Creating Hybrid Races in D&D 5E by SMorffew

	A	B	C
1	CREATING HYBRID RACES IN D&D 5E
2	A guide by Stephen Morffew of Step into RPGs
3	https://stepintorpgs.wordpress.com/
4			v13.0

5	Introduction
6	This document is a guide to creating mixed-race playable characters in 5th edition Dungeons & Dragons. All races in the guide have been derived from official D&D 5th edition publications by Wizards of the Coast, as they appear on D&D Beyond. Each official race has been split into two components (Left and Right) that can be mixed and matched to produce either the original race or a combination of two different races.
7	This guide will give you the names of traits, but you'll still need to refer to the official rules to find out what those traits do.
8	Contents
9		Instructions	Step-by-step instructions on how to use this guide. (This tab also includes a designer commentary and version history, below.)
10		Race Creator	A page where you can select two components from drop-down menus and automatically generate a list of all racial traits for your chosen combination.
11		List of Races	A table of the official D&D 5th edition races included in this guide, and how to produce them using this guide (or, in very rare cases, an explanation of why you can't produce them exactly and how they are different).
12		Left components	A list of Left components and the traits they provide.
13		Right components	A list of Right components and the traits they provide.
14	Instructions
15	To create your character's race, pick one Left component and one Right component, then apply all benefits (and disadvantages) from both.
16	With the exception of Ability Score Increases (ASIs), which are covered in more detail below, when both of the chosen components give the same specific benefit, it applies only once. In certain rare cases, where a specific trait is provided by both components, one instance of the trait will be replaced by a different trait. For example, if Fey Ancestry is provided by the Left component, the Right component of the various Elf sub-races will give Trance instead of Fey Ancestry. (On the other hand, receiving Chromatic Ancestry from both Chromatic Dragonborn components will only give one Chromatic Ancestry trait, so players do not get to select two different origins/damage types.)
17	ASIs are determined using the rules first described in Tasha's Cauldron of Everything. In this spreadsheet, the six Abilities are referred to as A, B, C, D, E, and F. Players may choose for themselves which letter refers to which Ability Score; there must be a one-to-one matching, so two different letters can't refer to the same Ability. For example, if a combination gives +A, +A, +B, then the character gets +2 to the Ability determined by A (say Strength) and +1 to a different Ability determined by B (say Constitution). (Players will usually want to assign A as their highest-priority Ability.)
18	Certain Right components (including Humans, Changelings and Verdans) get a choice of language, but if the Left component does not have Common, then this choice must be used to acquire Common as a language.
19	The Fleet of Foot and Courier's Speed traits are reworded as "Increase walking speed by 5 feet". The variant Tiefling's Winged trait is reworded to confer a flying speed equal to a character's walking speed, instead of a flat 30ft.
20	The Centaur's Charge trait is reworded to replace "making one attack against the target with your hooves" with "making one unarmed strike against the target with your legs" (since it is possible for half-Centaurs to not have hooves).
21	Characters are assumed to have the Humanoid creature type unless they have a trait that says otherwise, e.g. the Fey trait of the Centaur, Satyr and Hag components, which change creature type from Humanoid to Fey.
22	Designer commentary
23	As I have mentioned on my blog (first in the article 'Bring on the dwelfs: Mixed race options in Dungeons & Dragons 5e' and in a number of sequel articles, most recently 'Beyond Dwelfs: Even more mixed race options in Dungeons & Dragons 5th edition'), I have not been satisfied with the use of fantasy races, especially mixed races (e.g. Half-Elves and Half-Orcs) in Dungeons & Dragons. This guide is intended to make mixed races less exotic and othered, to take away the apparently special status of Human as the only race permitted to have offspring with multiple other races, and to increase diversity in the types of player characters that can be played.
24	Importantly, I have made the racial options produced by this guide compatible with the official races that already exist. Indeed, it is possible to reconstruct all of the official races using this guidance (see the tab 'List of Races' for proof). This way, the guide can be used even if only one player in a group is interested in using it, while all the others use standard races. (If this had not been a consideration, I would probably have approached the exercise differently. If making races from scratch, I would probably exclude Ability Score Increases and ensure that racial/biological features were kept strictly separate from cultural ones. Unfortunately, that isn't possible if remaining consistent with the existing rules.)
25	I have kept one eye on balance for the purpose of making components compatible and as consistent as possible, regularly referring to the Detect Balance scale (link below), but I have not been constrained by this requirement. I willingly acknowledge that some combinations will be more powerful than others, in the same way that the designers of D&D 5th edition acknowledge that they did not give any regard for balance when designing race options.
26	(Link to the Detect Balance scale.)
27	Sometimes, where particular traits are integral to the nature of a race (Flight for Aarakocra or Mimicry for Kenku, for example), the trait appears in both the Left and Right components derived from that race, but there is an extra benefit in taking both instances of the trait. In the case of Aarakocra, for example, both components provide flight, but the flying speed provided by each is much lower than the one provided by both.
28	Official planetouched races (Aasimar, Genasi, Kalashtar, Tiefling) are descended from planar creatures that are not appropriate as playable races (Celestials, Genies, Quori, and Fiends respectively). As such, their ancestor creatures exist only as Left Components, with the associated Right Component for the official versions being Human. While these races are not always half-Human and half-outsider (Tieflings in particular are a race unto themselves), I feel that treating them this way offers more variety and permits options like non-Human Genasi, which are supposedly possible according to the text but not really supported by the rules themselves.
29	For this guide, official Simic Hybrids are assumed to be the result of Simic biomantic experiments (the Left Component) on Humans (the Right Component), although specific Simic Hybrids in the fiction may be created from Elves or Vedalken rather than Humans. This is similar to the treatment of planetouched races.
30	I have also added Dragonmarks as Left Components that can be applied to their intended official races, but also to different races with Right components. Some Dragonmarks do unavoidably convey some of the racial traits of their intended official races (e.g. the Marks of Healing and Hospitality both provide the Halfling's Brave, and the Marks of Detection and Storm both provide Fey Ancestry and the Elvish language), but I have done my best to keep this to a minimum.
31	Wherever possible, I have tried to be consistent about which Component (Left or Right) certain common or similar traits appear in (e.g. Powerful Build always appears in the Left Component), which improves compatibility. The only times I have consciously avoided this is when putting similar traits in the same Component would render one Component strictly superior to another one. For example, Vedalken Dispassion and Gnome Cunning have very similar effects and I could have put them both in their relevant Right Components, but doing so would have made the Vedalken Right Component strictly better than the Gnome Right Component, so instead the Vedalken trait is in the Left Component and the Gnome Right Component remains a viable choice.
32	If you have any feedback about this spreadsheet, please contact me at my website (link above) or at stepintorpgs@outlook.com
33	Version history
34	v2	2019-03-22:	Fully overhauled spreadsheet in new format.
35	v3	2019-05-10:	Balance fix for Shifters, re-instituting the "any (repeat)" ASI option to prevent 2 ASIs of the same Ability in the same component. Other minor fixes (Goliath no longer says it is based on the Goblin official race, Shadar-kai now speak Elvish instead of Aquan). [Note 12/11/2021: Some previous version history updates, including this one, refer to terminology (particularly around ASIs) that is no longer current in the spreadsheet.]
36	v3.2	2019-08-10:	Corrected the Dragonborn ASI from Con to Cha.
37	v3.3	2020-03-17:	Converted to Google Sheets file. Added a list of sourcebooks to the 'List of Races' tab. Added references to the Moon and Sun Half-Elves from the Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide (already included as High Half-Elves, per the description on D&D Beyond).
38	v4.0	2020-03-21:	1. Added new races from Explorer's Guide to Wildemount, leading to significant changes for Dragonborn (including swapping the components in which you find the Damage Resistance and Breath Weapon) and Orcs (creating three separate subraces for the Orc Left components, which I gave names as best I could). 2. Added the Grung, Locathah and Verdan races. 3. Switched the component in which you can find the Powerful Build feature (from Right to Left) to even out the sizes of creatures with the same parents; this means you can now have Small creatures with Powerful Builds, who can carry as much as a Medium creature. 4. Moved the Tabaxi's Cat's Claws from Left to Right. 5. Expanded the Designer's Commentary. Minor other wording fixes on this page.
39	v5.0	2020-04-13:	1. Added new races from Guildmasters' Guide to Ravnica: the Centaur, Loxodon, Minotaur, Simic Hybrid, and Vedalken. The Centaur's Charge trait has been slightly reworded to account for non-hooved characters, as now described in the Instructions section at the top of this page. 2. Moved the Aarakocra's Talons from Left to Right, meaning they can now be used in conjunction with the Centaur Left Component's Charge ability (as can Tabaxi Claws or the Tortle's Claws). 3. Clarified that the Natural Armor in the Tortle's Right component becomes a flat AC 17 when the character's Left component contains any form of Natural Armor (e.g. from Lizardfolk, Locathah or Loxodons, as well as Tortles). 4. Moved the free language for Tabaxi from the Left to the Right component. 5. Expanded the Designer's Commentary on this page. 6. Finally amended the protections and access rights so that people can use the Creator tab without downloading the spreadsheet.
40	v6.0	2020-06-07:	1. Added new races from Mythic Odysseys of Theros: the Leonin and the Satyr. 2. Swapped the Feline Agility and Cat's Talent abilities for the Tabaxi between components (primarily for balance with the Leonin).
41	v6.1	2020-09-25:	It pains me to do it, but I've finally replaced the original rules for Eberron races (from early printings of Wayfarer's Guide to Eberron) with the weaker errata'd rules (as in Eberron: Rising from the Last War). This affects Changelings, Kalashtar, Shifters, and the poor Warforged.
42	v6.2	2020-11-12:	1. Updated for recent errara to Volo's Guide to Monsters, which removes ability score penalties for the Kobold and Orc, and brings Orcs from that book (which were terrible) in line with the Orcs from the Eberron and Exandria sourcebooks. (This removes entirely the Left component previously called "Orc, Dire", which is replaced with the existing "Orc, Keen".) 2. Replaced the "any (repeat)" ASIs from the Right components of Dragonborn and Shifter races with "any (free)". This fixes an issue in which Left Humans would not provide any ASIs that could be repeated with the "any (repeat)" ASI in a Right component. I feel this is a reasonable change since "any (free)" can only either increase an ability already increased or increase an ability not already increased. The intention is the former, but the latter is (generally considered) to be less optimal, making it a reasonable option to include. This change removes all "any (repeat)" ASIs, so that step has been edited out of the instructions. 3. Replaced the "any (other)" ASI from the Warforged Right component with "Con". This corrects a mistake made with the previous update (v6.1 of the document) that would not allow the correct ASI for the errata'd Warforged race. 4. Added a formula to the 'Race Creator' tab to detect whether certain Right Components should provide the language Common or a free choice of language.
43	v7.0	2020-11-13:	1. Amended the components so that ASIs now indicate "+1", for clarity and to streamline the wording when there are choices. 2. Updated the formulae in the 'Race Creator' tab so that ASIs now appear in only one cell for each component. 3. Restructured the 'Race Creator' tab so that each component's traits appear in only one column each. Size, speed, and vision traits now span both columns (though they are still drawn from specific components as marked in the field description). Traits are centre-aligned. Speed now includes the unit (feet) in the cell itself.
44	v7.1	2020-11-14:	Improved automation of the 'Race Creator' tab so that for some traits that vary if they are duplicated (specifically the ones in the Right components of Elves, Bugbears, Hobgoblins, Kenku, Loxodons, and Tritons), it automatically presents only the correct trait. Simplified some formulae that were unnecessarily complex.
45	v7.2	2020-11-26:	1. Further automated the 'Race Creator' tab for effects when duplicated or similar traits appear in both components. 2. Rewrote the Aarakocra Right component's Flight trait to clarify that it can increase the flying speed of any Left component trait that provides flying speed (of which I believe there is only one example currently, which is the Fiend Left component's option Winged trait). 3. Have one again re-added the 'any (repeat)' type of ASI, specifically (this time) to prevent Mountain Dwarves from getting +3 Strength in some combinations. This is roughly the third time I have added or removed that option for ASIs. 4. Fixed the 'Race Creator' tab, which it appears it is possible for users to break. Please don't drag and drop one of the selection cells onto the other one. If you do it accidentally, undo it?
46	v8.0	2020-11-27:	Have added the optional alternative rules for ASIs from Tasha's Cauldron of Everything.
47	v9.0	2020-12-04:	Changes to the Elf components, including: * Combining multiple Left components (previously the Cosmopolitan Elf, High Elf, and Wood Elf components) into a single component (now called Continental Elf). * Adding traits and options for the Aereni and Valenar Elves from Wayfarer's Guide to Eberron. * Removing some unnecessary choices in certain Elf Right components (High, Wood and Eladrin). * Additional commentary in the 'List of Races' tab, both to clarify the above changes and note that Drow Half-Elves under this system have Superior Darkvision and Sunlight Sensitivity, when they do not in the rules as written. * Minor change to the 'Race Creator' tab to automate the Eladrin Fey Step duplication.
48	v9.1	2020-12-05:	* Updated the 'List of Races' to remove the obsolete orc and to acknowledge the appearance of goblinoid races in Eberron: Rising from the Last War. * Altered the Tasha's-style ASIs in some Left components (Celestials, Fiends, Genies, Quori) to give a choice between A or F, which means combinations with these Left components that have only 2 ASIs now have the choice between +2 or +1/+1 (previously only +2 was possible). * Amended the 'Race Creator' tab so that the Tasha's-style ASIs appear under their specific components instead of being merged together. Looked fine, but not really helpful. * Updated the 'Race Creator' tab so that duplicate languages don't appear in the Right component column.
49	v10.0	2020-12-15:	As requested by someone who contacted me via my web page, I have added Dragonmarks from Eberron to the tool. The marks themselves are all in Left components, which has worked well except I needed to create one new Elf Right component because Elves and Half-Elves make things complicated. In addition to the new components, I have added the Dragonmark races and subraces to the 'List of Races' tab, I have added a new column to the Left component tab and a new row to the 'Race Creator' tab, and I have updated existing Right components (mainly Human, but also Dwarf and Gnome) for the official races that weren't yet listed with those components.
50	v10.1	2021-03-28:	Added a column to the 'Left Components', 'Right Components' and 'Race Creator' tabs to indicate Creature Type, in anticipation of adding new races that are currently in Unearthed Arcana (playtest) and based on new approaches to ancestry since Tasha's Cauldron of Everything. Removed the 'Fey' traits from the Centaur and Satyr races, as these only related to Creature Type and are therefore covered by the new column. (In keeping with the guidance in new Unearthed Arcana, it is now possible for a character to have two creature types. Previously, being part Centaur or part Satyr made characters Fey instead of Humanoid; now it is possible to be both.)
51	v10.2	2021-04-04:	Minor rephrasing in the 'Race Creator' and 'List of Races' tabs (and the instructions above on this tab) to remove implication that the original method for assigning ASIs (before Tasha's Cauldron of Everything was published indicating that the new standard would be for free choice ASIs) is the default or correct one.
52	v11.0	2021-05-09:	* Made the method of determining ASIs an option in the 'Race Creator' tab, so that both sets of increases do not appear at the same time. (If no option is selected, the updated method from TCoE is the default.) * Replaced some formulae in the 'Race Creator' tab, switching from vlookup to index match (renaming some column headings in the 'Left Components' and 'Right Components' tab to make that work). * Fixed an error in the 'Race Creator' tab that meant some combinations didn't get all of their free-choice languages. * Undid the edits made in v10.1 following release of previews of Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft, in which newly released lineages no longer have the expected dual creature types from Unearthed Arcana (playtest) material. Characters who are part-Satyr or part-Centaurs now have the Fey creature type instead of the Humanoid creature type once again.
53	v11.1	2021-05-21:	Because the lineage rules in Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft allow +1 to 3 different ability scores as an alternative to +2 to one and +1 to another, I've changed some of the (post-Tasha's) ASIs to allow this. In 'Left Components', I've changed +(A or F) to +(A or B). In 'Right Components', I've changed +A to +(A or F).
54	v11.2	2021-05-23:	* Added the Custom Lineage from Tasha's Cauldron of Everything (TCoE) as an option, by adding new options to the Human, Variant Left and Human Right components. Edits to the 'List of Races' tab to accommodate this (including requiring any existing race using the Human Right component to select Medium size instead of Small). * Amended the post-TCoE ASI for the Kobold Left component from +A to +(A or B), which was missed in the last edit. * In the description above, corrected the wording of Fleet of Foot and Courier's Speed to relate to walking speed specifically, not movement speed in general.
55	v11.3	2021-05-28:	* Added the lineages from Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft (in the form of Left Components to be combined with the existing Human Right component: Hag, Resurrection, Vampire). In order to account for the Dhampir's greater speed, I have also given the Vampire Left Component the Elf's Fleet of Foot trait, worded as described above. To make the Hexblood a Fey creature, I have given the Hag Left component the Fey trait from the Satyr and Centaur, worded as above. (Note also that the Dhampir and Reborn lineages in VRGtR both have traits called Deathless Nature that have different rules, so I have differentiated them with parentheses.)
56	v11.4	2021-07-17:	Changed the 'Race Creator' tab so that three options are now presented for ASIs: the floating rules per TCoE, the older specified ASIs, and a new recommended set of ASIs using the TCoE rules but based on specified Ability Score priorities (for which new drop-down menus have been provided at the top of the tab).
57	v12.0	2021-11-12:	Massive overhaul, including: * Added the Fairy and Harengon races from Wild Beyond the Witchlight. * Added the Dragonborn sub-races from Fizban's Treasury of Dragons. Because these sub-races are more powerful than the PHB Dragonborn (a much-needed boost, in my opinion), some abilities are only available if both components provide the same type of dragon ancestry. * Reformatted ASIs again, so that now the 'Race Creator' tab has only one row for ASIs, with the TCoE method as default and the specified ASIs (pre-TCoE) given as examples. * Completely changed the calculation and presentation of speeds (including walking speed, climbing speed, swimming speed, and flying speed). Traits like 'Fleet of Foot' and 'Courier's Speed' have been converted so they directly affect a character's speed rather than needing to be worked out by the player. * Separated out Natural Armor and Natural Weapons from other Traits, and as a result altered the Centaur traits (removing the options previously available, so that only Centaur Right components now get Hooves). * Separated out Proficiency-granting Traits from other Traits, including summaries of the types of proficiencies granted (and on the 'Race Creator' tab explained the proficiency swaps that are permitted in Tasha's Cauldron of Everything). As a result, moved some traits around, e.g. for Bugbears and Hobgoblins. * Separated out Creature Type from other Traits (again), slightly amending how this is presented in the 'Race Creator' tab. * Moved traits and features between Elf Left and Elf Right components, partly to make the presentation of speeds work as intended (Fleet of Foot could no longer appear in the Right Component, for example). This does have the consequence that Wood Half-Elves now get both Fleet of Foot (+5ft walking speed) and Mask of the Wild, which they don't in the rules as written but which makes the division far more straightforward. This has been noted in the 'List of Races'. * Re-added the Cunning Artisan trait that had been accidentally left off the Lizardfolk components. Re-balanced the Lizardfolk traits, both for this and so that creatures with natural fangs (Lizardfolk and Dhampirs) can't double up on special bite attacks. * Where some races included options of different trait types (separated out as mentioned above), in some cases I have created duplicate components for specific trait options. For example, I have done this for the Variant Human/Custom Lineage (which now has two Left Components, one giving a skill proficiency and the other giving darkvision) and for the Fiend Left Component (for which I've pulled the Winged trait offering flying speed into a separate component). * For parity with the Fairy Left Component, the Aarakocra Left Component now has a flying speed equal to walking speed, and the Aarakocra Right Component has a flying speed of 25ft. Similarly, the Winged trait for the Fiend Left Component also offers a flying speed equal to walking speed (converted from 30ft in the rules as written). * Added the Mark of Healing Halfling and the Mark of Hospitality Halfling to the list of official races from which the Halfling Right Component was derived. * Updated Instructions and Designer Commentary on this page to take account of changes in this update. BE AWARE that, in some cases, to make speeds or other traits work as intended, I have used formulae in the Component tabs that refer to the 'Race Creator' tab. There are comments in those tabs highlighting when it happens, but it now makes those tabs less useful as quick reference. The 'Race Creator' tab is the main place I recommend mixing and matching components in this spreadsheet.
58	v12.1	2021-12-11:	* Added the Owlin race from Strixhaven: A Curriculum of Chaos. * Changed the presentation of Darkvision for all races to be recorded in feet, instead of merely presenting as either Darkvision or Superior Darkvision (because the Owlin has a trait called Darkvision that goes to 120 feet, the first that breaks the formula). * Added three missing races to the 'List of Races' that I accidentally missed off from v12.0: Harengon, Gem Dragonborn, Metallic Dragonborn. * To improve balance between the Owlin and Fairy Left Components, I moved the Fairy's free-choice language to the Left Component from the Right Component. (This may need to be revisited. Because both flight speed and darkvision appear in Left Components currently, the Owlin has a relatively powerful Left Component and a relatively weak Right Component.)
59	v12.2	2022-02-04:	Minor change to the 'List of Races', amending the Draconblood and Ravenite Dragonborns to correctly identify the Right Component as 'Dragonborn, Common' instead of just 'Dragonborn'. Removed the additional note for Hexbloods in the 'List of Races', which referred to a Fey trait that is no longer needed (as it predated the current field specifically for creature type).
60	v12.3	2022-03-08:	Minor fixes, and a change to the 'Race Creator' so that the template phrase for darkvision no longer appears when the "range" for darkvision is 0 feet.
61	v13.0	2022-05-22:	Added the following races from Monsters of the Multiverse: Aarakocra, Aasimar, Bugbear, Centaur, Changeling, Deep Gnome, Duergar, Eladrin, Firbolg Air Genasi, Earth Genasi, Fire Genasi, Water Genasi, Githyanki, Githzerai, Goblin, Hobgoblin, Kenku, Kobold, Lizardfolk, Orc, Satyr, Sea Elf, Shadar-kai, Shifter, Tabaxi, Tortle, Triton, Yuan-ti. (The Fairy, Goliath, and Harengon from that book are already included, and have required no changes from previous versions of this guide.) Where the new and legacy versions of races are sufficiently mechanically different to be two different races, I have (for now) retained both. Where they overlap, and in particular where the new version is strictly better or worse than the original, only the new version has been retained. When the legacy version has not been retained (as is the case for the Bugbear, Centaur, Eladrin, Firbolg, Genasi, Goblin, Kenku, Satyr, Sea Elf, Shadar-kai, Shifter, Tabaxi, Tortle, and Yuan-ti), the reason is explained in 'List of Races' tab. Options from legacy material are marked with "[Legacy]" and generally not recommended. This update also includes some significant switching of languages (particularly the Common or free choice languages) between components.
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