Mountain Guide 5e

Published on April 24, 2022, Last modified on May 16th, 2022

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What is this guide?

This guide is meant to give you an idea of whether or not the mountain will be right for your 5e character build.

The color code below has been implemented to help you identify, at a glance, how good that option will be for your mountain. This color coding isn’t a hard and fast rule; there are plenty of sub-optimized options out there that will be viable to your party and will be fun to play.

  • Black is a trait shared by many races and or will not impact the effectiveness of your character build
  • Red isn’t going to contribute to the effectiveness of your character build at all
  • Orange Situationally good, but a below-average option otherwise
  • Green is a good option
  • Blue is a great option, you should strongly consider this option for your character
  • Sky Blue is an amazing option. If you do not take this option your character would not be optimized

Tasha's Cauldron of Everything Update

Tasha's Cauldron of Everything has added the "Customizing Your Origin" option that may affect the ability score increases, languages, and proficiencies in this guide. To read more about this, visit our D&D Race Guide.

Ability Score Increase: Getting +2 from CON from the base racial bonus and +2 to STR from the subrace bonus is absolutely amazing for most martial classes.

Dwarven Armor Training: Typically, if you’re going to be using these armor types you will have the proficiency available in your class. This can be beneficial for spellcasters looking to boost their AC.

What are Mountain in 5e?

Source: Player's Handbook

Which 5e Classes Work With Mountain?

Artificer: Nothing here for an Artificer

Barbarian: Adding a STR bonus to the dwarf’s racial traits makes this a perfect choice for a barbarian.

Bard: STR on a Bard could be useful for Valor builds

Cleric: You won't need STR if you're going to be using heavy armor because of the caveat under the dwarf's Speed trait. The extra STR can be useful if you're going to be a melee-focused cleric like the Forge Domain.

Druid: Doesn’t help a druid.

Fighter: Most melee fighters will take +2 bonuses to STR and CON all day.

Monk: STR doesn’t do anything for monks since they use DEX for attack and damage rolls instead.

Paladin: Most paladins will take +2 bonuses to STR and CON all day.

Ranger: Can be useful for STR-based rangers, otherwise the ASIs don't match up with ranger's priority.

Rogue: Rogues don’t need the STR bonus, but medium armor proficiency is decent.

Sorcerer: STR won't help but light and medium armor proficiency is always nice for casters.

Warlock: STR won't help but light and medium armor proficiency is always nice for casters.

Wizard: STR won't help but light and medium armor proficiency is always nice for casters.

Sources Used in This Guide

  • BR: Basic Rules
  • GotG: Bigby Presents: Glory of the Giants
  • SotDQ: Dragonlance: Shadow of the Dragon Queen
  • ERLW: Eberron: Rising from the Last War
  • EEPC: Elemental Evil Player’s Companion
  • EGtW: Explorer’s Guide to Wildemount
  • FToD: Fizban's Treasury of Dragon
  • GGtR: Guildmasters' Guide to Ravnica
  • MotM: Monsters of the Multiverse
  • MToF: Mordenkainen’s Tome of Foes
  • MOoT: Mythic Odyessys of Theros
  • PAitM: Planescape: Adventures in the Multiverse
  • PHB: Player's Handbook
  • SAiS: Spelljammer: Adventures in Space
  • SCoC: Strixhaven: A Curriculum of Chaos
  • SCAG: Sword Coast Adventurer’s Guide
  • TCoE: Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything
  • TTP: The Tortle Package
  • WBtW: The Wild Beyond The Witchlight
  • VRGtR: Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft
  • VGtM: Volo's Guide to Monsters
  • XGtE: Xanathar’s Guide to Everything

Mike Bernier

Mike Bernier is the lead content writer and founder of Arcane Eye. He is a Adamantine best-selling author of Strixhaven: A Syllabus of Sorcery on DMs Guild and is a contributing author at D&D Beyond. Follow Mike on Twitter.

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