Exotic Races

This page lists playable races from the Forgotten Realms/Dungeons and Dragons universe.

## Monstrous Races

### Doppelganger

***Doppelgangers are devious shapeshifters that take on the appearance of other humanoids, throwing off pursuit or luring victims to their doom with misdirection and disguise. Few creatures spread fear, suspicion, and deceit better than doppelgangers. Found in every land and culture, they can take on the guise of any individual of any race. However, not all Doppelgangers pursue this life of deceit and exploitation. When a Doppelganger comes of age and realizes their true nature, they are fully capable of choosing their alignment and their path.***

### Firenewt

***In regions that contain hot springs, volcanic activity, or similar hot and wet conditions, firenewts might be found. These humanoid amphibians live in a militaristic theocracy that reveres elemental fire in its worst incarnation. The vast majority of firenewts are crazed fanatics of this evil fire lord, but as with all enlightened races, the true choice of alignment is a personal, not cultural.***

### Kuo-Toa

***Kuo-toa are degenerate fishlike humanoids that once inhabited the shores and islands of the surface world. Long ago humans and their ilk drove the kuo-toa underground, where they dwell in madness and everlasting night. Kuo-toa can no longer abide daylight. Most are deep-dwelling and insanely paranoid and territorial. However, the rarest of the Kuo-Toa overcome their fears and live lives of adventure in pursuit of new lands, new sights, and new gods.***

### Nothic

***Rather than gaining the godlike supremacy they craved, some wizards who devote their lives to unearthing arcane secrets are reduced to creeping, tormented monsters by a dark curse left behind by Vecna, a powerful lich who, in some worlds, has transcended his undead existence to become a god of secrets. Nothics retain no awareness of their former selves, skulking amid the shadows and haunting places rich in magical knowledge, drawn by memories and impulses they can't quite understand.***

### Sahuagin

***Across fog-shrouded coasts or endless ocean swells, an ominous drone sounded on a conch shell chills the blood of all who hear it. This is the sound of the sahuagin hunting horn-a call to raid and battle. Coastal settlers refer to sahuagin as "sea devils," for sahuagin have no compassion in them, slaughtering the crews of ships and decimating coastal villages. This is the legacy of the Sahuagin culture, but each Sahuagin is free to choose how they will act, although they will be met with stiff discrimination because of their race, like many on this list.***

### Troglodyte

***The savage, degenerate troglodytes squat in the shallow depths of the Underdark in a constant state of war against their neighbors and one another. They mark the borders of their territories with cracked bones and skulls, or with pictographs painted in blood or dung. Perhaps the most loathsome of all humanoids, troglodytes eat anything they can stomach. They dwell in filth. The walls of their cavern homes are smeared with grime, oily secretions, and the debris of their foul feasting. Possibly even more rare than a brave Kua-Toa, an enlightened Troglodyte will walk away from their culture of war, death, grime, and all-consuming hunger.***

### Xvart

***Xvarts are cruel, cowardly humanoids spawned by a cowardly, renegade demigod. They have blue skin, vivid orange eyes, and receding hairlines, mirroring their creator's appearance. Xvarts live in remote hills, forests, and caves. Each tribe is led by a speaker, who is usually the brightest one among them. The speaker serves as the tribe's ambassador, and often dons short wooden stilts and heavy robes to look taller and more imperious. The rest of the tribe hunts for food, plundering crops and livestock from nearby farms if the hunt goes poorly. Xvarts aren't much of a threat to civilized locations because they are somewhat fearful of humans, dwarves, and elves.***

## Rare Races

### Azer

***Natives of the Elemental Plane of Fire, azers are master crafters, expert miners, and sworn foes of the efreet. In appearance and manner, an azer resembles a male dwarf, but this is a facade. Beneath its metallic looking skin, an azer is a being of fire, which outwardly manifests in its fiery hair and beard.***

### Boggle

***Boggles are the little bogeys of fairy tales. They lurk in the fringes of the Feywild and are also found on the Material Plane, where they hide under beds and in closets, waiting to frighten and bedevil folk with their mischief. A boggle is born out of feelings of loneliness, materializing in a place where the Feywild touches the world in proximity to an intelligent being that feels isolated or abandoned. For example, a forsaken child might unintentionally conjure a boggle and see it as a sort of imaginary friend. A boggle might also appear in the attic of a lonely widower's house or in the caves of a hermit. When their haunting grounds fall into ruin or the lonely soul that spawned them passes into the next world, many Boggles are overcome with loneliness and seek out new friends to hang out with...and relentlessly pester with tricks.***

### Modron

***Modrons are beings of absolute law that adhere to a hive-like hierarchy. They inhabit the plane of Mechanus and tend its eternally revolving gears, their existence a clockwork routine of perfect order. A modron unit sometimes becomes defective, either through natural decay or exposure to chaotic forces. Rogue modrons don't act in accordance with Primus's wishes and directives, breaking laws, disobeying orders, and even engaging in violence. Other modrons hunt down such rogues. Every once in a while, if abandoned while on the Great Modron March, or if the Modron is of a lowly power level, they are forgotten by the Great Machine and left to their own devices on foreign planes. Such Modrons are almost always Monodrones.***

### Undying

***The undying are undead creatures sustained by positive energy or the devotion of mortal beings. Where strong negative emotions can trap a spirit as a ghost or wraith, the undying are spirits who linger because they are cherished and who in turn seek to protect and guide the people of their community. These rare but benevolent few are also sometimes sustained by a promise to a deity, celestial, or powerful patron, or simply carry on in order to fulfill some un-realized task.***

### Myconid

***Myconids are intelligent, ambulatory fungi that live in the Underdark, seek enlightenment, and deplore violence. If approached peacefully, myconids gladly provide shelter or allow safe passage through their colonies. Myconids that dwell closer to the surface are more daring, sometimes even venturing out under the rays of the "Great Flame," the sun of the overworld.***