Monsters & Memories Races, Classes and Start Cities

At character creation you choose a race, class, faith and starting location. You also place stat points and pick traits. Early Access allows up to 25 characters per server, so you can try more than one race.

Nine races at Early Access, four planned

The official FAQ lists nine races you can play now and four for later modules. Deep Elves and Deep Gnomes are playable as part of Module 1, Descent into the Deep, which came with Early Access.

Race and class grid

This grid shows every class each playable race can pick. It follows the official race page and the official class pages, which agree with each other. A fan database built from beta data lists different classes for six races. Trust the official lists when they disagree.

Reading the grid:

• Humans can take all 18 classes. The official race page adds that this depends on start location, so your class can limit where a Human begins.
• Inquisitor is the narrowest pick. Only Humans and Deep Elves can play one right now.
• Monk is open to Humans, Ogres and Deep Elves.
• Fighter and Rogue are the widest. Each is open to eight of the nine races. Deep Gnomes cannot be Fighters, and Ogres cannot be Rogues.

Our class guide covers what each class does in a group.

Starting cities

There are four starting locations at Early Access. The official FAQ says your race, faith and class together decide which ones you can pick. It also says some starting locations will change before 1.0.

The community wiki keeps a start-city table by race, class and deity. Here is what it showed on September 29, 2026:

The Halfling rule matches an official update from late 2025: Halflings can start in Faelindral, except Clerics and Paladins. The wiki table has no row for Human Enchanters, so check the selection map in game before you commit. Our map and zones guide shows what sits around each city, and the leveling guide covers your first levels.

Race by race

The racial abilities and resists below come from the wiki, as it listed them in February 2026 during the beta. A plus number adds resistance to that damage type and a minus number takes it away.

Human

The most common people on Aêthoril. They have four cultures: the Ba'Haara, Tarellians, Easthymn and Sojourners.

• Classes: all 18
• Start: Night Harbor; some classes can also start in the Underdocks
• Racial ability: Tenacity
• Resists: Corruption -5, Holy -5

Wood Elf

Also called the Faelewyn. They keep the forest and were changed by the Fae of the Branch.

• Classes: 8
• Start: Faelindral or Night Harbor
• Racial abilities: Hide, Forage
• Resists: Electricity +5, Fire -5

Halfling

The official lore calls Halflings the oldest of Eth-ur's races. They keep its stories.

• Classes: 9
• Start: Faelindral or Night Harbor; Clerics and Paladins start in Night Harbor only
• Racial abilities: Sneak, Forage and increased consumption
• Resists: Corruption +5, Disease +5

Dwarf

Crafters and explorers whose origin traces back to the Burning Heavens.

• Classes: 10
• Start: Night Harbor
• Racial ability: Stone Form
• Resists: Cold +5, Magic +5

Gnome

An inventive people, though some Gnomes serve dark gods.

• Classes: 9
• Start: Night Harbor; some classes start in the Underdocks
• Racial ability: Slippery
• Resists: Electricity +5, Poison +5

Goblin

The official page describes Goblins as greedy and sneaky. They are good at finding secrets, and they call The Heap home.

• Classes: 10
• Start: Underdocks
• Racial ability: Bribe
• Resists: Disease +5, Poison +5

Ogre

The giants of the Storm Coast made the Ogres, and the Ogres now run a warlord civilisation in the north.

• Classes: 8
• Start: Night Harbor; some classes start in the Underdocks; Monks start in Night Harbor only
• Racial abilities: Ogre Smash and increased consumption
• Resists: Cold +10, Magic -10

Deep Elf

Also called the Ail'trist. The official lore calls them masters of the Deep who heard the voice of the Shadow.

• Classes: 14, the most after Humans
• Start: Ail'vorith or the Underdocks; Inquisitors, Monks, Paladins and Spellblades start in Ail'vorith only
• Racial ability: not yet listed on the wiki

Deep Gnome

Explorers of the multiverse, of dreamscapes and of the Spirals.

• Classes: 8
• Start: Underdocks
• Racial ability: not yet listed on the wiki
• Watch out: the wiki notes that everyone in Ail'vorith attacks Deep Gnomes on sight

Base stats by race

These are the wiki's starting attributes for each race, before class modifiers. They are community numbers from the beta.

Every race in this table totals 114 points. Races differ in where those points sit, not in how many they get:

• Ogres have the most Strength (20) and Stamina (19).
• Gnomes have the most Intelligence (20). Gnomes and Goblins share the top Dexterity (19).
• Halflings have the most Wisdom (20), and Wood Elves the most Agility (20).
• Humans have the most even spread and the highest Charisma (17). Goblins have the lowest Charisma (13).

Officially, Strength raises how much you can carry, Intelligence scales spell damage and Wisdom scales healing. Your class then adds its own modifiers, and you place extra points at creation. During the beta, the wiki's class tables showed 10 bonus points. Our stats guide explains what each stat does.

Traits now and the planned revamp

Only one of the two trait systems below is in the game today.

Traits in the game today

At creation you pick four traits: one Major Combat, one Minor Combat, one Major Non-Combat and one Minor Non-Combat. Your race adds its racial ability on top. This comes from the wiki's Traits page, last edited in June 2026, so small details may have shifted.

An official update from late 2025 added two details. Infravision and Ultravision remain Major Non-Combat traits, and Bards, Druids and Rangers can take the Tracker trait.

The planned revamp

On September 29, 2026 the developers previewed a new trait system. They said it is not implemented yet and is still a work in progress, so treat everything below as a preview:

• Each race gets three Racial Innates.
• Each race offers a choice of three Backgrounds.
• You can add an optional Personality trait. "Bland" gives no bonuses.
• You pick a Starting Boon, which is a starting item.
• You earn Progression Traits through quests.
• Infravision becomes an ability you switch on. Ultravision stays as it is.

When the new system goes live, you will be able to pick your traits again. The preview gave these innates as examples:

Languages and alignment

Since the Early Access patch on September 19, 2026, Deep races start with Deep Common as their default language. Every other race defaults to Common Tongue. At Early Access the Deep races are Deep Elves and Deep Gnomes. A patch on September 25 made NPCs in the Underdocks speak both languages.

The wiki lists Deep Elves as Evil and Wood Elves as Good. It lists the planned Deep Dwarves as Evil and High Elves as Good. Every other race on the wiki is Neutral. Treat that as a community summary. The official start rules talk about good, neutral and evil combinations of race, faith and class, so your deity matters too.

Planned races

The official FAQ names four races for later modules: Deep Dwarves, High Elves and Trolls, with Var'nai to follow at some point. No dates have been announced. The team says to expect a new module about every six months, and it has not detailed Module 2 yet. For the full 1.0 release, the team wants all racial cities online.

The wiki's Underdocks page still calls it a start zone for Deep Dwarves, but they are not playable yet. Var'nai appear on the official pages only, not on the wiki.

Recruit by race and class

If you are recruiting for Early Access, CoGM's Monsters & Memories application form checks race and class for you. It asks for character name, race, class, level and server. It lists the nine launch races and only shows the classes the chosen race can play, so you never get an application for a pairing the game does not allow. Applications are free on every CoGM plan.

Sources: official race page, class pages, FAQ and Early Access FAQ; patch notes 0.25.0.0, 0.30.0.0, 0.30.0.1 and 0.30.2.0; developer updates from late 2025 through September 29, 2026; the Monsters & Memories community wiki on Miraheze, which is player-run and not endorsed by Niche Worlds Cult.