You can choose any race (or a combination of races or something more outlandish) and apply a lineage to it, allowing you to combine the “flavor” of your race(s) and the flavor and mechanics of your lineage. What is a Lineage?Ī lineage replaces your race’s traits and sometimes adds some new flavor to your character. Portions of the materials used are property of Wizards of the Coast. RPGBOT is unofficial Fan Content permitted under the Fan Content Policy. Keep in mind that the state of the meta periodically changes as new source materials are released and this article will be updating accordingly as time allows. The advice offered below is based on the current State of the Character Optimization Meta as of when the article was last updated. We also won’t cover Unearthed Arcana content because it’s not finalized, and we can’t guarantee that it will be available to you in your games. We will not include 3rd-party content, including content from DMs Guild, in handbooks for official content because we can’t assume that your game will allow 3rd-party content or homebrew.
The Custom Lineage has one very unique advantage: by taking the right feat, you can start with 18 in one ability score. Of course, once you hit level 4 your first Ability Score Increase can level any differences between the two except for Darkvision, but by then you can also cast Darkvision as a 2nd-level spell. They’re roughly equivalent, but the ability to split your increases makes the variant human more viable in classes where you need more than one good ability score.
Custom Lineage trades +1 to two abilities for +2 to one ability, and you gain the option to take Darkvision instead of a skill proficiency. Mechanically, the Custom Lineage strongly resembles the Variant Human. You can also use the Custom Lineage rule while still calling yourself an elf or a dwarf or whatever else, so even if you want your character to be a normal non-hybrid race, the Custom Lineage can still help your mechanics line up with your mental image of your character. For example, if your character is part orc, part elf, and part human, none of the published racial traits quite make sense. If your idea for your character’s racial heritage doesn’t neatly fall into one of the published races, it’s a great option for expressing your character. Introduced in Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything, the “Custom Lineage” is a sort of non-option for choosing your race.