Aasimar. +2 to CHA does almost nothing for a Barbarian. Neither does Light, considering how common Darkvision is.
Healing Hands is nice and can be used during Rage. Resistance to both Necrotic and Radiant Damage is useful, especially the former. Overall it’s a good race, just not suited for the class.
- 2/5 Protector Aasimar. The only combination worse than CHA/WIS is INT/CHA. But since it can fly (kinda) escapes the red rank.
- 2/5 Scourge Aasimar.+1 CON is slightly better and Its transformation is decent for a class always surrounded by enemies. but watch out for friendly fire.
- 3/5 Fallen Aasimar. +1 STR, the best among the aasimar subraces. The transformation might still damage allies, but only on activation.
4/5 Firbolg.+2 WIS never hurts, along with +1 STR, Powers are decent and spells gained are mostly useful outside of combat, when activating Rage is less common.
5/5 Goliath. The only true competitor for Half-Orc‘s title of best barbarian. Relentless Endurance can’t be beaten, but Stone’s Endurance, makes its mark.
1/5 Kenku. A big no-no for a muscular Barbarian. For a DEX Barbarian it’s a different story, though it requires a fair amount of mental gymnastics to roleplay.
3/5 Lizardfolk: The lizards without emotions are hard to rank, but the lack of a STR bonus is significant. They do, however, possess a number of interesting qualities. In particular, Natural Armor, while overlapping with Unarmored Defense, may give some leeway to feature score assignment at lower levels.
1/5 Tabaxi: Nothing for STR, good for DEX builds (4/5). Feline agility is very useful during chases/escapes and climbing is useful as a poor man’s Fly. However, don’t be fooled by the presence of a climbing speed: even tabaxi have to make athletic check to climb.
4/5 Triton. The stat increases are decent, with Cold Resistance and some weird spells in addition. Not bad.
5/5 Bugbear. Good stats distribution (+2 STR +1 DEX). The class abilities sound as stupid as they are strong: Long Limbed is interesting, while Proficiency in Stealth and a nice Surprise Attack during Rage it’s always effective.
2/5 Goblin. Technically not bad, but without an increase in strength and the ability to use heavy weapons he can’t go too far. Instead, for a DEX (5/5), it is among the best.
3/5 Hobgoblin. Saving Face is pretty strong, but the +1 INT is useless.
1/5 Kobold. -2 to STR is probably the worst thing that can happen to a classic barbarian. For a DEX (3/5) it’s not bad, but I dare anyone to roleplay Crowl, Cover and Beg while in Rage.
5/5 Orc. Worse than an Half-Orc, but still a great option. Aggressive can be useful and if you want it can be used along with other skills with the bonus action, since they are needed when you are in melee.
1/5 Yuan-ti. Snakes are too refined and cultured for this kind of pastime.
Mordenkainen’s Tome of Foes
1/5 Tiefling. Devils prefer subterfuge to slaps.
1/5 Eladrin. Nothing muscular. For DEX it’s definitely better (4/5): despite the +1 CHA: a barbarian with a teleport (Fey Step) is definitely to be feared, especially since it can be used during Rage.
1/5 Sea Elf. As above, useful only for DES builds (4/5): the lack of useful powers is compensated by the +1 CON.
1/5 Shadar Kai. Another race good for DEX (5/5): +2 DEX +1 CON, resistance to necrotic and Blessing of the Raven Queen (another teleport).
4/5 Githyanki. +2 STR: Finally something buff. A barbarian that knows Misty Step is scary even if it can’t be used during Rage, while Mage Hand is always useful.
1/5 Githzeray. +2 WIS +1 INT, move along.
Guildmaster’s Guide to Ravnica
5/5 Centaur. +2 STR +1 WIS. CON would have been better, but the rest more than makes up for it. The best features are Charge, an extra attack added to the Rage bonus and 40 ft of movement.
4/5 Loxodon. An elephant with no STR bonus, what a shame. However, it is not to be underestimated: +2 CON +1 WIS, advantage against Charme and Fear, our eternal nemeses, and the possibility to ignore building DEX thanks to Natural Armor.
5/5 Minotaur. As expected, being a raging horned bovine works very well: +2 STR +1 CON, an extra attack with Goring Rush and a chance to push away the Troll bearhugging your Wizard
5/5 Simic Hybrid. A great race for any class, almost on par with the Variant Human or the Half-Elf. +2 CON and +1 to a stat of your choice, Darkvision and the versatile Animal Enhancement, which allows us to choose two enhancements at level 1 and 5:
- 4/5 Manta Glide. Gliding is not the same as flying, but still very useful. Good combo with Totemic Attunement: Eagle, basically creating a jetpack.
- 4/5 Nimble Climber. Climbing is useful in many situations, from exploration to combat.
- 1/5 Underwater Adaptation. To be considered only in aquatic campaigns.
- 3/5 Grappling Appendages.Opens up interesting builds, considering that it allows you to enter grapple while keeping two hands free.
- 5/5 Carapace. +1 CA. Simple but extremely effective, especially for the Barbarian who “forecloses” on magical armor.
- 4/5 Acid Spit. A ranged option! Damage is not incredible but it’s better than nothing and it’s CON based. Throwing hammers might not always be available.
1/5 Vedalken. A Vedalken can be many things, such as a scientist, lawyer or wizard, but a barbarian is not one of them.
Eberron: Rising from the Last War
3/5 Changeling. +2 CHA +1 of your choice. Not quite optimal, though Shapechanger is a great trait.
1/5 Kalashtar. +2 WIS +1 CHA. If you wanted a Stand, the Ancestral Guardian is a better option.
Shifter. Very diverse subraces, including a spectacular one for the class
- 5/5 Beasthide. +2 CON, +1 STR, a ton of temporary hit points and +1 AC for transformations. Even if it’s only one time per short rest it’s a great feature.
- 4/5 Longtooth. +2 STR +1 DEX, good stats but gaining 1d6 on unharmed hits once a day is not very impactful, though pretty cool.
- 2/5 Swiftstride. +2 DEX +1 CHA, best for a DEX build, but the feature is redundant.
- 2/5 WildHunt. +1 DEX +2 WIS, the power doesn’t work with Reckless Attack as you need to attack using STR, still a good choice for DEX build.
5/5 Warforged. Another race that is good at everything thanks to customizable skills, but particularly good as a Barbarian: +2 CON +1 whatever you want(STR), +1 CA, Constructed Resilience and Proficiency in one of the best tools.
Dragonmarks. A brief explanation:
Dragonmarks for Humans and Halflings are race variants that replace base traits.
Dragonmarks for Half-elves replace the increases in trait scores and the two additional skills, but the other half-elven traits such as resistances/immunities are retained.
Dragonmarks for Elves, Dwarves, Gnomes, and Halflings replace the subrace.
Next to each mark are the races and lineages to which they belong, respectively.
Dragonmarks provide access to extra spells for spellcasters, opening up a new universe of amazing, yet complex combinations.
To keep the guide accessible to everyone we will NOT consider such combos.
Barbarians shouldn’t care about this stuff anyway.
4/5 Mark of Detection [Half Elf, House Medani]. +2 WIS + 1 of your choice (STR). The real boon is getting Invisibility at level 3 as a Barbarian.
1/5 Mark of Finding [Human or Half Orc, House Tharashk]. Suboptimal stats, the only useful thing would be Hunter’s Mark but it requires concentration, which you can’t maintain during Rage.
2/5 Mark of Handling [Humans, House Vadalis]. +2 WIS +1 of your choice (STR), Abilities are nothing special but suitable for those who want to play a character more connected to nature.
1/5 Mark of Healing [Halfling, House Jorasco]. Stats and abilities are all wrong.
1/5 Mark of Hospitality [Halfling , House Ghallanda]. A degree in social studies doesn’t fit in the curriculum of a barbarian.
1/5 Mark of Making [Humans, House Cannith]. All wrong here as well.
5/5 Mark of Passage [Humans, House Orien]. +2 DEX +1 Anywhere, but more importantly Misty Step.
1/5 Mark of Scribing [Gnomes, House Sivis]. In D&D 3.5 barbarian characters started as illiterates and had to spend skill points to learn how to read, just to give some context.
3/5 Mark of Sentinel [Humans, House Deneith]. Lacks a bonus to STR, but great for a defensive build thanks to Vigilant Guardian.
1/5 Mark of Shadows [Elf, House Phiarann and Thuranni]. Invisibility is great, but the stats would be good only for a build on DES
1/5 Mark of Storm [Half Elf, House Lyrandar]. Lightning Resistance is nice, but it’s not enough.
1/5 Mark of Warding [Dwarf, House Kundarak]. INT and Mage Armor, wow.
Explorer’s Guide to Wildemount
5/5 Ravenite Dragonborn. Wonderful race: +2 FOR +1 COS, darkvision, a counterattack in Vengeful Assault and an AOE attack via Breath Weapon.
1/5 Draconblood Dragonborn. Very intelligent and refined, so let’s ignore this one.
1/5 Lotusden Halfling. Pretty good race for DEX barbarian +2 DEX, +1 WIS and a bunch of spells.
1/5 Pallid Elf. Being anemic doesn’t help wielding a two-handed weapon, still good for a DEX Build thanks to +2 DEX, +1 WIS and Invisibility.
5/5 Hollow One. Not properly a “race”, but a subrace that can be obtained when a character dies. You keep the traits of your initial race, plus you get Cling to Life, really good in combat and Unsettling Presence, which gives disadvantage on saving throw to a creature. Spectacular.
Mythic Odisseys of Theros
5/5 Leonin. It’s a lion, no surprise they’re good at being feral and angry: +2 COS, +1 FOR, claws and an AOE that causes fear.
2/5 Satyr. They don’t have any useful stats or skills, but escape the red rating thanks to their Magic Resistance. Very good for DEX.
Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft
How the new lineages works. Lineages are chosen on top of a race and replace every trait except skill proficiencies and climbing, flying or swimming speed. You can increase an ability score that you choose by 2 and another one by 1, or three ability score by 1. Because of that, the lineages are gold by default for both DEX build and STR build. For the chad minmaxer, choose an Aarackocra as a race so you retain the flying speed.
5/5 Dhampyr. The only race with permanent Spider Climb, absolutely fantastic. They also don’t need to breathe and can bite to regain hp or get a bonus to the next roll.
5/5 Hexblood. Spooky race which can give one of his tooth to an ally to telepathically communicate with him or see what he sees. Useful for scouting or infiltration. Plus this race can cast Disguise Self or Hex once for long rest. Hex is an useful battle spell, too bad require concentration which the barbarian can’t keep during Rage. The worst of the three lineages, but still pretty strong.
5/5 Reborn. Dudes who faced death and don’t want to repeat the experience: resistance to poison and disease,advantage on death saving throw, immunity to magic-induced sleep, and no need to eat, breathe or drink. Plus they can add a d6 to any ability check, initiative included, a number of times equal to proficiencies bonus. A Reborn Zealot is nearly unkillable.
