Underkeep Races Explained: Every Playable People, Traits, and Best Class Pairings

What the Underkeep Races Actually Change

Picking a race in Underkeep is not a cosmetic step — it shapes your starting attributes, your equipment options, and even the dialogue you see. That matters because you commit to four party members before the adventure begins, and a mismatched race can quietly undercut an otherwise solid build.

The bigger problem is version drift. An older developer post names six peoples, and the current launch build documents six with two different names. This breakdown separates the dated development snapshot from the current launch roster, so you can plan a party without building on guesswork.

How Many Underkeep Races Are There?

Six. The current Steam Community Underkeep Player's Guide for app 2411200 documents the launch roster as Human, Dwarf, Stoneborn, Raven, Elk, and Slugman, with a trait line attached to each.

An earlier Rake in Grass development post — "News from Underkeep: Classes, Races & Skills," published November 4, 2025 — described the roster as "Human, Dwarf, Horemount, Raven, Elk, and Yah-Ti." That is a pre-release snapshot of a game still in development, not the launch roster. Horemount and Yah-Ti do not appear in the current player guide, and Stoneborn and Slugman do not appear in the 2025 post; treat the older pair as historical, for reference only.

One confirmed mechanical hook applies to every row: dialogue lines change based on your race and class. That is the only race-linked behavior the developer has put on record across versions.

The Six Launch Races at a Glance

The table below follows the current player guide for app 2411200. The guide is player-written, so the trait values are player experience drawn from the game's own tooltips rather than official marketing copy.

The Stoneborn body-armour restriction is the most consequential single line in character creation — losing an entire equipment slot changes how you gear a frontliner far more than a few points of Armor gained back.

The Older Horemount and Yah-Ti Snapshot

The November 2025 post described the Horemount as living granite from a frozen northern region: a large health pool, heavy hits, and a poor fit for riddles and spell scrolls. The developer's own shorthand was "big health pool, big hammer, small attention span." That makes Horemount the obvious Warrior suggestion in that build — a suggestion, not a restriction.

Yah-Ti appeared in the same post as a name without published traits, stats, or mechanics, and it is absent from the current roster. If you find a guide describing a Yah-Ti playthrough, check which build it is describing before planning around it.

Raven: Mutations You Do Not Choose

Ravens come from a toxic land and mutate at the start of a run. The current guide lists the trait as one stable and one unstable mutation rolled at creation, with examples in the developer's earlier post including extra eyes, acid spit, and catching fire.

The important part for planning: you do not pick the mutation, and the developer has said a direct trait picker is not planned. Race traits were added before launch, but selection is not part of the described design. The studio has openly acknowledged the randomness "may occasionally upset dedicated min-maxers."

Where Older and Current Race Lists Diverge

The two lists agree on Human, Dwarf, Elk, and Raven. They disagree on the remaining two: the 2025 post names Horemount and Yah-Ti, while the current player guide names Stoneborn and Slugman. Treat this as version drift rather than a live dispute — the older list is a dated pre-release snapshot, and the current guide reflects the launch build.

For launch-context party planning, use only Human, Dwarf, Stoneborn, Raven, Elk, and Slugman. Keep the Horemount/Yah-Ti names as development history.

Which Race Fits Which Class?

Class design is the one area with solid, consistent detail, and it tells you which attributes matter. Underkeep has seven classes: Warrior, Thief, Paladin, Ranger, Voidcaller, Wizard, and Blood Mage. Each leans on one of four attributes — Strength, Dexterity, Endurance, or Wisdom.

Matching Underkeep races to classes is therefore a question of which attribute each race pushes hardest.

• Human Paladin. Paladin runs on Strength with a bonus point of Wisdom, and its Zeal-based healing rewards a character that can also survive. A balanced spread suits that better than a single spike.
• Dwarf Warrior. Warrior wants Strength for melee damage, health, and heavy weapon requirements. If the reported Dwarf Strength and Endurance emphasis is accurate, it is a direct fit.
• Elk Ranger. Ranger lives on Dexterity for ranged accuracy and Evasion. A high-Dexterity race is the natural home for it, and Beast Warden's animal Armor is a small bonus on top.
• Slugman Blood Mage. Blood Mage uses Endurance and can spend its own health when Bones run out, so durability matters. The double fire damage is a real cost in a class you may want in the back row anyway.
• Raven anything. With random mutations, Raven is the experimental pick. Check what you rolled before you build around it — a mutation that helps one class can actively hurt another.

Two party templates work with almost any race assignment: Paladin plus Warrior in front with Ranger and Voidcaller behind, or Paladin and Voidcaller up front with Ranger and Blood Mage in back. Both cover frontline survival, healing, ranged damage, and status removal.

Attributes, Rerolls, and Race Choice

You do not hand out attribute points. Your class and race set the ranges, and the character creator lets you reroll until you get something workable.

• Strength drives melee damage, health, and access to heavier weapons and armor.
• Dexterity drives ranged accuracy, ranged damage, Evasion, and critical chance.
• Endurance feeds health growth, Stamina regeneration, and resistance to some effects.
• Wisdom feeds Mana growth and natural elemental resistance — not spell damage directly.

Reroll with a target, not a perfectionism problem. A Paladin should be checked across Strength, Endurance, and Wisdom together. A Ranger wants a strong Dexterity result without collapsing on survivability. A Blood Mage should look at Endurance first.

FAQ

How many Underkeep races are there, and which ones are current? Six in the launch build, per the current player guide for app 2411200: Human, Dwarf, Stoneborn, Raven, Elk, and Slugman. The November 2025 developer post used Horemount and Yah-Ti instead of Stoneborn and Slugman; treat that older pairing as a dated pre-release snapshot, for reference only.

Can I choose my Raven mutations? No. The developer has stated that each Raven rolls its own mutation set for that playthrough, and that a direct trait picker is not planned.

Do Underkeep races lock me out of classes? Nothing published suggests a hard lock. The Horemount-as-Warrior framing is a developer suggestion, and the class write-ups tie races to attribute fit and equipment requirements rather than restrictions — with the possible exception of the reported Stoneborn body-armor limit.

What is the safest first-party race setup? Use races that feed each class's main attribute and keep your front row durable. Human and Dwarf are the low-risk picks for Strength-based roles, Elk for Dexterity, and anything with Endurance for Blood Mage. You can confirm the current build on the Underkeep Steam store page.