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Daggerheartbrings with it 18 ancestries, also known as races or species in other TTRPGs, that you get to choose regarding who your character will be. Ancestries determine your physical appearance and characteristics. Whether you want to be an Elf, Dwarf, or something more exotic like a Clank or Katari, an essential step in creating your character is determining your ancestry.
Each ancestry has several distinctions, from how long they live to specific ancestral features. If you’re curious how many years each ancestry can live or want tocompare to their Dungeons & Dragons counterparts' lifespan, here’s the amount of time your Daggerheart characters' ancestries usually survive in the world.
Faerie
50 years
Faeries are also one of the most versatile ancestries. They range so much in physical appearance. Some are more humanoid-looking while others look like insects. They average from two to five feet, but some can even grow to seven feet tall. Every Faerie undergoes a metamorphosis and has membranous wings. While you’ll probably never encounter two Faeries that look alike, their relatively short life spans mean you’ll probably see every type there is on your adventures. They have one of the shortest lifespans in Daggerheart.
Giant
75 years
As the name implies, Giants are giant humanoid creatures that range from six to almost nine feet tall. Though they come in a variety of sizes and shapes, they’re all muscular with long and thick limbs. Giants are born with no eyes and can develop up to three over their lifetime. Their eyes don’t fully develop until age 10, meaning a significant amount of their 75 years is spent sightless.
Goblin
100 years
Huge ears, large round eyes, short stature, and either vibrant or dull skin, Goblins are expressive in their small size. They average three to four feet tall with ears the size of their head. They’ve got great hearing and sight that they keep even into old age, and they can even communicate nonverbally based on the positioning of their large ears.
Human
Usually five to six feet tall, Humans are the safe, varied ancestry you’ll be most familiar with. A variety of body shapes and sizes spread across the ancestry, and they are one of the ancestries with the most variation from childhood to adulthood regarding body type.
Ribbit
These anthropomorphic frogs have big eyes and webbed hands. They have smooth skin that’s consistently moist and eyes on each side of their heads. They’re about three to four feet tall, and they mostly move by hopping. Their webbed hands and feet allow them to swim easily. They are hatched from eggs into tadpoles, and the first six to seven years of life are just development until they can grow large enough to move on land. The rest of their 100 years are their own.
Simiah
Ranging from two to six feet tall, Simiah, though presented as anthropomorphic simians, do not conform to the size of the simian they resemble. They can look like gorillas or marmosets, but they follow the same size conventions of their ancestry. They use their tails as a third hand and can switch between walking on two legs or traversing on all four.
Orc
125 years
With tusks coming out of their lower jaws and very square features, Orcs stand at about five to six feet tall, and usually adorn the tusks in their mouth with jewelry. They are quite muscular with pointed ears, and some can even be covered in body hair. Their tusks grow with them throughout their whole life, and they’re generally born with hues of green, blue, pink or grey.
Firbolg
150 years
Tall, broad, with drooping ears, Firbolgs are usually compared to bovine-style creatures like cows or bison, but with humanoid qualities. Standing about five to seven feet tall and very muscular, these creatures are strong, and each has a unique look. With different types of horns and colors that resemble cattle, Firbolgs have lots of variety.
Katari
These felinelike humanoids look like several different styles of cat. They range from three to six feet tall, have retractable claws, high triangular ears, and long whiskers. They can be more humanlike or more catlike in appearance, with some having tails, fur, whiskers, and a muzzle, and others having humanoid faces with just high cat ears. They do all however share vertical slit pupils.
Galapa
If slow and steady wins the race, the Galapa would win every time. These turtlelike creatures are about four to six feet tall and can come in as many varieties as turtles. They can retract their entire body into their shell (however, they can’t move in this state) and even carve things into their shells at times. As expected, no matter their age, they’re almost always slow to move.
Halfling
Halflings are roughly half the height of Humans, hence the name. They’re basically smaller humans, averaging around three to four feet tall, but living about 50 years longer than humans. Their ears, nose, and feet are larger than the rest of their body, granting them a better sense of hearing and smell.
Faun
225 years
The humanoid-like Faun mostly have a lower goatlike bottom half and a more humanlike top. They have hooves for feet and legs covered in fur. They have several ear and horn variations within the ancestry, and usually range from four to six feet tall, depending on their stance. The older they get, the more goatlike their appearance becomes.
Dwarf
250 years
Short, stout, and hardy, Dwarves are about four to five feet tall and can be extremely hairy. Thick beards, tattoos, jewelry, and strong, resilient skin make them a tough ancestry. They’re similar in Daggerheart to their usual intonations in fantasy. They don’t live quite as long as some similar brethren, but their hardiness lends them a good, long life.
Fungril
300 years
The Fungril look like humanoid mushrooms, to put it bluntly. Just as mushrooms have a large variety in appearance, so too do the Fungril. Like Faeries, they can range from two feet tall to up to seven feet tall. They have the unique ability to communicate with one another nonverbally, and there is not a single common shape among the entire ancestry. Though they can live for 300 years, there are reports that some have in fact lived much longer.
Infernis
350 years
Whether their long life is attributed to their demonic heritage is still a point of discussion; however, their appearance represents this lineage well. Generally, they have two to four horns and long tails. With long fingers, pointed nails, and pointed ears, they can seem like long creatures that give off a sense of unease. With the ability to enhance and change their physical appearance to better express themselves, Infernis tend to accentuate and decorate themselves to take advantage of this.
Elf
Tall, standing on average about six feet or higher, Elves generally come in every size and body type. Their defining feature is their ears, which can come in several different shapes and can be both long and short. They will always have pointy ears, though, and the points of their ears begin to droop as they age. They can change their appearance over the course of their lives as their traits shift based on the lives they live.
Drakona
The Drakona look like wingless dragons. These humanoids have elemental breath with the element of your choosing tied to them. They are strong and stout, standing at about five to seven feet tall. Without wings, they are unable to fly. Their stature and history give them long lives to live.
Clank
Immortal*
Clanks are mechanical creatures with sentience. They can be built in any way you may imagine, from looking like humans to animals and other options in between. They are the most versatile ancestry in Daggerheart in terms of their physicality.
As long as a Clank can create and replace its parts, it can live. Though the body can be replaced, the mind still ages, and the magic keeping them alive does as well. The magic powering them does lose potency, correlating to their mental functions. Effectively, though, they can remain immortal with new body parts and renewed magic.
