Races and Monsters

The first step in the process of character creation is to choose a race for your character. Almost any race printed in any D&D source is potentially available for a player character race, however, in practice GMs will limit a player's choice. This may be done because of the demands of the setting or simply to maintain a degree of parity within the adventuring party. Follow the links below for rules changes on particular races.

Core Races

The races presented in the Player's Handbook can be considered core character races. They are normally available in most generic fantasy settings such as the Forgotten Realms or Dragonlance settings. They are also balanced so no one race is more powerful or game destabilising than any other.

• Human
• Dwarf
• Elf
• Gnome
• Half-Elf
• Half-Orc
• Halfling (Hobbit)

Exotic Races

Of course, players are awkward buggers and often don't want to play one of the core races. Any race that isn't a core race is an exotic race. Exotic races may or may not be balanced with one another. If the race is more powerful then a mechanic has to be devised to balance the characters of players who choose those races with players who choose one of the less powerful, traditional, races. In the third edition game this mechanic is the Equivalent Character Level or ECL. I don't use the ECL in my game, I use a different mechanic that I believe to be far simpler and better reflects the power-level of each race. See the section on Playing Powerful Races for more information on this. Three example exotic races are listed below:

• Aboleth
• Drow
• Minotaur