Amrûnril
Adventurer
Something about creating custom backgrounds as the default method just doesn’t sit right with me. Life is about trade-offs. One background might have something you really want, but also something you don’t want. Another background might get rid of the thing you didn’t want from the first background, but doesn’t have the thing you did want. This makes for a significant decision point for the player: which option is more important for my character.
I understand sometimes a player might have a specific design in mind for their character, but there isn’t an existing background that fits the theme. That’s a perfectly valid reason for creating a custom background. But when people are just cherry-picking all the items that they want every time they create a new character, there’s no longer a give-and-take; it all becomes just take. You can’t always get everything you want; sometimes you need to make compromises. But when you CAN get everything you want, that cheapens the decision-making process and renders each choice less meaningful.
But each of the elements is a trade-off in and of itself. Do you want your character to be proficient in Stealth or in Perception? Do you want to increase their Dexterity or their Constitution? Should they speak Dwarvish or Halfling? Those choices are more interesting if you can consider them in their own right rather than being limited to predetermined (and somewhat arbitrary) combinations.