Arrogant, aquatic all rounders. Learn to play as this merfolk race with our optimisation guide.
What are Tritons in D&D 5e?
Tritons are similar to merfolk in that they are humanoids that live in the oceans and are able to breathe both air and water (through the use of gills). They differ slightly though in the fact that they have legs rather than a fish tail enabling them to live and function on the surface (though this isn’t their preferred habitat).
They originate from the elemental plane of water but long ago, some of the deep-sea horrors of this plane escaped onto the material plane. This includes nasties such as the shark-like sahuagin, krakens and other nasty creatures you don’t want to meet while sailing.
The Tritons felt a sense of grave responsibility for failing to prevent these creatures from entering the Material Plane through deep-sea portals. Because of this, they chose to settle in the Material Plane, building underwater cities at the exits of these portals so they could guard the Material Plane from these horrors.
Trtions were introduced as a playable race in D&D 5e with Volo’s Guide to Monsters and have been updated with a slightly different set of stats in Monsters of the Multiverse. Our guide gives you everything you need to know to play as these proud, deep-sea warriors.
Is a Triton 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 Triton you might consider the following:
Choose a Triton if you like…
- Breathing underwater
- Swimming as fast as you can walk
- Talking to sea creatures
- Being extremely proud
- Access to utility spells
A Triton might not be for you if…
- Don’t need to get in the water much
- Dont want to deal with spells
- Prefer being humble
- Hate The Little Mermaid
If you think a Triton 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 aquatic race, you could consider a Sea Elf or a Water Genasi.
Triton 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 (swimming and walking) |
| Languages | Common and 1 other |
| Traits | Amphibious, Control air and water, Darkvision, Emissary of the Sea, Guardian of the Depths |
| Proficiencies | None |
| Resistances | Cold |
| Darkvision | Yes |
| Innate Spellcasting | Fog cloud, gust of wind, water walk |
| Book found in | Monsters of the Multiverse, Volo’s Guide to Monsters |
Tactics
The big draw of a Triton is their capabilities underwater. Unless you’re taking a Triton for flavour, I’d suggest you only use them when you know the campaign will have areas that involve large bodies of water. You can use the tactics below when playing as one:
Like a fish to water: Not only can you breath underwater, you can also move as quickly in water as on land. This makes Tritons one of your best options for sea-based campaigns and gives them a lot of flexibility in instances where going underwater may be useful. It may be worth chatting to your DM if you intend to play as a Triton, they may facilitate some underwater segments to make use of your abilities.
Perhaps the more important aspect of this comes down to underwater combat rules. In many instances, you’ll get disadvantage on attacks made underwater as well as being unable to cast spells that require verbal components without beginning to suffocate. Fortunately, creatures (like a Triton) with a swim speed, don’t get disadvantage on attacks made underwater and won’t suffocate when casting spells underwater making you a hugely useful resource for underwater combat.
Cold calling: Tritons have resistance to cold damage meaning they can take a bit more pain from enemies that use cold spells and attacks. Unfortunately, cold attacks among monsters are rare (it came 8th out of 10 of the most common damage types in our research). There are a larger proportion of spells that use cold damage at least making the ability more useful. In essence, if you do come across something doing cold damage, feel free to get in the firing line.
Utility spellcaster: A Triton’s innate spellcasting is all about utility. Fog cloud and gust of wind work best in small areas like dungeons and corridors where avoiding their effects are harder. Gust of wind is particularly good for allowing down your enemies while you get a few more shots on them. Water walk can be useful, and importantly, allows you to take your allies with you, but it’s also very situational and may not be required often. Having said that, if you are playing a Triton, you may be doing so because you’re expecting a lot of water so this may still come in handy.
Which class should I choose for a Triton?
Tritons are generally good for most classes with lots of utility options and a broad skill set. Underwater capabilities are useful for all classes (as long as you’ll be spending time underwater) so broadly speaking, any class can make a good option. Having said that, some classes may excel at speaking to underwater creatures with their high charisma. Others will also get to recast your innate spells if they have spell slots of their own making some classes a little more useful than others. Those classes that wouldn’t typically wield weapons that are good underwater (like shortswords, daggers, javelins, spears and tridents) will also gain more in combat. As will classes reliant on verbal spellcasting too.
Below I’ve put together a score for how well each class works with a Triton 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 a Triton
As mentioned, Tritons have broad appeal if you intend to play in a campaign with lots of water. Having said that, a couple of classes do have some capabilities that make them slightly better options for a Triton. They are:
- Fighter
- Bard
- Paladin
- Sorcerer
- Warlock
Fighters can use the blind fighting fighting style alongside fog cloud to give them advantage on attacks and the enemy disadvantage making them particularly devastating. Take the eldritch knight subclass for repeat castings of fog cloud too. On top of that, fighters tend to rely on weapons that would normally have disadvantage underwater, but with your swim speed, that’s not something you’ll need to contend with.
The rest have appeal for similar reasons (and to be honest, they only edge out other spellcasters slightly) but with spell slots, they can repeat cast a Triton’s innate spells. On top of this, each of these classes relies on charisma, making them great party faces and able to talk more effectively with underwater creatures. Add to this that they can cast verbal spells without suffocating and paladins in particular can fight with their greatsword, longsword or whatever meaty weapon you’re using and you’re probably maximising on a Triton’s capabilities more than anyone else here.
Worst classes for a Triton
There aren’t really any bad classes for a Triton. Often barbarians luck out with innate spellcasting as rage gets in the way of this, but a Triton’s spells tend to be cast outside of combat anyway. Wizards, perhaps gain a little less as they can replicate the effects of a Triton’s abilities most easily (especially the spells which are available to wizards). Even then, easy underwater spellcasting is a huge boon in underwater moments.
About Tritons
Appearance
Tritons are humanoids with many similar features to humans but they typically have a blue or green tint to their skin and similar shades to their hair. They have fins on their arms, legs and sometimes their head too which aid their ability to swim. Because of all the swimming they do, they tend to wear light, flexible clothing and armour to accommodate extensive swimming and regular bouts of combat.
Personality
Many other races would likely have considered the evils of the Plane of Water escaping onto the Mortal Plane an unfortunate accident and moved on but Tritons are beings of great honour and selflessness. While this paints a picture of noble heroes, Tritons are also notoriously proud and stubborn creatures with a distinct haughtiness meaning they often don’t make friends easily with other races, despite their noble tendencies. Equal to a Triton’s ability to be selflessly heroic is their ability to be unsufferably self-righteous. However, some might argue that their combat prowess perhaps earns them this right.
How to roleplay as a Triton
Tritons are notoriously arrogant, the only beings capable of protecting the Mortal Plane from the horrors of the deep. As powerful warriors that have earned their stripes in combat, they typically have earned such arrogance, much to the annoyance of other races.
Most Tritons find the culture and traditions of surface folk as confusing and barbaric, but they take pity on such beings (after all, they don’t know any better). If you play as a Triton, you’ll likely want to lean into this self-confident and arrogant nature, even if you’re one of the good guys. A Triton will rarely run from a fight, and if you do, you’ll likely feel a deep sense of shame and embarrassment.
Despite your arrogant tendencies, you’ll need to make sure you get along with your party (relatively speaking). You’ll likely be noble and helpful, but it’s absolutely worth being smug about it as you do so.
Most Tritons prefer to live in the depths of the seas so you may want to consider what has drawn you to the surface as you prepare your character. You might want to work with your DM on a mission you’re undergoing, perhaps a creature that needs defeating that escaped to the surface or some other noble quest.
