The Best Race for Each Class in Baldur's Gate 3

[@Toyhouze]

Check out these 7 insanely cool tricks in baldurs gate 3! kzbin.info/www/bejne/amSWkJ6Znpd3ras

[@user-un8jx8yo7z]

I feel like Gith and Halflings are pretty unvalued in this list. Gith get mage hand, jump, and misty step for free at 1,3 and 5 along with great proficiencies. Both Halfing Subraces are good and Lucky is an amazing racial ability. I can't see a human being better than Gith for any class tbh. The only reason you pick human over Gith is if you want a nose.

[@joshuadixon8510]

Greatsword proficiency to make a war priest with that flaming sword from tutorial

[@albertnonymous9759]

Human shield proficiency is quite good on a caster, already in lvl 1 or so you're likely looking at Dexterity 14 or 16, mage armor and a shield for an AC of 17, the only way to get comparable AC as a Githyanki mage early on is by stealing Lae'zels half-plate. Lategame though Githyanki might have the edge, not only are their spells pretty useful, but lategame you can pick up the feat to dualwield staves and get +1 AC, two staves and medium armor beats caster armor, staff and shield

[@Bertoleyus]

​@@joshuadixon8510but if you're going war priest, you can just pick war cleric and have martial weapon proficiency already...

[@BastardZombieKiller1]

My first playthrough is a Gith barb/palidan. I'm in act 3 and just slaughtering things. Gith movement is amazing for barbs to close distances in combat.

[@subterragaming836]

So the shield doesnt do anything? Being able to use a shield as caster from the get go is super valueable and only half elf and human can get it . the light armor increase is also nice , not as good as medium but having shield profiency is better than having medium armor anyway and the classes that would benefit the most from a shield are the casters(wizard , sorc , warlock)

[@TheRockhound119]

It should be noted that any Githyanki with decent dexterity can be your lockpick/trap disabler due to astral knowledge.

[@Grobaton]

Not telling what duergars are getting on level 3 and 5 is a crime.

[@joshuadixon8510]

Do you know?

[@Gardstyle35]

so stop beeing guilty and tell us

[@Sheamu5]

Enlarge at 3 and invisibility at 5

[@Maitredebo2]

Infinite invisibility is honestly, game breaking. You can literally scout everywhere, steal stuff and cast it again

[@MamduhAlotaibi]

Also githyanki get mistystep , lolth sworn gets a spell too (I don’tknow how to spell it so I won’t try )

[@corwyncorey3703]

Here's the thing... Every race can be effective in every class. But not necessarily in every *playstyle*. As an example, Wood elves do get more movement... but that is as useful for ranged attackers as for melee. Getting to those high places gets that High Ground bonus. Also keep in mind... many of these racial spells are based on stats you won't have invested in. Burning Hands is Int based... useless for someone with an 8 in intelligence. Race is, in the end, more about how your character will be treated in the game and about how you feel about them than it will be about the mechanics. Lean into a character's strengths... whatever they are.

[@Reel___]

which race and class did you choose?

[@corwyncorey3703]

@@Reel___ I did Lolth-Sworn drow for a Dark Urge pure Monk playthrough. Did Wood Elf for a Bard/Warlock playthrough. Mainly did the drow one for the reactions to me, as some part of me thought it would give me some interesting convo options but still be a warning to npc's "this person is baaaad" without even doing anything... The bardlock was a copy of a TTRPG version of the same character, so their race was pretty much settled before I even started lol

[@shawnkroll3950]

I love playing Halfling...it so fun and quirky. Especially barbarian. Hilarious throwing with them :) Oh look she is so cute...rages...OMG she just tore that goblin apart!

[@Vazik05]

I'd argue most warlocks aren't gonna care about medium armor because of Potent Robes, and to a lesser extent, sorcerers. They're just too good to pass up, especially for Eldritch Blast, but they're still awesome on all the CHA based casters.

[@andrespolanco3182]

This, unless you play dark urge…

[@Than211]

@@andrespolanco3182 Even if you play Dark Urge, you can still get it, there's a youtube video teaching you how to do it.

[@DarthSoto78]

Half-Orc is an amazing Paladin if your going for a crit build, getting any gear that makes critical hit’s easier.

[@joshuadixon8510]

Palock hork is pretty strong

[@sirkimestry4524]

Drows and Half-Drows also get Faerie Fire as a racial spell at level 3, recharges on Long rest I think? Pretty useful spell, at least in the early game.

[@Than211]

I personally find Faerie Fire to be very underwhelming because enemies can simply move out of the area and it also affects your characters that are in it, and furthermore, it's a concentration which means it can be broken and no other concentration spell can be used during it. It's hardly worth casting it rather than just simply attacking the enemy outright and killing them instead if you're trying to be efficient.

[@demokratorkodo]

Half-Elf is great for a Draconic Lineage Sorceror, as you gain +3 Ac from that class and you can gain additional Ac from wielding a Shield, an option you don't have if you chose Shield Dwarf. This allows you to use robes (there's some good ones, including one allowing to add your Cha mod to your Cantrips' dmg) in the armor slot while having a decent Ac.

[@AryOnYT]

Played as a Wood Half-Elf Red Dragon Sorcerer in my evil DUrge campaign. Can confirm that he was extremely hard to hit even with early game gear.

[@Local_commentor]

​@@AryOnYTi played a high elf gold dragon sorc and had the bloodgazer robes with dual wield adamantine long sword I would cast twined spell and the go for the off hand attack with the insane ac I had most hits missed

[@rwulf]

The best way to use githyanki astral knowledge is to build around it. basically, pick one of the ability scores with a lot of generally useful associated proficiencies, like wisdom or dexterity, and then DONT select any of those skills at all using your class or background proficiencies. Then, every morning when you finish your long rest, use Astro knowledge to hit that ability that you ignored and gain as many free proficiencies from it as possible.

[@bless-o-blee7295]

Also good to note. I made a Drow with my gf's playthrough and Drow indeed get faerie fire as a cantrip at lvl 2-3. I could be wrong about the cantrip part but its a pretty nice thing to just get for free.

[@commandershepard7728]

FYI the perception / stealth for the race is listed on the bottom right under all the other stats . It shows those additional proficients

[@tofu_golem]

Zariel tiefling is also good at being a bard because of the thaumaturgy ability. Hard can really benefit from performance checks.

[@kyuven]

Small correction: Seldarine drow CAN choose red eyes. They're just not expected to have red eyes.

[@Jdvalentine13]

Technically any race can have red eyes there’s an option to “show all eyes/skin tones” my wood elf durge has a tiefling eye (black sclera) since I thought it was fitting.

[@belrevan1986]

Wood half elf is also great for monks. Extra movement speed and spears

[@weeboftheleft5113]

Yeah, honestly....Wood Elf, Wood Half-Elf, Githyanki are all AMAZING Monks it's almost criminal to neglect mentioning them. Shadow Monks can already get darkness, not to mention Wizards, Sorcerers, Warlocks, Bards, Druids....etc all have access to it. And Hellish Rebuke is meh vs something like buying Manueveres and using Riposte with Feats.

[@Marb315]

longswords too

[@weeboftheleft5113]

@@Marb315 If you're using a weapon outside of Simple as a Monk, you should probably just consider a different class. The whole benefit of them is getting the free bonus unarmed attack by using their Monk Weapons/Unarmed attacks, and they can already match the d8 of a Longsword(One Handed). Sacrificing all your bonuses(Including guaranteed bonus damage) for potential of 2 extra damage isn't worth it imo.

[@Bertoleyus]

​​@@weeboftheleft5113i'm not sure what you mean. If a monk has proficiency in a weapon, that means it's now a monk weapon. So a dwarf monk can use hammers and they'll be considered monk weapons, yes? Are you saying you can only use unarmed attacks if you have a 1 handed weapon?

[@weeboftheleft5113]

@@Bertoleyus I haven't actually tested this in BG3 yet, so perhaps I am mistaken, but no, having proficiency does NOT make something a Monk Weapon by RAW. Only Simple Weapons and Shortswords are considered Monk Weapons. So, daggers, clubs, 1/4staves, etc. A longsword by TT RAW will not trigger any of the Monk's bonuses, as it is not a Monk Weapon.

[@Unchainedful]

Basically, there is no “best race” in this game. Min and max building exists here but it doesn’t do much. The game is not hard at all on tactical mode, that’s not to say it isn’t challenging, you just have to be smart with your decisions and rolls. You can play as any race as any class and you really won’t feel the difference. Be whoever you feel you would connect with better. I play Dragonborne Barbarian Dark Urge and I’m also a necromancer. Having a blast.

[@O-D-X]

@MarcusWebster-lm3ug Still much of the info presented here is not the best option. Clerics should almost never be using Cure Wounds over healing word, so all info about clerics is just wrong. Also there is a big difference between advantage on stealth checks and skill proficiency in stealth. Wood elf movement isn't any better than have a 17 strength to start and using jump to close the gap in the start of combat. I could go on and on.

[@user-un8jx8yo7z]

People just like theory crafting the "best" even though it's not necessary it feels satisfying to know that you picked the "right" choice because you planned it out. Obviously it's a single player game and picking anything would be fine but it just helps some people get excited about their character if they prepared it before hand in this way.

[@neverfallnewsmedia]

Yeah sorry but in DnD, you shouldn't be able to play any race as any class and be awesome. If you made a half-orc sorc in 5e, PnP DnD, the party would fucking laugh at you. This race mechanic is absolutely terrible. This simply isn't DnD, when you gut the rules for races that DnD wrote for a reason.

[@warthogvanguard7292]

@@neverfallnewsmediayeah I’ve been wondering myself if all of these claims that “it’s DnD but in video game form” were true. I’ve never played DnD myself so I could never know. Out of curiosity, what disadvantages did they put on half orcs for magic?

[@neverfallnewsmedia]

@@warthogvanguard7292 No disadvantage really, but more of the advantage of an extra melee crit multi. Half-Orc should really be played as a melee, or you miss their best racial bonus.

[@sazzadhossain132]

Combine the Crit hits from half orc with Pact of Blade Greater Old ones Crit Passive that frightens the enemies with Illithid power that does Luck of the far realm and killing on explosion feels like I should be playing solo.

[@Chronal-Rend]

I'm actually going to be running Zariel tiefling, Eldritch knight /ArchFey Warlock. For the thumaturgy, and the chance to charm / frighten close enemies. And then go packed of the blade to be able to dump my stats into charisma instead of strength

[@AryOnYT]

Honestly Eldritch Knight is pretty bad if you want to be a CHA caster rather than STR fighter. Your build will be waaay better if you multiclass as a College of Swords Bard instead. It's also a full CHA caster class with some great extra abilities called flourishes

[@cwesley2005]

Character building itself is actually one of my favorite parts of bg3

[@ye-roon]

advising the spellcasters to go shield dwarf of gith for medium armor is good. Not advising humans and in particular Half-Elves for spellcasters is a miss. Yes, medium armor is cool. Its 15+2(DEX) and some of the higher ones as well. However Studded Leather +3 is also 15, can also add 2 dex(or more if you have it) and you can slap on a shield for +2. Some shields are +3. Shields have usefull abilities, like extra initiative, an extra spell slot. Extra spell attack/spell DC, defense against spells DC's. Making Half Elves the far superior race for any spell caster that doesnt allready get medium armor or a shield.

[@autodidacticpoly]

How are they superior to humans, gith or dwarves though?

[@ye-roon]

@@autodidacticpoly compared to humans, half elves lose the carrying capacity, which doesnt matter when you can sent everything to camp. And the extra skill proficiency. But they gain dark vision and fey ancestry. Whilst still getting light armor, shields and the weapons on a stick proficiencies. Making them the superior choice over humans for casters. And as explained, the shield gives you an extra stat or ability in addition to the armor class. An extra stat you do not gain when you can't equip a shield. Combine that with itemsation and esp for warlocks, its mostly "better" to equip a chest piece that helps you with your class over pure AC from medium or light armor. So yes, medium armor is great but the shield is better. Great examples are warlocks. In the world of optimisation there's 2 things people want. BIG DPS and High AC. The Potent Robe exists. This adds charisma modifier to your cantrips. This stacks with agonizing blast. Meaning at level 10 eldritchblast will deal 3d10+30 damage. If you get your CHA to 22 its 3d10+36. You're wearing a robe. not armor proficiency needed. but you deal the highest amount of damage. Slap a shield on there, bam. 2 more AC, you cant do that with just medium armor prof. Another example. Swords bard. Swords bards get medium armor, so you dont need that from a race. However they do not get shield prof. Play a human or half elf and suddenly you have a dueling fighting style swords bard with a shield that can actually go up in melee and do gish things.

[@seanabbott798]

​@@autodidacticpolydark vision over humans, not everyone hates them like gith, and the farther movement range over dwarves.

[@goblinking1349]

Wood Half-Elf also gets Stealth proficiency + increased movement, which is quite helpful.

[@burns0100]

After having played the game I really like Wood Elf in general and even more for Cleric. Great base race with movement speed, stealth, perception, dark vision and good basic weapon choices. Basically all you can ask for right out the gate at level 1. Then Cleric brings it home with armour and shield prof, a good variety of subclass options for role play and the option to pick a god to aid in role play further with good/bad alignment. Great choice in my book.

[@kennetth1389]

Thinking of a gith wizard next time. Have tried: Human champion Half orc war priest Half elf assassin All have been fun in different ways

[@Toyhouze]

Check out these 11 Secret Bonuses you might've missed in Act 2! kzbin.info/www/bejne/iqa9qJyQbceIhsk

[@sidecharacter7165]

Note on the weapon proficiencies for Monks. Any non-2-handed and non-Heavy weapon can become a finesse-Monk-Weapon. Elven Longsword Proficiency let’s you use Dex Longsword and still get the Bonus Action Unarmed Strikes. All the nice Longsword(and Shirtswords) still will work with the unarmed abilities. Especially nice for the ones like Phalar Aluve.

[@MrMagyar5]

I would disagree about the wizard. Just having an additional cantrip that uses your intelligence modifier does not make up for all the other race bonuses that are far more beneficial. Shield dwarves, githyanki, tieflings, even dragonborn can all make powerful wizards. I can't express how important armor is to a wizard. Not having proficiency in Constitution is quite painful for concentration saving throws.

[@ThePotatonator979]

24:52 "Superior Darkvision is gonna give you 24 Meteors" *Happy Sephiroth noises*

[@Kenobi_Cowboy]

The 5E system is pretty balanced but I appreciate the notes on little bonuses and things that could help. In the end, just be creative and think up a character you'd enjoy playing. Half-Orc Bard? Do it!

[@opo3628]

Hey now. My silver-tongued half-orc bard is an absolute instrument (no pun intended) of death and destruction, it's pretty ridiculous. 😁

[@LuMnOsITi]

Some major points you missed out with elven weapon training: Monks get the use of a d10 Versatile weapon which is otherwise not possible (and also dwarven weapons does the same with warhammer proficiency). Second, druids otherwise don't get any ranged weapon (all other classes get Light Crossbow proficiency), so this is especially good for druids. Human's and Half elfs Civil Malitia gives shield proficiency to bards, wizards, sorcerers and warlocks, which is 2 extra AC, which is insane. High elf cantrip also benefits arcane tricksters and eldritch knights.

[@LexxBM]

Some notes: Went into the vid hoping you would mention Deep Gnome for Ranger and was not disappointed.It's even better than you say: The Nitpicker gloves you buy off the Iron Hand Gnomes o, act 3 grant +2 DEX to a gnome wearing them. The Dex bonus is uncapped, meaning that you can get 24 DEX (+7) on a Gnome after the Mirror of Shar and Hag's Boon buffs and one ASI. This is useful if you want to go a subclass that doesn't get Disguise Self, such as Champion or Hunter. Everything melts to a Gnome Champion with the Gontre Mael and Dark Justiciar gear under Celestial Haste. it's INSANE. Hard Disagree with Shield Dwarf for bard - Swords and Valor get Medium Armor at level 3, which makes the bonus from Shield Dwarf useless for those subclasses - Gold is the way to go, allowing you to go 12 CON and invest more into STR for a physical or throw build (Valor), or DEX for defensive / ranged / healer builds (Swords). Duergar and Halfling are also great for Swords. I agree that Gith is the overall best race for Lore Bard thanks to Astral Knowledge and their proficiencies. 2 dips into Knowledge Cleric allows for perfect skill coverage on a Gith Lore Bard. (though such a character is TERRIBLE in combat until level 6 Lore - only bring them along for skill monkeying or Crows Control until act 2) The general rule of thumb is Half Orc of Wood Elf for melee characters, Wood elf for Clerics, Gnomes (any) for Archers or Finesse fighters, Gith for everything else. When in doubt, go Human. The great part of character building is that thematic builds always tend to work regardless thanks to gear - a Dwarven bard throwing axes and hammers is as viable as a Githyanki Devotion paladin smiting goblins in the name of Vlaakith, or a Halfling fey/wild sorclock specialized in prankish crowd control. As long as you plan yuor loadout properly, you can do whatever and still win.

[@chickenbob562]

there are so many more insane combinations depending on multiclass etc.

[@FirstOfHisNameSolaire]

Not sure if you forgot but gith also get mistystep and long jump as racial abilities. Which a free cast of misty step is amazing in most situations.

[@ObsceneSuperMatt]

Is that at levels 3 and 5 or?

[@KappaDrudge]

Also the Duergar Enlarge and Invisibility.

[@FirstOfHisNameSolaire]

@@ObsceneSuperMatt sorry level 1 mage hand level 3 long jump level 5 mistystep. Once per long rest. Except mage hand I believe that’s a cantrip.

[@christianna4404]

Gnome cunning is super good but keep in mind it only works for spells.

[@dianabialaskahansen2972]

I'd go Half-Elf over Shield Dwarf for Bard and Sorcerer. I'd take a Light Armor+Shield over a Medium armor. Especially since Draconic Sorcerer has built-in armor and Bard should have some Dex skills, to get sleight of hand and stealth.

[@AryOnYT]

Also, College of Swords Bards have Medium Armor proficiency any way.

[@RJMazz47]

I find Gale and Shadowheart eat well with their human passives. Gale can equip shields with no drawbacks (mage armor doesn't care that you're wielding shields) and Shadowheart can use polearms, which is a kind of weapon clerics don't usually get access to. Most of the times she's better with Blood of Lathander as a weapon but the Moonlight Glaive is just more aesthetic in my opinion, and she can rock that surprisingly well if you get her Polearm Mastery as clerics don't usually get much use off their Bonus Actions aside from emergency Healing Words.

[@heyfell4301]

Spiritual Weapon is a Cleric's ultimate bonus action spell, it's reliable enough to make Polearm Master obsolete.

[@levyburns4163]

@@heyfell4301 But Spiritual Weapon is "fire-and-forget" so RJMazz47's point is still valid for other turns. Moreover, Spiritual Weapon costs a spell slot while all those opportunity attacks from Polearm Mastery are free damage. Why not both?

[@heyfell4301]

@@levyburns4163 spell slots aren't that big of a deal after a certain level, and this is a spell you absolutely should be casting whenever possible. I will say though, if your Cleric is of a melee-focused subclass (like War or Tempest domain) and you have Great Weapon Master then it becomes a way more tempting option. 1d4+3/4 isn't really that good, but when it's 1d4+13 and you have some other ability to boost it you really start to get a feeling of power.

[@levyburns4163]

@@heyfell4301 Spell slots are always a big deal - that's why you always want more of them. You said Spiritual Weapon, as-if instead of PO Mastery; I say why not both? You then say "spell slots arent important," what exactly is your point, man? Just that Spiritual Weapon is good? Why are you responding to that guy's comment about PO Mastery then?

[@heyfell4301]

@@levyburns4163 hey bro, I'm not here to fight over build options or anything akin to that, I'm just sharing my thoughts an opinions about the subject. I believe in most cases getting Polearm Master for a character that already has Spiritual Weapon is redundant, as they're both consume a bonus action for the same purpose and I think SW is better at fulfilling that purpose. Unless you have GWM, I think you'll be more effective with Spiritual Weapon simply because it's more damaging and versatile. Spell slots are also too plentiful of a resource after a while and I don't think you'll run out of them very often and have to switch to Polearm Master. However, this guy does seem to have gone more for aesthetics and roleplay than min-maxing efficiency, which I actually find really cool. I know it is difficult to distinguish tone in written text, but I want to clarify that my intentions were never to be aggressive to you or the OP and my intended tone was as friendly as possible. I was just giving a build recommendation to this guy and arguing about mechanics with you, both based only in my opinion and experience. I am sorry if I sounded aggressive or came out as annoying in any way, I just like to argue for the sake of it.

[@ashleythorei4494]

githyanki, race mobility cantrips, outweigh most other race benefits by a mile.

[@twizz13r24]

Yeah but no nose.

[@user-un8jx8yo7z]

It's fun to have those benefits for roleplay aspects but imo they seem insanely over kitted because of it compared to most classes.

[@WolfHreda]

Elves being proficient with Longbows has a very good utility for spellcasters who otherwise wouldn't have that proficiency. Arron (very first vendor in the grove) sells a magical Longbow called Spellthief. On a crotical hit, it restores one 1st level spell slot. While this is more useful on Paladins and Rangers, who have only 1st level spells for a bit longer, any spellcaster can benefit from this occasional boon.

[@Cyberpsychos_Dirge]

I disagree on the Zariel Tiefling. Paladin already has many of those smites, so getting one extra charge per long rest isn’t too much. It’s nice, but w/e. Also with high Charisma they don’t need much boost from thaumaturgy Now Barbarian on the other hand. Thaumaturgy will boost the intimidation you likely already have proficiency in and will allow you to be somewhat social. Branding smite will help mark invisible enemies for your rage, once you rage. Smite, rage, remaining attacks. Easy peasy

[@jtfike]

Wood elf is best race for bard. You can replace a thief completely.

[@robertkarp2070]

I went half-Elf Drow Bard, with the more roguish subclass. I have bonus to die rolls galare and with the bonus to rolls for lockpicking and disarm traps, it really fills in for a Fighter, when you don't have one present. Along with being able to supply those heal spells.

[@AryOnYT]

I love playing as a Wood Half-Elf. You get the best of both worlds. Would like to try out one of the smaller races next campaign

[@Dumpstermuffin1]

it should also mention that as a deep gnome ranger you get giant killer at level 3 and everything is giant to you LOL

[@user-un8jx8yo7z]

But it's a melee attack :/

[@kristijanzikic1970]

All cool, but my main issue is that half orc, dragonborn and dwarves all sound just like everyone else, like a british chap. No matter how much I want to make my half orc berserker durge for example, I just can't digest him sounding like a british chap that just got out of the library. The voice acting is suitable for human, perhaps elves, gith, I could even fathom halflings and gnomes, but man, half orc and dwarves just don't sound like that, it breaks immersion so hard it's not even funny

[@seanheath4492]

I've really been digging Zariel tiefling college of lore bard. Thaumaturgy is a nice cantrip to have on a party face.

[@Malisteen]

gith is great for eldritch knight fighter or arcane trickster rogue, both for the bonus spells and the free proficiency in all int skills, since those subclasses want some int but lack proficiency in most of the int skills.

[@brothazoot]

The armor proficiency is moot if you just sink a point into fighter at level one then choose your magic casting class at level 2 onward. This allows you to pick a better race for spellcasting while allowing you to use medium armor and shields. Could even sink a second level into fighter for action surge for 2 spells in a round or 3 with quickened sorcerer spells.

[@sidecharacter7165]

Could even do a Cleric with Heavy Armor Proficiency dip instead to keep full spellcasting levels.

[@brothazoot]

@@sidecharacter7165 not sure that all cleric domains get heavy armor proficiency. If they do then it's entirely feasible. Having made it through the game I found that most spell casting related armors are not anything greater than medium.

[@sidecharacter7165]

Just pick a domain that does before multi-classing to Wizard or Sorcerer or Druid.@@brothazoot

[@rlunaa]

Those are good tips in general, but obviously there's a lot more useful combinations that you can do depending on your subclass, feats, and what role you wanna play. There's no general "best"

[@kyuven]

Also I should mention that this video places a LOT of emphasis on armor proficiencies, but in the actual game there are a lot of medium armors that just plain SUCK for certain classes compared to certain robes. In addition your cleric recommendation...well, I'm not going to sugarcoat it: Healing Touch is a massive waste of action economy. While Wood Elf isn't a bad choice the big reason to take it ISN'T necessarily the movement speed, but the weapon proficiencies. Cleric gets access to medium armor by default, and quite a few of their domains give access to heavy armor (War, Tempest, Life, and Nature). However, aside from War and Tempest, they're REALLY lacking in the weapon proficiency department. And unlike what I said for armor proficiencies for the likes of Sorcerer, this actually DOES matter since there are plenty of strong longswords, shortswords, rapiers, and hand crossbows out there that would benefit a cleric. One big example is Phalar Aluve, a longsword you can get early on that can cast a REALLY nice buff for your party or debuff for your enemies. So knowing that...well, just makes human and half-elf the 5 star choices. Wood Elf is still good, but I wouldn't say they're the best simply because humans and half-elves give SLIGHTLY better proficiencies for clerics. Unless you're playing War or Tempest in which case...go nuts with whatever because your race is just gravy :)

[@aso900]

Cleric should only use healing word for realband for rezzing. Clerics are just frontline casters. Damage output on tempest and light is wild

[@travishartzler9155]

Drow can dual wield hand crossbows, giving casters a minor bonus action instead of nothing worthwhile to do at all.

[@jantaine1722]

Githyanki Bard gets x1.5 to all skill checks with astral knowledge and jack of all trades

[@karlharvey601]

Wizards can scribe cantrips the extra from high elf/high half elf doesn't matter. But Eldritch knight/Arcane Trickster benefit from it more because they can not scribe spells.

[@Jenna_Talia]

I kinda wish dragonborn breath weapons scaled with your player level. Even from level 1 it's relatively useless because you're either a caster and trying to stay out of melee range, or you're a martial class and have better uses for your action anyways. Also odd that they made almost every breath into a cone based attack, and brass being the only attack that's a thin column doesn't even get an increased distance. It's a range of 5m same as the rest. Acid resistance is also just laughably bad.

[@gerikhighwind668]

I'd say Githyanki for Bard is better than Mountain Dwarf. In pen and paper, we often take fey touched at level 4 just for free misty step, and misty step is stronger in this game than pen and paper.

[@csorgb05]

I like to give all my characters one level in fighter so that they have all weapon and armor proficiencies.

[@marcosdheleno]

i would argue that, the extra cantrip from high elves/half actually benetif eldritch knights far more than wizards. sincethey dont really have that many spells to cast, while still being an int based caster.

[@grillmadeofrecycledgrenade3197]

What race is best for each class: 1.) Whatever you want, it's a roleplaying game

[@jrtomlin1805]

One of the things you don't mention is the advantage human and half-elf gives to classes such as lore bard that are limited to light armour.

[@biske85]

No mention of the Duergar once per long rest Enlarge or once per battle (or whenever outside of battle) Invisibility?

[@burns0100]

Cool I already had an idea for a Human Fighter. Going the soldier route and really going with the "old commander of an army, being very tactical, straight forward in speech and not afraid to push people towards my way of thinking". Being able to really build on what I'm good at via Human and having a good inventory for hoarding gear I find seems solid for a first time player too. Just waiting for them to drop on Xbox now. Wish I had a good enough PC.

[@iCyberDev]

stealthed surprise First initiative.

[@aso900]

Wizards can learn cantrips from scrolls. Githyanki is better imo. Also for sword bards shields are great

[@jtfike]

If you are dragon born and have resistance to an element and choose ranger, do the resistance bonuses stack?

[@chuckchan4127]

No.

[@TheKratos199]

I think you missed out on the monk

[@DemonOfMyMind]

This video doesn't take into account equipment later on in the game. Let me put it like this. having a shield is like getting an extra feat. Shield proficiency is that important for a run. There are also light armors which give you major boosts to specific classes or builds. The best armor for a warlock for example isn't medium armor or even light, its cloth. And up until you get it you can easily maintain a healthy Armor class. Bard, Warlock, Sorcerer, Wizard, all of these are best as half elves. And I'd argue Drow Half-elf is the best for all of these even wizard. Darkness is a really strong spell. Most other classes the Extra Movement speed from Wood Elf is just better than most other options. The Astral knowledge of Gith is really nice along with misty step but most other options are just okay. There is the Duergar as well which I'd argue if you're making a gloomstalker assassin build its kinda a must because of its infinite invisibility use.

[@halrichard1969]

Nice Work on this video. I love it when someone else does the work for me. Thank You. :D

[@justusmatteson9855]

So you can use sheleigh and flame blade at the same time. And you would suggest a tourch to do so on am i hearing tht correct?

[@marcosdheleno]

can someone explain to me why in D&D druids dont get proficiency with bows?

[@justusmatteson9855]

Doesn't flame blade go off your Charisma instead of your Wisdom when you get it from being a mephistopheles?

[@justusmatteson9855]

Also looking further into this the spell only lasts 10 turns and then you have to have a long rest to even use it again. Very impractical I would think

[@horstmeier2664]

Savage attacker isn‘t very impactful. Even if you attack with advantage and have extended crit range with a great axe, it only adds 1,2 damage per attack. Crit builds is not a thing in 5e, the math just doesn‘t add up.

[@KatanaKamisama]

Respectfully, you're wrong. High half elf is NOT the best race for wizard. Wizard is the best CLASS for High Half Elf. This is not the same thing. 1 more cantrip on a full caster character is okay... but largely not meaningful, especially when you can respec for essentially free. The best RACE for Wizard IS Githyanki. You can use the race to automatically gain proficiency in ALL intelligence skills, get access to medium armor, mage hand, leap and Misty Step. ALL of which are good spells for any character. The medium armor proficiency allows you to get 20+ AC as early as the begining of act 2. The runner up race is Human, since that would give them access to 1 skill, Light Armor and Shield proficiency. High half elf is a solid 4th, behind Shield Dwarf, but it is not the best.

[@icxcnika9990]

FINALLY!

[@parttimehero8640]

Is were or is were not an effect of darkvision? I don't see any disadvantage when attacking without darkvision

[@ivanbenkovic610]

Its Duergar, for every race, no contests, perma invisibility is broken

[@derrickhaggard]

I was reading about the classes now I'm not sure if I should have my female Silver Dragonborn character be a Fiend Warlock with the Pact of the Blade or be a Ranger and go Gloomstalker but taking the Secrets of the Veil buff of Favored Enemy for some Horizon Walker Ranger-esque abilities and spells.

[@Inkubaszi]

Please correct me if I'm wrong, but monks as a human/half-elf will have shield, with +3 shield, mage armour, high wizdom, gloves, back, ring + wiz ring and sword of defence you can get 29 AC Shield don't count as an armor XD

[@chrishogancamp6193]

I notice that Cleric is missing, what race would you recommended?

[@Toyhouze]

Thanks for the call out, I messed up the timestamps, it's in there now. I think half-wood elf because of the movement speed to get around to heal (there is a melee range heal) and fey ancestry to not be slept or charmed.

[@O-D-X]

@@Toyhouze Anyone who has played 5e or any amount of hours in this game know that healing word is far superior to cure wounds. Healing word is ranged and requires only a bonus action to cast, while yes it heals a little less than cure wounds, you will soon have access to AoE heals for the whole party. So in conclusion, movement doesn't matter to a cleric for healing, and in fact staying out of melee helps protect them from losing concentration on spells. If mobility matters, then Githyanki are just as good an option with enhanced leap at 3rd level, and misty step at 5th level for free. Spells the cleric doesn't get access to, and then include the fact that Gith also get the skill training and they are just better.

[@user-un8jx8yo7z]

@@O-D-X What would you recommend as the ideal cleric race instead? I'm curious.

[@jtfike]

@@user-un8jx8yo7zdwarf. Can use hammers instead of simple weapons. Can also get extra hit points. Keep healer alive, others stay alive. The less movement doesn’t matter. As another pointed out there is a ranged heal.

[@ScarECrow7227]

This was the best class for each race, not the best race for each class.

[@G33K01345]

It was both. Watch the whole vid or look at the timestamps.

[@ScarECrow7227]

@@G33K01345 I did look at the time stamps and watched the whole video. Do you not know the difference between those two?

[@crzyces1693]

The best all around races seem to be Duergar, Dragonborne/Tiefling then Githyanki and Drow. Deep Gnome, Wood Elf, Half-Elf (either), High Elf, Gnomes and Humans of course rounding out at the bottom. Somehow having 25% extra carry weight is an absolute joke. An Elixir of the Colossus does the same thing. They really nerfed any reason to play a human in BG3. It's one thing to have _best_ races, but humans are objectivelt bad. Look at Wyll and Gale. Both would be better if they were literally any other race. Any. Duergar are just nuts though. Gith are great all around with Tieflings and Dragonborne being absurd Sorcerers/Warlocks and Bards. And Rangers. And Rogues (Thieves or Assassins, doesn't matter). Lol, *every* class is pretty darn good save humans. Wow they are just so bad. They really needed to pull in the additional skills/feats variants for humans to make up for everythibg they are trash at.

[@carlcramer9269]

Asmiodeus Teiflings Produce Flam - which ability score does this use?

[@louhodo5761]

It is a throw attack.. so str based.

[@nCedric1]

I almost strongly disagreed on all of these choices. You're not trying to cover any classes' weaknesses with the races, you just care about "oh big crit hehe ex dee". There are other synergies besides crits... And also crits already reward you with more damage, picking a race JUST BECAUSE you could deal more damage on an eventuality you usually don't have control over it happening that ALREADY deals devastating damage feels... Reluctant, and clueless. Clerics use healing word more often than any close range healing abilities, why on Faerun would they care about extra movement? Barbarians usually get dumped by mental effects, so why not Gnomes or even Githyankis for the special Githyanki weapons that help them agaisnt those mental saving throws? Duergars can enlarge themselves, which is a strictly direct damage buff you can even pre-cast prior to a fight for the class with the most amount of attacks of all of them, the Fighter. If you care about action economy, you can even cast it first turn then drink a potion of speed with your bonus action, and you'll have a devastating next turn assuming you don't like pre-casting. If you haven't got to the third attack at 11th level, it's 6 attacks (on honor mode, 8 on tactician and below bc of the Haste nerf) counting the Action Surge; that's 6d4 worth of extra damage just out of your class on a single turn, that can be extended the whole fight. Why would a Wizard need an extra WIZARD cantrip???

[@opo3628]

As a side note to anyone thinking otherwise: *every* race is perfectly viable as *any* class -- this is just a list of suggestions if you're looking to min/max your character.

[@jbear3478]

So like.. are there definite answers? I’m dumb I need it spelled out

[@odysseustaylor8352]

Dwegar get on demand invisibility at lv5

[@kitsone4222]

Nice race review. Class suggestions feel rushed especially Monk.

[@Maitredebo2]

A bit late but half orc war domain cleric is just bs and make the game a joke even on tactician. You dont need to have a very efficient build really. Just free revival + cleric heals + massive damage from war domain and half orc feat. You are just a undying killing machine !

[@Durrtyboy]

human pally for ultimate hording and buying selling

[@benjaminseverinsen8713]

This is more best classes for each race.....

[@viniciusyugulis7278]

Carrying capacity?? Seriously??? Humans are a joke in this game, maybe they could work as more defensible wizards due to shield proficiency or maybe a bard because of extra skill but that's it As for Zariel Tiefling, it is one of the best Barbarian races, possibly tied with Horc, because of free Thaumaturgy and smites you spam on a powerful enemy bf raging

[@Unbreakable87]

DB didn't make a single cut.

[@MrKsan05]

Carry capacity is useless when you can send everything right to your camp and then go get it as needed with fast travel. Also, Half-orc savage attacks will only work on late game moon druid wild shapes that use weapons.

[@sidecharacter7165]

Carry Capacity is best for barrel-cheese. Carry more thrown items or crates.

[@bobsterclause342]

AN egyptian koppesh is a throwing sword the dragon class will make those with breqth wepons stonronger and will make character a size class larger and stronger eaqch five levels, making koblads big and

[@DerrickSchetro]

Best class for each race*

[@DenverStarkey]

hoenstly i don't know what the hell WoTC is doing with their races these days .. Drow should be asub race of Elf, not a race of it's own. hell , half-drow are even a subrace of half-elf. maybe the difference is becasue of the distinction between seldarine drow and lolth-sworn . a non raical difference really. still stupid imo.

[@ShawnnyPerkins]

ITS GITH OR NUTHIN

[@xanafein8453]

Gith are the best race like 90% of the time. Astral knowledge is insane and free misty step as a racial at level 5 is also incredibe. Their racial mobility is unmatched they get up to 5 free proficiencies. Pretty much the only time I wouldn't pick them over any other race is if I needed dark vision

[@itsjezzer]

The "best" race/class combo is whatever you want to play as, dude. Talk about completely missing the point of a game.

[@sazzadhossain132]

Gith specially if you steal that sword from Voss in the begin is BUSTED by busted I really mean busted by the time for example Laezel is lvl6 Fighter she will be killing people left and right. The synergies you get from the armors are crazy combine that with Monk or Paladin for example is literally busted you would be killing entire groups.

[@tut-wv4pe]

When I heard him explaining that elf race give proficiency in bows for wizards I understood that this guy just waste our time lmao

[@chuckchan4127]

Dragonborn are low on the power scale. Argubly a worse version of tiefling if you choose fire element dragon. But boy oh boy do they look absolutely badass and amazing.

[@Loretharan]

You can choose any race for any class, the game is an rpg. Choose the race and class what you like best and you can enjoy the game. This isn’t a competition.

[@WonderingSoul707]

Did you watch all the way through or did you just see title and give your nonsense opinion. Because he explains what each race abilities can do for the Class you chose that helps and benefits for that class.

[@Loretharan]

@@WonderingSoul707 So what if benefit the class if the player not like that race, why people wanna do it like you get a medal or something, do what u like. This game not about any competition.

[@G33K01345]

@@Loretharan If you don't like the race (racist) then don't pick it? This is for optimization. Did you just come to this video to complain and say what everyone says in a role playing game? Literally everyone recommends playing whatever you like.

[@LuMnOsITi]

Flame blade is ALREADY a druid spell, jeez this list is awful.