Races are a critical part of the RuneScape experience because it makes the game feel more diverse. During your time in Gielinor, you’ll meet all types of characters that represent different races. They can have predetermined stereotypes that add more depth to the game. For example, Goblins are stupid, Elves are intelligent beings, and Ogres want to eat all the time.
However, adventurers in RS3 can only play as humans. Although this may seem like a negative, RuneScape offers plenty of interactions with other races. In some cases, you can join a race as if you were their own!
Runescape Gods
Gods and goddesses are beings of a wide array of races who have ascended beyond mortality and are unable to die from old age or natural causes. However, they can be defeated if an Elder Artefact or an item with similar power is used against them. Gods can do just about anything, from casting absurdly powerful spells to creating new life.
A huge fundamental difference when a god dies is that they forfeit any right to any form of an afterlife. Upon death, they cease to exist. The energy a god causes when death occurs will be dispersed onto the world they died on. Other gods can harness their power to empower themselves further.
Elder Gods
Jas
Jas is the oldest and most powerful of the Elder Gods. While the Elder Gods do not precisely represent an aspect or element, Jas is most aligned with the progression of time. Also, she has many associations with sand and air. Jas is responsible for creating almost all Elder Artefacts using the Stone of Jas.
Ful
Ful is an Elder God of constancy and fire. She is the creator of the TokHaar race and the Elder Kiln. Ful is the 2nd oldest and second most powerful god. Ful created many planets to attempt to create the perfect one. Eventually, she created the perfect planet now known as Gielinor.
Wen
Wen is the only god related to ice and the cold. She was responsible for creating icy locations and creatures. Her chronicle is found at the top of Ice Mountain, which players can read to find out more information. She is mentioned during the Heart of Stone and The Temple at Senntisten quests.
Bik
Bik is heavily related to forests and trees. She is one of the younger and weakest out of all the elder gods. After completing Fate of the Gods, her location will be revealed in the elder chronicles, which are found using the measure. Bik resides underneath Entrana, and players can find her elder chronicle in this location.
High Gods
High gods are beings that can destroy or construct on a continental scale. Moreover, they can manipulate immortals magically. They are not the strongest gods but have a lot more power than mortals. They are common and referred to during most quests in RuneScape.
Guthix
Guthix was the god of balance and the last surviving member of the Naragi race. He was the first of the young gods to arrive at Gielinor. Afterward, he would bring other gods and goddesses to Gielinor. He truly believed in the concept of balance and brought other races to Gielinor to live in harmony. This was done to restore balance to the world.
Saradomin
Saradomin is the god of order and wisdom. He is the most widely worshipped god in Gielinor. Also, Saradomin appears to have a strong connection with light as well as other attributes. In the 3rd age, he founded the Ordo Templi Saradominis, a highly secretive, military, and espionage organization near Falador. Furthermore, Saradomin possesses one of the elder artifacts and the crown archival.
Zamorak
Zamorak is the god of destruction, chaos, and power. He originated from the hazardous plane of Freneskae. The god climbed the ranks of the Zarosian Empire to become the highest-ranking general. Zamorak defeated Zaros, dethroning him and becoming a deity himself.
Intelligent Humanoids
Human
Humans are an extremely diverse group of intelligent humanoids. They get along with most races as they are very friendly. Alliances have been formed with Dwarfs, Elves, Gnomes, and TzHaar. Moreover, they have limited communications with goblins but have formed diplomacies with some tribes.
Most Notable Humans:
- Saradomin –Â A human that ascended to godhood and is now one of the most influential gods in Gielinor.
- King Arthur –Â Leader of the Knights of the Round Table in Camelot. Arrived from Britain to Gielinor in the 5th
- Sarah – Founder of Herblore.
- Wise Old Man –Â Was once a great hero of Gielinor. There are only a few creatures that he has not slain. In his old age, he now collects archaeology findings and extremely rare items.
- Duke Horacio –Â The current ruler of Lumbridge.
- Arrav –Â A famous heroic man who saved Varrock. Most known during the Varrock questline.
- Sir Amik Varze –Â Asgarnia’s Ruler and the leader of the White Knights in Falador.
Elves
Elves are the longest-lived races in Gielinor. They are tall and graceful humanoids with long sharp ears. Female Elves are renowned for being extremely beautiful. All Elves follow the crystalline goddess called Seren. Instead of using technology or Magic, Elves will opt for using crystal-bases equipment.
Due to Elves being isolated from the world for many years due to the civil war. They are regarded as a myth by humans as most have not interacted with them. All Elves are associated with a clan, which originated from the first eight families. They primarily live in Prifiddinas, unlocked after completing Plague’s End.
Most Notable Elves:
- Baxtorian –Â King of the Elven Empire in Kandarin.
- Glarial –Â Baxtorian’s Wide, who was lost during the 4th
- Head Mourner – Chief of the Mourners in West Ardougne.
- Endwyre –Â Emissary of the Elven deity Seren.
- Lord Iorwerth –Â Leader of the Iorwerth clan.
- Islwyn –Â Sells crystal gear to players.
Dwarfs
Dwarves are small bulky humanoids that love mining and smelting various items. Most Dwarves live in Keldagrim, which is their underground capital city. They live much longer than humans and are said to have a short temper. In combat, Dwarves will use battleaxes, warhammers, and crossbows.
Most Notable Dwarves:
- King Alvis –Â Was the king of Keldagrim before dying 500 years ago. His legacy is honored by a statue on the River Kelda.
- Doric –Â A master smith and warrior who lives in his hut East of Taverly. He is most known for the What’s Mine is Yours and Devious Minds quests.
- Colonel Grenda –Â She is a strict leader of the First Regiment of the Dwarven Black Guard. Her high rank means she has a strong presence within the Dwarven army.
- Boric –Â Boric is the son of Doric. He is a master smither and is most known for the miniquest series, where players need to smith various items and deliver them to NPCs.
Gnomes
Gnomes are one of the most organized races in RS3. They have their own clothes, transportation, foods, and minigames. Gnomes generally love nature, making their homes in treetops. Despite how peaceful they look, Gnomes are well-trained in military capabilities. Often they would defeat their enemies by overrunning them by their sheer numbers.
Most Notable Gnomes
- King Narnode Shareen –Â Leader and king of the Tree Gnome Stronghold.
- Glouphrie –Â An illusionist from the 4th
- Glouck –Â Current ruler of Arposandra.
- Glophren –Â Champion of the Gnomes.
- Lieutenant Schepbur –Â Commander of the Armoured Tortoise Regiment.
- Daero –Â He is a guardian of the High Tree.
Fairies
Fairies are a small race of winged humanoids. They can be found in their home town Zanaris, which requires a Dramen Staff to enter. Fairies are most known for the Fairy Tale quest series, where players unlock various important rewards. The most notable is the Fairy Transport System then will let players travel around Gielinor within seconds.
Most Notable Fairies:
- Fairy Godfather –Â Ruler of Zanaris when the Fairy Queen is absent.
- Fairy Queen –Â Rules Zanaris and all Fairies
- Co-Ordinator –Â Controls the weather in Gielinor.
- Chaeldar – 4th most advanced Slayer Master.
- Fairy Shopkeeper-Â Owns the Zanaris General Store.
- Jukat –Â Sells various Dragon weapons.
Leprechauns
Leprechauns are a race of small humanoid creatures that are quite similar to Gnomes. They are commonly met during Farming runs as tool Leprechauns will exchange important items. Also, these creatures are involved in the Champion’s Challenge, where players will fight the Leprechaun Champion.
Most Notable Leprechauns:
- Tool Leprechaun –Â Encountered next to Farming patches.
- Goth Leprechaun –Â After completing the Spirit of Summer quest, a tool Leprechaun will appear next to the flower patch in the Wilderness.
- Leprechaun Larry –Â Sells various Farming supplies.
- Shamus –Â Met during the Lost City quest.
Vampyres
Vampyres are bat-like creatures that originated from Vampyrium. They are a dominating race within Morytania and can be found in the Sanguinesti Region. They live on human blood and make all residents pay the blood tithe. These flying humanoids are encountered during many important quests in the Morytania. However, you will not be able to kill them until you obtain a special type of weapon.
Most Notable Vampyres:
- Malak –Â Met during the Desert Treasure quest. He will teach players how to defeat the guardians of blood so that they can claim more land.
- Vanstorm Klause –Â A villain during the Myreque quest series.
- Dessous –Â A Vampyre who owns the Northen region of Sanguinesti. He is killed during Desert Treasure.
- The Black Prince –Â A noble Vampyre featured in the Return to Canifis novel.
Mermaids
Mermaids are an aquatic humanoid race that is frequently found in the seas of Gielinor. The creatures have an upper body of a female human and a tail of a fish. Mermaids vary in appearance and can display different fin shapes, lengths, scales, and flipper colors. They can control water, which is shown when they carry their prey home with currents.
Most Notable Mermaids:
- Urchin –Â Met during the Deadliest Catch quest. She lives on a small island in the middle of the Northern sea.
- Anemone –Â She is a very aggressive mermaid that lives in the Northern Sea.
- Manta –Â She is the eldest sister of the Mermaids: Tentacle, Anemone, and Urchin. She is mentioned during the Mermaids and Dragon lore.
Pixies
Pixies are a race of small, winged humanoids native to Gielinor. They are often compared to Fairies due to their similar traits. They have unstable magical powers and will explode when worked up. Pixies are involved in most holiday events like Christmas and Halloween.
Most Notable Pixies:
- Cait –Â She was a Pixie featured in the 2005 Christmas event.
- Cormac –Â he can be found beneath Draynor Village in Diango’s Workshop during the 2005 Christmas event.
- Rose –Â She has purple hair and a sweater that makes her easy to differentiate. She was the boss of the workshop beneath Draynor.
Siren
Sirens or Seasingers are a species of aquatic creatures native to the Wushanko Isles. Their cousin species are Mermaids. Sirens are most known for their beautiful singing voices, which will lure in sailers to their deaths. Generally, they are a peaceful race but are aggressive when triggered.
- Remora –Â Featured during the Song from the Depths. She is the first Siren to create a high-tier Ranged armor gear called Sirenic armor.
- Boni –Â He is a Siren that can be found in the market area of Waiko. Boni runs and owns the Waiko Reward Shop.
- Hari –Â He is a sea singer student at Tuai Leit. He will seek a dinglehopper. However, adventurers have no idea what that is.
Werewolves
Werewolves are a race of shapeshifting humanoids. They can select how they want to appear, as humans or as bipedal wolves. The majority of Werewolves worship Zamorak and consider this to be an honor. Werewolves are brilliant hunters and serve as foot soldiers during the Gielinorian God Wars. Mainly they reside in Morytania.
- Barker –Â He is a Werewolf clothier who owns Barker’s Haberdashery. It’s the Most Northen building in Canifis.
- Roavar –Â He owns the Hair of the Dog tavern in Canifis.
- Shanty Claws –Â During the 2006 Christmas event, Shanty Claws was a Werewolf sailor.
Semi-Intelligent Humanoids
Cyclopes
Cyclopes are mostly found on the top floor of the Warriors’ Guild. Their native land is Cyclosis, which is in the Wushanko Isles. They are tall, muscular human-like creatures with one eye. Most players will fight them in hopes of obtaining a defender.
Goblins
Goblins can be found throughout Gielinor. Generally, they are in low-level areas such as Lumbridge. Goblins are not smart creatures and have very short tempers. Therefore, they will form tribes that will not form diplomacies with other Goblin tribes.
Imps
Imps are small demonic monsters that can spawn randomly in RuneScape. They are the weakest demons in RS3, and holy water is not effective against them. Also, when attacking an Imp, they can teleport away to a nearby location, which makes them tedious to defeat. During the Champions’ Challenge, players can encounter the Imp Champion, a much stronger version of an Imp.
Trolls
Trolls are a unique race in Gielinor. While not being very intelligent, Trolls will do difficult activities such as Farming and Cooking. The main population of Trolls will live in Trollheim. However, some Trolls can be found in Piscatoris and Neitiznot.
Trolls are extremely adaptable to their surroundings by growing harder skin, sharper teeth, and huge muscles. They are extremely odd when compared to other races like Humans or Elves. Trolls can be split into different visuals that differ greatly from each other. It’s not known if they are different species of trolls or an entirely unique race.
Ghouls
Ghouls are a humanoid race that are descendants of a forgotten society that degraded to the point of people eating their dead. These creatures will feed on rotting flesh and scavenged bodies from graveyards. They can be found North of Canifis next to the nearby loadstone. Ghouls are not undead and are still alive, despite their appearance.
Intelligent Non-Humanoids
Cats
Cats are extremely intelligent species, despite what people may think. Felines possess their own unique language that adventurers can understand with the catspeak amulet. It’s said that Cats were the 2nd creature Guthix brought into the world of Gielinor.
Among the many inhabitants in Gielinor, Cats are considered intelligent and wise. Cats adore fish and are brilliant hunters. During many quests, players will need to use Cats to kill rats to progress to the next step.
Demons
Demons are in a class that includes multiple sub-races. Their characteristics are of human and beast-like features. They come from other realms such as the Infernal Dimension and the Abyss. Most of them are servants to evil gods such as Zaros and Zamorak. Demons have a deeper connection with the gods and their influence on Gielinor.
Often Demons are unfriendly creatures that will use melee to attack. More powerful Demons can deal damage using magical attacks, which deal significant damage. However, there are friendly Demons like Mazchna, Achtryn, Ocelluis Virius, and Demon Butler.
Dragons
Dragons are a race that has enormous wings and lizard-like bodies. Their fiery breath attack can deal a considerable amount of damage without using the proper resistance. The first dragon was created by infusing a huge aquatic lizard with Dragonkin lifeblood. Dragons often have a high combat level. The lowest level dragons have a terrifying breath attack that will deal 5k damage.
Adult Dragons will drop Dragonhides of their particular color, which are used to create Ranged armor. However, the metallic Dragons will drop metal bars instead of hides. All Dragons have a chance to drop a Draconic visage, which is an extremely rare item.
Griffins
Griffins are bird-like creatures that are always hungry. They are categorized as a legendary animal that features a lion head, body, tail, and wings of an eagle. Once they are asleep, adventures will not be able to wake them up as they go into a profound slumber. Players will meet a Griffin during the Grim Tales quest.
TzHaars
TzHaars are a race of golem monsters that inhabit the TzHaar City. This is a lava-filled area beneath the Karmja volcano. TzHaar means “holy fire” when translated to English. The race looks powerful and fearsome in appearance. However, TzHaar is a peaceful race that has been living beneath the volcano for thousands of years.
Their home city is often visited due to the famous minigame where adventurers will face the Jad. Afterward, the TzHaars will reward players with a fire cape.
Beasts
Abyssal Creatures
The Abyssal race can be found within the Abyss and Abyssal areas. Three different Abyss monsters are living inside the Abyss: Abyssal leech, Abyssal, guardian, and Abyssal walker. It’s unknown how long they have lived there as the location is ancient-the Z.M.I discovered the area and disclosed all the information he knows in his book.
Other creatures like the Abyssal demon can be found within the Slayer Tower. They are far stronger than monsters in the Abyss and are highly aggressive.
Undead
Undead are NPCs or monsters in RS3 that are dead but have not gone to the other side. They are created from magic or revived by a necromancer. Undead encompasses anything from ghosts, spirits, and reanimated corpses. The majority of undead beings are located in the Wilderness and Morytania. These are the most common types of the undead:
- Ghosts
- Zombies
- Ankou
- Zogre
- Shade
- Spirit Beast
- Skeletons
- Viyeldi
- Mummy
Charm Sprites
Charm Sprites are fast-flying creatures that are hunted with a yaktwee stick and Sprie lure. They reside in the Tree Gnome Stronghold and can be found in huge fields. Catching them requires level 72 Hunter stats. There are three different versions of the Charm Sprites: Gleaelg, Tranart, and Slithtils. Also, they have different smoke trails, which makes it easier to differentiate them.
Dark Beasts
Dark Beasts are dog-like creatures that are extremely aggressive. They deal damage with magical and melee attacks. The Iorwerth Clan encountered Dark Beasts in the Mourner Tunnels during the Elven Civil War. Dark Beasts are most known for dropping Dark bows and blue charms. Moreover, they require level 90 Slayer to damage.
Dust Devils
Dusk Devils are small monsters that have huge horns and a large mouth. The creatures use clouds of dust, sand, and ash to blind their victims. This is done by sucking in the material and blowing it into the target’s face. Therefore, when fighting Dusk Devils, you must wear a Slayer helmet, a face mask, masked earmuffs, helm of devilry, helm of keening, or mask of dust.
FAQ
Question: What Races Will You Encounter During Quests?
Answer:Â During your adventures in Gielinor, you’ll meet different NPCs from various races. Often a quest series will revolve around a section of the map where you’ll have to interact with members of the race. These are the most popular quest series that are race-based:
- Elf Quests:Â This series of quests revolve around the Elven Civil War and Lord Iorwerth’s plot to return the Dark Lord. During the quest, you’ll be spending your time in West Ardougne and near Elf city. After completing the quest series, you’ll unlock Prifddinas.
- Quest:
-
- Plague city
- Biohazard
- Underground Pass
- Regicide
- Roving Elves
- Mourning’s End Part I
- Mourning’s End Part 2
- Within the Light
- Plague’s End
-
- Troll Quests:Â The Troll series is centered around North Burthorpe, where the Trolls live. Players will need to solve their problems and help them in any way possible. Every quest will take you further into the Troll Stronghold.
- Quests:
-
-
- Death Plateau
- Troll Stronghold
- Troll Romance
- Eadgar’s Ruse
- My Arm’s Big Adventure
- The Mighty Fall
-
-
- Gnome Quests:Â This series focuses on the race of Gnomes. The main themes are traitors and enemies of the Gnomes who try to destroy them. Adventurers must help and prevent the empire from falling. There are two quest lines that center around Gnomes: Glough and Arposandra quest series.
- Quest:
-
-
-
- Tree Gnome Village
- The Grand Tree
- Monkey Madness
- The Eye of Glouphire
- The Path of Glouphrie
-
-
- The Prisoner of Glouphrie
-
Question: What Is The Strongest Race In RuneScape?
Answer:Â RuneScape heavily immerses players because it provides plenty of NPCs that makes the world feel populated. All creatures will be part of a race that has a rich history. The most powerful race in Gielinor is the Dragonkin. They are an ancient race of intelligent dragon-like creatures that originated from the previous cycle of the universe.
The Dragonkin lived in peace in their homeworld until the Great Revision happened. This was a huge event that ended their universe and began a new one. However, some have lived through the event and can be found in the Gielinor.
Question: Can You Play RuneScape On Your Smartphone?
Answer:Â Adventurers can now play on the go thanks to the newly developed RS3 app Jagex created. This means players are no longer limited to their desktop and can play from any location. It’s brilliant for training AFK skills as you can level up while traveling, at work, or when you have downtime. Also, the gaming application works on iOS and Android devices, so nobody is left out.
Summary
RuneScape has an amazingly diverse population that includes all sorts of races. Gielinor has a rich history and lore that give the game a lot of depth. You’ll meet all types of characters during quests, bossing, and training. Races are unique and have their own characteristics, making the experience much more immersive.
Looking for more interesting readings? Check out:
- RS3 Combat Overview For Beginners
- RS3 Skills Overview [2021]: Best Skills According To Player Type
- RS3 Map Locations Overview [2021]: Best Free Locations In Runescape
Resources:
- Contact OSRS Guide - September 13, 2022
- Violet is Blue RS3 Guide - August 3, 2022
- Falador Diary OSRS Guide - July 12, 2022