History Characters / DungeonsAndDragonsRaces

* BizarreAlienReproduction: Downplayed; despite their mammalian ancestry and appearance, gith canonically reproduce by laying eggs.

* TheGenericGuy: They're this compared to their sprite and pixie cousins, lacking their innate invisibility, potent magic or sleep-inducing arrows. On the bright side, this makes fairies suitable for 1st-level characters.

* HeroicSacrifice: Kobolds have a strong sense of duty and self-sacrifice, so when all seems lost, they'll resort to a ZergRush to overwhelm a threat, or to buy time for a tribe's females to escape a besieged lair with the tribe's eggs.

* NoodlePeople: Bugbears are noted for their lanky build, with particularly long arms that give them longer reach than other similarly sized races.

* WonTheWarLostThePeace: They had the illithids on the ropes, but before the gith could finish them off, the ideological split between Gith and Zerthimon provided enough of a distration for the mind flayers to scatter and go to ground, to the point that the gith may never be able to wipe them out. The githyanki blame the githzerai for this.

** They also originally had their own tyrannical wizard-king and self-proclaimed god, a nameless mirror to Vlaakith CLVII, while Zerthimon was a legendary figure prophesized to return and lead the githzerai to a new paradise. This was retconned into Zertimon being the githzerai's historical leader, and the nameless wizard-king was replaced with "the Great Githzerai," Menyar-Ag, who led Zerthimon's followers into Limbo and continues to guide his people.

* {{Bishounen}}: Most kalashtar, male or female, have flowing, white hair and smooth skin. The Inspired are ''bred'' to look like this.

* HeavyWorlder: Accustomed as they are to the crushing pressure of the deep sea, they get racial bonuses to Strength.

* SneakySpySpecies: Their shapeshifting powers and skill with people make changelings natural spies and assassins.

* CanonImmigrant: Genasi debuted in ''The Planeswalker's Handbook'' alongside the aasimar, a ''Planescape'' supplement. Ironically, since then they've only ever been released in conjunction with ''TabletopGame/ForgottenRealms'' material.

* AdaptationalNiceGuy: 5E gives them a [[FreudianExcuse sympathetic backstory]] involving them being made a SlaveRace to the Illithids. In previous editions, they were pretty much just assholes. This was already present in 3.5 TabletopGame/ForgottenRealms, although they only got captured ''because'' they were being assholes.

* AdaptationalNiceGuy: 5E gives them a [[FreudianExcuse sympathetic backstory]] involving them being made a SlaveRace to the Illithids. In previous editions, they were pretty much just assholes.

* DependingOnTheArtist: Different images of Halflings across all editions have varied wildly on their look, from basically miniature humans to [[{{Gonk}} rather bulbous with oversized heads]] and everything in between.

Inteligent, amoeba-like beings who can alter their body configuration at will, assuming roughly-humanoid forms or more amorphous shapes. Both curious and ambitious, plasmoids are drawn to the endless possibilities of Wildspace.

* UpliftedAnimal: They acquired their intelligence when a wizard experimented on some of them, who did the same to everyone else until there were no more non-sapient hadozee.

* NoPronunciationGuide: Not even the tabaxi can agree how to pronounce their name. The solid-spotted, leopard-like tabaxi go by "ta-BAX-ee," while the roseate-spotted, jaguar-like tabaxi prefer "tah-BAHSH-ee."

* AsskickingEqualsAuthority: Bugbears live by this in relation to other goblinoids. If they're conscripted into a goblinoid host, the bugbears assume that Hruggek and Grankhul have similarly been roped into another divine battle by Maglubiyet, and will follow the hobgoblins' orders. If that warhost suffers defeat and falls into infighting, the bugbears will take it as a sign that Maglubiyet's attention has waned, make a few trophies from their hobgoblin leaders, and slip away.

* AsskickingEqualsAuthority: Leadership in goblin tribes tends to go to their toughest and meanest members, usually after beating all other challengers into submission. Combined with the fact that goblins aren't exactly the most physically impressive species around, this tends to result in bigger monsters -- usually barghests or bugbears, but sometimes ogres or trolls -- taking over goblin tribes with relative ease.

* AuthorityEqualsAsskicking: A warlord is always mightier than a captain and a captain more than a foot soldier. [[AsskickingEqualsAuthority This is because only the strongest among them get to become leaders in the first place.]]

* AsskickingEqualsAuthority: The Lizard Kings and Queens get into power by enforcing their will over prospective subjects.

* AsskickingEqualsAuthority: Whoever's the toughest, that's who's in charge.