Races (5A)

Fantasy humanoids that can work as player characters.

General Rules

The optional racial modifiers from Tasha's are not used. See Character Creation for what we use instead.

Races with names in italics are generally not suitable to most campaigns, but can fit excellently in some specific setting.

Dwarf

The difference between hill and mountain dwarves is mainly a degree of integration. Hill dwarfs are integrated into the culture of the Flanaess, while mountain dwarfs live more isolated in dwarven mountain fastness'.

Elf

Elves were originally one people, but have descended into tribalism. Because elves magically adapt to their surroundings, the elven tribes are quite different. High elves and wood elves are described in the PHB. Genasi are elves in Greyhawk, which affects their appearance but not much else. New kinds of elves are introduced here.

Grey Elf

Sometimes called Sentry Elves, the Grey Elves are the original elves who lived in mountain fastnesses in what is today the Hellfurnaces. They preserve the curiosity and intellect that originally let them decipher the secrets of magic, but have not undergone the adaptations that other elves have. This may be why they are called grey, as opposed to the green (wood), light (high), brown (wild), or blue (sea) elves. They live in great citadel-cities in fairy, located in strategic locations to guard a planar boundary or to defend against some primordial evil. They come out of their cities to trade, explore, and mingle with high elves and occasionally other people. When seen in the mortal world, they live among and are often mistaken for High Elves. They share the High Elves human skin tones, with hair and eyes of metallic colors; silver, gold, dark iron, or even metallic blues and greens.

Ability Score Increase. Your Intelligence score increases by 2.

Fey Elf

Eladrin The unruly cousins of grey elves, fey are the rustic nobility of faerie. Unlike Grey Elves who isolate themselves in fortresses in fairy, fey elves are fully adopted to fairy and take part in its incessant changes. Fey elves see themselves as the nobility and law-keepers of fairy. To outsiders the laws they keep seem very much their own whims. Some have human colors, others have saturated hues from the wild places they live.

High Elf

High Elves are the elite of elves in Greyhawk as far as most people know. Those who know of grey elves may think of them as elven royalty, while the high elves are elven nobility. Neither is really true. High elves often live as a kind of nobility among wood elves, but the gruach disdain them. Still, high elves are the most cosmopolitan of elves, and generally represent all elves in relations with other races.

Wood Elf

Wood Elves are the most common elves in the Flanaess. Like the name indicates, they live in sylvan areas and this colors their culture. The common image of elves as elusive archers clothed in green come from wood elves, and they excel as archers and in guerilla warfare.

Sea Elf

Sea Elf Sea elves withdrew further than most other elves, entering an entirely separate element. The increase in sea travel, along with the advances of undersea evil has ended this isolation. These days they are somewhat coming back into contact with both elves and other surface races. Devotees or Deep Sahelas, a god of uncertain origins or perhaps an ancient sea-elf leader, sea elves emulate their exemplar in his protective aspect, but also in tribalism.

Sky Elf

The winged Avariel are extremely rare, living in the highest peaks of mountains and among the clouds.

Wild Elf

Gruach, the wild elves of Greyhawk, and are considered barbarians by other elves. They live primitive lives accompanied by the animals that taught them to survive in harsh environments. Wild elves are ruddy or swarthy of complexion with wild hair with colors from the environment or from beasts. Many have the eyes, tails, ears, or other features of animals.

Elemental Elves (Genasi)

The rarest elves, to the point that even other elves consider them legends, are the elemental elves. Native to elemental regions of fairy and to extreme parts of Oerth and rarely moving outside these regions, they are seldom encountered by other races. In game terms, elemental elves use the base characteristics of elves and apply the characteristics of the different sub-races of genasi. The points below replace the points given in the genasi description.

Ability Score Increase. Your Dexterity score increases by 2.

Age. Like other elves, genasi live to 300 to 700 years of age.

Alignment. Independent and focused on their own element and affairs, genasi tend toward a neutral alignment.

Size. Genasi like other elves are slim, appearing much like adolescent humans. Your size is Medium.

Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.

Languages. You can speak, read, and write Common and Elvish, each element of genasi having their own dialect.

Gnome

Gnomes are both reclusive and gregarious at once. They are divided into two groups, but this is by inclination rather than breeding; there is only one kind of gnome, that divides depending on the interests of each individual. Forest gnomes live in hidden communities in hills and forests, but once contacted these communities are very open and welcoming. Rock gnomes, by far fewer, exist both in these settlements and among other races. This means that outsiders think gnomes are about half forest and half rock gnomes, the proportion most folk see. Forest gnomes are occasionally mistaken for small wood elves, which pleases gnomes and annoys elves.

Half-Elf

Half-elves are rare, but their gregariousness makes people think there are more of them than there actually is. They have high status in areas where elves are rare. Such half-elves often try to intermarry to keep their family's racial status. In areas where elves are common, half-elves are more common, and seen as rogues. Elves generally pity half-elves.

Half-Orc

Half-orcs are often children of tragedy and war and sometimes abandoned soon after birth. This means that many half-orcs grow up in military or religions institutions. Such an upbringing gives the half-orc a role in society, and acceptance as long as he sticks to that role. Not all half-orcs are raised this way and have a regular upbringing among orcs, human barbarians, or civilized human society. These half-orcs often face more prejudice.

Halfling

Halflings of the Flanaess are related to gnomes and live in similar locations. The variants of halflings are more families or bloodlines in halfling communities and not separate tribes. Halflings living near dwarfs and gnomes tend to be of stouts, tallfellows live around elves, but an outsider couldn't tell them apart. Lightfeet have good relations to humans and often live intermingled, usually in their own quarter of a larger settlement. The halfling part of town naturally welcomes other small creatures, but remarkably often also provides a home for half-breeds; half-orcs, half-elves, and even half-ogres tend to get along with halflings.

Lightfoot

Lightfoot halflings are the most common and most gregarious kind. Many humans think all halflings are lightfeet, as the other kinds are less common and more reclusive. Lightfeet get along with everybody, but particularly with humans and half-breeds.

Stout

Stout halflings are more powerfully built than most halflings and get along well with dwarves and gnomes.

Tallfellow

The rarest halflings, tallfellows are slightly taller than other halflings but slender and in the same weight range. They are fascinated by and get along with elves.

Ability Score Increase. Your Intelligence score increases by 1.
Learned. Gain proficiency in one of the following skills: Arcana, History, Nature, Performance, Persuasion, or Religion.

Human

The World of Greyhawk has a great variety of humans, and I feel representing this with game effects suits the genre.

Ability Score Increase. You increase two ability scores of your choice by one, and gain one further ability increase depending on ethnicity. These ability modifiers stack. See feat below for possible additional ability increases.
Feat. You gain one Feat of your choice. As an option, you can replace this with having a +1 bonus to all ability scores, which stacks with the further ability increase due to ethnicity.
Language. You speak Common.
Additional Proficiencies. You gain one language and two other proficiencies based on your ethnicity.

Common

Common humans are the most versatile humans. They dominate the central and south-western parts of the Flanaess. Only choose another ethnicity if it fits your concept, not for optimization reasons—there really aren't any.

Apply a +1 ability bonus to any ability score.
You know one additional ethnic human language.
Choose any two proficiencies among weapons, skills, tools, vehicles, or languages.

Baklunish

Baklunish are somewhat like the Persians of Earth. They live in civilized kingdoms in the north-west of the Flanaess.

Apply a +1 ability bonus to Constitution, Intelligence, or Wisdom.
You know your ethnic language, Baklunish
You have proficiency with with two of composite bow proficiency, Animal Handling, History, Religion, Survival, a gambling set, or navigator's tools.

Flan

The flan were eponymous first humans in the Flanaess. They are mostly hunter-gatherers. Civilized flan resemble east Europeans in culture. The ur-flan were a group of flan built cities and used dark magics in the distant past.

Apply a +1 ability bonus to Dexterity, Constitution, or Wisdom.

gain proficiency with your ethnic language (Flan) and can apply their ability score bonus to Dexterity, Constitution, or Wisdom.

Oerdian

Oerdians were the dominant ethnicity in the Flanaess for a very long time, and are still dominant in the eastern part. Their culture resembles medieval western European.

Apply a +1 ability bonus to Strength, Intelligence, or Charisma.
You know your ethnic language, Oerdian
You gain proficiency with two of the following: any one weapon, Animal Handling, Athletics, History, Persuasion, or Religion.

Olman

Mesoamerican in look and culture, the Olman are in a cultural slump. They live south-west of the Flanaess, but do not dominate these areas.

Apply a +1 ability bonus to Dexterity, Wisdom, or Charisma.
You know your ethnic language, Amedi.
You gain proficiency with two of the following: Acrobatics, Arcana, Athletics, Intimidate, Religion, Survival, or Olman. Olman is a dead language, but isolated tribe deep in the Amedio jungle may still speak it.

Paynim

Similar to the Mongols of Earth, Paynim are horse nomads and live on the plains in the north of the Flanaess.

Apply a +1 ability bonus to Dexterity, Constitution, or Wisdom.
You know your ethnic language, Ordai.
You gain proficiency with two of the following: composite bow proficiency, Animal Handling, Arcana, Investigation, Nature, Perception, or Survival.

Rhenne

Similar to the Roma of Earth, Rhenne live as nomads on barges and in caravans, mainly in the Central Flanaess.

Apply a +1 ability bonus to Dexterity, Wisdom, or Charisma.
You know your ethnic language, Rhopan.
You gain proficiency with two of the following: Acrobatics, Animal Handling, Arcana, Performance, Sleight of Hand, or a type of vehicles, or one living language.

Suel

The blonde hollywood villains of Greyhawk, the Suel once had a great empire destroyed in a magical holocaust. Splintered and defeated, they now live on the rim of the continent.

Apply a +1 ability bonus to Strenth, Intelligence, or Charisma.
You know your ethnic language, one of Amedi, Cold Tounge, Lendorian, or Suel. Amedi is spoken in the Amedi jungles, Cold Tongue in the barbarian north-east, and Lendorian on the isles of the South-east. Suel is spoken in the successor states to the Scarlet Brotherhood.
You gain proficiency with two of the following: Acrobatics, History, Intimidation, Suel (ancient language), water vehicles, or proficiency with a melee weapon of your choice.

Tuov

A black people from the continent of Hepmonaland to the south-east of the Flanaess.

Apply a +1 ability bonus to Strength, Constitution, or Intelligence.
You know your ethnic language, Tuov.
You gain proficiency with two of the following: Athletics, History, Nature, Perception, Persuasion, Stealth, or Survival.

Tiefling

I am not enthused about the multitude of infernal tieflings.

Tieflings are humans tainted by the lower planes. This can be by parentage, but might also be simply from contact with fiends or the backlash of evil magic, either to the tiefling as a child or to a parent. Scientifically speaking they actually become elves due to the change, but this is not recognized, especially among elves.

Greyhawk tieflings are less uniform in appearance, and their general frame is like that of elves. All have some fiendish, traits. Choose 2-5 of the following features: small horns; fangs or sharp teeth; a forked tongue; catlike eyes; six fingers on each hand; goat-like legs; cloven hoofs; a forked tail; leathery or scaly skin; red or dark blue skin; cast no shadow or reflection; exude a smell of brimstone; eyes that glow;, birthmarks that look like fiendish sigils. Rarely are these marks are as pronounced as those described in the Player's Handbook.

Theiflings born with more obvious marks of evil are often soon abandoned. This means that many tieflings grow up in military or religions institutions. Such an upbringing gives a role in society, and acceptance as long as you stick to that role.

Tiefling Features

Ability Score Increase. Your Charisma score increases by 1 and your Dexterity score by 1. Chose one ability score, including Dexterity or Charisma, that ability score gains a further +1 increase.

Age. Tieflings mature at the same rate as humans but potentially live longer. Their full possible lifespan is not known.

Alignment. Tieflings might not have an innate tendency toward evil, but many of them end up there. Evil or not, an independent nature inclines many tieflings toward a chaotic alignment.

Size. Tieflings are about the same size and build as elves. Around 5 ft. tall and weighing 100 lbs or so. Your size is Medium.

Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.

Darkvision. Thanks to your infernal heritage, you have superior vision in dark and dim conditions. You can see in dim light within 60 feet of you as if it were bright light, and in darkness as if it were dim light. You can’t discern color in darkness, only shades of gray.

Hellish Resistance. You have resistance to cold or fire damage, choose one.

Languages. You can speak, read, and write Common and either Abyssal, Daemonic, or Infernal.

Spells: You can cast a small number of spells from the warlock spell list. Charisma is your spellcasting ability for these spells. You regain the ability to cast spells after a long rest.
- At 1st level pick one warlock cantrip.
- At 3rd level pick one 1st level sorcerer spell. You can cast this spell once.
- At 5th level pick one 2nd level sorcerer spell. You can cast this spell once.