Githzerai Playable Race Guide for D&D 5e

Caution and knowledge, learn how to play as the Githzerai with our playable race guide

Who are the Githzerai?

Centuries ago, the Githzerai were enslaved by the illithid (though Githzerai and Githyanki were all simply known as Gith back then). Through this enslavement and the rigorous experiments placed on the Gith, they have developed natural psychic abilities.

The Githzerai hone these abilities more than the Githyanki, training their minds rigorously in their fortresses on the plane of Limbo. Most Githzerai have an intense hatred of mind flayers and the Githyanki though most choose to isolate themselves from their enemies and others. Despite this, some do strike out on their own throughout the planes, becoming adventurers. You can learn about the Githzerai and their abilities in our guide below.

Is a Githzerai the right race for me?

Dungeons and Dragons lets you take a flexible approach to building a character, but if you’re going to stick to typical culture and the best-optimised build for a Githzerai you might consider the following:

Choose a Githzerai if you like…

Innate psychic abilities
Being defensively minded
Innate utility spells like mage hand and detect thoughts

A Githzerai might not be for you if…

You don’t want to play a psychic race
Don’t want to deal with spellcasting
Prefer to play recklessly

If you think a Githzerai isn’t for you, not to worry, there are dozens of playable races for you to pick from, just check out our races guide to find out about all of them. For an alternative psychic focused race, you could consider a Githyanki or a Kalashtar.

Racial traits

Ability Scores	+2 to one ability score and +1 to another or +1 to 3 different ability scores
Creature Type	Humanoid
Size	Medium
Speed	30ft
Languages	Common and 1 other
Traits	Githzerai Psionics, Mental Discipline, Psychic Resilience
Proficiencies	None
Resistances	Psychic, Charmed and Frightened
Darkvision	No
Innate Spellcasting	Mage Hand, Shield and Detect Thoughts
Book found in	Mordenkainen Presents: Monsters of the Multiverse, Mordenkainen’s Tome of Foes

Tactics

Utility spellcasting: The Githzerai have a great utility spell in mage hand and an OK one in Detect thoughts. Mage hand is great for sneaking around. Use it to grab keys through windows, open doors you think might be trapped and distract guards (or basically any number of things you can think of). Detect thoughts is a little more situational, but if you plan on stealthing around, it can certainly be useful.

Extra defence from spellcasters: The best spell available to a Githzerai is shield which works great on any class, but unless you’re a spellcaster, you’ll only get one use of it per day. Take a spellcasting class though, and you can get repeat uses of shield which is incredibly useful. The likes of paladins and rangers will be able to merge those resistances with even more toughness from the shield spell too by getting in dangers way.

Lots of resistances: Charmed, frightened and psychic resilience means you’ve got a lot of resistances, and the best way to make use of all of this is by playing a tank and getting at the front of combat (just remember this doesn’t make you invulnerable).

Which classes are good for githzerai?

The githzerai have a stronger set of abilities than their githyanki cousins though their abilities are especially defensive minded. Advantage on saving throws against charmed and frightened conditions is excellent for any class, but especially those with low wisdom. Psychic damage isn’t overly common but resistance to it is great. You also get an invisible mage hand, shield (an excellent defensive spell and it’s a reaction so not wasting actions or bonus actions) and detect thoughts. All of these are useful spells that you can get more out of with natural spell slots too.

Below I’ve put together a score for how well each class works with a Githzerai based on how well the racial traits work with each class:

Artificer⭐⭐⭐⭐

Barbarian ⭐⭐

Bard ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Cleric ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Druid ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Fighter ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Monk ⭐⭐⭐

Paladin ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Ranger ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Rogue ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Sorcerer ⭐⭐⭐

Warlock ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Wizard ⭐⭐⭐

*Star ratings scored out of 5

Best classes for githzerai

Bard

Bards make a great class for githzerai. Mental discipline is especially useful on class that typically has low wisdom (as they’re pumping ability points into charisma, dexterity and a bit into constitution). The best spell available to githzerai isn’t on a bard’s spell list but can be repeat cast so becomes even more useful for a class that can’t take a huge amount of damage. Detecting thoughts and the various usages of mage hand also fit very nicely with a bard’s role in the party.

Rogue

Rogue’s benefit from githzerai spells even more than bards as detect thoughts and mage hand work well for subterfuge and shield is great for when your subterfuge doesn’t work. The only disadvantage here is that most rogues don’t get spell slots for repeat castings, though you could take the arcane trickster subclass to overcome this issue.

Rogues also tend not to have a high wisdom so advantage against charmed and frightened conditions is very helpful. Psychic resistance is also helpful no matter your class.

Paladin

Paladins benefit a lot from the extra protection of shield which, with a paladin’s potential to already be heavily armoured, can make them extremely difficult to damage. This works even better for paladins as they can have multiple castings of shield. Although paladins can gain immunity to being frightened, advantage against charmed is still helpful. On top of this, psychic resilience is useful for paladins too.

Worst classes for githzerai

The githzerai traits tend to be quite universally useful for most classes meaning there aren’t really any bad choices for githzerai. If we’re nitpicking, barbarians will get little use out of shield as they’ll often be raging so won’t benefit from the spell. Monks need mental discipline less than most due to their high wisdom though they will still benefit from advantage against charmed and frightened.

About the Githzerai

Appearance

Githzerai are humanoids with tough skin of a green, grey or yellowish hue and slender, pointed features. Their hair is typically grey or black with hair often shaved for males or worn in a bun for females. They also have a set of sharp, pointed teeth.

Personality

As a result of their decades long enslavement, the Githzerai are a cautious and distrustful group. It’s rare for them to place trust in strangers, and even when they do, it will be done out of desperation or with great caution (probably both).

Once they’d escaped from their enslavement, the Githzerai became a studious group, seeking increasing knowledge and enlightenment. Many Githzerai choose to adhere to a monastic order in seeking to master their mind and body.

How to roleplay as a Githzerai

While all Githzerai are different, many have similar ideals and characteristics that you can draw on when you roleplay your character. Consider using some of the below ways of roleplaying your Githzerai character:

The pursuit of knowledge: You have a curious mind, one that seeks to understand as much about the universe as possible. Ask thoughtful questions and don’t simply accept that something works, seek to understand why.

Survival through caution: The Githzerai have reserved themselves by being careful. They tend not to open themselves up to unnecessary dangers and you should show a similar amount of caution in your own decision-making.

Borderline fanaticism: You hold dear the stories of your past as they hold warnings against the dangers of the future. You revere those that went before and adhere to their teachings rigidly, for your greater protection. Whoever you adhere to, do so rigidly without wavering from your path as wavering can bring mistakes and danger.