Human - since I started playing Dungeons and Dragons, Human has been one of my favorite races. With it's versatility and ability to climb higher than most races (especially in level in past editions), the human has always been a favorite of mine.
Drow - since 2nd edition Dungeons and Dragons when I first discovered the dark-elf aka the Drow in the Monster Manual, I fell in love. I felt they made great villains to any campaign and a great proponent for story. In later editions they not only went from a monster race, but to a playable race. They went from being mysterious to having their own fleshed out identity.
Goliath - when this race came around in 3.0/3.5 I was really excited. It was like a giant Dwarf! A medium creature that counted as a large creature when it benefited them, this was great! Wielding larger weapons for attacks? Even better! I picture the Goliath being the gentle giants of the mountains, but have a fierce tenacity to anyone who try crossing them.
Warforged - I was first introduced to this race during the Dungeons and Dragons Online MMO. A living construct was an interesting concept to me. I enjoyed the idea of being a mechanical man, powered by some form of living magic or even possibly having a soul implanted into a construct body. However, I feel the name for this race should be changed from Warforged more akin to Taskforge. And instead of getting a bonus to stats in either Str or Con, it should be a +2 to any stat of their choosing.
These are my favorite races. What are your favorite races and why?
Half-elf, because it goes so well with the bard, which is my favorite class.
Dwarf, because it goes so well with so many mildly racist accents.
The human is my favorite race because they allow me to become any kind of hero I choose to be.
I love variety, for me to give a list of races that aren´t interesting for me would be easier.
I like the gnomes, exactly because they are the most unpopular of core classes. With the right writter, the gnomes could be the Tyrion Lannister of D&D.
I would like the blue, the psionic goblin subrace (the blue-skin evil cousin of master Joda) to be a PC race. They have got that piece of "little ugly duckling" I love so much.
Deva. I kept asking myself "What would a kingdom ruled by deva be like?" Then I read Ecology of the Deva (an article in Dragon 374) and it desribed things like 'bonded inarnation' (where two devas share a bond and reinarnate together) and 'soul recognition' (where a deva is recognized as it were, from a previous life), and 'transcendence' (a deva who remembers her former lives).
There are also smaller deva cirlces: The Knights of the Phoenix (reincarnated defenders of a lost chivalrous realm), the Unending Circle (a group of archmages who achieve immortality by reincarnating as devas), and the Grey Order (a circle comrised of both good and evil devas).
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Devas and dark devas are essentially ‘pallet swaps’ of the same race, light and dark, good and evil (think Mortal Kombat ninas). This gives devas of all alignments raison d’etre. Also, given their angelic origins, devas experience a strong compulsion to do good (evil) in the world. They are drawn to dynamic alignments; it is rare for devas to be unaligned (although not unheard of). In our home games, PC devas are sometimes unalianged but NPC devas are always good or evil, never unaligned.
Perpetual rumor aside, rakshasas are not corrupted devas, reborn in an alternate form. Legends say that they stole the secret of reincarnation from devas. Or more disturbingly, perhaps they ‘borrowed’ it from dark devas. Neither side is telling. As far as rakshasa are concerned, they've even improved upon the process: Rakshasa reincarnate immediately upon death and remember their previous lives, while devas do not. I allowed a mistype in the Monster Vault entry to stand, creating an interesting disparity I think.
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Deva emperors (more properly known as aeons) come from the circle of the Union. An aeon enjoys unfailing soul recognition within her realm (any incarnation, past, present, future). It's one of the ways used to determine which deva will become emperor. The capstone is this: By the time she finishes her term, the aeon is invariably ready to transcend. Note: Unlike in the real world, where imperial cults are a reality, devas are never worshipped as messiahs, demigods, or deities. As former angels, it simply isn't in their nature to impersonate a deity. This holds true even for evil, dark devas.
The Union is a realm ruled by good devas. Every five hundred years, dark devas take over and rule a Dark Empire (as it's colloquilly known). Unlike the real world dark ages, learning and creativity was encouraged under the dark devas --things were simply different.
There was never a schism among devas and dark devas (say like that of the eladrin, elves and drow), so both sides agreed rather willingly that they would rule the realm together. It isn't a big secret (not really); the thing is, aside from devas, none of the races of the setting live long enough to remember the Dark Empire. There are no dwarves or elves in this setting. At most, the Dark Empire is revealed in bits-n-pieces rather than whole cloth; a disturbing legend, a cautionary tale, all passed on from generation to generation.
My favourite races in RPGs in general are:
Humans: Often they have the most developed and varied cultures which gives me a really good hook to sink my teeth into.
Dwarves: Particularly Golarion dwarves. I find the backstory of the "Quest for the Sky" really interesting and it's had a dramatic impact on how I present dwarves in my games. I really explore what it means to live in darkness, although 5th edition dwarves have made that less viable.
Dragonborn: Since I started playing D&D I've loved the idea of desert dwelling dragonborn who once had a great empire. I also don't know where I saw the image of a dragonborn pirate (Eberron?), but I absolutely fell in love with that idea and so it shouldn't be a surprise that the two dragonborn realms are the Draconic Isles which is haven for pirates and the Kemetian Empire which started out as an Egyptian analogue but has developed into Afghanistan.
Minotaurs: I love the idea of playable minotaurs who roam in Underdark realms filled with mazes. I've made mine on a set of islands where democracy was first developed, but they've become absolutely hedonistic and have (illegal) underground fighting pits where slaves and sometimes minotaurs battle for death.
Goliath: I absolutely loved the flavour for the 4th edition goliath and they've been a favourite of mine ever since.
Doppelgangers: What can I say? At-will disguise self is awesome!
Golarion Changelings: I absolutely love the backstory of hagspawn being raised by other races.
Warforged: Who doesn't like the idea of playing fantasy robots?
Rock Gnomes: I was pretty disappointed 4th ed didn't have tinker gnomes. Glad to see they're back with 5th edition.
Monstrous races -- The monstrous races are largely my favorite ones because they are so different. The designers seem to have given themselves more lattitude when designing the culture, character, and physical traits of the monstrous races. Only the monstrous races let me play a quadrouped (like a centaur or a wemic), a winged flier (like a succubus), or races with mythically iconic abilities like the medusas' petrifying gaze.
Tinker Gnomes -- Those mad little buggers are just awesome. I love the idea of a fantasy race obsessed with technology, and they are a perfect fit for any steampunk-type of setting.
Drow -- I'm not a fan of the presentation that has recently become typical for the Drow, but I love the Drow. They are probably the most prominent matriarchy in D&D, and that makes them perfect for exploring a society that has reversed gender dominance compared to medieval Earth.
Tieflings -- I've loved Tieflings ever since I first saw them visually depicted in the 2e Planescape books. I've always loved that each Tiefling can be entirely different in appearance from others of their kind, and the fiendish heritage lends itself well to exploring nature vs. nurture themes, as well as overcoming societal prejudice. I even liked in 4e when they were made into a formal race; though I would have preferred if they had retained the varied appearance, I never let any edition tell me what "had to be true, especially with regard to fluff." So I just took the 4e Tiefling to be the most known type of Tiefling, those descendent from the civilization mentioned in the racial write-up, with other individual and more variable Tieflings also being present.
MechaPilot wrote:
I actually really kinda loved the Eladrin of 4E. I have kind of an obsession with fey, and the Eladrin really played that up. Their inherent ability to teleport also really fit with the theme of them being mystical and otherworldly.
I guess it's not a shock I still have one as my avatar 
I like gobins. I don't like D&D goblins, but the WoW/MtG/Warhammer/Labyrinth goblins that are basically like tinker gnomes with more blades and explosions.
I also like Orcs, because WoW.
I like Dwarves because they're cranky.
JohnLynch wrote:
Tiefling and Dragonborn are my favorite races. Humans aren't far behind them either.
Least favorite- Halflings and Gnomes. Especially dislike the Halfling art in the PHB. I will not play a Halfling in 5th because of that art- just awful.
Humans, Hobgoblins and half elves I suppose. No short races.
Thrii-Kreen
I also have a soft spot for Formians, but I don't ever think they've been playable
My go-to races in a game with the generic "humans with a slightly different physical feature" racial selection are the dwarves and half-orcs. I personally prefer the more "monstrous" creatures: orcs, gnolls, lupin, hobgoblins, etc. Not a fan of small races. Dwarves being the smallest I will go.
Half-Elf, and Human, while I dig many other races in the game, I find that on the rare occasion I get to play (mostly DM), I gravitate towards those two. My very first character was a 1st Ed Half-Elf Assassin.