Gaming

10 Ancestries I Can’t Wait to Try in Daggerheart

Daggerheart is full of ancestries I want to play.

Daggerheart Ancestries

Daggerheart offers an exciting array of ancestries to choose from, each with its distinct traits and abilities. Some are unique to Critical Role and Darrington Press’ upcoming tabletop role-playing game while others take inspiration from familiar races in Dungeons & Dragons and other fantasy media. With 18 playable ancestries in total, it’s no surprise it’s hard for me to narrow down what character I’ll play first. While each ancestry brings something special to the table, some caught my eye immediately while others captured my attention after reading the core rules. Regardless of what ancestry you or I pick, Daggerheart promises a fun-filled narrative adventure.

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Whether it’s Daggerheart’s lore, ancestry features, or just my love of certain species, these are the ten ancestries I can’t wait to play.

Clank

Daggerheart Clank ancestry.

Clank is Daggerheart’s version of Dungeon & Dragons’ Warforged as both are sentient constructs and can be made out of various materials. Clanks are typically designed from metal, wood, clay, stone, and other natural materials, and are usually designed to resemble humanoids or animals.

Clanks come in all shapes and sizes giving players a lot of freedom to create their character, while working with the game master, of course. A Clank’s physical form is practically immortal as long as they can find parts and maintain repairs, but the magic animating them will slowly die, causing them to lose their minds.

Clanks have two Ancestry Features. The first is Purposeful Design, which allows players to choose an additional Experience and increase the bonus it provides by +1. The second ability, Efficient, lets players swap a long rest move for a short rest move when taking a short rest. Both of these are tied to how Clanks have special designs with specific purposes in mind, allowing me to create a so-called “taskbot” how I wish.

Drakona

Daggerheart drakona ancestry.

Dungeons & Dragons players will recognize the Drakona as Daggerheart’s version of Dragonborn. I prefer this version as Daggerheart gives more freedom to make this ancestry look like a humanoid dragon. Including tails is a great addition, and the core rules of Daggerheart give many different possible descriptions to use. Drakona live up to around 350 years, significantly longer than Dragonborn. Like the Dragonborn, they have the ability to use an elemental breath weapon, which varies depending on what type of Drakona players select.

In addition to a breath weapon, Drakona also have natural scales. This ancestry’s Scales ability increases all damage thresholds by +1, making it harder to wound them. Players who enjoy playing a tank will gravitate toward this ancestry, but the Drakona is a great fit to bolster a squishy class’ survivability. Most of Daggerheart’s ancestries can fit different roles, and Drakona is no exception.

Elf

Daggerheart elf ancestry.

Elves bear many similarities in Daggerheart as they do in Dungeons & Dragons. I’ll admit I have a bias toward Elves as they are one of my favorite races, and I couldn’t be happier to see them included in Critical Role’s upcoming TTRPG. While Elves in Daggerheart don’t necessarily do anything to reinvent the race, including this ancestry is a must as Elves are one of the core fantasy species.

Like other ancestries in Daggerheart, Elves have two special abilities. The first is Quick Reactions, allowing Elves to mark stress to make a reaction roll at an advantage. The second ability, Celestial Trance, gives Elves an extra downtime move. Both of these show the racial features of Elves, notable for their heritage and finely attuned senses. Both Quick Reactions and Celestial Trance will come in handy during a campaign in Daggerheart.

Faerie

Daggerheart faerie ancestry.

Daggerheart’s Faerie ancestry is an interesting take on the classic by taking the insectoid wings and going a step further. Faeries in Daggerheart can take wildly different forms depending on their heritage. They can range from two feet to seven feet tall and can have additional insect-like features or more closely resemble humanoids. While these features can vary, all Faerie have the Wings feature which grants the ability to fly.

Additionally, Faerie can utlilize stress to increase their evasion by +2 against an attack. The Faerie’s second ancestry feature is Luckbender. Luckbender allows Faeries to spend Hope and reroll the Duality Dice for themselves or an ally. This ability is incredibly powerful, but it can only be used once per session. The Faerie ancestry gives players options for increasing their survivability and it is perfect for any class.

Faun

Daggerheart faun ancestry.

While Dungeons & Dragons has Satyrs, Daggerheart has Fauns. Fauns resemble goat-like humanoids but can take other shapes in the case of Critical Role’s Marisha Ray playing Bunny, a Faun who appears more like a bunny than a goat. Regardless of the species, players can expect a humanoid top half with animal features, while the lower half of a Faun consists of dense animal fur and appendages. Deciding on a Faun species should be between the player and game master, but there is plenty of room for interpretation.

Fauns have ancestry features that give them a lot of mobility, especially in combat. The first is called Leap, which allows players to make great jumps without an agility roll such as when leaping across a large gap or chasm. The second ability, Kick, allows Fauns to mark a stress to kick off their opponent after a melee attack. This can be used to push the enemy or the player character out of melee range.

Fungril

Daggerheart fungril ancestry.

While I love Elves and Faerie, Fungril is one of the ancestries I’m looking forward to most in Daggerheart. I’ve always loved Dungeons & Dragons Myconid, especially after seeing them in Baldur’s Gate 3. Fungril are different than D&D’s Myconids but have similar appearances and abilities. Including this ancestry in Daggerheart not only offers a familiar species but lets Critical Role show its creative side as not many games or tabletop role-playing games offer the ability to play as a sentient mushroom.

Fungril come in varying sizes and designs, ranging from two to seven feet tall like the Faerie. Players can work with the game master to design a fitting appearance for a Fungril character, but I’m excited by any and all possibilities. Fungril’s abilities are related to communication. Fungril Network lets Fungrils make an Instinct Roll to speak with another Fungril across any distance, while Death Connection lets them mark stress to pull one memory regarding an emotion or sensation from a recently deceased corpse.  

Giant

Daggerheart giant ancestry.

One that always bothered me about Dungeons & Dragons was its playable Giant races. Goliaths and Firbolgs were given their appropriate size as D&D 5e wanted to keep playable races at the medium size. Daggerheart shirks this by giving Giant proper sizing and accommodating for having longer limbs. Additionally, Daggerheart’s Giants can even have one eye, allowing me to play a Cyclops, which is awesome for a Greek myth nerd like me.

Giants in Daggerheart have abilities that reflect their larger size. Reach allows any weapon, feature, ability, or spell that has melee range to treat it as a very close range instead, similar to the Bugbear’s Long Reach ability in D&D. This increases their melee range this making them deadlier in combat. Endurance is the Giant’s second ability which grants an additional hit point at character creation to make it the perfect ability for players who want more survivability.

Inferis

Daggerheart inferis ancestry.

Just about everyone who’s played Dungeons & Dragons has been drawn to or played a Tiefling which means this ancestry will be an instant eye-catcher. While similar to a D&D Tiefling, the Inferis does have some minor differences. Players can expect pointed horns and spikes, sharp canine teeth, and even tails. While Tieflings in D&D have an infernal heritage, Inferis are more demonic in nature and use their fearsome appearance to their advantage.

Inferis have abilities related to fear, both causing and ignoring it. With the Fearless ability, Inferis can mark two stresses to ignore a Fear roll and turn it into a Hope roll, gaining a valuable resource and denying a game master one. The second Inferis ability, Dread Visage, gives this ancestry advantage when rolling to intimidate a hostile target. Players can work with the game master to determine how an Inferis plays into its demonic appearance to frighten NPCs and express some creativity.

Ribbit

Daggerheart ribbit ancestry.

Daggerheart tapped deep into the JRPG community, pulling from what I can only imagine is a much-appreciated love for Chrono Trigger when designing the Ribbit ancestry. As the name suggests, Ribbits are humanoid frogs, ranging from three to four-and-a-half feet tall. They have bulbous protruding eyes, webbed appendages, and long tongues. Most Ribbits have moist skin, but leg length and colors range between the ancestry, giving players plenty of wiggle room to create a unique character.

The most obvious ancestry feature of the Ribbit is their Long Tongue. This appendage can grab onto objects, weapons, and more for various purposes, but a standout one is to use it as a finesse weapon. Sticking true to a frog’s nature, the second ancestry feature, Amphibious, allows Ribbits to breathe and move underwater without issue.

Simiah

Daggerheart simiah ancestry.

The final ancestry I want to highlight is the Simiah which are anthropomorphic monkeys, apes, and gorillas. Daggerheart offers plenty of room for interpretation when creating this ancestry. Simiah can be as small as two feet tall and as large as six feet tall and share physical appearances with different monkey species. All share prehensile feet which can be used in combat, communication, movement, work, and more.

The Simiah’s ancestral features reflect their natural limberness. The Nimble fimble grants an additional evasion at character creation, making any character harder to strike. Natural Climber grants Simiah characters advantage on any agility roll utilizing balancing and climbing. Both features make Simiah characters agile and can fit into melee or spellcasting characters easily.

Daggerheart is up for preorders now and is scheduled to release at some point in Spring 2025.