Aarakocra
by Prince Phantom
The premier flying race of 5e, Aarakocra are as hard to spell as they are fantastic to play. Flight is busted, and this race is built around it. Let’s get into the details.
Aarakocra Features
Flight: This is what you pick this race for. We have unlimited, concentration free flight as long as we aren’t wearing medium or heavy armor. This means that you’ll probably want to be a spellcaster or archery build. This is great because it passively discourages melee fighting, pushing players towards optimal strategies and builds! In all seriousness, this is an amazing feature, and note that our flying speed is the same as our walking speed, meaning increases to our walking speed will also increase our flying speed.
Talons: A d6 unarmed strike will basically only be important for low level monks and those rare situations where you are without your weapons. Still, this race isn’t going to be good for Strength based builds, so even in situations where this could be useful, they probably won’t be effective. The last thing worth noting is that these allow us to attack with our hands full, which some builds may be able to take advantage of.
Wind Caller: Gust of Wind is a pretty situational spell, but it’s still kinda nice to have. I love the idea of using this as a boost while flying like in the most recent two Zelda games, but to be clear, the spell doesn’t do that RAW. I’d totally allow it as a DM though.
Final Rating: 5/5
Yeah flight is just that strong. The real question is where this ranks among the other flying races. Winged Tieflings get to wear medium armor and Fairies get better spells, so I’d say this is the weakest of the three, but it’s still super strong and you’ll be very happy with your selection. Being the worst of the best is a pretty good place to be.
Volo’s Aarakocra (Legacy)
This is a legacy race and may not be available at all tables. Check with your DM before selecting this option.
Ability Score Increase: +2 Dexterity, +1 Wisdom: Great for Rangers, who can already make great use out of this race, but most people use the Tasha’s rule anyway.
Speed: 25ft: Normally this would be a downside, but….
Fly Speed: 50ft: I mean, who needs legs anyway when you’ve got wings like these. A 50ft speed on anything is ludicrous, far outpacing the second fastest race, the Centaur. There’s a reason this was nerfed in the redesign. I honestly would recommend DMs force players to use the redesign because this is so strong.
Talons: These Talons only deal a d4, so they are even more useless than the redesign’s talons. Let’s be real here, you probably saw that fly speed and forgot that these even exist, and I don’t blame you.
Final Rating: 5/5 (too powerful, don’t allow this)
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