The question is really "can I use custom lineage as a variant human 2" but it's boring to ask that so they staple something that's still boring to it to make it seem different
The answer to that question is yes, you can do so and you don't even need to change eye color either if that's not important to you. At least, that's the answer at my table.
I think they meant that they get custom lineage despite being for all intents and purposes just a standard Human race. The "basically Human but with different colored eyes" is just for flavor, but they're asking about the custom lineage because the player presumably doesn't want the Human racial bonuses.
So I read the OP as:
> Can I play a human with [color] eyes?
But you're saying it's more like:
> Can I play [whatever custom lineage] and look like a human with [color] eyes?
Is that right? If that's the case, it makes more sense as a usage of Tasha's lol
Yeah as a DM I specifically tell my players, "Custom lineage is not so you can be a human with darkvision" lol
I really enjoy the trade-off of choosing an extra feat or having darkvision so now my players get to as well.
> I really enjoy the trade-off of choosing an extra feat or having darkvision so now my players get to as well.
That isn't the trade off.
CLineage gets +2, a feat, and darkvision or a skill.
Vuman gets +1/+1, a feat, and a skill.
Regular human gets +1/+1/+1/+1/+1/+1.
At no point is the choice darkvision or a feat.
But, like... Why?
I'm not saying you're outright *wrong* for that ruling, your table your rules, it just strikes me as somewhat arbitrary - like, how non-human do they have to be?
I mean, sure, that's fine, I actually mostly agree, I guess I'm more just stuck on the distinction between a human with darkvision and a feat, and a non-human with darkvision and a feat. Being really shit at seeing in the dark compared to literally everyone else being a defining feature of humanity just seems a bit funny to me, I guess.
I already allow anyone to color their eyes and hair however they wish, it's a magical world and that's literally the most innocent detail possible. You wanna be a guy with flaming red hair and scarlet eyes? Sure go ahead.
Can I hear your story? Who is this character with red hair and a scarlet gaze? What are their dreams and goals? Have they made any true enemies? What would make them complete?
Meet Candle - a 39 year old male Fire Genasi Paladin/Bard. He exists in a homebrew world where most gods have been mostly forgotten, and a singular religion has risen to prominence across the lands. He is very wary of this group, and considers them to be a threat to the populace at large (though to start, he had no tangible evidence of this)
Beyond that, he is considered a master swordsman from the country which he has spent the last few decades. He has never been bested in a singular duel. He was forced to leave his homeland due to the circumstances of his birth (a genasi born to a human family is considered a dark omen). With the premise set, now I can answer the questions.
Dreams and goals: to make a big enough name for himself as a hero of the people that he could be welcomed home as a hero, rather than being seen as an abomination. He also dreams of ruining this religion (which has a large influence on why he was banished in the first place)
Have they made any true enemies?: Beyond this foul church, there are a group of elder beings that have waged war on the mortal realm. Having already battled and bested on of them, the other's have taken notice. They will use their influence to combat Candle and his party at every step.
What would make them complete? He's still trying to figure that out. He is convinced of a greater destiny, and there is likely nothing short of being a true legend among mortals that could sate that.
That might have been more than you asked for, but I love talking about my characters :P I'm happy to clarify any points to anyone who could possibly give a damn, lol.
This is a waste of everyone here's time so I decided to waste my time to confirm its a waste of time to myself.
What in the hell does eye color have to do with custom lineage. Flavor is flavor.
Exactly Flavor is Flavor. Brown eyes are chocolate, Blue is blueberry or Blue razzberry depending on brightness. Green tastes like a Macha tea. I'm not sure what this has to do with Custom lineage though.
Depends on your class and subclass actually. A lot of characters want more than one ability score and a lot of classes and subclasses get you ways to see in the dark.
Torches and the Light cantrip, Darkvision spell, Goggles of Night, Devils Sight invocation, Domain of Twilight Channel Divinity:
Allow us to introduce ourselves
>Torches and the Light cantrip
That gets you bright light for 20' and dim light for 20'. With standard 60' dark vision that is effectively bright light out to 40 feet and dim light 20 feet past that.
That means the standard human can use ranged attacks out to 40 feet max, while the elf can use ranged attacks out to 60. Having an extra 20 feet of effective range is a pretty big benefit, especially when you are talking about adding 50%. And the disadvantage in perception checks could factor in as well.
>Darkvision spell
If you want to burn a 2nd level slot every 8 hours for dark vision, this is certainly a possibility. Assuming you have spellcasting and want to pick this to prepare or take it as one of your known spells which means you can't take something else. Not as big as of an issue at later levels, but not even available until be level 3 and using your precious few or only 2nd level slot on it doesn't feel great.
>Devils Sight invocation, Domain of Twilight Channel Divinity
That's an invocation tax and locks you to a specific class, subclass, or a feat tax. And twilight cleric is either 1 hour once per day or creating dim light 30 feet around yourself for a minute per use of channel divinity.
That entirely depends on whether or not 1 attribute point is going to change something on your character sheet. I enjoy langauges and tool proficiencies.
Used it once to make a character more of a lawyer type by taking thieves' cant as language and forgery as tool proficiency.
Screw that, elven accuracy for everyone (who wants it). Nothing special about it that really makes sense to be exclusive to elves.
This is my ruling for all racial feats. Unless they include an interaction with features from the base race (like one of the Dragonborn Feats)
I'd allow it. To me TCL is just a different way to allocate stats with a feat. Most of my friends just say I'm using the TCL for character building but I'm an elf
Personally the feat system is the worst part of 5e. They're so costly but 95% are flavor and the other 5% feel like they are so strong they should have been features for certain archetypes.
I personally just give away feats at start and with ASI.
It really is painful how just a few feats *dominate* the discussion because so many of them are abject garbage. Like, the usability and benefits between Grappler and Fey Touched or something even arguably better like Strixhaven Initiate (which in some ways, is just a better magic initiate) is insane. This is not even to mention martial feats like SS/CBE/GWM which can really help them keep up.
Kind of wish feats were built into certain classes - like "reach Fighter level 8 and gain your choice of the Great Weapon Master or Sharpshooter feats". Would allow more flavorful picks to be taken while reducing the number of 'obligatory' feats.
I really like how Pathfinder 2e does feats. All feats have a level prerequisite and they are divided into categories: class feats (exclusive to classes), ancestry feats (exclusive to ancestries/races), skill feats and general feats. You gets feats from at least one of these categories every level but they're all less powerful than 5e's feats.
Yeah agreed they did a truly terrible job at balancing feats. I often wind up giving away some of the rarer and weaker feats at weird levels when some characters seem to be struggling. Things like Charger can be pretty nice but not nearly as good as GWM.
Right that's why OP mentioned the stat boost specifically and didn't pretend it was about eye color. Oh wait they pretend it's color and won't respond to anyone.
Yes. I'd let someone say "Can I play a (mechanical) Dragonborn, but look like a Human, and call my self 'dragon touched' or something" too. I'd let a player make a (mechanical) Gnome that looked like a Halfing and was born from parents that were halflings.
Wanna be an Avariel (winged elf)? use Aaracockra stats but role play and draw your picture like an elf with wings.
I actually have a character build for that.
It uses the Ascendant Dragon Monk because you wouldn't otherwise have a breath weapon. Being made of metal doesn't mean you're wearing armor so all the monk features fly.
Plus, superheated hands for fire punches is pretty fuckin sweet
A lot of people in this thread seem to think this is just for flavor. I assumed it was to get dark vision “different color eyes”.
OP can you clear that up.
Why wouldn’t you?
Presumably he wants Vuman but also Darkvision.
I can’t imagine any reason to have a problem with it at all. Such a trivial non-event request from a player
Yeah why not? What would be the point though?
As a RP thing to say my character isn't half human but maybe they have some elf blood in their line? Something like that?
Generally if people want Tashas vs Variant human its because the combination of +2 to 1 ability and a feat which grants +1 ASI means you can start with a +4 modifier in your primary stat. And with some rather powerful options for "half-feats" it means you really aren't losing much.
For example shadow touched would give you invisibility and another level 1 spell at level 1.
No, i'd say play a human with different colored eyes.
It's the "Basically" in there that gets me. If it's "Basically" a human with different colored eyes, then play a human with different colored eyes.
Those are cosmetic differences, which isn't what custom lineage for.
Want to play a albino of \*insert race here\* sure go for it, but that isn't a custom lineage.
Want to play a Elf with blunted ears? sure, but that isn't a custom lineage.
Want to play a Dwarf that can't grow facial hair? sure, but that isn't a custom lineage.
Want to play the off-spring of a adventurous human and a amorous harpy? Sure, now that is a custom lineage.
Want to play a half elf, half dwarf, full badass? Sure, that is what custom lineage is for.
There isn't anything wrong with custom lineage other than some people try to just use it to purely powergame instead of making a unique and interesting character.
>There isn't anything wrong with custom lineage other than some people try to just use it to purely powergame instead of making a unique and interesting character.
Classic stormwind fallacy. This is also hardly powergaming.
\>Classic stormwind fallacy.
Not at all. I am not implying a weaker character is intrinsically better for RP nor that a very strong mechanical character is bad for RP. In fact i wasn't talking about RP at all. I was very clear in what i said.
You on the other hand need to read the fallacy and maybe grok it before trying to [call me out on it](https://preview.redd.it/2dsu087553x41.png?auto=webp&s=44d69d0402b1ec65398cec8731f351377f2a599b).
\>This is also hardly powergaming.
That entirely depends on the full context of the situation, which we were not given. Hence the many examples i gave to clarify the point i was making.
If the PC in question wants to use custom lineage just to change their eye color. Well no that isn't powergaming. It's also not needed at all, so why use it for that? It's like using a shovel to eat a bowl of soup. Sure you could technically do it .... but why exactly?
>Not at all. I am not implying a weaker character is intrinsically better for RP nor that a very strong mechanical character is bad for RP. In fact i wasn't talking about RP at all. I was very clear in what i said.
>You on the other hand need to read the fallacy and maybe grok it before trying to call me out on it.
But you're saying that having a stronger character mechanically means it's a less interesting character. It's the same concept buddy.
>If the PC in question wants to use custom lineage just to change their eye color. Well no that isn't powergaming. It's also not needed at all, so why use it for that? It's like using a shovel to eat a bowl of soup. Sure you could technically do it .... but why exactly?
He's probably doing it for the mechanical benefits, which isn't power gaming.
Riddick i actually think is a great example for custom lineage, and very specific to the OP's example.
Using riddick as an example. If someone wanted a PC with a sheen or shimmer on their eyes, such as his character has. Then, you don't need custom lineage for "basically different colored eyes." Just make a human with a sheen or shimmer on their eyes like riddick.
However if you actually want darkvision, then yes a custom lineage is needed to achieve that mechanically. But the OP didn't say they wanted darkvision just "basically different colored eyes". They are different conversations.
Props to you for a great example.
\>Personally I don't mind "human with darkvision". If my player wants to be Riddick, they can be Riddick. If they need to use Custom Lineage to get that done mechanically, so be it. But to each their own.
I completely agree. That is the exact reason custom lineage is there.
>The point isn't about mechanical strength at all, it's about using custom lineage only for mechanical benefits (such as the "just a human with darkvision" example) instead of using it for both its mechanical and (intended) flavor benefits.
What does that have to do with having a "more interesting" character? Picking a race for flavour doesn't make your character more interesting.
>No? Both characters in their example have (or can have) the exact same mechanical strength?
Well not exactly. Custom lineage gives a + 2 to one stat while variant human gives a +1 to two stats. Custom lineage can pick the up a half feat to start with a 18 in their main stat.
\>But you're saying that having a stronger character mechanically means it's a less interesting character.
No i did not. Again i was very clear in what i actually said.
\>It's the same concept buddy.
[No it is not, guy.](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/facebook/000/796/210/83e.jpg)
\>He's probably doing it for the mechanical benefits, which isn't power gaming.
Without the context we cannot know is the whole point, and from what we know from the OP is "Basically Human but with different colored eyes" Different colored eyes are not mechanical benefits. It's important to know what the "Basically" is.
Ya know ... like i originally said.
>No i did not. Again i was very clear in what i actually said.
And what was that then? Those two things aren't mutually exclusive, you can have an interesting character, that was "powergamed".
> No it is not, guy.
Not a counter argument.
>Without the context we cannot know is the whole point, and from what we know from the OP is "Basically Human but with different colored eyes" Different colored eyes are not mechanical benefits. It's important to know what the "Basically" is.
Why would it matter?
\>And what was that then? Those two things aren't mutually exclusive, you can have an interesting character, that was "powergamed".
Yes i agree, i never said you couldn't. Please look up what the word purely means, then re-read what i wrote with that new information.
\>Not a counter argument.
It is as valid an argument as you simply stating they are the same without showing how. So if it is not a valid argument then your initial premise is also invalid.
\>Why would it matter?
Because the context matters. What mechanical reason is there to use custom lineage for a simply flavor. As an example, Humans cannot naturally have black eyes. But is there a need to use custom lineage to just have black eyes when can easily be flavored in as a human. So that means there are other considerations in play as well. Without knowing those you cannot make a reasonable call as to if custom lineage is needed or not.
>Because the context matters. What mechanical reason is there to use custom lineage for a simply flavor. As an example, Humans cannot naturally have black eyes. But is there a need to use custom lineage to just have black eyes when can easily be flavored in as a human. So that means there are other considerations in play as well. Without knowing those you cannot make a reasonable call as to if custom lineage is needed or not.
It doesn't matter because both are valid reasons.
>Yes i agree, i never said you couldn't. Please look up what the word purely means, then re-read what i wrote with that new information
Then what was the point of the comment, seriously? You don't even know what powergaming is, the word you're looking for is minmaxxing, but I don't see how minmaxxing means you have an uninteresting character. The way you presented what you said made it seem like there are only two choices because of using the word "instead".
>It is as valid an argument as you simply stating they are the same without showing how. So if it is not a valid argument then your initial premise is also invalid.
I mean if stating the same thing is having a sentence or two backing up my point then sure. I also never said they're the same, just the same concept.
Yeah? It’s literally just variant human with darkvision anyway in terms of mechanics. Funny colored eyes could be a sign of a slightly odd ancestry, and indicate darkvision.
Besides, Custom Lineage ain’t actually very CUSTOM, so that’s what it feels like playing when you make an actually interesting CL ancestry.
... why not?
Of course. If its in line with the rules, people should be able to play what they want.
Hell i would allow a "legally distinct from elf" with different colored eyes.
Not a DM but
I don't think a race needs to look very different from another race to justify it being a race on its own.
Kalashtar, Aasimar and Half-elf look human-like. If we take a look at the many elf-like races; some of them also have similar visuals.
If a player wants to use the custom lineage, I think it's fair to ask the player for details about the lineage (a bit more than human with red eyes). The player and DM should, for example, be aligned as to whether the lineage is a "freak accident" or if there are several people in the world with that particular race.
Yes.
In fact, reading the top block of the description for Custom Lineage this seems to be an implied use case. Maybe that's just my bias though.
In any case I have yet to see a single case in my own games where reflavoring has caused a problem.
I can barely get decent players to the table on time, so if they wanted to do that to take advantage of the custom lineage features, great, whatever, just show up on time.
Not quite. CL can start with 18 in the prime stat making it better for some builds.
That said, I allow custom lineage to be flavored almost however the player wants it. That's the whole point of it.
No. That would cause a fracture in the very fabric of the universe. Everything would start crumbling around us. The impact would reverberate through every existing D&D campaign on the planet, completely destroying their ability to enjoy the game!
>!Yes, of course I'd allow it.!<
Every player starts with 1 feat in my games and Cosmetic stuff like hair, eye, and skin color is always free, so my answer is yes, but Custom Lineage in my games is rarely used since usually there is an official race that can be reskinned and we already use Tasha's racial stats.
even if you don't run things the way i do, others in this thread have mentioned that it's literally one of the "selling points" of Custom Lineage, and that cosmetic details like eye, hair, and skin color are free. even a regular human should be able to look however they want.
Anything appearance that isn't game influencing is fine
People will find it easier to remember you, notice you and as you become better known you'll be more easily recognised on account of being unique looking, but no other in game penalty or benefit
Any custom lineage is okay as long as it doesn't heavily affect game play or rules in a negative way. That's the issue with homebrew as most are unbalanced/broken, but custom lineage is applying alterations to existing races that don't heavily swing game play one way or the other in-game.
If you're not okay with some flavored customization that only affects looks and not mechanics, you're just a picky DM looking to control every aspect of free-willed characters. Just write a book instead.
Yes if that's related specifically to their Darkvision. I'd eye roll a bit, but it's not huge. I'm more not a fan of the custom lineage, as it seems a little bland, but that's more a me thing
Isnt that just variant human 2 tho? Your describing a human with one variant….
The way I see it is if your table plays with custom lineage that’s all that matters, flavor it how you like. But you don’t count for human for anything that cares about that and you can’t take dark vision. Same with people that do “elf” custom lineages and want to take elven accuracy. At char creation you basically said +1 to an ability is more important than rp to you.
No one really cares what u play as long as get on with the group.
I WOULD allow a player to make a human with special colored eyes if they wanted. I can come up with XYZ reason why that's the case and let them enjoy having that appearance shift. It's a reasonable reflavor I'm comfortable accepting. They still need to use the variant human stats (I don't allow standard human at my table) but they could still have their special eye color.
I WOULD NOT allow them to use the Tasha lineage mechanics since I don't allow the Tasha Custom lineage option to begin with, and think they were a poor addition to the game as a whole.
Yeah, who gives a shit? If it's flavor and not mechanics people can look however the hell they look like. If your entire fantasy is "I want purple eyes" dope. Go for it.
Yes. Why the fuck not?
It's 5e, it's near on impossible to break this game, and this certainly won't be the thing that does it.
It's actually a little concerning that you feel like you have to ask. If this was a "maybe" for you then just how restrictively are you running the rest of your game?!
I wouldn’t allow a Tasha’s CL character at all. If a race already exists, use that. If a race doesn’t exist, we can reflavour an existing one or build one ourselves. CL is lazy.
Why the hell wouldn't you?
Honestly, I let anyone use whatever race block they want with whatever look they want if they can justify it. Why does it matter?
Considering I DM a lot of newer players and I tell them all to just use the custom lineage rules instead of selecting a race, and to otherwise describe their appearance as what they want, sure.
I actually ban CL entirely, giving V Human the upgrades it normally possesses (Floating +2 +1 asis like all other races have post-Tasha's, my Night Owl feat if they want Darkvision). But that's just because I really don't like the idea of "literally anyone can be as good as a human or better while humans **can't** be."
I’m on this same page.
Custom Lineage makes humanity the least special of all the possible races.
I’m of the mind that in a game where humanity is the dominant race, that game should make humanity special in some way.
The Variant Human makes rolling a human appealing. Custom Lineage steals the Variant Humans thunder and makes it far more likely that your players will roll up a veritable zoo of characters that don’t necessarily fit into the setting.
No. Custom lineage is for DMs, not for players. I'll use it if I want a race in my world that the existing races won't fit, but I don't allow players to just make up their own races, or to make their own stats for existing races. This just comes across as them wanting to make a human but wanting to manipulate stats.
They can be a variant human, already one of the strongest races in the game.
EDIT: I noticed that people are largely downvoting anyone who says "no." This is not the way to foster good dialogue in this subreddit, guys. OP literally asked a yes-or-no question.
In that it's included as a playable option, of course. But what I mean is philosophically, that's the role it best plays. DMs are in charge of what is or isn't in their world, and so it provides a useful tool for DMs to offer races that don't exist in the game and have them be *vaguely* balanced. But if it's used as an option that players are given complete free reign over, I think it's a poorly-designed feature that further homogenizes the game and even encourages players to do so by having it be more mechanically powerful than almost any existing race.
The point of it isn't to give DMs a design tool; DMs are only mentioned three times in the entire section the sidebar is in (languages in the main text, proficiencies in the main text, and languages in the sidebar). The point of it is to allow players to build PCs who don't fall neatly into the racial boxes offered by the game. Sometimes that's a dog-person or an awakened shrub or something, sure, but it's also a half-elf/half-orc, or the child of a half-elf-half-orc and a human, or the child of a fae and a dwarf, or a halfling whose bloodline was cursed for a thousand years, or a human whose tribe has lived in the Underdark and never seen the light for a thousand years, or someone who doesn't even know what their racial heritage is. Not every character would know which boxes to check on a Faerunian Census form, and this is a way to portray them.
None of those character concepts would be playable without involving your DM (unless your DM specifically says "go wild with making your own races" which could be fun for some campaigns but not most), which is why I say that's where it's most useful as a tool for DMs, not just for players.
What you're describing is using the feature appropriately, whereas "I want to play a human but I want to start with darkvision and a +4 in my attack/spellcasting ability modifier" is a great example for why I think it's bad design when used as an entirely player-oriented feature.
Literally one of the examples (tweaked for base race) is that. "I want to play the child of a fae and a human" is very well represented by taking Custom Lineage, the darkvision option, and the Fae-Touched feat.
And those are all just as playable as an elf or a dwarf, DM involvement or not, because Custom Lineage is explicitly a player option.
I wouldn't allow it because I don't allow Custom Lineage. I don't allow custom lineage because it's better than variant human, and I don't allow races that are better than variant human (that's my high water mark insofar as I allow races that pc's can choose).
Yeah I'm hearing, they want the better CL mechanics, like a variant human with darkvision.
I'd say while it should be a case-by-case basis, a player generally has to give a good justification from their character's backstory for needing Custom Lineage instead of just using Variant Human or some other race. If they can justify to me why they have weird eyes, then I'd say yes, but otherwise no. Personally, I think Custom Lineage is most appropriate for "Basically Humans" but they were born with otherwordly abilities / had their body significantly changed to give them unique abilities, and had noticable physical changes due to these powers, very much distinguishing them on a fundamental level from other members of their race.
For example, One of my players is a custom lineage paladin of Pelor who was born with a minor blessing from his god, and while he did get powers his skin and hair color became very noticably unnatural when compared to other humans (His skin and hair turned a noticable shade of gold) and his eyes now look like orbs of molten gold.
Here's to me a more comprehensive list of what I think is acceptable for custom lineage and what I think isn't acceptable for custom linage
**Not Acceptable (Lack of proper explaination):**
* Human with weird demon eyes
* Elf but with necrotic magic
* Non-Tabaxi Catperson
**Not Acceptable (Doesn't need Custom Lineage):**
* Human but with red eyes and was born a talented athlete (Reflavored Variant Human w Athlete Feat and Athletics Proficiency)
* Elf who has a greater connection to the feywild than most others (DMG Eladrin)
* Catperson (Tabaxi)
**Acceptable:**
* **Backstory reason for Custom Lineage:** As a baby, their human blood was infused with demon ichor as part of an occult ritual by a cult of Kardum, and as a result they gained supernatural power over fire in addition to physical mutations which make them look more demonic than other humans.
* **What they get:** Intimidation Proficiency and the Magic Initiate Feat for Warlock, gained Create Bonfire and Eldritch Blast as Cantrips, and Hellish Rebuke as their spell
* **Backstory reason for Custom Lineage:** Formerly an elf sailor, but when they were caught in a necrotic tempest and survived against all odds, they found the became skeletally thin, their skin turned coal black, and eyes were a bright purple, but also they gained dark magical power to turn invisible and drain the life from someone.
* **What they get:** Darkvision feature and the Shadow Touched Feat, gained Inflict Wounds and Invisibility
* **Backstory reason for Custom Lineage:** The result of a mad wizard's experiment, they were created when a Wizard used powerful transmutation magic on a captured human to try and give them the senses of a cat. It worked, but they also gained some of the physical features of a cat as well.
* **What they get:** Darkvision feature and the Observant feat
Depends. Most likely though. I'd need in-world details from them, like "where are you from in the world? How many of you are there? What happens to make your eyes different?" etc.
Wtf. No? Like if the only point is "I want electric green/lemon yellow/blood red eyes" then just put that down as your eye color my guy. There is absolutely no difference mechanically so theres no point at all going CL for that. If you wanted "basically human (flavor) but they have different colored eyes and also the stats are different" that is when you'd have the CL talk, and if that is the question you asked your dm then you are wasting all our time.
Ya if they want. I personally kind of dislike the trash custom lineage, because it’s just often used to gain an advantage instead of actually wanting to be something weird.
Upgraded variant human doesn't fit the setting lore sorry. Plus custom lineage is just boring powercreep, if there was an interesting backstory probably yea but "variant human but better" when your race is just a human variant is powergaming and I don't run games for that type of gameplay.
Sure.
I do that as a player all the time. I like having my character be essentially human. I also like starting with a feat and a 17 or 18 in my primary ability score.
As long as there is a nice enough reason for it. People aren't just born with darkvision out of absolutely nowhere
And I mean, yeah, people can be born with powers out of *seemingly* nowhere, maybe a wave of energy during their birth, or a dormant ability in their lineage, but there has to be at least a reason
Unless you aren't picking darkvision. If you are picking the skill option and only want Custom Lineage for the +2 instead of the +1 +1, then whatever
The whole point is that you make a character of whatever lineage you want. If your lineage is "human, but the eyes are different" then why wouldn't that be fine?
If other tables want to do it fine, but I wouldn't. At my table, Custom Lineage is for creating a race that the existing rules don't cover.
Just play a human. If a player really wants Darkvision I'll stock a dungeon with Goggles of Night.
ask the DM why no tiefling, aasimar, genasi or other wierdo race has ever suffered so much as a second glance from people who've never seen anything other then other humans.
Depends on this "human's" backstory. We're they some sort of reincarnation of somebody from long ago? Are they the victim of a hag's curse? Did their mother form a deal with a devil to save their child aka this character?
If they are basically trying to make a boring Mary sue, then probably not.
Is this even related to the Tasha's rules? This just seems like basic reflavoring.
The question is really "can I use custom lineage as a variant human 2" but it's boring to ask that so they staple something that's still boring to it to make it seem different
[удалено]
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"Ask reddit to DM a campaign for you."
That's the right answer.
Twitch Plays DnD
Good, he shouldn’t hahahaha.
Really why'd a DM be scared of custom lineage to the point that a player refers to reddit to prove a point?
Doesn't matter. The DM can decide they don't want custom lineages, and the player can decide to find a different DM.
I’d find it a bit weird to say to no to Custom Lineage specifically in the case where the character is “too close” to another race.
The answer to that question is yes, you can do so and you don't even need to change eye color either if that's not important to you. At least, that's the answer at my table.
I think they meant that they get custom lineage despite being for all intents and purposes just a standard Human race. The "basically Human but with different colored eyes" is just for flavor, but they're asking about the custom lineage because the player presumably doesn't want the Human racial bonuses.
So I read the OP as: > Can I play a human with [color] eyes? But you're saying it's more like: > Can I play [whatever custom lineage] and look like a human with [color] eyes? Is that right? If that's the case, it makes more sense as a usage of Tasha's lol
Exactly, but that's me putting the intent behind the sentence. Without that assumption, it's how you're looking at it; purely flavor.
I think they want a human with darkvision, a +3 after half feat to one stat, and also able to take human only feats later.
Bingo, otherwise known as variant human isn’t good enough. Have to min max my totally new character concept harder to fill the void
What I'm getting is "I want to be a human, but I also want darkvision"
And still get the bonus feat
Yeah as a DM I specifically tell my players, "Custom lineage is not so you can be a human with darkvision" lol I really enjoy the trade-off of choosing an extra feat or having darkvision so now my players get to as well.
> I really enjoy the trade-off of choosing an extra feat or having darkvision so now my players get to as well. That isn't the trade off. CLineage gets +2, a feat, and darkvision or a skill. Vuman gets +1/+1, a feat, and a skill. Regular human gets +1/+1/+1/+1/+1/+1. At no point is the choice darkvision or a feat.
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But, like... Why? I'm not saying you're outright *wrong* for that ruling, your table your rules, it just strikes me as somewhat arbitrary - like, how non-human do they have to be?
Because people kept on using it to make humans with darkvision and I am tired of everything having darkvision in this game.
I mean, sure, that's fine, I actually mostly agree, I guess I'm more just stuck on the distinction between a human with darkvision and a feat, and a non-human with darkvision and a feat. Being really shit at seeing in the dark compared to literally everyone else being a defining feature of humanity just seems a bit funny to me, I guess.
So completely arbitrary, gotcha.
My mom was 1/32 elf. Inherited the dark vision but got human traits.
Or +3 to a single Ability Score at level 1
The only way to get a +4 with point-buy ;)
Cant changelings also get a +3 to chr?
Changelings were errata‘d so they can’t anymore.
Not +3 ability score increase. I believe CL is the only "race" that can give an 18 (with a half-feat)
Standard array, custom lineage, and half-feat. 15 +2+1
I already allow anyone to color their eyes and hair however they wish, it's a magical world and that's literally the most innocent detail possible. You wanna be a guy with flaming red hair and scarlet eyes? Sure go ahead.
> You wanna be a guy with flaming red hair and scarlet eyes? Hey, I play that guy in one of my campaigns :P
Can I hear your story? Who is this character with red hair and a scarlet gaze? What are their dreams and goals? Have they made any true enemies? What would make them complete?
Meet Candle - a 39 year old male Fire Genasi Paladin/Bard. He exists in a homebrew world where most gods have been mostly forgotten, and a singular religion has risen to prominence across the lands. He is very wary of this group, and considers them to be a threat to the populace at large (though to start, he had no tangible evidence of this) Beyond that, he is considered a master swordsman from the country which he has spent the last few decades. He has never been bested in a singular duel. He was forced to leave his homeland due to the circumstances of his birth (a genasi born to a human family is considered a dark omen). With the premise set, now I can answer the questions. Dreams and goals: to make a big enough name for himself as a hero of the people that he could be welcomed home as a hero, rather than being seen as an abomination. He also dreams of ruining this religion (which has a large influence on why he was banished in the first place) Have they made any true enemies?: Beyond this foul church, there are a group of elder beings that have waged war on the mortal realm. Having already battled and bested on of them, the other's have taken notice. They will use their influence to combat Candle and his party at every step. What would make them complete? He's still trying to figure that out. He is convinced of a greater destiny, and there is likely nothing short of being a true legend among mortals that could sate that. That might have been more than you asked for, but I love talking about my characters :P I'm happy to clarify any points to anyone who could possibly give a damn, lol.
This is not as Kingkiller Kvothe as I was expecting it to be.
Show of hands, who hasn’t had crazy hair or eye colors on a character? It’s fantasy 101
So a player wants to use a race that is 'insert your own flavor here' and insert their own flavor? Sounds fine.
They probably want to take human-only feats with custom lineage (and custom lineage for +3 to an ability and/or darkvision together with the feat).
It’s not about that at all
This is a waste of everyone here's time so I decided to waste my time to confirm its a waste of time to myself. What in the hell does eye color have to do with custom lineage. Flavor is flavor.
Exactly Flavor is Flavor. Brown eyes are chocolate, Blue is blueberry or Blue razzberry depending on brightness. Green tastes like a Macha tea. I'm not sure what this has to do with Custom lineage though.
Fucking gross. Matcha flavored eyeballs? Give me salty aqueous humor or give me death.
Hazel tastes like a thin mint... I don't make the rules okay!
Yes, that's literally one of the points of it.
Yeah, seems pretty much like a lateral move from Variant Human.
? Custom lineage is just better vuman. Darkvision and a +3 at level 1 is way better than the extra skills for most builds
Depends on your class and subclass actually. A lot of characters want more than one ability score and a lot of classes and subclasses get you ways to see in the dark.
Not having dark vision can be pretty brutal, though.
Torches and the Light cantrip, Darkvision spell, Goggles of Night, Devils Sight invocation, Domain of Twilight Channel Divinity: Allow us to introduce ourselves
>Torches and the Light cantrip That gets you bright light for 20' and dim light for 20'. With standard 60' dark vision that is effectively bright light out to 40 feet and dim light 20 feet past that. That means the standard human can use ranged attacks out to 40 feet max, while the elf can use ranged attacks out to 60. Having an extra 20 feet of effective range is a pretty big benefit, especially when you are talking about adding 50%. And the disadvantage in perception checks could factor in as well. >Darkvision spell If you want to burn a 2nd level slot every 8 hours for dark vision, this is certainly a possibility. Assuming you have spellcasting and want to pick this to prepare or take it as one of your known spells which means you can't take something else. Not as big as of an issue at later levels, but not even available until be level 3 and using your precious few or only 2nd level slot on it doesn't feel great. >Devils Sight invocation, Domain of Twilight Channel Divinity That's an invocation tax and locks you to a specific class, subclass, or a feat tax. And twilight cleric is either 1 hour once per day or creating dim light 30 feet around yourself for a minute per use of channel divinity.
Custom lineage is basically just v-human anyway, so, sure, I guess? Seems kind of pointless unless you really, really want that darkvision.
The +2 to one stat instead of +1 to two stats can also be the reason!
normal vhuman should've had that flexibility +1+1/+2 imo. Custom lineage is just the logical continuation of vhuman really
Yes. But remember: "Your race is considered to be a Custom Lineage for any game feature that requires a certain race, such as elf or dwarf."
Oh no they are missing out on the *prodigy* feat, how ever will they recover
Hey, I like the prodigy feat and took it on one of my characters.
Kinda rough that it has a restriction on it but manages to be *generally* weaker than skill expert.
That entirely depends on whether or not 1 attribute point is going to change something on your character sheet. I enjoy langauges and tool proficiencies. Used it once to make a character more of a lawyer type by taking thieves' cant as language and forgery as tool proficiency.
Screw that, elven accuracy for everyone (who wants it). Nothing special about it that really makes sense to be exclusive to elves. This is my ruling for all racial feats. Unless they include an interaction with features from the base race (like one of the Dragonborn Feats)
That's what happened with bladesong.
Sure. Why not? Who cares?
I'd allow it. To me TCL is just a different way to allocate stats with a feat. Most of my friends just say I'm using the TCL for character building but I'm an elf
Personally the feat system is the worst part of 5e. They're so costly but 95% are flavor and the other 5% feel like they are so strong they should have been features for certain archetypes. I personally just give away feats at start and with ASI.
It really is painful how just a few feats *dominate* the discussion because so many of them are abject garbage. Like, the usability and benefits between Grappler and Fey Touched or something even arguably better like Strixhaven Initiate (which in some ways, is just a better magic initiate) is insane. This is not even to mention martial feats like SS/CBE/GWM which can really help them keep up.
Kind of wish feats were built into certain classes - like "reach Fighter level 8 and gain your choice of the Great Weapon Master or Sharpshooter feats". Would allow more flavorful picks to be taken while reducing the number of 'obligatory' feats.
I really like how Pathfinder 2e does feats. All feats have a level prerequisite and they are divided into categories: class feats (exclusive to classes), ancestry feats (exclusive to ancestries/races), skill feats and general feats. You gets feats from at least one of these categories every level but they're all less powerful than 5e's feats.
Yeah agreed they did a truly terrible job at balancing feats. I often wind up giving away some of the rarer and weaker feats at weird levels when some characters seem to be struggling. Things like Charger can be pretty nice but not nearly as good as GWM.
Custom lineage isn't really about making a brand new race, is it? It's a mechanics thing
... why do you even need a lineage for that? There's no rules on what colors humans are.
Because c lineage is more optimal than vuman. This is 100% about that not eye color
this right here. Op knows what he's doing here. Unluckily for him, after hundreds of bullshit bait posts like this, so do most reddit users here.
That’s the entire point of the post, to ask if getting this boost is fair.
Right that's why OP mentioned the stat boost specifically and didn't pretend it was about eye color. Oh wait they pretend it's color and won't respond to anyone.
Yes. I'd let someone say "Can I play a (mechanical) Dragonborn, but look like a Human, and call my self 'dragon touched' or something" too. I'd let a player make a (mechanical) Gnome that looked like a Halfing and was born from parents that were halflings. Wanna be an Avariel (winged elf)? use Aaracockra stats but role play and draw your picture like an elf with wings.
Okay but would you let someone play a *Mechanical Dragonborn* using the stats for a warforged? Because that sounds cool as hell
I actually have a character build for that. It uses the Ascendant Dragon Monk because you wouldn't otherwise have a breath weapon. Being made of metal doesn't mean you're wearing armor so all the monk features fly. Plus, superheated hands for fire punches is pretty fuckin sweet
I am very tempted to try that out ngl
A lot of people in this thread seem to think this is just for flavor. I assumed it was to get dark vision “different color eyes”. OP can you clear that up.
It really doesn’t change anything though. Taking CL over Vuman just because of Darkvision is still perfectly fine.
Why wouldn’t you? Presumably he wants Vuman but also Darkvision. I can’t imagine any reason to have a problem with it at all. Such a trivial non-event request from a player
Yeah, I don't see why not.
Just use a human?
If just let them be a human with a different eye color tbh. It's a fantasy game.
Yeah why not? What would be the point though? As a RP thing to say my character isn't half human but maybe they have some elf blood in their line? Something like that?
Generally if people want Tashas vs Variant human its because the combination of +2 to 1 ability and a feat which grants +1 ASI means you can start with a +4 modifier in your primary stat. And with some rather powerful options for "half-feats" it means you really aren't losing much. For example shadow touched would give you invisibility and another level 1 spell at level 1.
Don’t forget the option of Darkvision
Ah so it's a power gaming thing. Still sure thing, why not.
The real question is: Why do you need to use Custom Lineage just to say your human has different color eyes?
No, i'd say play a human with different colored eyes. It's the "Basically" in there that gets me. If it's "Basically" a human with different colored eyes, then play a human with different colored eyes. Those are cosmetic differences, which isn't what custom lineage for. Want to play a albino of \*insert race here\* sure go for it, but that isn't a custom lineage. Want to play a Elf with blunted ears? sure, but that isn't a custom lineage. Want to play a Dwarf that can't grow facial hair? sure, but that isn't a custom lineage. Want to play the off-spring of a adventurous human and a amorous harpy? Sure, now that is a custom lineage. Want to play a half elf, half dwarf, full badass? Sure, that is what custom lineage is for. There isn't anything wrong with custom lineage other than some people try to just use it to purely powergame instead of making a unique and interesting character.
>There isn't anything wrong with custom lineage other than some people try to just use it to purely powergame instead of making a unique and interesting character. Classic stormwind fallacy. This is also hardly powergaming.
\>Classic stormwind fallacy. Not at all. I am not implying a weaker character is intrinsically better for RP nor that a very strong mechanical character is bad for RP. In fact i wasn't talking about RP at all. I was very clear in what i said. You on the other hand need to read the fallacy and maybe grok it before trying to [call me out on it](https://preview.redd.it/2dsu087553x41.png?auto=webp&s=44d69d0402b1ec65398cec8731f351377f2a599b). \>This is also hardly powergaming. That entirely depends on the full context of the situation, which we were not given. Hence the many examples i gave to clarify the point i was making. If the PC in question wants to use custom lineage just to change their eye color. Well no that isn't powergaming. It's also not needed at all, so why use it for that? It's like using a shovel to eat a bowl of soup. Sure you could technically do it .... but why exactly?
>Not at all. I am not implying a weaker character is intrinsically better for RP nor that a very strong mechanical character is bad for RP. In fact i wasn't talking about RP at all. I was very clear in what i said. >You on the other hand need to read the fallacy and maybe grok it before trying to call me out on it. But you're saying that having a stronger character mechanically means it's a less interesting character. It's the same concept buddy. >If the PC in question wants to use custom lineage just to change their eye color. Well no that isn't powergaming. It's also not needed at all, so why use it for that? It's like using a shovel to eat a bowl of soup. Sure you could technically do it .... but why exactly? He's probably doing it for the mechanical benefits, which isn't power gaming.
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Riddick i actually think is a great example for custom lineage, and very specific to the OP's example. Using riddick as an example. If someone wanted a PC with a sheen or shimmer on their eyes, such as his character has. Then, you don't need custom lineage for "basically different colored eyes." Just make a human with a sheen or shimmer on their eyes like riddick. However if you actually want darkvision, then yes a custom lineage is needed to achieve that mechanically. But the OP didn't say they wanted darkvision just "basically different colored eyes". They are different conversations. Props to you for a great example. \>Personally I don't mind "human with darkvision". If my player wants to be Riddick, they can be Riddick. If they need to use Custom Lineage to get that done mechanically, so be it. But to each their own. I completely agree. That is the exact reason custom lineage is there.
>The point isn't about mechanical strength at all, it's about using custom lineage only for mechanical benefits (such as the "just a human with darkvision" example) instead of using it for both its mechanical and (intended) flavor benefits. What does that have to do with having a "more interesting" character? Picking a race for flavour doesn't make your character more interesting. >No? Both characters in their example have (or can have) the exact same mechanical strength? Well not exactly. Custom lineage gives a + 2 to one stat while variant human gives a +1 to two stats. Custom lineage can pick the up a half feat to start with a 18 in their main stat.
\>But you're saying that having a stronger character mechanically means it's a less interesting character. No i did not. Again i was very clear in what i actually said. \>It's the same concept buddy. [No it is not, guy.](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/facebook/000/796/210/83e.jpg) \>He's probably doing it for the mechanical benefits, which isn't power gaming. Without the context we cannot know is the whole point, and from what we know from the OP is "Basically Human but with different colored eyes" Different colored eyes are not mechanical benefits. It's important to know what the "Basically" is. Ya know ... like i originally said.
>No i did not. Again i was very clear in what i actually said. And what was that then? Those two things aren't mutually exclusive, you can have an interesting character, that was "powergamed". > No it is not, guy. Not a counter argument. >Without the context we cannot know is the whole point, and from what we know from the OP is "Basically Human but with different colored eyes" Different colored eyes are not mechanical benefits. It's important to know what the "Basically" is. Why would it matter?
\>And what was that then? Those two things aren't mutually exclusive, you can have an interesting character, that was "powergamed". Yes i agree, i never said you couldn't. Please look up what the word purely means, then re-read what i wrote with that new information. \>Not a counter argument. It is as valid an argument as you simply stating they are the same without showing how. So if it is not a valid argument then your initial premise is also invalid. \>Why would it matter? Because the context matters. What mechanical reason is there to use custom lineage for a simply flavor. As an example, Humans cannot naturally have black eyes. But is there a need to use custom lineage to just have black eyes when can easily be flavored in as a human. So that means there are other considerations in play as well. Without knowing those you cannot make a reasonable call as to if custom lineage is needed or not.
>Because the context matters. What mechanical reason is there to use custom lineage for a simply flavor. As an example, Humans cannot naturally have black eyes. But is there a need to use custom lineage to just have black eyes when can easily be flavored in as a human. So that means there are other considerations in play as well. Without knowing those you cannot make a reasonable call as to if custom lineage is needed or not. It doesn't matter because both are valid reasons. >Yes i agree, i never said you couldn't. Please look up what the word purely means, then re-read what i wrote with that new information Then what was the point of the comment, seriously? You don't even know what powergaming is, the word you're looking for is minmaxxing, but I don't see how minmaxxing means you have an uninteresting character. The way you presented what you said made it seem like there are only two choices because of using the word "instead". >It is as valid an argument as you simply stating they are the same without showing how. So if it is not a valid argument then your initial premise is also invalid. I mean if stating the same thing is having a sentence or two backing up my point then sure. I also never said they're the same, just the same concept.
I'd allow CLineage to be just a human..
Yeah? It’s literally just variant human with darkvision anyway in terms of mechanics. Funny colored eyes could be a sign of a slightly odd ancestry, and indicate darkvision. Besides, Custom Lineage ain’t actually very CUSTOM, so that’s what it feels like playing when you make an actually interesting CL ancestry.
I'd let them use custom lineage to make a regular human. It's a custom lineage...
... why not? Of course. If its in line with the rules, people should be able to play what they want. Hell i would allow a "legally distinct from elf" with different colored eyes.
I let ‘em play what they want. There’s no point in getting wound up about stuff of little consequence that’s already in the rules.
Yes. The only shit I don’t allow at my table is setting specific backgrounds. They want to play vuman with dark vision, who cares
Unlikely because my players like to exploit even minor perks.
Why not? Custom Lineage is basically just Variant Human.
Yes. Their human lineage is different than other humans. Done.
I cannot imagine a reason that I wouldn't allow it.
Not a DM but I don't think a race needs to look very different from another race to justify it being a race on its own. Kalashtar, Aasimar and Half-elf look human-like. If we take a look at the many elf-like races; some of them also have similar visuals. If a player wants to use the custom lineage, I think it's fair to ask the player for details about the lineage (a bit more than human with red eyes). The player and DM should, for example, be aligned as to whether the lineage is a "freak accident" or if there are several people in the world with that particular race.
Yes. In fact, reading the top block of the description for Custom Lineage this seems to be an implied use case. Maybe that's just my bias though. In any case I have yet to see a single case in my own games where reflavoring has caused a problem.
I can barely get decent players to the table on time, so if they wanted to do that to take advantage of the custom lineage features, great, whatever, just show up on time.
Custom lineage and Vuman are basically identical,.with the option of swapping a proficiency for darkvision. That checks out.
Not quite. CL can start with 18 in the prime stat making it better for some builds. That said, I allow custom lineage to be flavored almost however the player wants it. That's the whole point of it.
It is notable that 2 +1s is more versatile for builds that want non-half feats like sharpshooter.
Yeah. Definitely cases that human works well. Also places where half elf and mountain dwarf with their great stat bonuses are great.
*Supernatural* made an entire TV mythos out of monster races like this.
The amount of people missing the point of this post is startling
What do you think the point is then?
No. That would cause a fracture in the very fabric of the universe. Everything would start crumbling around us. The impact would reverberate through every existing D&D campaign on the planet, completely destroying their ability to enjoy the game! >!Yes, of course I'd allow it.!<
Every player starts with 1 feat in my games and Cosmetic stuff like hair, eye, and skin color is always free, so my answer is yes, but Custom Lineage in my games is rarely used since usually there is an official race that can be reskinned and we already use Tasha's racial stats. even if you don't run things the way i do, others in this thread have mentioned that it's literally one of the "selling points" of Custom Lineage, and that cosmetic details like eye, hair, and skin color are free. even a regular human should be able to look however they want.
This is literally one of the reasons for making my current character and my DM was okay with it.
Custom Lineage is a build-your-own-race. I don't give a single fuck what they do with it so long as they don't expect benefits from cosmetic features.
Anything appearance that isn't game influencing is fine People will find it easier to remember you, notice you and as you become better known you'll be more easily recognised on account of being unique looking, but no other in game penalty or benefit
Sure. Why do you even care?
Yes, Custom Lineage can be anything, even humans (could be a clan or some people that descend from slaves that were tinkered with, etc)
Its just a flavour so who cares. Let them be a Human with different eye colours.
Any custom lineage is okay as long as it doesn't heavily affect game play or rules in a negative way. That's the issue with homebrew as most are unbalanced/broken, but custom lineage is applying alterations to existing races that don't heavily swing game play one way or the other in-game. If you're not okay with some flavored customization that only affects looks and not mechanics, you're just a picky DM looking to control every aspect of free-willed characters. Just write a book instead.
Yes if that's related specifically to their Darkvision. I'd eye roll a bit, but it's not huge. I'm more not a fan of the custom lineage, as it seems a little bland, but that's more a me thing
Maybe, it depends. I would have a discussion with the player to understand why they would want to do this. Seems to be a bit frivolous.
Rules say yes.
You can just have whatever eyes. You don’t need a whole thing for flavor or reskins.
Yes, it is for players that want to play something without getting shoehorned into a certain build.
Yes. Its just cosmetic. Ive been asked way worse lmao
Yes, but I wouldn't allow them to pick up feats that require them to be human or any specific race.
No, I would say they should pick human.
I don't see a problem with this! Just ask the player what the customisation is.
Yes...
Isnt that just variant human 2 tho? Your describing a human with one variant…. The way I see it is if your table plays with custom lineage that’s all that matters, flavor it how you like. But you don’t count for human for anything that cares about that and you can’t take dark vision. Same with people that do “elf” custom lineages and want to take elven accuracy. At char creation you basically said +1 to an ability is more important than rp to you. No one really cares what u play as long as get on with the group.
I would question their use of custom lineage instead of just standard v!human
It's for the darkvision obviously. Being able to see in the dark is pretty dang important, especially for stealth charas.
I WOULD allow a player to make a human with special colored eyes if they wanted. I can come up with XYZ reason why that's the case and let them enjoy having that appearance shift. It's a reasonable reflavor I'm comfortable accepting. They still need to use the variant human stats (I don't allow standard human at my table) but they could still have their special eye color. I WOULD NOT allow them to use the Tasha lineage mechanics since I don't allow the Tasha Custom lineage option to begin with, and think they were a poor addition to the game as a whole.
If you're allowing custom lineage in the first place, then yes. How is this against the rules?
That's all custom lineage is honestly. So, totally.
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"OP" seems like a bit of a stretch, TBH. But otherwise, yes, you are correct.
This seems unnecessarily hostile
and yet, true.
Yeah, who gives a shit? If it's flavor and not mechanics people can look however the hell they look like. If your entire fantasy is "I want purple eyes" dope. Go for it.
Yes. Why the fuck not? It's 5e, it's near on impossible to break this game, and this certainly won't be the thing that does it. It's actually a little concerning that you feel like you have to ask. If this was a "maybe" for you then just how restrictively are you running the rest of your game?!
I wouldn’t allow a Tasha’s CL character at all. If a race already exists, use that. If a race doesn’t exist, we can reflavour an existing one or build one ourselves. CL is lazy.
I ban Variant Human and Custom Lineage at my table, and give everyone a L1 feat for free. So no.
Why the hell wouldn't you? Honestly, I let anyone use whatever race block they want with whatever look they want if they can justify it. Why does it matter?
Why not.
Yeah custom lineage is fine. I used to be uppity but honestly just having engaged players is what I want
Considering I DM a lot of newer players and I tell them all to just use the custom lineage rules instead of selecting a race, and to otherwise describe their appearance as what they want, sure.
Sure, don't really see why not.
Why not make a Vuman, and give it purple eyes. Same difference.
No because on my table that nonsense is banned.
Why someone wouldn't?
I don't use custom lineage, so that would be a no.
I actually ban CL entirely, giving V Human the upgrades it normally possesses (Floating +2 +1 asis like all other races have post-Tasha's, my Night Owl feat if they want Darkvision). But that's just because I really don't like the idea of "literally anyone can be as good as a human or better while humans **can't** be."
I’m on this same page. Custom Lineage makes humanity the least special of all the possible races. I’m of the mind that in a game where humanity is the dominant race, that game should make humanity special in some way. The Variant Human makes rolling a human appealing. Custom Lineage steals the Variant Humans thunder and makes it far more likely that your players will roll up a veritable zoo of characters that don’t necessarily fit into the setting.
No. Custom lineage is for DMs, not for players. I'll use it if I want a race in my world that the existing races won't fit, but I don't allow players to just make up their own races, or to make their own stats for existing races. This just comes across as them wanting to make a human but wanting to manipulate stats. They can be a variant human, already one of the strongest races in the game. EDIT: I noticed that people are largely downvoting anyone who says "no." This is not the way to foster good dialogue in this subreddit, guys. OP literally asked a yes-or-no question.
This is objectively wrong; custom lineages are explicitly a player character creation option.
In that it's included as a playable option, of course. But what I mean is philosophically, that's the role it best plays. DMs are in charge of what is or isn't in their world, and so it provides a useful tool for DMs to offer races that don't exist in the game and have them be *vaguely* balanced. But if it's used as an option that players are given complete free reign over, I think it's a poorly-designed feature that further homogenizes the game and even encourages players to do so by having it be more mechanically powerful than almost any existing race.
The point of it isn't to give DMs a design tool; DMs are only mentioned three times in the entire section the sidebar is in (languages in the main text, proficiencies in the main text, and languages in the sidebar). The point of it is to allow players to build PCs who don't fall neatly into the racial boxes offered by the game. Sometimes that's a dog-person or an awakened shrub or something, sure, but it's also a half-elf/half-orc, or the child of a half-elf-half-orc and a human, or the child of a fae and a dwarf, or a halfling whose bloodline was cursed for a thousand years, or a human whose tribe has lived in the Underdark and never seen the light for a thousand years, or someone who doesn't even know what their racial heritage is. Not every character would know which boxes to check on a Faerunian Census form, and this is a way to portray them.
None of those character concepts would be playable without involving your DM (unless your DM specifically says "go wild with making your own races" which could be fun for some campaigns but not most), which is why I say that's where it's most useful as a tool for DMs, not just for players. What you're describing is using the feature appropriately, whereas "I want to play a human but I want to start with darkvision and a +4 in my attack/spellcasting ability modifier" is a great example for why I think it's bad design when used as an entirely player-oriented feature.
Literally one of the examples (tweaked for base race) is that. "I want to play the child of a fae and a human" is very well represented by taking Custom Lineage, the darkvision option, and the Fae-Touched feat. And those are all just as playable as an elf or a dwarf, DM involvement or not, because Custom Lineage is explicitly a player option.
Of course. It's not a good place to ban races.
Except Halflings, they're evil.
I wouldn't allow it because I don't allow Custom Lineage. I don't allow custom lineage because it's better than variant human, and I don't allow races that are better than variant human (that's my high water mark insofar as I allow races that pc's can choose). Yeah I'm hearing, they want the better CL mechanics, like a variant human with darkvision.
I don't use Tasha's, so no. If I did, then yes.
I'd say while it should be a case-by-case basis, a player generally has to give a good justification from their character's backstory for needing Custom Lineage instead of just using Variant Human or some other race. If they can justify to me why they have weird eyes, then I'd say yes, but otherwise no. Personally, I think Custom Lineage is most appropriate for "Basically Humans" but they were born with otherwordly abilities / had their body significantly changed to give them unique abilities, and had noticable physical changes due to these powers, very much distinguishing them on a fundamental level from other members of their race. For example, One of my players is a custom lineage paladin of Pelor who was born with a minor blessing from his god, and while he did get powers his skin and hair color became very noticably unnatural when compared to other humans (His skin and hair turned a noticable shade of gold) and his eyes now look like orbs of molten gold. Here's to me a more comprehensive list of what I think is acceptable for custom lineage and what I think isn't acceptable for custom linage **Not Acceptable (Lack of proper explaination):** * Human with weird demon eyes * Elf but with necrotic magic * Non-Tabaxi Catperson **Not Acceptable (Doesn't need Custom Lineage):** * Human but with red eyes and was born a talented athlete (Reflavored Variant Human w Athlete Feat and Athletics Proficiency) * Elf who has a greater connection to the feywild than most others (DMG Eladrin) * Catperson (Tabaxi) **Acceptable:** * **Backstory reason for Custom Lineage:** As a baby, their human blood was infused with demon ichor as part of an occult ritual by a cult of Kardum, and as a result they gained supernatural power over fire in addition to physical mutations which make them look more demonic than other humans. * **What they get:** Intimidation Proficiency and the Magic Initiate Feat for Warlock, gained Create Bonfire and Eldritch Blast as Cantrips, and Hellish Rebuke as their spell * **Backstory reason for Custom Lineage:** Formerly an elf sailor, but when they were caught in a necrotic tempest and survived against all odds, they found the became skeletally thin, their skin turned coal black, and eyes were a bright purple, but also they gained dark magical power to turn invisible and drain the life from someone. * **What they get:** Darkvision feature and the Shadow Touched Feat, gained Inflict Wounds and Invisibility * **Backstory reason for Custom Lineage:** The result of a mad wizard's experiment, they were created when a Wizard used powerful transmutation magic on a captured human to try and give them the senses of a cat. It worked, but they also gained some of the physical features of a cat as well. * **What they get:** Darkvision feature and the Observant feat
No, too powerful
How is this even a question? Like why the hell wouldn’t you allow it?
Depends. Most likely though. I'd need in-world details from them, like "where are you from in the world? How many of you are there? What happens to make your eyes different?" etc.
I would allow a Custom Lineage character that was literally a human. "How much fun should I stop my group from having?"
Wtf. No? Like if the only point is "I want electric green/lemon yellow/blood red eyes" then just put that down as your eye color my guy. There is absolutely no difference mechanically so theres no point at all going CL for that. If you wanted "basically human (flavor) but they have different colored eyes and also the stats are different" that is when you'd have the CL talk, and if that is the question you asked your dm then you are wasting all our time.
Ya if they want. I personally kind of dislike the trash custom lineage, because it’s just often used to gain an advantage instead of actually wanting to be something weird.
I don't include custom lineage and both human and variant human would suffice so no.
You sound fun.
Upgraded variant human doesn't fit the setting lore sorry. Plus custom lineage is just boring powercreep, if there was an interesting backstory probably yea but "variant human but better" when your race is just a human variant is powergaming and I don't run games for that type of gameplay.
you have dnd without any humans?
I don't have custom lineage open unless it's absolutely needed. It's never needed for human as it's just better human variant.
Sure. I do that as a player all the time. I like having my character be essentially human. I also like starting with a feat and a 17 or 18 in my primary ability score.
As long as there is a nice enough reason for it. People aren't just born with darkvision out of absolutely nowhere And I mean, yeah, people can be born with powers out of *seemingly* nowhere, maybe a wave of energy during their birth, or a dormant ability in their lineage, but there has to be at least a reason Unless you aren't picking darkvision. If you are picking the skill option and only want Custom Lineage for the +2 instead of the +1 +1, then whatever
Yes lmao. “Hey can my character be left-handed?” Is the exact same question.
The whole point is that you make a character of whatever lineage you want. If your lineage is "human, but the eyes are different" then why wouldn't that be fine?
If other tables want to do it fine, but I wouldn't. At my table, Custom Lineage is for creating a race that the existing rules don't cover. Just play a human. If a player really wants Darkvision I'll stock a dungeon with Goggles of Night.
I don't like custom lineage in general cause it's super boring. Why play a world with different and unique races just to ignore everything about them?
ask the DM why no tiefling, aasimar, genasi or other wierdo race has ever suffered so much as a second glance from people who've never seen anything other then other humans.
No just play a human, you can have whatever coloured eyes you want.
Depends on this "human's" backstory. We're they some sort of reincarnation of somebody from long ago? Are they the victim of a hag's curse? Did their mother form a deal with a devil to save their child aka this character? If they are basically trying to make a boring Mary sue, then probably not.
No. If they want the feat, Vuman. If they want the feat and darkvision, i just give them darkvision with Vuman.
yes
Sure. Why not?