Racial Options Tier Ranks: D&D 5e (What if?) 

Spells of the Mark of Warding, I might give a few more points. You can(and I have) build an Abjuration Wizard around Armour of Agathys.

People talk about how you are the most insightful analysis of dnd optimization. But they neglect how You have gotten progressively funnier over the years. I came for the former… and I stayed for the former too. And well, the former is definitely the best part. But I appreciate the latter too.

Mark Of Hospitality is arguably the best way to exploit the Life Cleric Goodberry from an opportunity cost perspective.

Two videos in one day? Miracles do happen!

14:00 The eladrin in the dungeon master guide could use misty step again in a short rest. This one is just on a long rest

I am a big fan of the Mark of Passage for paladins. One of the biggest weaknesses of the class is its lack of mobility and stealth and this race can really help with that with its 35' walking speed, a free Misty Step, plus adding Expeditious Retreat, Misty Step, Pass Without Trace and Dimension Door to their spell list.

Personally, I'm glad that Pack Tactics was Legacy'd away, and while it does have a little to do with the power of the feature, it has way more to do with so many DMs hand-waving Sunlight Sensitivity to such a degree that it wasn't even acknowledged as a feature at the table. Like, how powerful is a negative when people don't even put it into the calculator? And it is (not was, is, since people still play Legacy Kobold) so common that DMs hand-wave Sunlight Sensitivity that players EXPECT to get that treatment at any given tablem, meaning that yeah, they essentially DO get the power of a free feat. (Let's not even get into the fact that Kobolds used to get a pretty significant penalty to their STR score before the errata, which, ultimately, didn't mean much for a small-sized race that probably wasn't using heavy weapons anyway, unless your DM was a dick that loved using Shadows.)

It occurs to me that a Mark of Handling Conjurer might be the best way to make real use of that Resilient Summon feature. I enjoyed having Mark of Passage’s “Dexterity-based” spellcasting; pretty pointless, but I was able to use Dexterity as my casting stat with some magic items, which was hilarious.

As my family gathered around my hospital bed, I thought for sure that was going to be it, I was watching my life flash before my eyes , as it was reaching the end , I heard a ding from my phone, squinting , I saw what it was, the notification that the final racial tier list from treantmonk was out. I couldn’t die without seeing it, I had to fight back this foul disease . I had so much to live for . Im only here now because of your amazing work

I think you hit the nail on the head when you talked about mark of the Sentinel(by far the biggest one though,) and it could apply to other ones as well. Getting access to certain spells for classes that don't normally have access can be huge. Armor of Agathys for a paladin or eldritch knight can also be a really big boon as well (yes conquest gets AoA but it lets you get it for a different subclass.) But counterspell for a druid or cleric is bonkers good.

My Mark of Warding Dwarf Artificer and my Mark of Hospitality Halfling Bard were two of my best character builds, honestly. Thanks for including this video and showing the oft forgotten marks some love!

Omg I am DYING laughing at the "comments say these videos are objectionable not subjectable". Brilliant! 😂😂😂 Added later in vid: no I will not excuse your pun,I will laugh and love it instead 😂

The best intro i've ever seen on Treantmonk's channel, perhaps on all of youtube :P

14:26 pass without trace is 100% a build worthy spell. It is game defining. I would give it 15 points on its own

I love double video drop days! Highly approve more of this please Chris =)

I usually skip intros. I’m really glad I didn’t.

Your humor has truly shined in this series.

These videos saved my life!!!!! They call him Treantmessiah! 🙏📿

Mark of passage is once per long rest misty step, dmg eladrin in the video was shown once per short or long rest, so would say either eladrin should be higher, or passage lower points for that feature

Magical Passage is once per long rest, while eladrin is once per short or long rest. So the mark of passage one should get less points.

I just had a trident gum add pop up directly after Chris said “tied with the Triton”

I'm not sure what sparked these new intros, but they have changed my life 😂😂

11:00 i think you miss one VERY important thing here... the healing mark's spells are added to your class's spell list.. meaning a wizard can create scrolls out of them and they'd be wizard spell scrolls, not cleric ones.. you could sell them at a wizard's guild for a fortune

You're gonna convince me to join my first Patreon one of these days. Thank you for what you bring to this community. I really appreciate your sense of humor 😂

the one thing that seems to be missing from this ranking is the racial feats. Like most of them are propably very seldom worth it, but the ability to pick upp Elven Accuracy or Dwarven Fortitude has to be more valueable than a tool proficieny no? Great video and series overall though! just trying to get my poor half elfs higher up : P

Thanks Chris

Great work! Thanks a lot! This is a great series even if I would assign some different values as our game is less combat focused.

I _am_ very entertained, thank you.

This was, in my objective opinion, the greatest intro to any tier ranking video ever

Nice to know the healing halflings would eventually prevail in the struggle of dragonmarked houses

I'd say the healing list for non-healing casters is huge. It plugs one of the major holes in the wizard/sorcerer spell list.

10:54 there is one thing that can be character defining, but only on level 18+ wizards, and that’s putting healing spells on the wizard spell lists. This means as a wizard you can choose a healing spell as one of your spell masteries allowing you to cast it without expending spell slots, allowing for infinite out of combat healing. This probably doesn’t effect how good the race is for a tier list, since not only do most games not get to level 18 but also if you’re a level 18 wizard you’ve basically already won, so even though you’re getting a buff you already were insane, but I thought I’d mention it.

😂 PLEASE Chris, PLEASE, I also NEED the rankings for the Fizban's subclasses as compared to the other 114 you ranked to fill this emptiness inside me! 🙏

I would say pass without trace and phantom steed, all though not build defining, are party defining. Pass without trace doubles you party’s offense and phantom steed doubles the party’s defense. I don’t know what else could be worth maximum points if this isn’t.

Chris, I am 1000% here for this new cocky heel turn you've been on lately. You've been IMHO the strongest voice in the space for over a year now, and you just keep leveling up. Thank you for your service.

Please tell us in the key learnings if there were any builds you were inspired to ponder based on new insights regarding the power of the races you ranked.

Legacy Aarakocra Monk: "I am speed!"

I love the trend of hyper-confident intro since April Fools. It’s objectively perfect.

Animal friendship on a tarrasque is an interesting encounter. Survive, blast through its legendary resistances, then make it your pet.

Lol that objectionable joke was funny. Good stuff.

Your intro is really hilarious.

Thank you.

Just so there's no regrets, sorry to ask Chris but what do you think about Volo's Aasimar? I'm specifically curious about the old radiant consumption ability, The old version that hurts players alongside the enemies. I know it's obviously worse but how much worse would it be from what you rated the radiant soul from monsters of the multiverse? Even if you don't get to this question thank you for actually going through all this, this documentation you did is amazing.

Weird thing about the Mark of Storms that isn't mentioned in character creation here, in Eberron, to pilot an airship, I believe you have to have that mark. I don't know how lore-setting specific features might get points, especially since it also depends how much your GM is a stickler for lore mechanics, thats... almost like a ribbon feature that gets a huge boost immediately if your team gets access to an airship. The only race in the entire game that gets airship piloting proficiency.

I'm a little surprised that Vedalken Dispassion (advantage on all WIS/CHA/INT saves regardless of whether they are magical) is only worth 40 points, but the old satyr/yuan-ti effect (advantage on saving throws against spells and magical effects) is worth 55. I kind of expected those to be about tied. There's some stuff that Vedalken Dispassion doesn't catch, but there's also some stuff the old Yuani-ti/satyr don't catch because the monster doesn't list it as being a mgical effect.

Hospitality Halfling is pretty fun with a Warlock. Being able to cast Aid before immediately short resting to get the slots back is a fun way to keep your party buffed up at no expense. An Undead Warlock with Death Ward can do something similar, so the right build can create the world's tankiest party.

The bit in the beginning is completely factual, not signing up to Treantmonk's Patreon destroyed my marriage.

STILL ABSOLUTELY PERFECT XD

21:13 you don’t know what I want, I’m here exclusively for the Eberron stuff, the rest is a bonus.

I’m playing a legacy kobold right now. I chose it for the cower ability since it was my first time playing and that sounded fun. I didn’t know how powerful pack tactics could be 😅

I would be curious where legacy aasimar would be. I mean it’s a little harder to use with a action over a bonus action but the damage amount it higher at high lvls when compared to the up to date versions

Legacy gnomes demand an errata! They have the old magic resistance feature! 😊

Mark of the Sentinel is also the only way of getting Warding Bond on a Druid. Warding Bond on a full class Moon Druid, or on a Moon druid with a barb dip is awesome. You become a tank that can just outfit the whole party with rings and take half of what everyone else takes (to your fake wild shape hit points), reducing that by a further half with resistance if raging. I think you also undersold the Mark of Warding Dwarf. This is an exceptional list because Armor of Agathys is normally warlock only, and especially on something like an abjuration wizard, you can build one of the best tanks in the game.

Mark of healing wizard with healing word as their first level spell mastery for unlimited bonus action healing?

You missed the legacy warforged from "Wayfinders Guide to Eberron"

Imagine going through all 8 Infernal Legacy Tiefling bloodlines.

Can definitely tell Chris doesn't make much use of tool proficiencies at his table

I wanted the Wayfinder's Guide to Eberron Warforged, IDK if it was stronger but it was definitely more interesting than the one on Rising from the Last War, though I do get that Wayfinder's never got a physical release even if it was technically official

All I know is my marriage was definitely saved when I became a patron.

Could you link the previous videos in the series? I seem to be missing the one with the fizbans races and I can see they’re already on your chart here.

How in the world is Armor of Agathys not a build defining spell? Even without combining it with any other feature than full spellcasting progression, it can greatly increase the melee survival ability and damage output of any spellcaster without requiring concentration, or in-combat action economy investment, or saving throws. Even half-casters can get good value out of it (certainly a better use of higher level spell slots than most other things a Ranger could cast, with the only other good stuff likely only needing to be cast once in a given long rest). The lack of opportunity cost and strongest upcasting of any spell is incredible. Like, yeah, maybe not every character with access to the spell will use it, but it's never not beneficial to some extent if one does cast it. Even gives peace of mind about being ambushed. Plus, it's normally limited to exactly one class's spell list.

Hey treantmonk, what’s your opinion on buying barding for moon Druids and polymorph, and summons and stuff? Perhaps worth a video discussing?

If Kobolds were Medium creatures, I’d give Pack Tactics 250 points. As it stands, I still think it’s worth 200. It’s just so good. I’m very glad they got rid of it.

Tell us about the special magic mouth tech!!

I’m trying to figure if there’s any counterspell build you could put together using the Artificer Initiate feat and one of the +1d4 to ability checks using a tool proficiency features from the Eberron races? (Using a general “you” here, counterspell builds are pretty easy to put together)

I'm curious what you'd give the alternate Tieflings from Mordenkainen's. I know that they aren't too much different from the base Tiefling, but I was looking forward to possibly hearing your thoughts on them.

Mark Of Sentinel Eldritch Knight would be super fun to play.

Upvote for the objective pun alone! (^__^)

The subjective vs objectionable joke was gold

If you use the legacy Kobold I feel you should use it in it’s totality, the legacy Kobold also had a -2 to Str. Why do I say this? Because all natural weapons got boosted to 1d6+Str and that wasn’t accounted for either.

i feel like Mark Of Warding Arcane Trickster would be S tier in the heist anthology/campaign. also some fun synergy with Abjuration Wizard abilities.

This might have been answered in a different video but would being a fey give any more points to a race? Since there's a difference between and I'm sure that's important for some spells to affect.

I was always under the impression that dragonmarks were broken.

It's a good time to be alive. XD

11:51 Aid and Goodberry are abusable with Pact Magic because of their long duration. Elfs long rest on 4 hours, sobyou cast Aid and Goodberry and tgen tak a short rest

@Treantmonk's Temple what about the orc from wildmount ?

why is this older than the final part on youtube?? why am i only seeing this on your channel now?? what???

Seems to me that the satyr being Fey should be considered as an upside. It makes the satyr immune to all sort of humanoid only effects and spells (lycanthropy, hold person etc.)

Mark Of Passage Arcane Trickster would be the most rougeish rogue. iconic ninja build.

Thank you, Chris, for saving my relationship with my significant other.

I’d argue that pass without trace and greater invisibility could be considered character defining spells for magically inclined stealth focused characters

I’ll start with three cheers for a well done series. Best Tier List NA. That said, I feel like this is the one where I disagree most. I generally wouldn’t rate the various Spells of the Mark quite so highly. Probably about half the value, around 10 points on the low end, maybe 25 on the high end, rather than the 20-50 it mostly gets. I think the fact that the ability is entirely useless for non-casters and less useful on half casters matters, and that ought to be reflected in tier score. I guess it’s a matter of approach. Is the tier list a mostly general list, how good a race is on average, or is it the absolute best case for the race? I agree with the Kenku being pretty low tier because it’s mostly not that good, but on the skill-based build that needs that advantage, it shoots up. I think it should be D-tier, while recognizing that in a niche case it might be C or B or higher. I feel the same for the Spells of the Mark, that the general score is lower even if the specialist case is higher. Can Conjure Animals be broken? Sure, but a Barbarian can never cast it, a Druid already has it. Just for myself, I’d put more weight on that fact, and knock a tier off. The whole reason there’s no F-tier is that even D-tier for races have some niche uses. But that’s what’s so great about this tier list structure. Everything is done in the open, abilities are valued at roughly the came level across the races. It makes this tier list a wonderful place to start a conversation. It’s truly been a great series.

A point on the Mark of Making Human. Under the assumption that you granted 3 points for the arcana d4 and 1 point for the tool d4, this should probably be granted some extra points, as it applies to all artisans tools, not just one. If 1 point was granted for every tool, that would be 17 points. I could see an argument for tools being so niche that there should be diminishing returns for all the tools, so it shouldn't get a full point for every tool, however I could also see an argument, that this feature would also apply to any and all custom tools in your game, so it should get bonus points. Maybe I am biased, as both skill and tool proficiencies are quite valuable in my games, but I feel like all the Intuition features are all way more valuable than you give them credit for.

If a race gives you Hex or Hunter's mark, then that's a great race for a fighter or Monk

So this might be a better question for the next video, but, upon seeing that certain things got more points (objectionably speaking), will we see more builds in the future that use S-tier racial options which surpass the variant human and custom linage? I am tired of knowing that in so many cases, my best choice is the generic template instead of something cool with unique mechanics. I don't blame you for that, I'm just eager to see more builds with different racial options.

Did you do Warforged? I forget.

🤘🤘🤘🤘

Hmm, Chris, does the Satyr being Fey rather than a Humanoid did not add or subtract anything?

I'm surprised Hunters Mark as a free spell is only worth 5 points, even at once a day. For certain martial builds that's a big boost to DPR one fight a day.

I wanted the legacy Tieflings

Glad volobold gets the tier it deserves.

Someone is definitely using this all to make a 'balanced' version where the range is much higher.

Has the video with the odd races like the grung and custom lineage come out for non patrons? you show them at the start on the tier ranking, but I can't see the video.

Try a Mark of Hospitality Halfling Life Cleric, Life berry powerful.

i think hospitality should be better, bc you can cast aid with arlock spellslots and take a shortrest

One note about the Yuan-Ti: It states in the VGtM that they lack emotions and are EVIL!. This is not only a drawback, this sucks and makes them unplayable at most tables. This is the reason why they are so powerfu! Because they don’t fit into any group, and decent people hate them and would give them a hard time, when your YT character just wanted to walk into a bar or do shopping and what not. How many minus points would this drawback be? 0? 50? 100? The same with Pac tactics. To Min-maxers this sounds like heaven. But your DM can just take it away from you, whenever they see fit just by shining a light on you... Thus, I think the above-mentioned are way overrated. However, good job! I think this is the way to go. You could apply that on classes and subclasses and spells, monsters...

18:00 I have to disagree with you Chris, "Being edgy" is OBVIOUSLY an S tier level feature, 50 points AT LEAST... 😂

do the human marks still get a free feat ?

Starting to lean a bit hard into the sarcasm now... =(

A minor quibble, being "edgy" is worth at least 1 point.