One the biggest decisions you will have in creating a character is choosing what race you want to play. Each race brings with it a distinct cultural attributes, abilities, advantages and disadvantages.

As a player, you can shape whatever history or education you want into your character but choosing a race tends to bring certain permanent attributes to your character. If you play a Halfling for example you will be of shorter stature to most of the races in NWN. You can be an unusually large Halfling but you still will be seen as a Halfling by the rest of the world. Also consider some races have an irrational dislike of other races. Dwarves are known for there mistrust of elves for example. You could be the most true-hearted Paladin in the known world but the Dwarven bartender won’t let you stay because you’re an elf. These are things to consider when picking a race.

The particulars of the culture of each race will not be dealt with as each can be subject to interpretation by the player when creating a character. The bonuses and penalties are described as they effect your character in the game.

Below is a list of races available for play:

• Drow
• Duergar
• Svirfneblin
• Humans
• Elves
• Gnomes
• Dwarves
• Halflings
• Half-Elves
• Half-Orcs