Editing World of Warcraft: The Roleplaying Game (section)

==Races==
''To make things easier to the unfamiliar, statistic adjustments will be referred to by their D&D names such as Dexterity and Constitution, rather than Agility and Stamina. But for all intents and purposes they remain the same thing.''

Before you go "No [[Draenei]]?", the simple truth of the matter is that Draenei weren't added to the game in their PC format until the Burning Crusade came out - and the gameline was cancelled a year after that date.

===Alliance===
*'''Human''' - Got to start somewhere, and it might as well be with humans. They have the same bonus feat and extra skill points as normal for D&D, but they ''also'' get racial bonuses on certain interactions, crafting checks and against fear. They also don't like Orcs, and so get racial bonuses when fighting them too, but the feeling is mutual. No racial class for them.
*'''Ironforge Dwarf''' - It's a [[Dorf]], what more can you expect? They have the same CON/CHA adjustments, the same slower speed, resistance to poison and come with Stonecunning, craft and appraise bonuses, so yes... Dorf. They do however get a racial class which beefs up their strength score, gives them the ability to turn to stone once per day and good bonuses against magic and when fighting Giants (which aren't ''too'' common in a Warcraft setting)
*'''High Elf''' - Lets get a couple of things out of the way, when they made this RPG, the Burning Crusade expansion hadn't come out yet, so no-one knew where Kael'thas took the Blood Elves or how they got back. So they're not in the game short of a Web Enhancement that you can't get any more. So we get High [[Eldar|Elves who are nearly extinct]] because of the whole Sunwell thing. Unlike D&D Elves, they have bonuses to INT rather than DEX since they are such good Arcanists, however they are addicted to magic so they need to spend more time preparing each morning unless they have access to a moonwell. Their racial class gives is like its own spellcasting class, giving access to 0-level spells and improves the primary arcane caster level too. If your GM allows you ''could'' also play these guys in Horde as Blood Elves, since they are practically the same thing.
*'''Night Elf''' - Sexy ninja-druid wood elves. Not too much to look at on their own. They make for good divine casters, but only have some shitty nature and survival skill bonuses. Their racial class is impressive though, giving them insane stealth bonuses when they don't move, DEX increases, exotic weapon proficiencies and Cold/Fire resistances that scale with character level. 
*'''Half Elf''' - Kinda like a human, they get an extra feat at 1st level, and a range of interaction and magical racial skill bonuses. They can also take a unique feat that give them some 0-level spells if they wanted to. There are rules for playing variants: Half Blood Elves are practically the same thing, but with access to warlock spells, while Half Night Elves get a different set of skill bonuses and access to a more limited form of shadowmeld rather than the ability to cast 0-level spells.
*'''Gnome''' - Unlike core D&D, these midgets have a nack for technology rather than illusion, and make for better general craftsmen than dwarves do and come with a +1 bonus to all saves because they are lucky. They start the game with an extra technology feat. No racial class for them.

===Horde===
*'''Orc''' - Make for good warriors of any type. They get the ability to Rage like a barbarian, bonuses on STR and racial skill bonuses on handling wolves and intimidate checks. They also hate humans and get bonuses against them. They only got their racial class in the ''Horde Player's Guide'' because they were meant to be counterparts to humans. This racial class gives them steady STR/CON increases, lets them rage more and and can give them a temporary boost to any stat of their choice once per day.
*'''Tauren''' - Two-legged Cows. They're kind of like the counterparts to Night Elves; there's not much there in the stat block other than a few racial skill bonuses and the natural weapon that is their horns. Their racial class makes their charge more effective when they use their heads, and give them some STR/WIS increases, one thing that should be strongly pointed out is that similar to High Elves, the Tauren racial class stacks with Divine spellcasting levels. So can generally be a good option if you want to mix fighting ability with divine buff. 
*'''Jungle Troll''' - They have good healing, but ''not quite'' like core D&D trolls, but we'll get to that. They suffer INT/CHA penalties, but gain DEX increases and have a range of mobility and survival skill bonuses and are good with thrown weapons. Their racial class also stacks with Divine spellcasting levels and properly grants them steadily improving Fast Healing, CON bonuses and has a good BAB progression which is actually quire rare for a racial class.
*'''Forsaken''' - Undead-type, coming with all the immunities that go with it. Meaning it can be a pain in the arse for the GM to figure out how to challenge you. That does come with it's own set of problems for you though, since you cannot heal naturally, you don't get a CON score, you have to deal with the positive/negative energy switch issue and you are specifically not affected by ''Raise Dead'' or ''Reincarnate'', and it takes a spell stronger than ''Resurrection'' to bring you back to "unlife" (because being Undead is an affliction in WoW, rather than a living/dead state). If you expect to be a front line warrior the racial class should be maxed out immediately since it increases your STR score by +3, your Natural AC by +3 and has the unique bonus of increasing the hit die you gain at each level by its next size; so D6 becomes D8, D10 become D12. Those who already get D12 get plus two hit points instead, which is why you want to take the racial class as soon as possible since the benefits scale up later.
*'''Half-Ogre''' - With options for both "true" half-ogres (human/ogre) and the awesome Mok'nathal (orc/ogre crosses). Their racial characteristics are fairly basic. But they do get to count themselves as one size larger in situations where it may be beneficial for them to do so, which can be significant. Their racial class is cool though, granting them +2 to STR, CON and WIS and increasing their base size to large, which due to their racial ability they can count themselves as huge if they feel like it. The Half-Ogre class also stacks with Divine spellcasting levels which is cool, since nothing about Half-Ogres really hinders divine abilities.

===Neutral or Other===
*'''Blood Elf''' - Although the web enhancement to get them is incredibly rare, it is still out there. Given the state of the game when the books were written, they're mostly hanging out under Illidan and Kael'thas. They're literally just a variant High Elf; they get free weapon proficiency in the longbow, composite longbow, short sword and warblade, their favored class is Warlock instead of Mage, and their version of the "Elf Racial Class" replaces the Empower Magic trait with the Mana Tap trait, which lets them make a touch attack that steals 0 level and 1st level spell-slots. This can be used to sate their mana addiction, restore their own depleted spellslots for casters, or power up their Arcane Torrent and Recharge racial feats.
*'''Goblin''' - Are like Gnomes, but with the CHA bonus traded for a Diplomacy skill increase. They also have a list of Craft bonuses rather than being generally "good at all craft" and they also get the Technological Feat. When it's all said and done, they might as well be practically the same thing as a Gnome, but at least anyone can play a Goblin
*'''Half-Orc''' - They are nothing like humans and almost nothing like Orcs, they get CON bonuses instead of STR and the penalty is to WIS instead of INT. Instead of Raging like a barbarian, they can get a temporary STR boost and instead of their hatred of humans/orcs (which would be redundant, being half human/orc) they get resistances to fear.
*'''Forest Troll''' - Identical in every way to Jungle Trolls in the Horde, which is a bit lazy on the part of the game developer, but at least it allows players to play Trolls in Alliance parties.
*'''Furbolg''' - [[Bear Lore|Intelligent Bears]]. They get a modifier to nearly every stat so optimal characters really should focus on divine spellcasting or be straight up punchy warriors. They have natural weapons, +2 natural armor to AC and some survival/nature skill bonuses. Their racial class makes their natural claw weapons even better, further improves their natural AZ and increases their size and strength similarly to the Half-Ogre, as well as providing the Divine bonus. One cool cosmetic note is that each level in Furbolg also increases the character's height by 10% and their weight by 20%.
*'''Wildhammer Dwarf''' - Neutral because nobody asked them to join a side when the wars started, it also means that any party can play a dwarf and these ones are probably better than the Ironforge Dwarves in terms of combat optimisation. Instead of the darkvision, stonecunning and crafting related bonuses, they get improvements on riding and handling animal checks cause they ride GRIFFONS, they also love hammers and get huge bonuses against fear. Their racial class gives them bonuses against Trolls (which are thankfully more common since they are a PC race) and they huge bonuses on the charge due to their reckless nature.
*'''Dark Iron Dwarf''' - Evil dwarves who serve the Fire Elemental Ragnaros. , they are practically identical to Ironforge Dwarves but they have shit stat modifiers, getting +1 to DEX and -2 to CHA for some reason. They kind of need their racial class to get anywhere which gives them +1 DEX and +2 CON as well as some resistance to fire, and a stacking caster level ability, but specifically only with Fire spells.
*'''Dragonspawn''' - Like Dragon Centaurs ''(or Dragon Ogres if you are familiar with Warhammer)'', they start off at large size and have a subtype depending on their heritage. They have shit stat modifiers though, only getting a measly +1 to STR and -2 to CHA ''(which can plummet further downwards with certain draconic heritages)'' so generally speaking they are not a very good race to play as. Their racial class stacks with Arcane levels for spellcasting, and does something to address the stat problem, by providing them with +3 STR and +2 CON, as well as some naturally armor and all of the armor proficiencies.
*'''Murloc''' - Ugly merfolk that take damage from being out of water for too long. Their racial class is a virtual smorgasbord of weapon proficiencies, swim and land speed increases, stealth improvements, natural AC bonuses, Darkvision boosts, as well as having good BAB progression, ''and'' it stacks with divine. So if you're a Murloc, just take the f**king racial class already.
*'''Naga''' - One of those races where Males and Females have real statistical differences, but nothing as simple as [[-4 STR]] here, instead males get +2 STR and -2 INT/CHA, while Females get the exact opposite. Both can swim and both get +1 AC. Their racial class has quite a lot in it to go into great detail here, but consists of a mutation that you may choose at each level to customise yourself with. There is a list of share upgrades, but the genders also get their own unique ones; Females can gain extra arms, or improved arcane ability. Males can grow larger 
*'''Pandaren''' - Awesome kung-fu pandas. They have a good statline and get +1 natural AC, as well as gaining the Dodge feat at character creation. Their racial class stacks with Divine, and give them good saves on everything. As well as Combat Expertise and the ability to add their WIS bonus to their AC as if they were [[Monk]]s.
*'''Quillboar''' - A pretty good race if you want to be a fighter/barbarian. They get +2 to STR/CON but -3 to INT/CHA. They also have natural spike attacks, +1 AC bonus, the ''Scent'' ability and they pack hunting which makes them better if one of their allies drops dead. Their racial class stacks divine, gives a good BAB progression, and improves their pack hunting, gives them flanking bonuses and increases their STR/CON but +1 each. If someone were to get the ''Leadership'' feat, then Quillboar make perfect followers.
*'''Satyr''' - Demon assholes that are pretty similar to Night Elves in that they are sort of Ninja-Druid wannabees, except this time with claws and the outsider subtype. Their racial class gives them Shadowmeld (just like Night Elves) and the ability to backstab like a rogue.
*'''Tuskar''' - Eskimo walrus people, that exemplify the concept of "frozen north", getting fishing bonuses, proficiency with nets, resistance to cold and the like. Their racial class is pretty much the same continued, but with more armor and increase STR.

===Monster Races===
The WoW RPG also incorporated the "Creature Class" system that was initially released in '''Savage Species''', so it could allow you to play some of the more powerful races from first level. This does have its down sides though, since unlike "racial classes" you are compelled to take your creature class at first level, and are not permitted to multi-class until you have completed it. This means if you play a particularly powerful creature like a Giant or an Abomination, you are stuck within your class for the duration of the campaign. Not only that, but several of the creature classes have a level progression that goes well beyond 20th level, and Epic level progressions are not a part of the WoW ruleset, so your group would have to shoehorn it in from the core D&D material if you wanted to continue playing your giant past level 20, and due to commitment the class takes, once you've finished them you have to ask yourself what value is having a level 29 Abomination become a level 1 Mage? Of course your GM could house-rule that you need not complete your creature progression, but that's really up to him.

All that being considered, some of the creature classes do provide a lower level progression, so when you finish them you can comfortably join the group as a class member rather than a creature.

*'''Abomination''' - As mentioned, it has a 29-level progression, so you'll find it cute that Barbarian is the favored multi-class option. From first level you get a +10 bonus to strength, even though you start out at medium size. Though you face hefty penalties to every other stat. Your character build revolves around multi-weapon fighting, initially with two hands, but eventually you attach a third. You also get very impressive damage reductions and the ability to confer diseases as if they were poison attacks. Also remember that as undead, you are immune to most things that interfere with other player characters, so you've got a pretty good [[Tank]], if a bit one-dimensional.
*'''Ancient Protector''' - Your opportunity to play an Ent, they are the Plant versions of the Giants we'll come to talk about later; loads of STR, CON and size bonuses are coming your way. What makes this more interesting is that you can eat trees to regain hit points and you can root yourself to the spot which makes you immobile and increases your damage. It could be interesting but the class is so long that it's all you're going to be doing, so the novelty might wear off.
*'''Centaur''' - The bastard mongol children of Cenarius are comparatively good choice as a PC race. It's a bit bare bones, but you get stat increases every level to the point that when you've completed the class at level six, you've accumulated +8 STR, +4 DEX & CON and +2 WIS. As well as a land speed of 50 feet. Because it's a relatively shorter progression you could then go on to any other class you wished without having been hindered too much, but at least your stats go some way to make up for it, especially with the more martial classes.
*'''Dragon Whelp''' - a 13 level progression that is positively bristling with class features, every level you get something new, whether it is a set of spell-like abilities or a new trait like blindsense, flight or breath weapons; as well as all the stat increases. Dragon is a rewarding class if only because you don't feel like you're wasting time trying to get through it, even if other players are overtaking you in terms of power level. It is important to note that the rules for Dragon PCs don't work quite the same was as D&D ''Draconomicon''; you might grow more powerful, but you'll never get out of the "whelp" status and grow into one of the larger dragons, so a  Spyro-esque midget you will remain. The rules are also easy enough to convert to a different colour of dragon if you wished, simply change the elemental subtype and breath weapon to a colour that matches.
*'''Dryad''' - The comely Daughters of Cenarius have a nine level progression that grants them magical resistances, the ability to dispel magic and they gain poison attacks. While it's a bit longer than Centaur, they at least have the fact that they are immortal Fey.
*'''Flamewalker''' - A fairly long class that provides stuff at every level, although not as fun-filled as the Dragon class. As a sort of elemental creature it is heavily dependent upon fire and cannot be away from heat sources for long otherwise they die, although GMs are advised to give PCs a special amulet that maintains temperature. The class does provide quite strong damage reductions and stat boosts and natural fire attacks and spell-like abilities. But you could have played a dragon.
*'''Keeper of the Grove'''- The "Mighty Sons of Cenarius" and they have the longest level progression of the group, but are probably one of the best ones to play, why? Because their entire level progression makes them into pseudo-druids, even providing them with spellcasting ability up to their total HD, and the class features are fairly balanced, so they get stat boosts to most things, damge reduction and the occasional spell-like ability. 
*'''Mountain Giant''' - Immortal rock creatures, they were all born at the dawn of time so you have to fluff yourself an excuse for why you start out at level one. You get insane strength bonuses as the class progresses, as well huge CON bonuses and damage reduction. But that's about it, short of some resistance to magic and the fact that you grow to Huge size, it's fairly bare-bones.
*'''Nerubian''' - Want to play a spider-man? You start out at small size but eventually grow through medium to large as the class progresses, as well has having the ability to create webs and exude poison. The class has potential, but you'll probably get the feeling that you're killing time while only accumulating a few class features to show for it.
*'''Ogre''' - Much like the Centaur, it's a short class that provides stat boosts at every level, so is also a decent choice for a PC. It doesn't quite have the balance of the Centaur though, having a strong focus on strength while facing penalties on most other stats. There are options for two-headed Ogres, but it's mostly just cosmetic.
*'''Ogre Mage''' - One of the better choices for monster race, it has only one more level than the Ogre class, but has far less penalties to your other stats. The absolute best bit about it is that it automatically allows you to cast spells as an Arcanist or Healer of a path chosen at your character creation, with a caster level equal to your HD much like the Keeper of the Grove, but because it's shorter you can go off and do other things. So when you've completed your level progression, you can simply continue levelling-up as a spellcaster as if nothing had happened, the only penalty is the fact that you do lose out on three levels of spellcasting due to skipped HD for being an Ogre. But if you don't want to continue as a caster because you want to take advantage of all the strength and size bonuses, you've still got the benefit of having been one on the past.
*'''Sea Giant''' - Another one of those huge classes you'll never see the end of. You obviously get strength and constitution bonuses and a few spell-like abilities now and then and a special melee attack, but you'll never be as strong or as resilient as a Mountain Giant could be.