Choosing a Race

You'll want to consider the following factors when picking a race for your character:

Class

Each race can only play certain classes, so this is a major limiting factor

TODO: Add class/race options table (hopefully wiki has one already that can be copied?)

Size

There are five race sizes, defined by what size armor they can wear.

Race Armor Options

There are three armor sizes, small/medium/large ...

• Small: Dwarf, Gnome, Halfling
• Small/Medium: High Elf, Wood Elf
• Medium: Erudite, Human, Iksar
• Medium/Large: Barbarian
• Large: Ogre, Troll

The in-between sizes will have the most clothing options when leveling up, but all races can find wearable gear if they hunt the right zones. Also high level gear typically fits all classes, so size matters much less for gear later on.

Race Size Perspectives

In EverQuest you literally see the world from your character's perspective, so if you choose a small character you will be staring at everyone else's knees for the rest of your EQ career. Conversely if you pick a large character, you will likely want to acquire a way to Shrink yourself someday, simply because of the inconvenience of being large in small dungeons.

Starting Areas

Every race has a unique starting city, except for Erudites/Humans/Half-Elves, who get to choose (based on their religion) between two cities (Erudites can choose between Erudin/Paineel, while Humans and Half-Elves can choose between Freeport and Qeynos).

The locations of these cities result in new players falling into certain starting "hubs". These hubs only really matter for the first few levels, because once you level up travel becomes easier. But if you want to start out playing with friends, you should all pick races with the same hub.

Odus (Minor Hub)

Only Erudites start on Odus. On Blue this hub has Paineel and The Warrens, but on Green at launch the only leveling areas will be Toxxulia Forest and Kerra Isle.

Because these two zones are considered to be some of the worst options, many Erudites take the boat to the Qeynos hub instead (in theory Qeynos hub players can do the same in reverse, but Odus is less popular).

Qeynos (Major Hub)

Humans and Half-Elves can start in Qeynos or (for Druids/Ranger)s nearby Surefall Glade. Barbarians start in nearby Halas, but will have to level up a little (maybe level 5?) before they can safely run through Blackburrow to join their Qeynos friends. Erudites can safely take the boat to Qeynos at level 1.

Because of Qeynos Aqueducts, Qeynos Hills, Western Karana, Everfrost, Permafrost, and especially Blackburrow, players starting in this hub have many great leveling options.

Swamp (Minor Hub)

Ogres and Trolls start in the "swamp hub", at Grobb and Oggok respectively, with adjacent Innothule Swamp and Feerrott as starting areas. After a few levels (5?) players can safely run through the Desert of Ro to reach the Commons Hub (and vice versa).

This hub has South Ro, Oasis, Rathe Mountains, Temple of Cazic Thule and Upper Guk for low-level players to level in.

Commons (Major Hub)

Humans and Half-Elves staring in Freeport, Dark Elves starting in Neriak, and Halflings starting in Rivervale can all access the East Commons and West Commons fairly easily to join each other. Also, players from the Faydwer Hub can easily reach this one via boat, and vice versa (although Dark Elves will find it slightly more difficult).

With both Commons, Nektulos Forest, Kithicor Forest (Daytime), Misty Thicket, North Ro, Befallen, Oasis, Lavastorm Mountains, Sol A, Runnyeye Citadel, etc.

Faydwer (Major Hub)

Wood Elves from Kelethin, High Elves from Felwithe, Dwarves from Kaladim, and Gnomes from Ak'Anon can all reach each other fairly easily. They can also easily join Freeport hub players (and vice versa) via the boat.

Players at this hub can share Greater Faydark, Lesser Faydark, Butcherblock Mountains, Steamfont Mountains, Crushbone, Dagnor's Cauldron, and Unrest.

Kunark (Minor Hub)

Ikasar alone start on Kunark. They have the choice of several starting zones, and a nice progression of zone options after that. Many players consider these zones (and dungeons such as Kurn's Tower to be better than earlier starting areas, because the devs had learned lessons from building those earlier zones.

However Iksar are somewhat isolated, and need to level up or rely heavily on ports (and SoW and Invisibility) to be able to join non-Iksar players.