Character Discussion

I do not have a problem with the Psychic name or abilities.
I have just DMed so many games were players think that can do over powered thinks with their abilities just because they are Psychic.
It has kind of ruined it for me.

I do not know or understand anything about the Telequarian race. Is it from an anime or something? Is there a way to just theme what you want as a normal DnD race instead of coming up with something new? I am really not wanting to add a whole new race I know nothing about to this campaign. Before when you wanted a Tiefling style that was perfectly fine with me.

Not to interject, but based on the write-up it looks like the Telequarian "race" is really just giving a name to his Custom Lineage.

I know people generally treat Custom Lineage as "Variant Human v. 2.0," but I think he's actually being creative with it.

Thanks MaJunior...that is precisely what I was trying to do...tele-quarian...tele-kinetic feat (males), tele-pathic feat (females).

Could easily just be a variant human that are small (instead of medium) in size and are born with either "tele-" feat dependant upon gender.

This portion could easily be rewritten to reflect a more human likeness

So, I made the assumption that custom lineage allows you to create a whole new race or basically a variant human.

Is there anything preventing a player from making a variant elf (for example) and having the variant elf still qualify for something like elven accuracy?

I have never seen anyone create a new race with custom lineage/varient human.
I view Custom Lineage/Varient Human as the same thing now a day.

It has always been more reflavoring of normal races.
Where the feat is something trained or an accident that happened.
A elf who has trained very well in Archer to get Eleven Accuracy.
A Halfling who was trained by physic monks.
An experimented on Bear who can now talk and walk.
A dwarf who was transported into the shadow planes.

I am just worried about you creating this whole new race coming up with lore and facts about it then your character dies and it none of that lore will be used again.

Having a tribe of physic gnomes because they all eat some stange plant or worship a stange totem that gives them power I can understand.

Per Jeremy Crawford:
"In Tasha's Cauldron of Everything, the custom lineage option is chosen in lieu of a race, such as elf or dwarf. If you choose the custom lineage, you don't qualify for things in the game that require elf, dwarf, and the like."

● That would also include human -- so if you take Custom Lineage, no Prodigy feat, for example.

Now, I do agree Crawford has made some questionable calls in the past but because of his position he is still generally seen as The Voice of Authority. Of course, DM fiat can do whatever they want.

Guess I'll need to wait for the GM's response to that :)

Here is my main points.

I do not care if you want to create a new race. I need more information about it. Just knowing Tele-kinetic feat (males), tele-pathic feat (females) does not give me much. How/why do they have these abilities? How well known is the race? Is there a large population of them or only a few 100? What type of society do they have? Are they Feral like goblins, Barbaric Like Orcs, or Recluse like gnomes?
What do they look like? An image or vivid description would be great. Right now I am picturing a Gelfling with larger eyes.

I also want to point out that this campaign will have some racist/Xenophobe NPC. Not saying people dislike one race more then the other.
(As of right now your Character would not know this)
It is more along the lines of NPC will be scared or completely ignore/shun races they do not know anything about.
The villagers in most towns you visit live in constant fear for their lives. They may even consider you monstrous and run out out of town.
Some NPC could see you as something interesting to collect and add to their collection.

A lot of this depends on your Description, What they look like.

Is You playing a bard and having NPC shun you because of your appearance a extra challenge you want to deal with?

As I said before do you want to spend time making a new race up and have your character possible die a few days or weeks later?

I'm considering simplifying things so am looking to your position on what was posted by MaJunior. Is a variant elf not an elf (in relation to feats for example, that have elf as a prerequisite).

Hold on -- Custom Lineage is not "variant anything." By the book, it is its own thing.

Smiley -- as GM -- can say it works, but I feel like presenting it as "Variant Elf" is misleading.

Custom Lineage
Ability Scores: Choose any +2
Size: Small or Medium
Speed: 30 ft.
Instead of choosing one of the game's races for your character at 1st level, you can use the following traits to represent your character's lineage, giving you full control over how your character's origin shaped them:
Creature Type. You are a humanoid. You determine your appearance and whether you resemble any of your kin.
Size. You are Small or Medium (your choice).
Feat. You gain one feat of your choice for which you qualify.
Variable Trait. You gain one of the following options of your choice: (a) darkvision with a range of 60 feet or (b) proficiency in one skill of your choice.
Languages. You can speak, read, and write Common and one other language that you and your DM agree is appropriate for your character.
Your race is considered to be a Custom Lineage for any game feature that requires a certain race, such as elf or dwarf.


Human (Variant)
Ability Scores: Choose any two unique +1
Size: Medium
Speed: 30 ft.
Age. Humans reach adulthood in their late teens and live less than a century.
Size. Humans vary widely in height and build, from barely 5 feet to well over 6 feet tall. Regardless of your position in that range, your size is Medium.
Languages. You can speak, read, and write Common and one extra language of your choice. Humans typically learn the languages of other peoples they deal with, including obscure dialects. They are fond of sprinkling their speech with words borrowed from other tongues: Orc curses, Elvish musical expressions, Dwarvish military phrases, and so on.
Skills. You gain proficiency in one skill of your choice.
Feat. You gain one feat of your choice.


Comparing the two they are pretty much the same.
The main differences are
Abilities Scores: +1 to two vs +2 to 1
Size: Medium vs Medium or Small
Feat: Both Get one
Feature : Skill vs Skill or Darkvision


I really don't care if you use Custom Lineage to say you are an Elf and say you got the feat from training, or some other source.
Calling it a Variant Elf can make it confusing because there are many Elf and Half-Elf Variants already.

It would be best to call it Custom Lineage (Reflavored Elf)

Thanks for the response Smiley!

Custom Lineage (Reflavored Elf)

Creature Type: Humanoid
Ability Scores: Choose any +2 (Dexterity)
Size: Medium
Speed: 30 ft.
Feat: Elven Accuracy
Variable Trait: Darkvision 60'
Languages: You can speak, read, and write Common and Elven

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Also, rather than going Rogue (Inquisitive)/Bard (College of Eloquence), I think I'll just start with 3 levels of Rogue and go with an Arcane Trickster. This gives him a bit of magic (though not as much as with Bard, especially in the long run), he will still using mage hand a fair but, not unlike the original idea...I may take some fighter levels in future levels.

I'm off work today and hope to have this completed post haste (or would that be a hasted post?).

I'll post tomorrow with character description and image...I'm currently at work (12 hours done...12 more to go).