Human (Standard and Variant), Mark of Finding, Mark of Handling, Mark of Making, Mark of Passage, and Mark of Sentinel
by Prince Phantom
By far the most commonly chosen race in the game, Humans offer quite a lot and definitely earn that #1 position. Are they the actual best race? Maybe, and definitely so for a lot of builds. Let’s get into why.
Standard Human
Ability Score Increase: +1 to all: That’s it. That’s all standard humans get. This is arguably worse than a +2, +1 because most builds want to focus on one stat with maybe one or two other stats as secondary. Most builds don’t care if their two dump stats are a single point higher. This is terrible and also the only thing standard humans get.
This is the worst race in the game, full stop. Never ever ever take this. This existing is actively bad for the game as new players may look at this as a nice simple option and trick themselves into making the most boring character on the planet. Go rip this paragraph out of your PHB right now.
Final Rating: Don’t. Just don’t.
Variant Human
Ability Score Increase: +1 to two stats: This is less powerful than a +2, +1, but not so much that it should deter you from choosing this. Especially because you can make up for it by choosing a half feat.
Skills: A single skill proficiency of your choice is nice to have, but not the real reason we are here. Also this feature being named Skills and only providing one skill is a crime and I will not stand for it.
Feat: Now THIS is what you’re here for. One feat of your choice, no strings attached. This is the reason that so many martial builds are humans, those builds rely on multiple feats to be functional, and picking human means their build comes online a whole FOUR LEVELS faster. That could be weeks to months of actual play time. Casters aren’t quite as dependent on feats, but many would still benefit greatly from getting one at level 1. This existing honestly makes playing any other race a tough choice, and definitely lends credence to the “everyone gets a free feat at level 1” house rule that is very common nowadays.
Variant Humans are the most common pick according to WOTC analytics, and it’s not hard to see why. Feats are incredibly powerful and necessary for almost all builds, so getting a jumpstart on them is a big deal.
Final Rating: 5/5
Mark of Finding
Ability Score Increase: +2 Wisdom, +1 Constitution: Perfect for Clerics and Druids, though most people are playing with Tasha’s rule anyway.
Darkvision: Always nice to have.
Hunter’s Intuition: Perception is the best skill in the game, so getting to add a d4 to that is good enough already. Survival is a bit more situational, but in the right campaign it could be good to have.
Finder’s Magic: Hunter’s Mark is one of the most overrated spells in the game. Any bonus action attack feat will always do more damage than it. Locate Object on the other hand is one of the most underrated spells in the game, and has incredible utility in the right circumstances.
Spells of the Mark: Faerie Fire and Longstrider are nice additions, but the rest of the list is incredibly situational. Nothing here is really exciting me much at all.
Even with all the abilities here, Variant Human blows this completely out of the water. I don’t think there are any builds that would benefit more from this than a free feat at level 1.
Final Rating: 2/5
Mark of Handling
Ability Score Increase: +2 Wisdom, +1 any: This is all fine, but most people use the Tasha’s rule now.
Wild Intuition: Animal Handling and Nature are very rarely used skills, so I wouldn’t expect to see this come up very often.
Primal Connection: These two spells are both situational, but I suppose you’ll find a few uses for them over the course of a campaign.
The Bigger They Are: This is actually a really unique effect that you can’t find anywhere else in this game. That makes gauging how good this is pretty difficult. I can see this allowing you to deescalate encounters with monstrosities, and monstrosities with an intelligence of 3 or lower are actually fairly common. You want to know the funniest part about this feature? This lets you talk to and befriend a Tarrasque. Yep, you read that correctly. I really hope that at least one player gets to live this concept out one day. That would be one heck of a story.
Spells of the Mark: This is a generally unexciting list, with one major exception; Conjure Animals. Yeah, that’s a massive build around spell that is exclusive to Druids and Rangers, meaning there are a ton of casting classes that would love to have this. Who cares about the rest of the list, Conjure Animals carries it by itself.
This gets points from me just for being the only possible way to befriend a Tarrasque, even if that will likely never actually happen. Conjure Animals is the big gain here, and builds that want it will have a hard time finding an easier way to get it than this.
Final Rating: 4/5
Mark of Making
Ability Score Increase: +2 Intelligence, +1 any: Decent for characters that probably want this race, but most people use Tasha’s rule anyway.
Artisan’s Intuition: Arcane doesn’t come up often at all, though getting to add this to any Artisan’s Tool is actually kinda nice, though you’ll want to make sure you actually make the most of your tools to take advantage of this. Check out the expanded tool uses in Xanathar’s for some ideas.
Artisan’s Gift: I’m sure someone out there wants to be the tool skill monkey, and I guess this is one way of furthering that meme build. Again, check out Xanathar’s for more ways to use tools.
Spellsmith : Mending is not a great cantrip, but the Artillerist and Battle Smith Artificer actually need it to heal their pets, and since Artificers only get 2 cantrips to start, getting it for free here is actually quite nice for those two specifically. Magic Weapon without concentration is the bigger deal here though, as in the early game it will be a passive buff to either yourself or a weapon using ally that will stay useful until everyone in your party has a magic weapon.
Spells of the Mark: This is a pretty dud list. I like some of the spells here, but not enough for me to be persuaded to play this race just to get them.
This race really seems geared towards Artificers, and I think it will play decently on that class, specifically Battle Smiths and Artillerists. Outside of those, I’d skip this, as it’s not really offering much that can’t be found elsewhere and better.
Final Rating: 2/5
Mark of Passage
Ability Score Increase: +2 Dexterity, +1 any: Again, most people use the Tasha’s rule, but this is widely applicable if you don’t.
Courier’s Speed: Getting an extra 5ft of movement is actually a big boon, allowing you to outpace a large number of enemies. Great for ranged characters who want to stay out of melee.
Intuitive Motion: Acrobatics checks can come up occasionally, but land vehicle checks might just be the single most campaign dependent things I’ve ever heard. This will either come up a lot or not at all.
Magical Passage: Misty Step is a great spell, and you could almost see this as taking a third of the Fey Touched feat. Note that you don’t actually know the spell unless you select it separately, so you can’t copy it down into a spellbook.
Spells of the Mark: We’ve got some good stuff here including Misty Step, Phantom Steed, Pass Without Trace, and Dimension Door. I could see Clerics, Druids and Bards in particular really loving this list.
If you want to play a teleport focused character, you could do a lot worse than this. Pass Without Trace is a really big boon here, and tons of classes would love to have it. This still probably isn’t as powerful as the variant human, but it’s not so far behind that I’d never consider it.
Final Rating: 4/5
Mark of Sentinel
Ability Score Increase: +2 Constitution, +1 Wisdom: Most builds would have Constitution as their secondary score, so just use the Tasha’s rule instead.
Sentinel’s Intuition: Insight and Perception are two of the most commonly called for skills, so this will come up constantly and be a huge boon to you.
Guardian’s Shield: Shield once per day is nice, but not nearly as good as having the spell normally. Still, if you’re at the type of table that normally only has one encounter per day, this will probably suffice.
Vigilant Guardian: This is a pretty unique effect and is definitely one geared towards certain builds, but those builds also aren’t probably looking to play a Dragonmark race. Barbarian is the obvious example, they would love to take a hit for a friend, but they get nothing from the extra spells given by this race. Still, this does help spread the damage dealt by enemies out among your party, helping prevent focus fire taking a player out quickly.
Spells of the Mark: The big pickups here are Counterspell and Arcane Hand. Outside of those two, the pickings are slim. Still, those are some really good spells.
This is a strange Dragonmark race that seems to be promoting a melee playstyle while also being a Dragonmark race, meaning that martials can’t get the most out of it. This could work well for Paladins, melee Rangers, Hexblades, or some unique Cleric and Druid builds, but you can probably do better.
Final Rating: 3/5
Variant Human is a clear front runner, in contention for the best race in the game, but there are also a few nice Dragonmark races if you want to mix things up a bit. Just don’t ever play a standard human. Please.
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