Author Topic: The "Custom Lineage" Race and starting with an 18.  (Read 4452 times)

Offline Kasz

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The "Custom Lineage" Race and starting with an 18.
« on: November 11, 2020, 05:54:23 AM »
So Tasha's is bringing an updated custom lineage race, with the following racial features:
  • +2 to any stat of your choice
  • Darkvision or one skill proficiency
  • A feat
You can pick any race and replace your racial features with the above. So you could just list this option as it's own race and add "Appearance: pick a playable race, you look like that"

As you're getting +2 and a feat, you can get a total of +3 to any one ability score. Meaning you can point buy up to 15 and start with an 18. Here's a list of those feats courtesy of GitP. It's worth mentioning that a lot of the racial only feats may lose their racial restrictions, meaning elven accuracy and squat nimbleness might become widely available.

It's also worth noting that a halfling and dwarf's "speed" is a racial feature, and on the custom lineage they might not have the arbitrary 5ft movement penalty... so a lineage halfling barbarian with the squat nimbleness feat could be moving at 35 ft per round at level 1, with 18 strength.

---Strength---
Athlete
Dragon Fear (Dragonborn)
Dragon Hide (Dragonborn)
Heavily Armored
Heavy Armor Master
Lightly Armored
Moderately Armored
Orcish Fury (Half-Orc)
Resilient (Str)
Squat Nimbleness (Dwarf or Small race)
Tavern Brawler
Weapon Master

---Dexterity---
Athlete
Elven Accuracy (Elf or Half-Elf)
Fade Away (Gnome)
Lightly Armored
Moderately Armored
Resilient (Dex)
Second Chance (Halfling)
Squat Nimbleness (Dwarf or Small race)
Weapon Master

---Constitution---
Dragon Fear (Dragonborn)
Dragon Hide (Dragonborn)
Durable
Dwarven Fortitude (Dwarf)
Infernal Constitution (Tiefling)
Orcish Fury (Half-Orc)
Resilient (Con)
Second Chance (Halfling)
Tavern Brawler

---Intelligence---
Elven Accuracy (Elf or Half-Elf)
Fade Away (Gnome)
Flames of Phlegethos (Tiefling)
Keen Mind
Linguist
Observant
Resilient (Int)

---Wisdom---
Elven Accuracy (Elf or Half-Elf)
Observant
Resilient (Wis)

---Charisma---
Actor
Dragon Fear (Dragonborn)
Dragon Hide (Dragonborn)
Elven Accuracy (Elf or Half-Elf)
Flames of Phlegethos (Tiefling)
Resilient (Cha)
Second Chance (Halfling)



When it's out I'm probably going to rewrite the master class / race post into something a bit easier to digest.
« Last Edit: November 11, 2020, 05:57:35 AM by Kasz »

Offline Nanashi

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Re: The "Custom Lineage" Race and starting with an 18.
« Reply #1 on: November 11, 2020, 03:33:26 PM »
WotC tried to fix 5E's broken race rules, where the point buy limits+bonded accuracy made any character without a bonus to their primary attribute terrible at everything till level 12, and managed to make the replacement even worse? I'm not sure why I'm even surprised at WotC's utter incompetence at this point. From the start 5E managed to both offer incredibly few options and have those few options be wildly imbalanced at the same time. I'm glad I stuck with the "game for assholes" (as Mearls described older editions).

Offline Nytemare3701

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Re: The "Custom Lineage" Race and starting with an 18.
« Reply #2 on: November 12, 2020, 03:04:25 AM »
I just followed that Mearls rabbit hole and...wow. You can't pull a "This product isn't made for you" while simultaneously choking out the versions that ARE by scrubbing your forums and slandering those who like the older editions.

Offline RobbyPants

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Re: The "Custom Lineage" Race and starting with an 18.
« Reply #3 on: March 11, 2021, 07:28:18 AM »
WotC tried to fix 5E's broken race rules, where the point buy limits+bonded accuracy made any character without a bonus to their primary attribute terrible at everything till level 12, and managed to make the replacement even worse? I'm not sure why I'm even surprised at WotC's utter incompetence at this point. From the start 5E managed to both offer incredibly few options and have those few options be wildly imbalanced at the same time. I'm glad I stuck with the "game for assholes" (as Mearls described older editions).

It's sad, but they're just clinging to legacy habits at this point for legacy sake.

The answer to decoupling ability scores from character effectiveness (and thus decoupling which race/class combos work) is not using your ability score to determine how effective your attacks and similar class options are. You still use them to determine saves/defenses and skills/proficiencies, so you have a reason to care, but most of what a PC is doing is some form of attacking. Sure, it makes sense that a strong barbarian hits harder, a dexterous rogue hits more precisely, and a smart wizard has more powerful spells, but we've known for a long time that this comes with implications for how you "correctly" build your characters.

If the game expects you to have +5 to hit at level 1, just give everyone +5 to hit at level 1. Then you can have lithe barbarians, intelligent rogues, and hulking wizards without making them suck at the table.

You still need to make sure your ability scores stay at a reasonable place, because you don't want saves, defenses, and skills/proficiencies falling off the d20 RNG, but I think it'd be a big help.
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