Too Many Races in DnD 5e: 3 Potential Solutions
I started playing 5th edition around the release of Xanathar’s Guide to Everything. Needless to say, I never experienced ‘vanilla’ 5e with its constraints and limitations. My first experience creating a character in 5th edition, and indeed in any TTRPG, was a fairly smooth one. I could choose from a handful of races present in the Player’s Handbook and Volo’s Guide to Monsters. With the release of more and more supplemental products, however, I have now found myself somewhat bogged down by the sheer amount of options available, especially as a DM and worldbuilder.
As a Dungeon Master, the ability to integrate these races into a coherent setting is tumultuous at best. On one hand, I want my players to have a choice. I want someone to, within reason, be able to choose a race from published D&D content and bring it to my table, confident in their ability to play what they desire. And yet, to do so is to have a world with a daunting number of cultures and fantasy races, a world where gith and warforged travel alongside drow and firbolg, to the point where it seems every adventuring party I’ve run since 2018 rarely consists of two beings from even the same plane of existence.
A lizardfolk, a changeling, and a centaur walk into a bar... (Art: Jeskai Ascendancy by Dan Scott)
And I get it. Extra races are cool. Options are cool. A good race can lay the groundwork for an entire character or even campaign, and more options allow for the exploration of more themes and ways of life. Hell, player races sell books— of course WotC is going to keep making them! The problem arises, however, when I can’t give a race or culture the appropriate attention and dedication it deserves because there’s just so damn many. I like to build a setting first and create a campaign second. Sure, I could always tell a player that no, genasi don’t play a part in the Norse-inspired setting I’ve created. But that feels unsatisfying in its own way; I want my players to be able to build the characters they want, and to be able to use the supplemental material that they (as well as I) purchased with their hard-earned cash.
This predicament is only set to become more drastic, as WotC will no doubt continue to produce 5e content for years to come. I fully recognize, by the way, the irony in this position given I manage a group that creates homebrew! But that’s just the thing, new toys are cool! But keep too many, and things start to get a little crowded... All in all, although I haven’t found a perfect solution, I can offer some pointers to help alleviate some of these issues for some folks out there who find themselves in similar situations:
1. Session Zero
Session Zero, should you choose to run it, could end up being the most important session in your campaign. Session Zero, that is character creation before the ‘first’ in-play session of the campaign, gives your players a chance to make a party of characters together. I’ve found that this increases player interest in not just their own individual characters, but in the characters across the table as well. Because it facilitates this kind of table synergy, it also allows you as a DM to craft backstories that span multiple characters, creating further bonds between players. In addition to some of these inherent benefits to running Session Zero, it most importantly allows you as the DM to set player expectations before you begin rolling dice. Meaning if you’ve already put thought into the races of your world, you can not only share that with the players but also get them excited to play with the options you have made available, rather than set them up for disappointment with options you take away.
2. Substituting Races
I’ve found that while the number of 5e races increases, the individuality of those races decreases. That is to say as more and more races are introduced, they tend to begin overlapping and borrowing from the unique flavor of others. While this is indicative of the issues I’ve already described, it also grants you an opportunity to use this ambiguity to your favor. Let’s say, for example, that Johnny wants to play a paladin, and an underwater race at that. It just so happens that the only underwater player race you had planned for your world was sea elves, but Johnny really had the idea of a triton paladin in mind. Never fear; for all Johnny knows, the sea was always full of tritons! Do a bit of reskinning and reflavoring of your existing setting, and just like that, your campaign world has changed for the sake of your players with just a small amount of effort from you.
3. Screw It
D&D is about having fun. So maybe you wanted to run a traditional fantasy setting with only elves, dwarves, and humans. But that damned Johnny insists on playing a Warforged, and Jenny has come with a Githzerai pre-rolled! Ya know what? Screw it. D&D has always been more pulp fiction than anything, so why not. Adventurers are meant to be weirdos anyway, and chances are Johnny and Jenny aren’t the type of nerds to obsess over lore anyways. They probably don’t even realize that they hail from different planes... amateurs! But in all seriousness, sometimes an outlandish race is only as much of a problem as you make it. Sometimes the best thing you can do as a DM is let go.
In Conclusion
Now obviously, none of these solutions are perfect (let me know if you have one!) and each requires a level of compromise between both player and DM. But, perhaps trying to shift your perspective is just what you needed to help things run more smoothly at your table. How do you navigate this issue? Do you find it's a problem at all? I'd love to hear your thoughts! I’ve certainly used a mix of these depending on the campaign and its requirements, and I will always encourage you as a DM to try new things. After all, it’s how we grow our book of tricks! Even if there’s, like, 10 races that get a +2 to Cha now.
— Trent the Sewerman