Racial Tiers

[thecasualoblivion]

If I was going to look at the available races for which we have a full writeup on, PHB plus FRPG and Warforged/Gnoll/Minotaur, this is how I would rank them:


Tier 1: Powerful abilities and feats, work well with many classes

Dwarf--Stats work well for most classes, combination of solid racial abilities and good feats
Elf--Best racial encounter in the game, good stat boosts and racial abilities, so-so feats
Warforged--Very strong racial abilities/feats can make Warforged nearly unkillable, Str/Con boost same defense, but Str benefits a lot of classes

Tier2: Powerful races that generally lack the versatility of Tier 1

Eladrin--Dex/Int isn't a great stat boost array, though Fey Step and the feats are solid
Genasi--Powerful racials, but not a lot of synergy with Str/Int outside of Swordmage and Warlord
Drow--Very powerful at a limited array of classes, focused primarily on Rogue
Halfling--Very powerful at a limited array of classes, focused primarily on Rogue

Tier3: Solid Races with good versatility that aren't quite as powerful as Tier 1/2

Dragonborn--Have MAD issues as a race, as two of their racials work off of Con which isn't even one of their bonus stats. Minor action attack is a bit unique, and is great on a Fighter
Human--Aren't very good at builds requiring a third ability score, and most classes don't heavily benefit from a third At-Will. Best Wizards though.

Tier4: Solid Races without as much versatility as Tier3

Half-Elf--Not a lot of good class fits for Con/Cha, Racials versatile but unspectacular
Tiefling--Good for most classes that use Int/Cha, Racial ability causes MAD if you aren't already using Cha.
Minotaur--Its AC bonus to charge is underrated(stacks with Defensive Mobility), though unspectacular overall.

Tier5: Lackluster racial powers and synergy

Gnoll--Doesn't really get anything special, and no spectacular class fits.

 

[DracoSuave]

Dwarf's abilities stack them in favor of fighter, but their racial mods put you firmly in the category of either a Warlock or a laser Cleric, which keeps you off the front lines.
Half-Elf: Cha/Con = Star-lock for sure. The racial skill modifiers are to things Warlocks can use. Dilettante can be something useful to a starlock.
Tiefling: Paladin. Infernal Wrath is amazing in the hands of a Paladin, and the ability to get +1 to hit bloodied enemies means that you've got a +1 to hit half the time you're in battle. That's a lot better than you think, and far more reliable than an encounter ability in the long term. This race gets the short end of the stick until you actually play one.
Gnoll: Pack Attack makes them VERY effective Rangers (you do know they can shoot bows too, right?) and very effective Warlocks. Making a good tactic better is not the hallmark of a bad class. They also make decent defenders.

 

[JiffyPopTart]

I would rate the human higher because they make the best multi-classers.

They would have a free feat to multi-class with...get a bonus skill to help fill out the secondary role...get to choose which stat they want to boost...and most importantly have a third at-will which you can eventually use a multi-class power to fill.

DS

 

[thecasualoblivion]

Dwarf's abilities stack them in favor of fighter, but their racial mods put you firmly in the category of either a Warlock or a laser Cleric, which keeps you off the front lines.

You can take the 22pt buy and get the array Str18, Con15, Dex10, Int8, Wis15, Cha10 for a nice, shiny Dwarf Fighter. Take Dwarven Weapon Training, go Waraxe and Shield, and you have the most powerful level 1 Fighter the game can provide.

 

[James McMurray]

Gnoll--Doesn't really get anything special, and no spectacular class fits.

No time to look it up, but IIRC the gnoll would make an excellent barbarian. Lots of chargetastic synergy.

 

[Minigiant]

There are really 3 aspects to the chunchy part of a race: their ability score bonus and size, there racial power, and thier features. This affects what classes they are suited to and how strong they are when they are those classes.

I'd definately place Dwarves, Elves, and Warforged as top tier. Their abilitiy bonus, racial powers, and racial feature are good for almost all the classes.

The next tier would be the races are very strong and fit many classes but hav one weak spot. Eladrin and Genasi (stats bonues are don't synergize but powerful powers and features), Halfling (great stats and power but size lowers class usage), and Dargonborn (great feature and power but abilities heavily focuses class option on str based melee).

Next would be races that pretty much rely on tricky or special combinations: Half elves, Humans, and Drow. Half Elves and Human pretty much favor str based classes or multiclassing. Drow's strength comes all from it's power and darkvision which is good. .

Every other races is either very focused (Tiefling's stats, features, and power sticks it to warlords and arcane classes only, Gnolls are all about two handed melee), OR incomplete and broken (the other MM races).

 

[James McMurray]

Gnoll--Doesn't really get anything special, and no spectacular class fits.

No time to look it up, but IIRC the gnoll would make an excellent barbarian. Lots of chargetastic synergy.

 

[DracoSuave]

The existance of Action Surge alone pushes Half-elves and Humans higher on the tier list.

 

[Gort]

Humans are pretty awesome for any class that relies mainly on one ability score, like wizards, rogues, fighters, and swordmages, because they get a lot more flexibility from the extra at-will.

 

[WalterKovacs]

The half-elves will take a big jump with the bard, especially when PHBII hits. They'll have a class where both their stats are useful, and they'll be able to get more options for the dilletante power. Also, CON/WIS is less of a good class fit than CON/CHA even ... as there isn't really any class where one of the powers is primary while the other is secondary. The fighter or paladin can benefit from both secondary stats ... but the dwarf has to spend everything on STR or CHA to make up for lacking the +2 to those stats. At that point, the ammount he spends to get that stat solid would have helped pay to boost the CON or WIS. He doesn't really want to go into a DEX or INT class either because then you are in light armor but still moving slowly, in addition to needing to spend more on those stats. The feats are awesome though, and the minor healing surge is huge ... but so far there really isn't any class their stats favor as cleric has no real use for con and warlock has no real use for wisdom. The only classes with both stats on the skill list have them both as secondary [and sometimes don't even list con... like a paladin or heck a staff mastery wizard. PHBII might help them out a bit more as there should be some wisdom based stuff.