In general, few of the choices made at character creation are permanently impactful. Stats. skills, class can all be respecced at nominal cost. You can freely switch from a Monkbarian to a Bardlock or vice versa. You can take your Oath of the Ancients Paladin and temporarily 'forget' their oaths as you switch them to a Thief or Assassin Rogue, embarking on a crime spree across the land, only to switch them back to the Oath of the Ancients Paladin once you are satiated, with their oaths apparently intact and unbroken. With adequate gold, you can have your character be a 'master of all trades' and have them be the ideal build for any given environment and situation. One of the few things you cannot change and are stuck with after choosing it at character creation is their race.
Given that, Rank the Races! I'll start, but I encourage everyone to not just critique my rankings but more importantly to supply their own. Judge them by whatever criterion you see fit. For myself, I'm grading them on 3 primary criterion: Appearance, Flavor, and Mechanics, all of which in my opinion matter for your primary character and avatar in the campaign. Without further ado, here we go!
1. Drow
(Appearance A, Flavor S, Mechanics A)
Elves, Humans, Half Elves and Drow all have more body types available than any other races. This includes the 'lithe and attractive' and 'swol beefcake' varieties. They also work well with any hairstyle and generally have the most and best customization options for appearance of anyone. Mechanically, Elves don't have the best abilities ever, but they do have a *ton* of them. Darkvision, Sleep Immunity, Charm Resist, a bonus proficiency in the always useful Perception, potentially useful or useless weapon proficiencies, and that's without even adding in what they get from their subraces. Drow get all of that, then trade high elves' cantrip for a cantrip and 2 2nd level spells and also superior Darkvision, with absolutely no downsides whatsoever. They also have the most unique interactions and flavor of any race in the game. They are, in every way, the complete package.
Swole Beefcake Elves is actually a Canon Violation, also Dragonborns don't have tails, if you see a Dragonborn with a Tail, it's actually a Half Dragon, they're like identical cousins with the main difference being that one has a tail.
