Guild Wars 2

Subject pretty much covers it. What race would say from a lore perspective fits each profession.

I am not nearly as knowledgeable about the lore of the game as I would like to be (or should be for the amount of time I have put into the game) but I would hazard to say:

Asura = engineer
Norn = ranger
Silvari = elementalist
Char = warrior
Human = any?

edit: opps, I just realized I reversed your question and paired the best profession for each race. I would probably just lump all the other professions under “human”.

Asura = Elementalist
Sylvari = Ranger
Norn = Warrior
Charr = Engineer
Human = Guardian
Human = Mesmer
Sylvari = Necromancer
Revenant = Norn
Thief (thief)= Sylvari
Thief (assassin) = Human

Proffession by race:
Asura: Elementalist
Charr: Warrior, engineer, or thief
Sylvari: Ranger or necro
Human: Guardian, warrior, thief (mostly any prof)
Norn: ranger, warrior, guardian

Race by proffesion:
Ele: Asura
Warrior: Charr
Guardian: Human or norn, but works pretty well with all of them
Engineer: charr or asura
Ranger: Sylvari or norn
Necro: Sylvari
Theif: Human or charr
Mesmer: Human(?) (asura/sylvari could work too)
Revenant: I have no idea, maybe sylvari or human (possibly charr because of rytlock)

I would say:

Asura
They have very good magical abilities (thanks to studying the world and magic – what they call the Eternal Alchemy – in detail), and are also good at designing and building things.

So I’d say Elementalist, Mesmer, Necromancer or Engineer.

Sylvari
Most people seem to think sylvari = nature theme. But they’re just plant people, they’re no more nature themed in my mind than the other races are ‘animal people’ and therefore also nature themed. The thing that makes the sylvari stand out in my mind is their inquisitive nature – they like to explore and discover how things work.

On that basis I’d pick: Engineer, Elementalist or Necromancer for inquisitiveness, or Ranger for exploring the wilderness. I’d also include Guardian because they tend to have a very strong sense of justice and right and wrong.

Human
Humans are a bit of a generic race (they usually are in fantasy) but the things that make them stand out to me are their strong cultural heritage, the importance they place on their religion and the fact that in spite of having a central government they seem fairly independent – everyone is on their own as far as finding, learning and following a profession or career path, they don’t get the same structured training as the asura, charr or even sylvari.

Which makes me think they’d be suited to be Thieves, Guardians, Warriors, Elementalists or maybe Mesmers.

Norn
Their reverence for the Spirits of the Wild is an important part of their culture, as is the value they place on individual achievement and physical prowess in particular.

Which makes me think Warrior, Ranger, Revenant (the Legends are basically Mists Spirits, like the Spirits of the Wild), Guardian, Elementalist and maybe Necromancer.

Charr
Their society is very militaristic (even farmers have ’war’bands), and they also place a lot of importance on duty and highly structured social ties. They’re also the most technologically advanced race.

So Warrior, Engineer, Thief (Ash Legion or disenchanted social outcasts) or Elementalist if they aren’t put off by their past and current Flame Legion issues.

Having said all that I think it’s fairly easy for any race/profession combo to work without seeming forced or unrealistic.

One of my characters is a norn engineer – her backstory is that she didn’t want to be a warrior like her parents so she was lead to believe she would “have to” be a crafter (she is my artificer and jeweler too), but she wanted to travel and explore. She visited the Black Citadel and was inspired by them to become an engineer.

For a while I also had a female charr guardian who explained herself with the logic that being free of the Flame Legion is supposed to mean she can do anything – including using magic to call down divine fire on her enemies.

Charr = All

~EW

EphemeralWallaby.7643:

Charr = All

~EW

I wasn’t going to answer this lore lets you play whatever profession/race combo you want, but charr is actually the one that has to have some mild “role play” explanations. Since charr no longer trust magic, if you care about that stuff you’d need to explain why your charr is a light-armor profession. That said, I’m pretty sure there are some charr magic using NPCs (?).

Fluffball.8307:

EphemeralWallaby.7643:

Charr = All

~EW

I wasn’t going to answer this lore lets you play whatever profession/race combo you want, but charr is actually the one that has to have some mild “role play” explanations. Since charr no longer trust magic, if you care about that stuff you’d need to explain why your charr is a light-armor profession. That said, I’m pretty sure there are some charr magic using NPCs (?).

If you recall one of the options during Charr character creation is: “Flame Legion shamans once enslaved us. Because of this, my father, who is a shaman, is treated with suspicion and mistrust. I must overcome his reputation.”

Magic seems to exist commonly enough in the culture, even if they view it with suspicion. I don’t think roleplay explanations are needed… the culture may not favor magic, but it isn’t in denial about it either.

~EW

Sure, I didn’t mean that it’s against lore, just that if you care about what OP is asking, you’d probably want an explanation in your head as to why your charr is messing around with magic instead of training with all the other charr.

Surely if you care about creating characters that make sense and fit the lore you’d have an explanation for any profession choice?

It might be easier to explain some choices than others, but I doubt it’d ever be as simple as ’he’s a human so he’s a warrior’ or whatever.

Danikat.8537:

Surely if you care about creating characters that make sense and fit the lore you’d have an explanation for any profession choice?

It might be easier to explain some choices than others, but I doubt it’d ever be as simple as ’he’s a human so he’s a warrior’ or whatever.

I think it can be that simple, look at the number of charr and norn warriors running around vs charr and norn mesmers. I suppose it just depends on how much effort you want to put into explaining your characters to yourself.

Fluffball.8307:

EphemeralWallaby.7643:

Charr = All

~EW

I wasn’t going to answer this lore lets you play whatever profession/race combo you want, but charr is actually the one that has to have some mild “role play” explanations. Since charr no longer trust magic, if you care about that stuff you’d need to explain why your charr is a light-armor profession. That said, I’m pretty sure there are some charr magic using NPCs (?).

The charr don’t distrust magic, they distrust gods and religion. That is what they have cast aside.

On a different note:

Warrior: Charr/norn/human
Revenant: charr/norn/sylvari
Guardian: anyone but charr (white magic typically is from divine sources thematically)
Ranger: Norn/sylvari
Thief: Everyone but norn
Engineer: Charr/asura
Elementalist:sylvari/asura
Mesmer: human
Necro: Human (grenth much?)

bearshaman.3421:

The charr don’t distrust magic, they distrust gods and religion. That is what they have cast aside.

No, it’s “all of the above.” In GW1 the Flame Legion used magic extensively, as well as presenting titan magic as a religion.

[The charr] have renounced all gods as false and instead view all of life, from magic to combat, with a hard, cynical eye. Their culture has developed into a military state where they are raised as warriors from birth.

…the Foefire simultaneously weakened their previously firm grip on Ascalon, and increased the charr’s distrust of magic significantly.

From then on, charr society was directed away from magic and towards misotheism and technocracy, leaving the Flame Legion maligned.

Those are wiki quotes which are obviously not the highest authority, but as a GW1 player I will stand behind them as correct.

I stand corrected. I guess in game I always got the sense it was more about the religion then. I will drop charr from the list for revenant then. Despite LS reasons to the contrary. (won’t say more, don’t want to spoil anything)

Charr: ENGINEER! (lore wise the charr are the ones to first create this profession). Also, Warrior (their soldiers), or Thief (their spies)

Asura: Elementalist or Necromancer (magical experimentation and whatnot)

Sylvari: The whole point of their wild hunts and a lot of their lore is about going out and learning, and experiencing the world. So I would say any profession fits them equally.

Norn: Ranger, Warrior, Necromancer, Elementalist (basically, stuff associated with nature, life & death, hunting & fighting)

Human: Guardian (lore wise, humans created this profession), Mesmer (very much a part of their society and culture)… but honestly, a human could fit any profession too.

Revenant, I don’t really know… it’s too new to place it. It fits for everything except, imo, asura

necro – humans cough Grenth cough
guardian – also humans – seraph and their generally defensive fighting style
mesmer – yup, humans again (Anise, Jennah)

elementalist – asura – small, brainy, and only ele to have access to poison fields.
thief – sylvari/human – we know what caithe does for a living…but humans got plenty of shady characters too.
ranger – norn/sylvari/charr – sylvari are nature themed by default. Charr love to train pets for combat, and are part animals themselves so fits too.

engineer – asura/charr – brains and no religious/magical nonsense required.
warrior – norn/charr – it’s obvious – the bigger and more bloodthirsty the better!
revenant – norn/human/one charr who shall not be named. – norn can go to the mists with help of their shamans. Priests of Grenth also can gain access via their rituals.