How to Make a Character in Dungeons & Dragons
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- Опубліковано 20 сер 2024
- For new D&D players, making a character can be complicated. Madeline tries to simplify what you need to know.
Dungeons and Dragons is a game all about telling stories, becoming a character, and having fun with your friends. It’s set in a fantasy world of swords and sorcery, but whether you want to join a pirate gang, explore a jungle, or take part in a political plot is entirely up to you. Everything is your decision, from what you look like, to how you act, to what happens next. The dice just help you along. Most of all though, it’s about spending time with your nearest and dearest, sharing dwarven ales, and making memories.
Some Recommended links:
Character Sheets: dnd.wizards.co...
Races: dnd.wizards.co...
Classes: dnd.wizards.co...
#DnD #DungeonsAndDragons
Written and presented by Madeline Cullen, @notthevampire
Edit and grade by Kieran Galaska
Motion Graphics by Ciaran Askew
Creative Direction by Chris Imlay
Exec. Produced by David Boddington
I always start making a character thinking "It's going to be different" but it always ends up as a dwarven bard.
Same. Bard is always top 2 for me.
I always go back to the barbarian idk why
yeah, you like what you like. ain't nothin' wrong with that
Human fighter
Why is that soooo true!?
Probably one of the quickest videos explaining how to make a character sheet! I'm so happy I dont need to share an intimidating 30+ minute video
Since I lost my girlfriend to cancer last year... It pretty much brok me and life nearly a year after her death is still covered in pain, grief and darkness...
Luckly I have found D&D, painting minis, makeing a world for my players, when we need a new dm, it stress me less doing this and let me get a break from everything.
Since my girlfriend death have I always played Dungeons and Dragons with a female hero, that shows my lovely sweet girlfriend ideals.
- Keep fighting, even when death knocks on the door.
- Animal rights and love for nature.
- Treat others with respect and help, when you can.
I made her into my homebrew character as a half human and half dryad, Beastmaster, who always have her animal companions with her and used the power of both beasts and nature.
That's lovely
I’m sorry to hear that your Girlfriend passed away, I’m happy that you feel better when playing D and D. Keep on going strong.
Sorry for your loss, mate.
Came for DND, left with a tear, sorry for your loss man.
My condolences Peter, its great to hear that DND is an escape for you and its a great way to honour her name and story. I'm sorry for your loss.
I’m now just getting into D&D after being hounded by my brother for about 4 years now. You’re video was very great in explaining the character sheet. Thanks so much for all the information!
Dear God, thank you so much I've gone through almost forty videos just to get the simple introduction you just gave me here. THANK YOU!!!
They don’t tell how many dice, but it’s 4D6. Than just take away the lowest number, & add them all up; You’d do that 6 times for attributes.
For skills it’s adding your modifiers from your attributes, with proficiencies if you have any.
For Proficiency Bonus, your class has a table that tells you what it is.
Proficiency isn't based off class but level of the character. Which is why it's included with the level xp chart on page 15.
a quick and ez-ier way to explain saving throws and other little details, Thanks :)
I've been playing for years and this was STILL incredibly helpful!
Which doesn't say much good about the game, if you think about it...
Wait... are the modifiers in the big boxes? Oh noes...
You can of course write them anywhere you like, but it's more logical to make the number you actually use in play graphically bigger. ;)
Oh my lol
The maths hurt my gray matter
I prefer my modifiers in the little box, there's no rhyme or reason as to why
Ya I still don’t understand…
I really like the premade characters and the quick build suggestions in the Player Handbook!
This video really helps out. I'm going to save it for next character creation.
I've watched three 30+ minute videos and this is by far the most in depth and best at explaining what is going on!
Man I have been waiting to play this so thank you
I have an idea: the character, or characters, are a pair of twins, Ethan "gold" and Tessa "copper" they share stats and status effects, gold is the strength and copper us the brains, they have a deck of cosmic cards that can use mana for a chance to change anything in and out of battle
Cool sword earrings
Would go a long way for accessibility if you would produce your own accurate captions for Deaf/HoH players instead of just relying on UA-cam to autogenerate them
Especially with her oh so cute accent. When she said cooling instead of calling, I was thrown for a second. For the most part I understood, but accents are tricky.
I was never into D&D because it seemed like there was too much going on for me to process. Until I started watching Stranger Things, and it seemed very interesting. This helps me a lot! Hopefully I can find people who might want to play someday
Someone is going to need to teach me😂🤷🏽♂️There’s so much that goes into this… man.
A good video. It took 6 years for Wizards of the Coast to start making these types of videos, Finally.
I hate it when people say "sometimes" when they should say "always"...
It's not that sometimes your chosen race gives you a boost to certain stats; they always do..
Same goes for classes and weapons they have at their disposal. Every single class has a starting weapon. Even wizards have a dagger or quarterstaff. they might not USE it, but they still get one.
I have two stories to share here:
When I was in 3rd grade at school, our teacher made up a game he called "Storskog" which means litterally just "Big Forest" in Norwegian and it was basically D&D but we did not even know what that was at all. We had no clue none of us what that game was but it was like another version of D&D. It had Pokemons as pets for example. We were in groups and I remember my character name was something weird. Idk what but it was a cringey name lol. I also remember someone on my group was granted a Snorlax pet which everyone was so jealous of and I got a green emrald amulet necklace that let me speak to animals and I got a lot of coins which was the Currency there. Nobody else in the entire school had played "Storskog" when they had that teacher and were in 3rd grade. Years later in 7th grade, we had another teacher and she randomly decided to show us the D&D part of S1 E1 Of stranger things and only that part. We were all so excited because we knew this meant something good. She then started a game which was also like D&D but I dont remember what we called it. I think we actually just called it Dungeons and Dragons. We were more realistic and I was DM one time. I remember we changed groups like every 3rd week or so and changed characters too. I still have my character sheet at home rn right beside me. Yesterday was the last day of 8th grade for me. So in about 2 months, im a 9th grader. I really like how simple this video is by the way. Im glad I got to share my little D&D story if that makes sense. I have never played like an "American" version of D&D before but its my favorite memories from all my school years. The character sheet I have beside me right now has name and everything but its not the same character sheet as in other D&D games tho. It was printed out from a website that was made for our school. My last character was named Eleven because when I got home the day our teacher started the dungeons and dragons game in 7th grade, I watched the rest of episode 1 stranger things and ep 2 and then I just stopped watching for so long. Only a few days ago I decided to watch a little bit of it again and ended up finishing the whole thing so far in like 2 and half day non stop watching. Im the biggest stranger things fan now just because of that.
amazing story! it seems like you had a great time in school. ❤
my friends just finished their last campaign, and now im joining them. this is really helpful!! :3
This is gonna be really helpful for me in making my D&D character. I’ve always loved fantasy and role playing games. All of it sounds really cool!
Alignment is a big one too!
Excelent way to show my friends !!! Thanks
I like the brevity of this. Great job!
I'm just wondering:
1:10 Is there only one class you can have? Can the classes be combined? Or create your own class? 🤔🤔🤔
There is several classes in the game, and you can combine them through a system called Multiclassing. It is however a system that you should only use if you understand what you are doing. It can often leave you weaker than normal and it benefits only show up in later levels. It is a system where you trade away your later abilities to gain the starter abilities of another class.
@@Cloud_Seeker Oki
Uploaded 1 year ago? Where was this video when I needed it! x) Excellent!
I still dont get it?? Whats the skill things based off of? 1-10? 20? Why are there two different numbers assigned to it? :( im so confused
There's two numbers for your abilities; Ability Score, and Ability Modifier.
The Ability Score is the actual number you rolled (or picked), such as 14.
You then determine your Ability Modifiers from that score - there's a table in the basic rules/player's hand book (or you can work it out with a bit of maths I'll put at the bottom).
For an ability score of 14, you would have a modifer of +2. So if you put this in strength, you would write 14 in the small box and +2 in the big box. The modifier is the more important number as it's more commonly used. It's the number you add to your dice rolls when you make a check with that ability. The actual score comes up in rare cases, but your DM should be able to tell you if and when that comes up in play.
If you don't want to use the table to look up the modifiers relating to each score, you can work it out yourself with this formular
Subtract 10, divide by 2, round down.
E.g:
14 minus 10 = 4.
4 divided by 2 = 2.
So a score of 14 gives you a +2 modifer.
@@CorrosiveCitrus thank you!!
Yip, definitely Crushing on Madeline rn
You know what. What I find very suprising with how woke WOtC are. Everyone in this coment sections are just like you. Caring more about the presentor and making sexual comments than actually engaging in the content.
00:14 WILL THE WISE
My friend wanted her first character to be a Warforged, fuck that shit
Water from my weapon of choice is a katana
Conveniently skipped Alignment, and I appreciate this
Yeah Alignment is purely a RP element in 5e. It has no mechanical implications at all. You can have a Chaotic Evil Oath of Devotion Paladin if you want lol
Right because why should I role playing game require an element of role playing. And back when Alignment DID matter. Your deity and choice of Alignment did matter. Your Paladin is conducting interrogation of a goblin, hit points reduced to near 0 and unable to fight back. He offers to spare his life in exchange for the location of the lair of the group who ambushed them. The Paladin is Lawful Good like his chosen Deity. If their Oath consists of honesty for example and he breaks his end of the bargain and kills the goblin. Is he still Lawful Good? If his Deity disapproves and revoked his powers. Would the GM be blamed today for such an act. Alignment would matter wouldn’t it, having mechanical implications on your behavior like it’s meant to.
I wanna play dnd, but I don't have any friends that can play dnd, I'll probably ask my cousin to let me play dnd with them!!
This is really helpful. Even for a 5 minute video :)
This literally told us nothing about how to DO it just showed a bunch of numbers filling in the different abilities and no explanations on how they got them.
magnificent content Dungeons & Dragons. I smashed that thumbs up on your video. Continue to keep up the superior work.
wood elf druid is literally my character lol
I demand more Maddie Cullen!!!
that's weird how the abilities are filled out with the modifiers in the big square and the ability score in the little circle, I always do it the other way around.
Ranger/magic user is my guy at the start.
Funny, no matter how good or bad the video content is, no matter how ugly, pretty, eccentric or obtuse the host(s) of video - if it's a D&D related video I always give it a thumbs up to encourage D&D videos.
Strange I didn't know the physicality of the host in the video affected the quality
@@ctrain8900 Yup. The allure sometimes trumps content, and of course content can trump comeliness. But either or, if you down with D&D you know me... . Whose down with D&D? Every last homie!
@@JJSeattle then idk really what to say if eye-candy is a determining factor for you on whether a video is good or not
Where do you find the information that's race/class base, like where do you find the race buffs or the class items. Im extremely new to dnd and this vid rlly helped but im still kinda confused
Buying the core rule books most likely.
Download the Basic Rules pdf from the official site for free. It doesn't have everything, but it has enough to get started.
Way better than the last one
A bit not in depth
these are all well done
So helpful, thank you!
Gosh this is in depth
I'm thinking about getting in to the game but I have no idea how to find a group, none of my friends play the game so I have no idea how to get started.
Nore do any of mine but I have been playing for 5 years and the latest group is nearing its one year anniversary. Just go online and see if there anyone around the world that wants to play a game.
@@Cloud_Seeker I found a group in my town, we've been playing spell jammer, I'm a dragon born barbarian who has already made enemy's, we are five sessions in.
hi, how would you create a playable pixie/fairy? I have a player who wants to play one of these creatures but I don't know how to make it playable. I think they will be too fragile for the type of campaign we play hindering the rest of the group.
But then again I don't want to make this player feel like it was left out of the game 😕
Hello! For now there's play test material for playing a fairy dnd.wizards.com/articles/unearthedarcana/folk_feywild
With a sourcebook in the coming months that take place in the Feywild, so a chance the fairy will change but for now you can use the play test material. Happy rolling!
The Wild Beyond the Witchlight adventure has introduced the playable Fairy race!
@nottheVampire wow love the way you present the game play. what's you do you prefer to play as your character?
After putting Druidic in the known languages after selecting the race, how would I have known you would have followed up with a Druid class?
I like trees more than people
why i have the feeling i have seen her in some CW show??
Thank you
This is a great video!!
Beginner friendly but also needs to be paired with more in depth explanations of the roles of the different classes and why beginners should never start out playing a caster. Spells should be reserved for those with the foresight and experience to use them wisely, both so that they do not constantly feel useless and also so that they don't become the one reason every plan or interaction becomes so incredibly complicated that it ends in anything from a tpk to a war with the local feudal lord.
Everyone is a beginner at some point, and everyone can have fun playing any class. Casters have been made far less useless at low levels under 5E.
@@energythief its about the experience of feeling useless. Theres a lot more planning going into a caster than any other class. Spellcasters are niche. No one size fits all spells actually exist. You have to read the fine print.
passive perception and inspiration? I must of missed it each time Ive watched this
I'm usually the gm,but if I were to play,I would be a bard-druid
Wait... I didn't realy get the hit dice part... 😅 Does she mean you use different dice (depending on class) to create the hit points for your character?
Yes
Yes.
Each class uses a different die. At level 1, your HP is the max value on this die plus your CON bonus. Then, at each level up, you roll this same die to see how many extra HP you'll get.
E.g.: in the video, the character has 1d8 HP and a +1 in Constitution (CON). So, at level 1, Blossom has 8+1 = 9 HP. When Blossom levels up, the player will roll 1d8 and add the result to their HP. Let's say Blossom leveled up and got a 3 on their 1d8 roll. So, now, Blossom will have 9+3 = 12 HP at Level 2.
If the class used 1d12 for HP, with the same CON bonus as Blossom, then at level 1 this character would have 12+1 = 13 HP.
On every level up, this other character would roll 1d12 to add to their HP. Meaning that, at level 2, this character could end up with an HP between 14 (13+1) and 25 (13+12).
This is what I know. But always keep in mind that the rules in D&D, and any kind of Tabletop RPG, are actually guides. The DM/GM is the superior law. So, if your DM/GM decides to adapt the way a character gains HP, then you can throw all this explanation in the garbage. lol
Ah, but how do you determine modifiers
The rules have a chart with stat numbers equaling certain modifiers.
Can I play as Mario or something?
Yes
Sooo helpful...thankyou
thank you
If I want to have an tropical islander character? I could?
Sure. That doesn't really say anything in terms of mechanics.
I thought you get ur ac with 10+dex+armor+ bonuses
No. That is not how it works
Great video
I watched the movie today
So can I max out all my stats if I want? How do you decide how many skill points to add?
Most likely no. You should also not be able to because it is a team game and not a singleplayer game where you are the only one that matters. You need flaws and things you can't do so other people can find a place within the group. Don't be selfish and instead help other players doing something that make them helpful within the team.
You get your stats from the method the DM say you can start with.
You typically get to improve your stat 5 times until you reach maximum level. Which means you can improve your character for a total of 10 points. However since most games are played between level 1-10, you will most realistically only see 2 Ability Score Improvments (ASI), which means you can only improve for whole 4 points if any at all if you pick feats.
A few classes get more ASI's than others. Those are Rogues and Fighters.
Rogue gets 6 ASIs, and Fighters get 7 ASI's.
This means Fighters get the more stat improvements in the game, provided that the game last that long.
Hey ive heard about items but not finding anything about what said items are what do i do?
I wonder if actors have ever played dungeons and dragons to learn to improvise
Video made before new approach to race settled on...?
I thought they were calling it Lineage now?
@@TimeLord675 they just do whatever they want now why bother with race if every race gets the same bonuses.
its the same with dark vision - in older versions darkvision was a unique skill that only a few races had - now everyone has it it and its the minority [humans ironically!] that cant see in the dark!!!!
bring back race based bonuses as otherwise we might as well just all play humans so its equal and fair!?!
Poor girl. You can see her thinking "I spent years doing acting class and professional speaking courses for this"
Hey for a veteran dnd players I wanna ask?
I wanted to make a costume character with very unique features and abilities is that ok in this game?
Also a very weird but to me fun weapon idea is that ok?
A costume character? You mean a plushy or cosplay? I guess but what does that have to do with features. Also when it comes to unique features, you have to consider balance. Also also. What makes a character isn't the features you get, it is the how you play the character. You can do more than just what is on your character sheet.
I'm playing my first d and d game tomorrow and have no clue how to play lol help
and uh.. whats the maximum number for each thing-
ive never played this im literally learning today
What things?
Madeline is better than Ginni D. I want to see more Madeline self help dd videos
How do I know what races are available or what languages there are or what classes there are? I can keep going. Hmm
Ask your Game Master. It depends on the world he/she creates. There is no universal anything.
@@Cloud_Seeker oh ok. There can be literally anything or nothing. Depending on the world of the GM.
Thank you for clarifying! :)
@@fussel676 Sorry for a late response. When it comes to what languages, races and classes are avaliable depends on the worldbuilding and setting. Just because someone somewhere wrote something doesn't mean it make sense. If you want to play a setting of lets say the Africa campaign during WW2, the languages spoken is most like Arabic, Italian, German and English. It makes no sense if someone all of the sudden start speaking abyssal or primordial. Or that some mindflayer hybrid all of the sudden joins the ranks.
The point is. Do not expect that EVERYTHING under the sun is allowed. A GM has to make a creative and narrative decision when they build a world. Setting limits to that world will help in knowing what tools the GM have avaliable. If you have to much stuff you will just not be able to remember everything and include it in some way. Sometimes less is more. If you want something more rare, have a talk with your GM and see if it is within his creative vision and see if it can be integrated in some way.
Is this the same lady from the Logitech channel? The exact same voice.
I’m here from my college course. I have no idea what’s going on with my life..
What college send you to a D&D character creation video?
I've always considered myself a huuuge nerd, but my goodness, this game just takes being a nerd to a whole new level lol. I like RPG's but this game is basically identical to the episode of Spongebob where they use their imagination in a box and drive Squidward crazy. Only the most creatively imaginable people (such as Spongebob and Patrick) would be able to enjoy this game.
Hardly. The problem I see is that most people are not used to think for themselves. They are not used to think creatively and therefore can't as they get scared about the idea and therefore avoid it.
You do not need to be among the most creative people in the world. You just need to understand how to think of other people who isn't you.
@@Cloud_Seeker I fail to see the connection between thinking for yourself and basically being an actor. There's no correlation. I'm as red pilled as it gets but I am also all right-brain. I think logically - not creatively. I live in reality and that's why I have a hard time living outside of reality. And being able to play the game isn't the issue for me - I just don't exactly find it fun.
@@spartanspeedruns8386 There is. Have you actually tried to play with the youth of today?
They do not think for themselves.
They need to be told what to do because that is the only thing they do.
They have no proactivity.
They have no creativity.
They do not even know what it means to be an actor.
They have no ability to think outside of what they are themselves.
It is simply part of maturing and growing up. When you are a child and teen you are hardwired to listen to your elders. When you become an adult, you stop listening to others giving you demands and start thinking for yourself.
The problem is during that phase. They do not know what to do. They do not understand what it means to be an actor. They have to actually break that block they have so they can start thinking for themselves. If they do not, you will get the question "how do I win?".
@@Cloud_Seeker That's a pretty horrible sweeping generalization about the "youth of today". I have tons of personal experience that contradicts your take.
@@energythief I have yet found one.
What if you don’t have friends to play with
Guess you find other games to play.
My dad
Can I create a character that's just like me? Like, literally me with a few changes here and there??
Idk. Are you any of the classes in D&D? Also. Why do you want to be yourself in a fantasy world? Don't you do that every hour of your life normally?
@@Cloud_Seeker well if creating an avatar is an extension of yourself then it wouldn’t really matter if the character is just like you or not; just so long as you play by the rules of the world and everyone’s having a good time.
@@matthewwilliams5407 It is a good way to start as you learn the system, but just creating yourself is very uncreative. Making a character is not just creating an avatar. It is creating a plot, a story, a character arc. A good character has flaws, has fears, has strengths and has goals. By the end, your character should have learnt something of themselves and grown in some way which isn't in abilities and power.
You lose a lot of these when you just "play as yourself" because you yourself do not have goals in this world. You set yourself up for hardcore railroading as you put all effort into including you in the game on the DM. If you place all effort on the DM you risk causing DM burnout
I just want to bring up my latest character as an example:
Human male Paladin, 17 years old.
He was a regular person (folk hero) that worked in the service of a rich noble household. He feel in love with the noblemans daughter (16 years old) and had an affair with her. When this affair was discovered the nobleman wanted to have him executed for the dishonor he brought, but the character managed to rile everyone out at the trial with his challange "I can become a noble within 10 years".
As the noble should have lost face he accepted the deal hoping the character died in the process, and he gets to save face in the eyes of the public.
So that is how the story for a love-stricken fool goes out on a fools errand to become a Noble within 10 years starts.
Am I anything like this? No. Not in any way at all.
@@Cloud_Seeker OK, I see what you mean; the added context makes a lot of sense now. I think before I thought of it as a form of wish fulfillment but I think I'm starting to get it now, it's telling a story. Thanks for clarifying with the extra detail Cloud, I think I'm starting to see how to go in now with all this.
@@matthewwilliams5407 Yes, exactly. It is about telling a story where several people are included to all achieve a common goal while working on their own personal goals. It is a shared story writing improv group with math, rules and wargaming. That is what D&D is. It is not about a wish fulfillment or power fantasy, we got many videogames if that is what you want. Bethesda are good for that one as what they make are not story driven games but power fantasies.
This is a great summary of the process, but in terms of helping a new player do it themselves, it's basically worthless. It means a lot more detail about how many points they get where they should look for information.
Woah
niceee
Who's the woman in the video?
who is this girl?
She isn't the girl from Logitech G?
@@AmaruKuntur nope. At least not the same one from the Instagram account.
I’m making a charater and they are an elf, they used to be a warrior but due to a fight that made them lose both of 6eir arms and need glasses they became a medic, what would their stats be? Due to their expirence in fighting they might have a high damage, but they can’t see well and don’t have arms, so wouldn’t that lower their stats? Wouldnt they still have a high fighting though?
To be honest. That character most likely have no role to play in any story outside of being a NPC. It most likely shouldn't lower your stats having no arms. It most likely only make it so you can't actually do anything which requires arms. So anything Dexterity or Strength bases is automatically failed since you have no arms. So you can basically treat your stats as below 0. As for fighting. You can basically
Having some kind of disability can be something fun to play around with. But just remember to not do something stupid which just cause problems for the group as a whole. D&D is a team game. You are not alone and you need to think about the team and group as a whole. If you are going to play a wheelchair bound paraplegic warrior that has no eyes and only a single thumb left, you most likely shouldn't be involved at all since no one with such a disability should go out adventuring. You are most likely only making such a character because you don't give a damn, which can very much be disrespectful to the DM that made this whole world for you to enjoy and the other players whos time you are disrespecting.
Having a few missing limbs are not really a problem. My absolutely most favorite character Guts from Berserk has both a missing eye and a right arm. He collect scars like no one else as he fights the inhuman and to solve his problems with his arm he replaced it with a prosthetic that also include a small cannon. Issues can be worked around, but it has to be within reasons.
@@Cloud_Seeker I was feeling good so I redid her charater and gave her a singe arm
Can I create it with my species?
You mean your own race? If the DM allows it yes. However the most common awnser is most likely going to be no.
The reason is often because:
1. It doesn't fit the setting.
2. It is often overpowered as people very rarely make their OC race weak in some way.
3. People are often weird about it. Such as someone wanting to play out their furry fantasies with other people.
Your voice sounds like Emma Watson
Too short to be of any use. Zoomed through this way too quickly.
At first, before all, you need a DM. I feel sorry for all the DMs getting so less help by WotC. More and more Char Options, it is really hard for an unexperienced DM to balance all that.
I'm a Furry, and apart of the Furry Community. And I have my own species called the Deveric Wolf
5 minutes for a character creation video? too fast.. and you total skipped Alignment, which is a big part of framing your character, not sure why you blew past that. Its always been quite important in the D&D game, since the '70s. Sure DM's have modified it a bit over the years and its your campaign, your rules, the DM can do as he wants.. but I thought y'all were all about "if the book doesn't say it..." lol
Can I be a republican and play dnd. I hear it's more gear towards liberal people. I played mtg in my teens , I've played as a player in dnd before . Would people want me to play
Hot chick, tho.
Look these are decent videos and all but like why did y'all start publishing them when you did lol
This is all way out of order. You roll for stats first, then pick a class, then a race.
Not according to the Player's Handbook. Step 1, choose a race. Step 2. choose a class, Step 3, determine ability scores.
You are showing your age. Ever since 3e, the stats follow the concept. Most groups still roll first, but ever since point buy or standard array or 4d6 drop lowest, and the end of class restrictions, you can adapt your stats to fit your concept and not the other way around. I sometimes miss the old way.
I go race, background, personality, class, stats, gotta know who you're playing before you decide what you're playing
@@Sp4rt4nSl4ya definitely class then race as race gives race bonuses at least in any game I DM - as why bother having races or sorry 'lineage' if there is nothing which differentiates the different creatures of the world. If you compare creatures in the world of D +D that live in the caves like the Underdark - their skin adjusts to the light available meaning they have different pigmentation to someone who spends all day in the sun. In the case of Drow living in the Underdark , almost white skin, rather than pink or black or yellow as in the humans of that world. Equally, their sense will be more attuned to shifting in the shadows - their senses adjusting and becoming superior to outsiders due to their exposure to life in caves. Equally in the real world giraffes developed necks to reach food and adapted to their situation - it's why they are successful at getting leaves for trees high up when other animals cannot reach them - they are specialised - this doesn't make them all round weak it just means they are superior in certain conditions whilst other may struggle in the same environment.
one thing that does annoy me is that every race now has dark vision so certain spells and stealthing around become redundant given everyone can see you - at least everyone bar humans which is quite ironic given the WOTC need to equalise and sterilise everything in 5e. Races should stay with the racial bonuses plus dark vision should be for selective races only and not a free for all!