Anime Races

Races are archetypes for humanoid and part-humanoid species. The core rules includes standard high-fantasy races such as a elves, dwarves, humans, and halflings, as well as less-common races such as gnomes and dragonborn. The rules here provide an additional 14 races that evoke an intangible anime essence, including demonic archfiends, sylvan fairies, playful nekojin, and slippery slimes.

Races provide a set of Proficiencies and Attributes (and sometimes Defects) that reflect the baseline capabilities for the majority of characters belonging to those races. Since there are a near infinite number of possible fantasy worlds in an anime multiverse, the races outlined herein simply represent a small sampling of concepts that can be used in your adventures. With your GM’s permission, you may design your own race package by combining different characteristics and determining the appropriate Point cost.

Costing Races

When determining the Point cost of a core races’ special abilities and talents, each one was examined closely. If the ability has a reasonable comparison to an Attribute, that value is used For example, a +1 bonus to an Ability costs 1 Point; an advantage on a particular type of Saving Throw (such as poison, charm, or fright) costs 1 Point; darkvision (a Feature Attribute) cost 1 Point; etc. Some Race abilities are not worth any Points, since its utility is worth less than a full Point, such as slightly increased or decreased speeds, or an Elf ’s sleepless trance. Movement speed of 30 feet (+/- 5 feet), being Medium-sized, and speaking one language costs 0 Points.

Race Sizes Other than Medium

One of the significant differences between the rules here and the standard 5e rules involves the benefits/drawbacks and costs of a Race that’s bigger or smaller than Medium. None of the nine Races in the core rules are larger than Medium, but two are Small: Halflings and Gnomes. Being Small has net unfavorable modifiers that return 5 Points to the character, and this hindrance is reflected in the -5 Point allocation to both Halflings and Gnomes. Note that speed for Small Races is one-half the normal 30’ speed of Medium-sized Races and consequently those two Races each have a 15’ speed instead of the 25’ speed presented in the core rules.

Race and Discretionary Points

The cost for each Race is paid from the character’s pool of Discretionary Points that remain after assigning Ability Scores. If a character has insufficient Discretionary Points left to pay for their selected Race, you can either choose a different Race with a lower Point cost, or you can burden the character with one or more Defects.

Raceless Characters

Every character is part of a Race, even if it’s simply Human. A player can forego the selection of a Race, though, and avoid any associated Race cost. They still may be Human or Fairy or Slime, but considered “Raceless” when allocating Points to Race.

Building A Raceless Character

Selecting a pre-existing Race is a simple way to get started with species-specific abilities, but sometimes the package of Race features doesn’t match with the vision for your character. For example, instead of a standard Nekojin build, you may envision an aquatic version that possesses numerous water-related features. Alternatively, you may plan to play a Human, but want to save your Discretionary Points to acquire 7 Points in Attributes rather than allocate them to the Human’s six +1 Ability Score bonuses and one choice of language.

In these instances, you can either craft a new set of features and assign them to a Race template of your own design (with GM input), or designate your character as “Raceless”. Of course, Raceless characters still identify with a Race (even if it’s unique), but that identity is not associated with a specific set of Attributes acquired with Points. Instead, raceless characters skip this section and save their Discretionary Points to spend on Attributes they desire.

Companions and monsters are Raceless creations.

Table 03: Race Cost Summary

Anime 5E Race	Points	Core Race	Points
Archfiend	15	Dragonborn	9
Asrai	11	Dwarf – Hill	12
Blinkbeast	10	Dwarf – Mountain	14
Demonaga	14	Elf – Dark	13
Fairy	4	Elf – High	12
Gray	12	Elf – Wood	11
Half-Dragon	13	Gnome – Forest	4
Half-troll	9	Gnome – Rock	4
Haud	12	Half-Elf	10
Kodama	10	Half-Orc	8
Nekojin	8	Halfling – Lightfoot	3
Parasite	16	Halfling – Stout	5
Satyr	7	Human	7
Slime	11	Tiefling	12

Table 04: Race Cost Breakdown

Points	Race	Features
+2	Dwarf	Constitution +2
0	Dwarf	Speed: 25’
+1	Dwarf	Darkvision 60’
+1	Dwarf	Advantage on Save vs. poison
+2	Dwarf	Resistance against poison
+1	Dwarf	Weapon proficiency: 2 martial
+1	Dwarf	Tool proficiency: one artisan
+1	Dwarf	Stonecunning
+1	Dwarf	Languages: Common + Dwarvish
+1	Hill Dwarf	Wisdom +1
+1	Hill Dwarf	+1 Hit Point/Level
+2	Mountain Dwarf	Strength +2
+2	Mountain Dwarf	Armor proficiency: light + medium
+2	Elf	Dexterity +2
0	Elf	Speed: 30’
+1	Elf	Darkvision 60’
+1	Elf	Skill Proficiency: perception
+1	Elf	Advantage on Save vs. charm
+1	Elf	Resilient to sleep
0	Elf	Trance
+1	Elf	Languages: Common + Elvish
+1	High Elf	Intelligence +1
+2	High Elf	Weapon proficiency: 3 martial
+1	High Elf	1 cantrip
+1	High Elf	Languages: one choice
+1	Wood Elf	Wisdom +1
+2	Wood Elf	Weapon proficiency: 3 martial
0	Wood Elf	Speed: 35’
+1	Wood Elf	Mask of the Wild
+1	Dark Elf	Charisma +1
+1	Dark Elf	Superior darkvision 120’
-2	Dark Elf	Disadvantages in sunlight
+4	Dark Elf	Drow magic (cantrip + spells)
+2	Dark Elf	Weapon proficiency: 3 martial
-5	Halfling	Small Size
+2	Halfling	Dexterity +2
–	Halfling	Speed: 15’
+1	Halfling	Lucky
+1	Halfling	Advantage on Save vs. fright
+1	Halfling	Nimbleness
+1	Halfling	Languages: Common + Halfling
+1	Lightfoot Halfling	Charisma +1
+1	Lightfoot Halfling	Stealthy
+1	Stout Halfling	Constitution +1
+1	Stout Halfling	Advantage on Save vs. poison
+2	Stout Halfling	Resistance against poison
+6	Human	+1 to each Ability Score
0	Human	Speed: 30’
+1	Human	Languages: Common + one choice
+2	Dragonborn	Strength +2
+1	Dragonborn	Charisma +1
0	Dragonborn	Speed: 30’
+2	Dragonborn	Breath weapon
+3	Dragonborn	Resistance against breath weapon
+1	Dragonborn	Languages: Common + Draconic
-5	Gnome	Small Size
+2	Gnome	Intelligence +2
–	Gnome	Speed: 15’
+1	Gnome	Darkvision 60’
+2	Gnome	Advantage on Save vs. some magic
+1	Gnome	Languages: Common + Gnomish
+1	Forest Gnome	Dexterity +1
+1	Forest Gnome	Minor illusion cantrip
+1	Forest Gnome	Languages: small beasts
+1	Rock Gnome	Constitution +1
+1	Rock Gnome	Artificer’s lore
+1	Rock Gnome	Tool proficiency: tinker’s tools
+2	Half-Elf	Charisma +2
+2	Half-Elf	2 Abilities +1 each
0	Half-Elf	Speed: 30’
+1	Half-Elf	Darkvision 60’
+1	Half-Elf	Advantage on Save vs. charm
+1	Half-Elf	Resilient to sleep
+2	Half-Elf	Skill Proficiency: 2 of choice
+1	Half-Elf	Languages: Common + Elvish
+2	Half-Orc	Strength +2
+1	Half-Orc	Constitution +1
0	Half-Orc	Speed: 30’
+1	Half-Orc	Darkvision 60’
+1	Half-Orc	Skill Proficiency: Intimidation
+1	Half-Orc	Relentless endurance
+1	Half-Orc	Savage attacks
+1	Half-Orc	Languages: Common + Orc
+1	Tiefling	Intelligence +1
+2	Tiefling	Charisma +2
0	Tiefling	Speed: 30’
+1	Tiefling	Darkvision 60’
+3	Tiefling	Resistance against fire
+4	Tiefling	Infernal Legacy (cantrip + spells)
+1	Tiefling	Languages: Common + Infernal

Some race and class combinations may exceed the benchmark maximums listed in Table 01, especially when creating low-Level characters. GMs are encouraged to allow such exceptions when appropriate for the gaming group.

Note that the Point assignments in Table 04 consider both the base feature plus additional advantages that accumulate at higher character Levels. For example, the 4-Point Tiefling Infernal Legacy feature includes the cantrip known at 1st Level, plus the additional spells gained at 3rd and 5th Levels.