clicking a multiple-choice grid, go to https://goo.gl/forms/kRzPtAzzqzxG8Tzv2

Before I launch the class survey, I'll publish race results with numeric totals and pretty graphs.

---

5E RACIAL BALANCE SURVEY

The results are in. If you've paid any attention to character build & optimization guides, you'll already know that the top and bottom scorers share the same genus. In other words ...

VARIANT HUMAN IS THE PC MASTER RACE! (Yes, I've been planning to use that pun from the beginning.)

And Standard Human is the worst. Wizards of the Coast, are you listening? Humanity needs to be better balanced than this.

Feral Winged Tiefling flew to a close 2nd place, followed by the other two winged options. The power of flight is too damn high, especially in the lower levels. Perhaps WotC could fix it with complicated limits on wings, but I recommend this solution: DMs, be prepared. If first tier unlimited flight screws up your adventures, then tell your players "no winged races". In advance. Done.

RESULTS TABLE & CHARTS: docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/e/2PACX-1vRUKfrFDawzHcYGZde_rada9MuIes4CVp4yCVjfC3HCSbTOOZ lRCCGpbMzzYc5zwRWwIGeNuMGDC5Sj/pubhtml?oid=1482362775&format=interactive

RATING RESULTS:

For the most part, the results follow conventional wisdom.

"S" median rating: Variant Human, Winged Feral Tiefling.

"A" median rating: Winged Standard Tiefling, Aarakocra, Standard Half-Elf, Yuan-Ti Pureblood, Drow Variant Half-Elf, Cantrip Variant Half-Elf.

"B" median rating: Eladrin UA Elf, Protector Aasimar, Bugbear, Fallen Aasimar, Mountain Dwarf, other variant Half-Elf, Scourge Aasimar, Tabaxi, Feral Tiefling, Hill Dwarf, Half-Orc, Wood Elf, Deep Gnome, Firbolg, Githyanki UA, Eladrin DMG Elf, Ghostwise Halfling, Lightfoot Halfling, Githzerai UA, Lizardfolk, Goliath, Triton, High Elf, standard Tiefling, Stout Halfling, Fire Genasi, Duergar Dwarf, Goblin, Hobgoblin, Water Genasi, Forest Gnome, Air Genasi, Drow Elf, Earth Genasi, Rock Gnome, Kobold, Kenku.

"C" median rating: Orc, Dragonborn, Standard Human.

Dragonborn really surprised me. I personally rate them C-level, but considering how popular they are, I had no idea so many other people think the same. What would be a good fix for them... maybe add a Bite attack? +1 AC when unarmored? something else?

REAL-WORLD PLAY:

I saw one signficant surprise in the actual usage survey. The most-played races are Var Human, Half-Elf, Dwarf x2, and Elf x2... followed by Standard Human. That last one is the surprise. And it isn't even due to "the DM banned Var Human so I had to do it": several people rated them "The Best". Scratching my head.

The least-played races overall are mostly unofficial ones, plus Duergar and Winged Feral Tiefling. I suppose a lot of DMs ban that. The least-played PHB race is Drow, the most-played Volo race is Lizardfolk, and the most-played UA race is Warforged.

OTHER STATISTICS

I tried to come up with a formula to measure how well-balanced a race is. I settled on: percentage of B votes, minus twice the absolute rating from 0 (middle B), minus the variance. This metric says the races at the high and low end of rating spectrum are badly unbalanced (duh), while the most balanced are: High Elf, Stout Halfling, Goliath, Fire Genasi, Lizardfolk, Lightfoot Halfling, Triton.

I was disturbed by the ridiculously large number of voters (21) who ranked Yuan-Ti Pureblood lower than Standard Tiefling. I could understand ranking them the same, but not lower. Same stats & darkvision, Poison Immunity is better than Fire Resistance, and no matter how much Tiefling magic is more useful than Yuan-Ti magic, it cannot outweigh the huge added value of full Magic Resistance. Maybe the voters mistakenly rated on fluff or campaign setting? On the bright side, only a few voters put Orc higher than Half-Orc, or UA Eladrin lower than High Elf.

A brief note about vote counting. One person out there might think I threw out their ballot for disingenuity: a single S and the rest Ds. I did count it, after normalizing it to median B. Similarly, a few other people think they live in Lake Woebegon. If your average rating is "Above Average" and your lowest rating is "Balanced", you are Doing It Wrong.

STAY TUNED

Thanks to everyone who participated. I hope you found this interesting. This survey had two purposes. For the world: potentially useful data. For me: practice for the Class Tier Survey, coming tomorrow!​

[edit, huh, that didn't work; screenshot instead]

 

[Mephista]

Dragonborn really surprised me. I personally rate them C-level, but considering how popular they are, I had no idea so many other people think the same. What would be a good fix for them... maybe add a Bite attack? +1 AC when unarmored? something else?

Just start by fixing the breath. Its underpowered - at level 5, Poison Spray, of all cantrips, is arguably just as strong against a single target. And that's at will; compare to other kinds of dealing damage, like using Burning Hands or a regular attack. It keys off Stamina, which while something everyone takes, is not a racial bonus, nor a key stat for the traditional dragonborn classes (sorcerer, paladin). Hells, the half-dragon in the MM has a far better breath weapon.

next, lets look at some synergy between the race and its signature classes. The dragonborn duplicate features with the dragon sorcerer, and actually lose out than if you'd gone non- varient human. Dragonborn get strength bonus, which is worthless for a sorcerer, but not paladin. There's no real disadvantage here for going paladin, admittedly, but no real advantage beyond stats. There are bettre options in that case, like half-elf or feral tiefling.

Then, fix the dragonborn feats that just came out. Like, the hells were they thinking - one gives mage armor... for a race that should want to be a mage armor giving subclass, or wearing heavy armor.

Maybe just ditch the breath entirely, and take the dragonfear feat abiilty, make that the default. Leave dragonbreath as the new spell. Or keep the old breath and do it as a bonus action - worked that way in 4e. Make a Bahamut Paladin subclass. Let elemental resistance upgrade if magic is applied. Move on from there.

 

[Yaarel]

I appreciate the analysis that assigns a ‘Rating’ followed by a ‘Variance’ of the Rating. The lower the variance the more consensus there is, the higher the variance the more all-over-the-place the opinions were about the Rating. If a rating seems problematic for some reason, it is easy to check how others felt about it.’

It is interesting that the Feated Human is considered the most powerful race, and the Unfeated Human is considered the least powerful race. All other races are sandwiched between them. In other words, all of the races that came out in UAs and Volos moreorless balance with the races that are present in the Players Handbook. That said, the races in the Players Handbook represent a wide spectrum between more powerful races and less powerful races. To have the standard Players Handbook races be moreorless equal choices, remains a desideratum.

 

[Yaarel]

Judging by Ratings, the races seem to cluster in the following seven tiers.

Beyond
Human, variant
Tiefling, Feral winged
Aarakocra
Tiefling, winged
Half-Elf, standard
Yuan-Ti, Pureblood
Half-Elf, drow magic
Half-Elf, cantrip

Excellent
Elf, Eladrin UA
Aasimar, Protector
Bugbear
Aasimar, Fallen
Dwarf, Mountain
Half-Elf, other variant
Aasimar, Scourge
Tabaxi
Tiefling, Feral

Good
Dwarf, Hill
Half-Orc
Elf, Wood
Gnome, Deep
Firbolg
Githyanki UA
Elf, Eladrin DMG
Halfling, Ghostwise
Halfling, Lightfoot

Mediocre
Githzerai UA
Elf, High
Goliath
Lizardfolk
Triton
Halfling, Stout
Tiefling, standard
Genasi, Fire
Dwarf, Duergar

Substandard
Goblin
Hobgoblin
Genasi, Water
Genasi, Air
Gnome, Forest
Elf, Drow

Poor
Genasi, Earth
Gnome, Rock
Kobold

Beyond
Kenku
Orc
Dragonborn
Human, standard

 

[Harzel]

A brief note about vote counting. One person out there might think I threw out their ballot for disingenuity: a single S and the rest Ds. I did count it, after normalizing it to median B. Similarly, a few other people think they live in Lake Woebegon. If your average rating is "Above Average" and your lowest rating is "Balanced", you are Doing It Wrong.

Probably you should have made it clearer that you wanted ratings of races relative to each other rather than ratings relative to an ideal for the game. Had I chosen to participate*, I would fully have expected that you were looking for the latter and so, for instance, rating everything Balanced or above would be a valid response. Particularly your use of the term 'defective' made me think relative to the game, not relative to the other races. But that could just be me.

* I didn't not because I didn't want to contribute, but because I didn't feel that I had enough data to have a valid opinion.