The One D&D Species Tier List
This will be an analysis of each species based on how strong they are in a vacuum. While each species will likely have an advantage for a particular class/build, now that species doesn’t grant your initial ability score improvements, you have substantially more flexibility in what species you choose for what class or build you’re going for. To that end, some species will still be better for some classes or builds and that will both be factored into the ranking and mentioned in the explanations.
All that said, this Tier List should be used more as a way to help decide what species you’re going to play rather than a means to dissuade someone to play a species they’re interested in. While there are species that are better than others, I always encourage fun first as they aren’t so far apart in power level to consider not playing a species you want to play in lieu of a different one.
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Tier List Rankings
I do a standard S-F tier ranking and here’s how I categorize them:
S Tier – The absolute best of the best. These options can even broach into unfair territory and may be subject to being banned at certain tables. If you’re looking for power level alone, there’s functionally no reason not to use these.
A Tier – While not as broken as the S Tier options, these are as good as you can get without broaching into unfair territory, although some of them may be strong enough to feel unfair!
B Tier – These will not be as inherently powerful as A Tier options, but are still quite strong in their own right. These are likely a bit more situational or slightly weaker than the A tier options, but still very good.
C Tier – Decent options, but likely not particularly strong. These options don’t offer too much or may just be a bit too situational to be ranked higher, but are still options you should consider as these will be the average power level.
D Tier – While not completely useless, these options are either very weak or very situational so are unlikely to be used, but unlike F tier, these aren’t completely unusable or actively detrimental.
F Tier – Either so weak or so situational that these should functionally never be taken or considered unless in the most niche of circumstances.
S Tier
None
A Tier
Aasimar* – Out of every species available to players, Aasimar simply have the most going on with two damage resistances, darkvision, a once a day heal, a free cantrip, and an activated ability that has three different modes on top of granting extra damage. Sheesh. Aasimar are a great choice for literally any class or build as they just have generically good abilities all around. This was a tough choice between putting this in A or S tier as they are so generically strong, but I do find myself choosing other species with a lot of builds as they fit just ever so slightly better than Aasimar, knowing that Aasimar would be a correct pick in functionally any build is what makes it the top species.
Goliath* – Goliaths don’t have that many abilities once everything is chosen – a base 35 feet movement speed, Large Form which isn’t super helpful for most characters, and Powerful Build which may or may not come up at all in most adventures. So why are Goliaths so good? Your Giant Ancestry abilities are really, really strong. The one’s that definitely stand out are Cloud’s Jaunt for free Misty Steps and Hill’s Tumble to knock creatures prone for free, no save or anything. I think these abilities alone make Goliath really powerful for martial characters in particular as having either of these abilities is really strong, but being a Goliath wouldn’t be as exciting for casters.
Human – All Humans are now variant humans (thank goodness, nobody picked regular human), but only being able to pick an additional Origin feat is a huge nerf to the species. That said, it was a much needed nerf as way too many builds relied on this or Custom Lineage for the extra General Feat so this was definitely a good change. That said, being able to pick up an Origin feat without going that origin is really powerful. Need someone to grab Musician? No problem. No Healer? Pick up Magic Initiate (Cleric) and grab Healing Word. Want more defense? Magic Initiate (Wizard) and grab Shield. On top of that, you get one Heroic Inspiration a day for free as well. Humans are solid to patch up any holes in your class.
B Tier
Dragonborn – With an inherent damage resistance, a better breath weapon, darkvision, and Flying once per day, Dragonborn are a really solid choice for any character. The main downside of Dragonborn is, while their breath weapon can be pretty strong in earlier levels, it doesn’t necessarily scale the best making it lose usefulness as levels increase. Still, the core of the Dragonborn is good and even with the breath weapon losing stock later, it’s not rendered completely useless and can still be pretty potent in the right scenarios, especially for martial characters who likely lack inherent AOE damage.
Elf* – Elves are pretty similar to their 5e versions with resistance to Charmed effects and no need to sleep which are nice, but the Elf Ancestry is where Elves get their power from. While High Elf is the best of the three options as that gets you Prestidigitation, Detect Magic, and Misty Step, the Drow and Wood Elf ancestries also give you some nice bonuses with massively improved Darkvision and Darkness from Drow and extra movement speed and Pass Without Trace from Wood Elf.
C Tier
Dwarf – Extra hit points and the highest distance of Darkvision in the game is pretty nice, especially since all small species have gotten the buff to now have 30 feet speed like Medium sized species. That said, the Poison resistance is probably not going to come into play that often and Tremorsense will be similarly niche making Dwarves a fine, but not exemplary choice.
Gnome – If Gnomish Cunning didn’t now grant advantage on all Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma saving throws, Gnomes would’ve been thrown into F tier. So even though the rest of the Gnome’s abilities leave a lot to be desired, Gnomish Cunning is an incredible feature that is easily the strongest species feature in the game.
Halfling – While generally relegated to Rogues (which they are good for), they do have decent abilities as well including Naturally Stealthy and Luck (only 5% chance of triggering, but still). Solid all around and reasonable for most martial characters.
Orc – Orcs whole shtick is that they are hard to put down, and that’s a very reasonable want out of your character! A free Dash and a bit of temporary health can sometimes go a long way to keeping you alive if you’re starting to get pressured and literally refusing to go unconscious once per day is also quite good. Ironically, while Orcs were likely more geared towards martial characters, I think these abilities actually work slightly better
D Tier
Tiefling – Unfortunately one of the fan favorite species just does hold up against most of the other choices. Functionally, Tieflings seem to operate as worse Dragonborn as both of their best features are their elemental resistance and both have Darkvision, but the Fiendish Legacy spells really leave a lot to be desired (Infernal being the best choice, but still not great). Tiefling aren’t a terrible species choice all things considered, but definitely a bit lackluster.
F Tier
None – Thankfully, none of the species choices are just horrible. All of them have redeeming qualities that should be considered.
