I agree with Crawford but from content released perspective it's a weird shift. Ideally, you'd want each player to have a PHB, Xanathar, and Tashas. Both books for the most part are just 100% compatible, and this feature isn't.
CL as a stand-in for existing species has never made sense.
I see this said a lot but it's also one of the most common uses I've seen for the option. Someone will want to play a Dragonborn or a weird elf but hates everything about their default mechanics so they ask me if they can use CL instead because they can tailor it to their liking plus feats are fun and 5e is horrifically stingy with them.
At my table, I'd be ok with either. If I was with another DM and they said hey, this means you aren't a Elf? I'd be okay with that too. The question then becomes well ok, WHAT am I. My race is humanoid, same as elf, half elf, orc, whatever. I get none of the elvish benefits or penalties, I just identify as an elf. If my backstory is I've been raised and trained by them, and I identify that way, who's to say I can't take Elven Accuracy.
I dunno so all we'd need to do now is say "My background is I was raised by elves and trained by them after my parents died so my Yuan-ti can take elven accuracy"?
I agree with Crawford but from content released perspective it's a weird shift. Ideally, you'd want each player to have a PHB, Xanathar, and Tashas. Both books for the most part are just 100% compatible, and this feature isn't.
CL as a stand-in for existing species has never made sense.
I see this said a lot but it's also one of the most common uses I've seen for the option. Someone will want to play a Dragonborn or a weird elf but hates everything about their default mechanics so they ask me if they can use CL instead because they can tailor it to their liking plus feats are fun and 5e is horrifically stingy with them.
At my table, I'd be ok with either. If I was with another DM and they said hey, this means you aren't a Elf? I'd be okay with that too. The question then becomes well ok, WHAT am I. My race is humanoid, same as elf, half elf, orc, whatever. I get none of the elvish benefits or penalties, I just identify as an elf. If my backstory is I've been raised and trained by them, and I identify that way, who's to say I can't take Elven Accuracy.
I dunno so all we'd need to do now is say "My background is I was raised by elves and trained by them after my parents died so my Yuan-ti can take elven accuracy"?
If my backstory is I've been raised and trained by them, and I identify that way, who's to say I can't take Elven Accuracy.
This is the exact sort of thing the system as is is not set up to handle. It's easily houseruled/handled through DM fiat, which is what I'd do, but exactly because racial qualities are not set up as a buffet of options using CL as a way to rebuild existing races doesn't work right. Doing this in an official/standardized way would require a big overhaul of the ruleset. I don't really want to rehash the pros and cons of that approach again here, so I'm just going to reiterate that without that overhaul the most convenient approach here is to simply have a conversation with your DM instead of trying to make the rules do what they're not intended or created to do.
Which is what I say. Run your table how you want. I also say I'm ok with both, and both rulings. I think the Crawford ruling makes sense, I think it just opens a door that shouldn't have been worded within the context of a tweet.
I agree with Crawford but from content released perspective it's a weird shift. Ideally, you'd want each player to have a PHB, Xanathar, and Tashas. Both books for the most part are just 100% compatible, and this feature isn't.
CL as a stand-in for existing species has never made sense.
I see this said a lot but it's also one of the most common uses I've seen for the option. Someone will want to play a Dragonborn or a weird elf but hates everything about their default mechanics so they ask me if they can use CL instead because they can tailor it to their liking plus feats are fun and 5e is horrifically stingy with them.
At my table, I'd be ok with either. If I was with another DM and they said hey, this means you aren't a Elf? I'd be okay with that too. The question then becomes well ok, WHAT am I. My race is humanoid, same as elf, half elf, orc, whatever. I get none of the elvish benefits or penalties, I just identify as an elf. If my backstory is I've been raised and trained by them, and I identify that way, who's to say I can't take Elven Accuracy.
I dunno so all we'd need to do now is say "My background is I was raised by elves and trained by them after my parents died so my Yuan-ti can take elven accuracy"?
Not "say". Ask. And it might mean your character having some of its racial qualities changed as well.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Want to start playing but don't have anyone to play with? You can try these options: [link].
Jeremy Crawford ( @JeremyECrawford) just posted this to twitter less than an hour ago and I thought I would share as there has been some discussion on this.
"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."
Obviously you can play it how you like at your tables, but apparently this was the intent of the rules.
One step forward, two steps back.
"We need to make the system more progressive and get away from bad ideas like stereotyping races and/or cultures!"
- optional rules in Tasha's introduced
"But if you are anything other than a stereotypical pureblood, you are not really a member of that race. In fact, you don't count as any race at all!!!!"
<facepalm>
Not exactly. Moving away from stereotypes is changing to floating bonuses and taking cultural qualities out of race for PCs, as indicated in the UA sidebar. Custom Lineage has nothing to do with less stereotypical races, it's explicitly meant for characters that are NOT members of a conventional race.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Want to start playing but don't have anyone to play with? You can try these options: [link].
Jeremy Crawford ( @JeremyECrawford) just posted this to twitter less than an hour ago and I thought I would share as there has been some discussion on this.
"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."
Obviously you can play it how you like at your tables, but apparently this was the intent of the rules.
One step forward, two steps back.
"We need to make the system more progressive and get away from bad ideas like stereotyping races and/or cultures!"
- optional rules in Tasha's introduced
"But if you are anything other than a stereotypical pureblood, you are not really a member of that race. In fact, you don't count as any race at all!!!!"
<facepalm>
Not exactly. Moving away from stereotypes is changing to floating bonuses and taking cultural qualities out of race for PCs, as indicated in the UA sidebar. Custom Lineage has nothing to do with less stereotypical races, it's explicitly meant for characters that are NOT members of a conventional race.
Race and culture are conflated in D&D though. The Custom Lineage was an attempt to break away from that. But this ruling is essentially saying that even if you have a cultural difference (Raise by Dwarves instead of Elves, thus having a different set of gear proficiencies), that you count neither as Elf nor Dwarf, even though you are still an Elf.
No, that's what I'm saying it's not. Custom Linage is not an attempt at breaking away from race and culture being intertwined. It's a formalized option for creating a character from a unique lineage instead of one of the established races. Nothing more. If you want to be an elf raised by dwarves, CL is not supposed to be the way to handle that. The way to handle that was to houserule something with the DM, the way forward to handle that may be something alluded to in the UA sidebar; we'll see how that shakes out in practice. But CL was never meant to create your own variations on existing races, it was meant to create something other than a member of those races. And a character that is not a member of a race, shouldn't automatically count as a member of that race - that's just common sense.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Want to start playing but don't have anyone to play with? You can try these options: [link].
Character race in the game represents your character’s fantasy species, combined with certain cultural assumptions. The following options step outside those assumptions to pave the way for truly unique characters.
....
CUSTOM LINEAGE
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:
Your interpretation is neither allowing cultural assumptions to be set aside nor allowing 'full control.'' Despite the fact that, mechanically, it can allow you to swap culture based proficiencies, which fits completely with 'stepping outside those assumptions,' according to Crawford, that cannot be done without also stepping outside of race. And thereby it is not actually stepping outside any assumptions. When you toss out belonging to a race, there are no race based assumptions, cultural or otherwise.
That's a bit of a misrepresentation of "what Tasha's actually says".
What Tasha's actually says after "The following options step outside those assumptions to pave the way for truly unique characters" is a list of options regarding ASIs, languages, proficiencies and personality. Then, in a completely separate sidebar, in a box in a different background colour than than the rest of the page, it shows Custom Lineage.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Want to start playing but don't have anyone to play with? You can try these options: [link].
Custom Lineage can, as written, be used for entirely-custom stuff (animated dolls and such), super micromanaged bloodline stuff ("my grandparents were a gnome, a human, a half-elf, and a magical construct"), or even "I want to say I'm a deep gnome, but use Shadow Touched instead of the normal deep gnome abilities." All Crawford's ruling is stating (as was pretty obvious before, just not explicit) is that Custom Lineage does not, by default, meet the prerequisites for things like the racial feats.
Given that the racial feats and Custom Lineage were from entirely different books (Xanathar's and Tasha's), it's not so surprising that this needed a clarification.
Also, it's pretty clear that some of the Tasha's feats (none of which are racial feats) look like redesigned non-racial versions of some of the Xanathar's feats. Compare Fey Touched to Fey Teleportation, for example.
Lastly, if the DM wants to waive the race requirements for Xanathar's racial feats (for Custom Lineage, or whatever really), they can. There's even a switch for it in dndbeyond. Were I running a campaign (I'm not), I would do this. I think the next campaign I start in will do this, because the DM is thinking along similar lines. You (the proverbial 'you') do not have to, as per Crawford's ruling.
I agree with Crawford but from content released perspective it's a weird shift. Ideally, you'd want each player to have a PHB, Xanathar, and Tashas. Both books for the most part are just 100% compatible, and this feature isn't.
CL as a stand-in for existing species has never made sense.
I see this said a lot but it's also one of the most common uses I've seen for the option. Someone will want to play a Dragonborn or a weird elf but hates everything about their default mechanics so they ask me if they can use CL instead because they can tailor it to their liking plus feats are fun and 5e is horrifically stingy with them.
At my table, I'd be ok with either. If I was with another DM and they said hey, this means you aren't a Elf? I'd be okay with that too. The question then becomes well ok, WHAT am I. My race is humanoid, same as elf, half elf, orc, whatever. I get none of the elvish benefits or penalties, I just identify as an elf. If my backstory is I've been raised and trained by them, and I identify that way, who's to say I can't take Elven Accuracy.
I dunno so all we'd need to do now is say "My background is I was raised by elves and trained by them after my parents died so my Yuan-ti can take elven accuracy"?
And that natural progression is "My Halfling was raised by Protector Aasimar so I can fly once a day, have Darkvision, Resistance to Necrotic and Radiant damage. The entire process is laughable, it was not so tragic. The abomination that shall not be named will never, ever be at my table. No, that is not entirely true. It might be, with entire sections of the book pages torn out. But it will be increasingly difficult to scream into the hurricane as this poison spreads across more and more reprints and new publications.
Character race in the game represents your character’s fantasy species, combined with certain cultural assumptions. The following options step outside those assumptions to pave the way for truly unique characters.
....
CUSTOM LINEAGE
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:
Your interpretation is neither allowing cultural assumptions to be set aside nor allowing 'full control.'' Despite the fact that, mechanically, it can allow you to swap culture based proficiencies, which fits completely with 'stepping outside those assumptions,' according to Crawford, that cannot be done without also stepping outside of race. And thereby it is not actually stepping outside any assumptions. When you toss out belonging to a race, there are no race based assumptions, cultural or otherwise.
That's a bit of a misrepresentation of "what Tasha's actually says".
What Tasha's actually says after "The following options step outside those assumptions to pave the way for truly unique characters" is a list of options regarding ASIs, languages, proficiencies and personality. Then, in a completely separate sidebar, in a box in a different background colour than than the rest of the page, it shows Custom Lineage.
So are you not allowed to have Dwarven proficiencies instead of Elven without actually being neither Elf nor Dwarf? How about simply knowing non-standard languages? How is that a genetic thing?
And when they lose all official racial identity, it is making the character more generic, not more unique. They are no longer the Elf forged by dwarven culture, but rather the unimportant mongrel who matters that much less.
You're allowed whatever your DM signs off on.
As for how well it works out, I'm not in favour of any of Tasha's options myself - not CL, not the rest of it. But I'm not arguing pros or cons here, I just pointed out what CL is (or is not) meant to be used for.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Want to start playing but don't have anyone to play with? You can try these options: [link].
Character race in the game represents your character’s fantasy species, combined with certain cultural assumptions. The following options step outside those assumptions to pave the way for truly unique characters.
....
CUSTOM LINEAGE
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:
Your interpretation is neither allowing cultural assumptions to be set aside nor allowing 'full control.'' Despite the fact that, mechanically, it can allow you to swap culture based proficiencies, which fits completely with 'stepping outside those assumptions,' according to Crawford, that cannot be done without also stepping outside of race. And thereby it is not actually stepping outside any assumptions. When you toss out belonging to a race, there are no race based assumptions, cultural or otherwise.
That's a bit of a misrepresentation of "what Tasha's actually says".
What Tasha's actually says after "The following options step outside those assumptions to pave the way for truly unique characters" is a list of options regarding ASIs, languages, proficiencies and personality. Then, in a completely separate sidebar, in a box in a different background colour than than the rest of the page, it shows Custom Lineage.
So are you not allowed to have Dwarven proficiencies instead of Elven without actually being neither Elf nor Dwarf? How about simply knowing non-standard languages? How is that a genetic thing?
And when they lose all official racial identity, it is making the character more generic, not more unique. They are no longer the Elf forged by dwarven culture, but rather the unimportant mongrel who matters that much less.
Okay - but your CL elf doesn't get Trance now does it? D&D has brought up that they are moving away from things like tying proficiency to race and making it cultural. However some things are not going to be removed imo. Trance is an inherent thing for elves, not something that can be "learned" via culture.
CL allows you to make a unique chraracter that fits what you want it to be, and if a DM allows you to take a feat fine. But they have the other options to also customize races. So, if you want a racial feat but want to be using CL than in my opinion, unless you really explain to me why you are simply gaming the system Vs really truly wanting an elf.
I don't know why anyone assumed anything different. Custom Lineage was obviously intended to account for edge cases like "I'm a haunted doll created by a lich to be his adopted daughter, but then Adventurers killed the lich and took me with them."
CL as a stand-in for existing species has never made sense.
That is how I have always seen it as well.
Also
That would be a great backstory for a Reborn Lineage Character, may I borrow that?
Yes... good... *good* The legend continues. You may absolutely borrow Doll. This was her original build before the lineages released ... I'm going to have to take another look at that now .... https://ddb.ac/characters/26943242/IxxFyO
However why would an Elf raised on different languages be 'gaming the system' or in any way cease to be an Elf?
Erm... Tasha's allows your Elf to swap languages or proficiencies while staying, for all intents and purposes, an Elf. You'd be using the options under Customizing Your Origin that don't change your nominal race, just as intended, and not the Custom Lineage option which would change your nominal race, also just as intended. What's the issue, precisely?
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Want to start playing but don't have anyone to play with? You can try these options: [link].
It's a lot easier to min-max customizing an existing race than the custom linage.
As it is, to what degree min-maxing is a problem is highly subjective. In many groups it's an unwritten rule to do so. Haven't we all experienced players and groups who just can't seem to get their head around not min-maxing? If the consensus at your table is in favor, go ahead. If the consensus isn't, don't. Neither one is wrong. It's one of the things I'd advise people talk about at their session 0.
It's the same with race customization or how to use the custom linage. Personally, I've only ever used the custom linage to create variants of existing races, but I'd totally allow its use for unique beings. Mechanically it's nearly a human, so there's no mechanical balance issue.
It's the same with race customization or how to use the custom linage. Personally, I've only ever used the custom linage to create variants of existing races, but I'd totally allow its use for unique beings. Mechanically it's nearly a human, so there's no mechanical balance issue.
I'm not trying to disagree with your general point, just point this out: Custom Lineage is, currently, the only RAW way to use standard-array/point-buy and get an 18 at level 1. And the same book added a few quite-nice half feats that facilitate that.
I don't think that's a mechanical balance issue, but I'm sure there are plenty of people with that knee-jerk reaction.
However why would an Elf raised on different languages be 'gaming the system' or in any way cease to be an Elf?
Erm... Tasha's allows your Elf to swap languages or proficiencies while staying, for all intents and purposes, an Elf. You'd be using the options under Customizing Your Origin that don't change your nominal race, just as intended, and not the Custom Lineage option which would change your nominal race, also just as intended. What's the issue, precisely?
Reread the OP. "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." (per Crawford)
He is saying that, officially, even if you merely swap languages, you forsake being any race at all.
What? No. He's saying that if you choose the custom lineage you forsake being part of an established race. Swapping languages is one of the "customize your origins" options, it's not part of the custom lineage mechanic.
CUSTOM LINEAGE
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).
Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
Ability Score Increase. One ability score of your choice increases by 2.
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.
That's custom lineage. Nothing else. There's no swapping languages in there (you don't start with a language to swap to begin with if you create a custom lineage)
However why would an Elf raised on different languages be 'gaming the system' or in any way cease to be an Elf?
Erm... Tasha's allows your Elf to swap languages or proficiencies while staying, for all intents and purposes, an Elf. You'd be using the options under Customizing Your Origin that don't change your nominal race, just as intended, and not the Custom Lineage option which would change your nominal race, also just as intended. What's the issue, precisely?
Reread the OP. "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." (per Crawford)
He is saying that, officially, even if you merely swap languages, you forsake being any race at all.
He is speaking only about Custom Lineage and nothing more.
However why would an Elf raised on different languages be 'gaming the system' or in any way cease to be an Elf?
Erm... Tasha's allows your Elf to swap languages or proficiencies while staying, for all intents and purposes, an Elf. You'd be using the options under Customizing Your Origin that don't change your nominal race, just as intended, and not the Custom Lineage option which would change your nominal race, also just as intended. What's the issue, precisely?
Reread the OP. "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." (per Crawford)
He is saying that, officially, even if you merely swap languages, you forsake being any race at all.
You are conflating two things.
"Custom Lineage" is, in effect, a "race" to itself, that is mutually exclusive from (mechanically) being a dwarf or elf or whatever. It happens to have a very flexible set of abilities. It's almost-not-quite "point buy, but for race."
"Customizing Your Origin" is a set of rules concerning things like floating ASIs, swapping proficiences, etc., which are all options to be applied to any race (technically, including Custom Lineage as well, though doing so is a null option).
If a dwarf swaps some dwarven proficiency for another, they are still a dwarf, because they are just exercising the "customize your origin" rules. Crawford's tweet is, solely, about the Custom Lineage race, and how it (by RAW) does not "count" for fulfilling racial prerequisites. (I suppose it could count, if some feat specified "Custom Lineage" as a prerequisite, but no feat has done that.)
"Custom Lineage" is, in effect, a "race" to itself, that is mutually exclusive from (mechanically) being a dwarf or elf or whatever. It happens to have a very flexible set of abilities. It's almost-not-quite "point buy, but for race."
"Customizing Your Origin" is a set of rules concerning things like floating ASIs, swapping proficiences, etc., which are all options to be applied to any race (technically, including Custom Lineage as well, though doing so is a null option).
Note, it's very understandable to be confused by this, because the writers are being a little lax with their terminology. The recent UA on gothic lineages re-uses the word "lineage" in yet-a-third system (one that is not described in full, I think, that is surrounded by lots of guesswork).
I dunno so all we'd need to do now is say "My background is I was raised by elves and trained by them after my parents died so my Yuan-ti can take elven accuracy"?
As long as the DM doesn't ban it.
Which is what I say. Run your table how you want. I also say I'm ok with both, and both rulings. I think the Crawford ruling makes sense, I think it just opens a door that shouldn't have been worded within the context of a tweet.
Not "say". Ask. And it might mean your character having some of its racial qualities changed as well.
Want to start playing but don't have anyone to play with? You can try these options: [link].
Not exactly. Moving away from stereotypes is changing to floating bonuses and taking cultural qualities out of race for PCs, as indicated in the UA sidebar. Custom Lineage has nothing to do with less stereotypical races, it's explicitly meant for characters that are NOT members of a conventional race.
Want to start playing but don't have anyone to play with? You can try these options: [link].
No, that's what I'm saying it's not. Custom Linage is not an attempt at breaking away from race and culture being intertwined. It's a formalized option for creating a character from a unique lineage instead of one of the established races. Nothing more. If you want to be an elf raised by dwarves, CL is not supposed to be the way to handle that. The way to handle that was to houserule something with the DM, the way forward to handle that may be something alluded to in the UA sidebar; we'll see how that shakes out in practice. But CL was never meant to create your own variations on existing races, it was meant to create something other than a member of those races. And a character that is not a member of a race, shouldn't automatically count as a member of that race - that's just common sense.
Want to start playing but don't have anyone to play with? You can try these options: [link].
That's a bit of a misrepresentation of "what Tasha's actually says".
What Tasha's actually says after "The following options step outside those assumptions to pave the way for truly unique characters" is a list of options regarding ASIs, languages, proficiencies and personality. Then, in a completely separate sidebar, in a box in a different background colour than than the rest of the page, it shows Custom Lineage.
Want to start playing but don't have anyone to play with? You can try these options: [link].
Custom Lineage can, as written, be used for entirely-custom stuff (animated dolls and such), super micromanaged bloodline stuff ("my grandparents were a gnome, a human, a half-elf, and a magical construct"), or even "I want to say I'm a deep gnome, but use Shadow Touched instead of the normal deep gnome abilities." All Crawford's ruling is stating (as was pretty obvious before, just not explicit) is that Custom Lineage does not, by default, meet the prerequisites for things like the racial feats.
Given that the racial feats and Custom Lineage were from entirely different books (Xanathar's and Tasha's), it's not so surprising that this needed a clarification.
Also, it's pretty clear that some of the Tasha's feats (none of which are racial feats) look like redesigned non-racial versions of some of the Xanathar's feats. Compare Fey Touched to Fey Teleportation, for example.
Lastly, if the DM wants to waive the race requirements for Xanathar's racial feats (for Custom Lineage, or whatever really), they can. There's even a switch for it in dndbeyond. Were I running a campaign (I'm not), I would do this. I think the next campaign I start in will do this, because the DM is thinking along similar lines. You (the proverbial 'you') do not have to, as per Crawford's ruling.
And that natural progression is "My Halfling was raised by Protector Aasimar so I can fly once a day, have Darkvision, Resistance to Necrotic and Radiant damage. The entire process is laughable, it was not so tragic. The abomination that shall not be named will never, ever be at my table. No, that is not entirely true. It might be, with entire sections of the book pages torn out. But it will be increasingly difficult to scream into the hurricane as this poison spreads across more and more reprints and new publications.
You're allowed whatever your DM signs off on.
As for how well it works out, I'm not in favour of any of Tasha's options myself - not CL, not the rest of it. But I'm not arguing pros or cons here, I just pointed out what CL is (or is not) meant to be used for.
Want to start playing but don't have anyone to play with? You can try these options: [link].
Okay - but your CL elf doesn't get Trance now does it? D&D has brought up that they are moving away from things like tying proficiency to race and making it cultural. However some things are not going to be removed imo. Trance is an inherent thing for elves, not something that can be "learned" via culture.
CL allows you to make a unique chraracter that fits what you want it to be, and if a DM allows you to take a feat fine. But they have the other options to also customize races. So, if you want a racial feat but want to be using CL than in my opinion, unless you really explain to me why you are simply gaming the system Vs really truly wanting an elf.
Awesome, thanks!
She/Her Player and Dungeon Master
Erm... Tasha's allows your Elf to swap languages or proficiencies while staying, for all intents and purposes, an Elf. You'd be using the options under Customizing Your Origin that don't change your nominal race, just as intended, and not the Custom Lineage option which would change your nominal race, also just as intended. What's the issue, precisely?
Want to start playing but don't have anyone to play with? You can try these options: [link].
That seems like an argument in favor of what you just said was silly.
It's a lot easier to min-max customizing an existing race than the custom linage.
As it is, to what degree min-maxing is a problem is highly subjective. In many groups it's an unwritten rule to do so. Haven't we all experienced players and groups who just can't seem to get their head around not min-maxing? If the consensus at your table is in favor, go ahead. If the consensus isn't, don't. Neither one is wrong. It's one of the things I'd advise people talk about at their session 0.
It's the same with race customization or how to use the custom linage. Personally, I've only ever used the custom linage to create variants of existing races, but I'd totally allow its use for unique beings. Mechanically it's nearly a human, so there's no mechanical balance issue.
I'm not trying to disagree with your general point, just point this out: Custom Lineage is, currently, the only RAW way to use standard-array/point-buy and get an 18 at level 1. And the same book added a few quite-nice half feats that facilitate that.
I don't think that's a mechanical balance issue, but I'm sure there are plenty of people with that knee-jerk reaction.
What? No. He's saying that if you choose the custom lineage you forsake being part of an established race. Swapping languages is one of the "customize your origins" options, it's not part of the custom lineage mechanic.
CUSTOM LINEAGE
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).
Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
Ability Score Increase. One ability score of your choice increases by 2.
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.
That's custom lineage. Nothing else. There's no swapping languages in there (you don't start with a language to swap to begin with if you create a custom lineage)
Want to start playing but don't have anyone to play with? You can try these options: [link].
He is speaking only about Custom Lineage and nothing more.
She/Her Player and Dungeon Master
You are conflating two things.
If a dwarf swaps some dwarven proficiency for another, they are still a dwarf, because they are just exercising the "customize your origin" rules. Crawford's tweet is, solely, about the Custom Lineage race, and how it (by RAW) does not "count" for fulfilling racial prerequisites. (I suppose it could count, if some feat specified "Custom Lineage" as a prerequisite, but no feat has done that.)
Note, it's very understandable to be confused by this, because the writers are being a little lax with their terminology. The recent UA on gothic lineages re-uses the word "lineage" in yet-a-third system (one that is not described in full, I think, that is surrounded by lots of guesswork).