Simic Hybrid 5E Race Guide | Tips and Builds for the Simic Hybrid Race

The Guildmaster’s Guide to Ravnica is full of created races. Dungeons & Dragons 5E needs that versatility, the ability to quite literally make exactly what you want. That’s where the Simic Hybrid comes in. Like the Warforged, the Simic Hybrid is a really adaptable race that can handle most roles in a party. These partially animalistic beings are relatively new to the world, and thus not much is known about them. But, our Simic Hybrid 5E guide will help you understand them and use them well.

Simic Hybrid 5E Lore

Simic Hybrids are a brand new race that appeared in Ravnica recently. The Simic Combine fused humans, elves, and vedalken with animals to get the best possible combinations. This project was designed to make an army of soldiers, destined to take the fight to the enemy wherever they lie. That being said, now that the project is more or less complete, the Simic Hybrids sometimes refer to themselves as guardians. The name Simic Hybrid can remind some of them about the rather strange and cruel experiment that they found themselves subject to.

Simic Hybrids change a lot when affected by the experiment. They have their basic humanoid form, but they can have dramatic changes in their body, including crab claws, wings or fins, or shark-like maws. These can be jarring to those who are unfamiliar with the varied races of Ravnica, but they are generally accepted now that the project has concluded for a short while. It helps that the Simic Combine guild in Ravnica has now been established, though the guild is very tight-fisted about it’s agents.

The Hybrids usually accept a new name after their transformation but might keep the name that their original parents gave to them. It depends a lot on their personality and the oppression of their creators.

Simic Hybrid Attributes

Simic Hybrids are a very interesting race that are able to adapt a ton to whatever environment or situation they find themselves in. As such, while they don’t have any subraces, they have a ton of choices to make with their race features anyways!

• +2 Constitution, +1 Any Other. This is an extremely good stat spread. Constitution is necessary for any class, since that’s just a boost to your health. Constitution is also one of the more important saving throws. That leaves your +1 to be any aggressive stat you’d like, from Strength to Intelligence, Dexterity or Wisdom, or even Charisma! Choose whatever fits your class best!

• Medium Speed, 30 ft Speed. Simic Hybrids are based on a specific base race, so they don’t have any weight or height advantages over humans or elves. It’s good to be typical though! Keeps things consistent.

• Darkvision. Great! No need for torches and you’re very good at seeing things tucked away into corners or ready to ambush you. Gives you loads of time and preparation to deal with whatever problems show up in your standard dungeon, or even during nighttime if you’re not doing a dungeon crawler.

• Languages. Elven is a fine language, though not spoken much outside of the Elf race. Great in general, since Elf communities can be very strong. Vedalken is much the same, except those are mostly kept to Ravnica. Might be a good idea to go Elf by default, unless the DM talks about putting more Vedalken in their campaign setting.

• Animal Enhancement. You gain 2 Enhancements; One at level 1 and one at level 5. Both times, you get your choice between three options. In general, if you’re looking for a quick build, my standard is Nimble Climber and Carapace.

• Level 1 Choices:

• • Manta Glide. Permanent Feather Fall can be pretty nice. You will consistently avoid taking falling damage, and the horizontal movement might allow you to consistently make hard jumps. If you want safety from ever falling (as long as the fall is within 100 feet!), this is for you.

• • Nimble Climber. Climb is not as useful as flight, but it’s close! This opens up a ton of different options for you to chase down enemies or escape from bad situations. In addition, if you play your cards right, you can grab onto walls to stop your fall. This is probably the best choice, just because you can use climb speed in more situations.

• • Underwater Adaption. Necessary for a water-based campaign, but otherwise not really required. You can hold your breath for a fair amount of time by default, and it’s somewhat rare in a standard campaign to need to hold your breath. This will probably have the least utility of the three starter options, unless the campaign is specifically built for it.

• Level 5 Choices:

• • Grappling Appendage. Grappling isn’t necessarily bad utility. Being able to grab something and influence it, even a tiny bit, might be what you need to take down an opponent. You can also use a Greatsword or daggers to deal a lot of damage to the grappled target. Worth considering if you want to be an effective mage killer.

• • Carapace. 5% chance to dodge enemy attacks is legitimately tempting. It’s hard to find additional sources of AC in 5E, so this puts you above the curve for dodging most attacks. That’s important! But, not critical. This is the best choice in general, but you might want the utility options.

• • Acid Spit. This gives you a Constitution-based ranged attack. Worth considering if you’re a Barbarian or melee-focused Fighter… But that limit on times per day is rough! You have a Cantrip, which scales just like a Cantrip, but isn’t unlimited! That’s not great, but can be good if you just need that emergency ranged attack. Might not be a bad idea to grab a bow, though!

Class Options

Simic Hybrids have crazy good utility! You can really be whatever class you want as a Simic Hybrid, just like a Human! There is exactly one class that I would consider “not as good” for them, though.

Good Classes for Simic Hybrids

• Artificer. As one of the few races that get Intelligence increases and massive Constitution bonuses, you can’t really go wrong here. Artificers don’t necessarily require Darkvision, but it’s nice. Carapace is great for tank builds, too!

• Barbarian. A love story! High Constitution, Strength, +1 AC at level 5… That’s a ton of things that the Barbarian loves to see! If that wasn’t good enough, you get 40 foot climb speed! That’s terrifying.

• Bard. You’re going to be one beefy bard! Constitution is always great for you, but this lets you wander into melee combat without too much issue. Bards probably don’t get quite as much out of the level 1 utility skills, since their spell list has so much already.

• Cleric. Great! Clerics love melee combat, and the Simic Hybrid works well with melee. You can boost Wisdom or Strength depending on what your Cleric’s goals are. The Simic Hybrid’s utility isn’t as good for Clerics, but it’s far from bad.

• Druid. Like the Cleric, you get your high Constitution and you can still get your Wisdom. However, also like the Cleric, Druids really don’t need the Simic Hybrid’s level 1 utility. Who needs a climb speed when you can literally become a monkey, or eventually an eagle? Still permanent climb and utility options won’t kill you.

• Fighter. Perfect melee Fighter… Well, not quite perfect. +1 Strength, +2 Con is wonderful, but you don’t get your strong utility options until later. Still, getting to Level 5 on a high Con fighter is going to be pretty easy, and then you’re a beast!

• Paladin. Fine! Not quite perfect, but fine. I personally like my Charisma on my Paladin for Aura of Protection, but this is still a great statline for a melee bruiser Paladin build. The utility is much appreciated for a historically slow and grounded class.

• Ranger. Not an awful melee option, or you can just be a beefy archer. Either way, that climb speed is going to be nice for chasing down enemies. Might not be perfect, but it will be very safe.

• Rogue. Great! Melee rogues really want that extra HP, and you’ll still keep up with your damage due to your +1 Dexterity. Then, your climb speed and +1 AC is going to be quite astounding!

• Sorcerer. Fine! +1 AC on a caster is always appreciated, and +1 Health per level is even better! You don’t need the utility as much, but you can maybe avoid melee damage by climbing a wall.

• Warlock. Like Sorcerer, the utility is nice since you have limited spells known. Then you can be the beefiest Pact-sworn mercenary around!

• Wizard. This might be one of the worst Simic Hybrids, since Wizards are so good at having utility answers in their pocket. Still, a Wizard with great health and a +1 bonus to AC is probably far from a bad thing to have. Great choice for a beefcastle Wizard build.

The Bad Class for Simic Hybrids

• Monk. This is a personal opinion, mostly. Because the Simic Hybrid takes until level 5 to really get off the ground, you’ll be relying on your Dexterity and high health to carry you. Monks have a rough early game, so… If you’re looking for maximum safety, your relatively low AC might be a problem. Still, this is less “bad” and more risky; Monks benefit from not having to spend Ki to climb, and Darkvision is always good for them. If you can start at level 5, you get a huge advantage with Carapace to make up for your lower Wisdom. 

Conclusion

The Simic Hybrid is a very unique race, with choices made within it that can majorly alter your build. While at home in Ravnica, they are believable in most campaign settings, as the result of wild magic or experimentation. Try them out whenever you want a very durable version of any class.