What don't you allow into your game?

[Barbarian Horde]

This includes items, spells, feats, etc. Anything you can think of no matter what you just don't want anything to do with it in game.

Examples
Chaos Shuffle
Warhulk/hulking hurler combo
Chaotic Crusader that takes Aura of Chaos
Polymorph

[BWR]

Too much to list in one go, and barred stuff varies depending on the game I'm runnin.
ToB/PoW is always off the table, as is any stupid cheat like Pun-pun or resetting Wish traps. Trying to game the system in general is disallowed, and my players are smart enough to not try or to take 'no' for an answer. Should anyone be foolish enough try something like a Candle of Invocation despite my warnings (so far no one has because I play with sensible people) Bad Things will happen.

[sleepyphoenixx]

Chaos Shuffle definitely. That's strictly TO and has no place in an actual game.
Circle Magic. Too powerful.
Any kind of infinite spells shenanigans. Should be self-explaining.
No infinite combos of any kind. See above.
Ice Assassin. I don't think i've ever seen a non-cheesy use of this spell.
Free Wish by any means.
Thrallherds and Leadership. You get one character, not two. And the followers just slow down gameplay.
No more than 3 permanent minions for anyone (animal companions, familiars, undead, etc.) if they're used in combat - out of combat is fine if it's not abused. This is mainly intended to limit necromancers.
Linked Power. Psionics already has more than enough action economy abusers without it.

[Telonius]

Things I don't allow:
Disrespect to other players or the DM
R-rated material (purely practical concern, my daughter is 6 and watches the game)
Natural Spell
Nightsticks, plural
Craft Contingent Spells
Multiclass XP penalties
Fumbles tables
Infinite/arbitrarily high loops
Chaos shuffle
Taint mechanics
Resetting traps
Dust of Sneezing and Choking

Things I do allow:
Pun-Pun (he's already ascended)
Third-party and homebrew material (subject to approval)

[Foivos]

Incantrix
Polymorph/Alter Self abuse
Stacking Nightsticks (which I personally see as RAW)
all infinite loops
Chaos Shuffle
Something to do with size increases as they are problematic (being exponential). (Idea: spherical colossal rocks only weight enough to deal ~312 damage because of density, which the build does not take into account. Iron deals ~3 times as much. Throw players in tight dungeons and this damage diminishes very quickly)


I also have a rule that each character can only use up to his/her maximum wealth per level worth of magical items per day (min 5k). Spell component costs count towards that, as does (xp cost)*25. So Wish is equivalent of using 125k gold in a day, which is (somewhat) significant at all levels. This also means that you can't have really low lvl NPCs using really expensive items.

[Faily]

Most things fall under "ask first" and "don't abuse". A lot of things on the lists here so far are stuff I would allow, given that the players don't go off the rails and abuse things. And as I often remind them, if they want to abuse things, so can the enemy.

Stuff like resetting Wish-traps and such are off the table.

[Afgncaap5]

I'm really weird about stuff like this, because most ludicrous power optimization tricks technically exist in my game world, but only as obscure effects that have somehow gotten around my game world's magical "Law of Diminishing Returns." Case in point, the d2 Crusader isn't allowed... unless you're a member of a very specific brotherhood of gnomes, kobolds, and halflings who wears a very particular amulet of the ability that gets the d2 crusader trick to work (can't recall the name), and has the appropriate levels in Cleric to represent the "zen" of this order's beliefs. And frankly, even with Cleric levels, most PCs won't fit the zen even if they have the Cleric levels due to the standard motivations of adventurers (though there are, of course, exceptions.)

The upshot is that I can disallow and allow things for story purposes... it's fun to have the evil member of the brotherhood who stole the amulet believing it would grant him power slowly growing more furious as his punches, while technically more powerful than normal, just aren't vaporizing things like he thinks they should, for instance. Having said that, just off the top of my head...

1) I don't allow the Chaos Shuffle because, well, ignoring how many ridiculous options it opens up, I don't want to explain to players what effect this has on their psyche and alignment and how I expect it to affect roleplaying, and only one or two of my players are up for that, I think, most only looking at it as a way to quickly get a desired mechanical result. I might be persuaded to allow it for certain players in certain situations, but I've so rarely had players of high enough level that it's not really been an issue before.

2) d2 Crusader, as stated above.

3) For a single player to be more than three "rare" classes in a single game if their characters die or if they retire a character. This is more for my own sanity, I admit, but it *does* stretch believeability when the party can run into six or seven swordsages in a given month, all from different secluded and secretive orders.

4) "Can't I just say in my backstory that I hired a wizard to create an alternate dimension of variable time-rules to craft an item out of adamantine?!" No. No, that's when you meet astral pirates who specifically look for rich and unprotected wizards who think they're safe from harm in their brand new dimensions, and you'll have to play that out in real time while the rest of the adventure is on hold.

4b) Adamantium: I like it in small doses, but players being able to outfit themselves with lots of it at character creation is something I try to limit. Not that a Fighter or Paladin shouldn't be able to have a mace or suit of armor made out of it, and not that the Rogue shouldn't have an emergency dagger-that-can-cut-almost-anything, but rare and exotic materials are, well... rare and exotic. Most adamantium only shows up when an asteroid hits the world, so it's hard to have a huge stockpile of it that dwarves are ready and eager to make for you.

5) "Ice Assassins Of An Aleax Of Myself": Ah-hahahaha, no. No, no. Players don't want this in my games. You can't make an ice assassin out of something that doesn't exist yet since you need a portion of the creature you're making the assassin out of, and an aleax of yourself won't exist until you make some god angry enough that they send one for you. Creating one means that you've apparently already infuriated a god beyond what a typical evil wizard or demon does (something that most players won't include in their backstory or be willing to roleplay), and that you're willing to lure the creature to you so that you can acquire a piece of it. My interpretation of the Singular Enemy ability means you can't even have a proxy sneak up on one to clip a bit of its hair (this is, admittedly, up for interpretation as to whether or not it "harms" or "hinders" it, but I feel it's valid.) Also, you need to get this piece of it without killing it since killing it will cause it and its equipment to vanish. Since there's already an angry god in play, a player who gets an Aleax to exist, personally gets a piece of it without killing it, takes the time to finish constructing an ice sculpture while the Aleax is already alive, and then animates it, the player had better be *really* sure that there won't be divine interference that makes this living invincible statue just decide to attack the player anyway since deific magic has a way of trumping such things. This isn't "forbidden" in my games so much as it's a case of wondering how much rope to allow players to hang themselves with. Having said that, a sufficiently powerful wizard's player might earn a single Ice Assassin Aleax of themselves as a prize for good roleplaying, but a player's almost certainly not going to be getting one of their own through use of the rules about ice assassins and aleaxes as written.

[Barbarian Horde]

I've seen a lot of Dungeon Masters completely opposed to dragon magazine and putting a ban band-aid over the whole product.

[Troacctid]

I don't allow spells above 6th level. High-level spells are blatantly overpowered, and I prefer the game without them. In my games, they're considered epic magic and require the Epic Spellcasting feat—and since I don't run epic campaigns, that makes them the sole domain of NPCs and artifacts.

I don't allow level adjustments greater than +1 because they are a trap, and in the rare cases where they're not a trap, it's because they're something like the Shadow template with no business being on a player character.

I actually do not ban Polymorph, but I do restrict it (and similar effects) to creatures that are in the SRD. This has the threefold benefit of bringing it down to a more reasonable power level, making it MUCH easier to reference, and cutting down dramatically on the homework players have to do to optimize it.

I generally exclude Dragon Magazine material from my games because of how difficult it is to reference. But I've recently acquired a stack of back issues, and I'm starting to read through them, so I might change that rule, maybe, I dunno.

It's not a hard ban, but it would take convincing in order for me to approve an evil PC. It's very easy for an evil character to conflict with the campaign objective or with the rest of the party.

I ban the following feats: Epic Toughness (because outlier HP totals make balanced encounter design impossible), Greenbound Summoning (overpowered), Item Familiar (overpowered), Leadership (overpowered and a pain in the neck to deal with), Linked Power (overpowered...or should I say linked powered? ...No, nothing? Okay.), Persistent Spell (overpowered), and Precocious Apprentice (because I'd rather my players pick an early entry trick that actually works).

Craft Contingent Spells

Honestly, I think contingent spells are fine. They're consumable and fairly expensive to use on a regular basis, and feat slots at that level have a high opportunity cost.

4b) Adamantium: I like it in small doses, but players being able to outfit themselves with lots of it at character creation is something I try to limit. Not that a Fighter or Paladin shouldn't be able to have a mace or suit of armor made out of it, and not that the Rogue shouldn't have an emergency dagger-that-can-cut-almost-anything, but rare and exotic materials are, well... rare and exotic. Most adamantium only shows up when an asteroid hits the world, so it's hard to have a huge stockpile of it that dwarves are ready and eager to make for you.

Well yeah, adamantine is rare, but that's reflected in its cost. You're paying a pretty hefty premium for it. That alone should prevent a player from loading up with adamantine everything at character creation, right?

[Afgncaap5]

Well yeah, adamantine is rare, but that's reflected in its cost. You're paying a pretty hefty premium for it. That alone should prevent a player from loading up with adamantine everything at character creation, right?

Oh, generally, yes. And like I said, I'm okay with it being available for purchase for those with the cash required. But if a player's entire backstory involves communities that frankly wouldn't have the resources and every single piece of equipment is outfitted with it, then there are some difficulties.

[Barbarian Horde]

With that in mind, I too don't allow for things similarly in my worlds. There is no magical Walmart. That is a big NO

[ngilop]

Guns and psionics are the two biggest "No's" and yes, guns also include steampunk nonsense and trying to use real rorld physics to try to 'cheat' at D&D.

No factotums


No 'weird' races.. like cat girls and things I feel are not standard fantasy faire (if we are playing in my game world and not published one


Other than those 2, I try to keep a gentlemen's agreement (like this http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showt...t-more-precise)

I expect my player's to behave and not be massive jerks, remember that this is a game that you are supposed to have a good time with friends with.. not bust out some crazy tippy-esque nigh infinite damage shenanigans. No that tippy does it, but I just relate insane levels of optimization with Tippy.

[Beheld]

I play with enough complete system rewrite houserules (durations, metamagic, wealth, ect.) that a lot of things aren't problems. But I think the vast majority of the things that can't be rewritten into something that isn't a problem amounts to:

Minionmancy is banned as it related to everyday adventuring. Animate Dead, Planar Binding, Dominate, Charm + Diplomacy, Just Diplomacy, Leadership, Simulcram, Ice Assassin, ect. All the things that let you bring stuff into combat and use it in combat is just not okay. Animate Dead for a mount you ride around is fine, Druid's AC is fine, but basically, aside from that, just no.

5) "Ice Assassins Of An Aleax Of Myself": Ah-hahahaha, no. No, no. Players don't want this in my games. You can't make an ice assassin out of something that doesn't exist yet since you need a portion of the creature you're making the assassin out of, and an aleax of yourself won't exist until you make some god angry enough that they send one for you. Creating one means that you've apparently already infuriated a god beyond what a typical evil wizard or demon does (something that most players won't include in their backstory or be willing to roleplay), and that you're willing to lure the creature to you so that you can acquire a piece of it. My interpretation of the Singular Enemy ability means you can't even have a proxy sneak up on one to clip a bit of its hair (this is, admittedly, up for interpretation as to whether or not it "harms" or "hinders" it, but I feel it's valid.) Also, you need to get this piece of it without killing it since killing it will cause it and its equipment to vanish. Since there's already an angry god in play, a player who gets an Aleax to exist, personally gets a piece of it without killing it, takes the time to finish constructing an ice sculpture while the Aleax is already alive, and then animates it, the player had better be *really* sure that there won't be divine interference that makes this living invincible statue just decide to attack the player anyway since deific magic has a way of trumping such things. This isn't "forbidden" in my games so much as it's a case of wondering how much rope to allow players to hang themselves with. Having said that, a sufficiently powerful wizard's player might earn a single Ice Assassin Aleax of themselves as a prize for good roleplaying, but a player's almost certainly not going to be getting one of their own through use of the rules about ice assassins and aleaxes as written.

You know spell like abilities exist right?

[Malroth]

Nightstick Stacking
Spell to Power Erudite
Arcane Swordsage
Magic items over 25,000 obtained via Wish
Astral Seed granting permanent alternate forms
Sarrukh.
Aleaxi.
Truenaming.

[Coidzor]

Most forms of infinite loop are right out.

[Âmesang]

Troll Blooded. I like the idea of regional feats, but WORLD OF GREYHAWK'S^® Troll Blooded is just a bag of holding (Type IV) full of "NO."

I've seen a lot of Dungeon Masters completely opposed to dragon magazine and putting a ban band-aid over the whole product.

Whether DRAGON/DUNGEON Magazine or 3.0, I've never been a big fan of "blanket bans," at least not when there's a whole slew of fun mundane items still to be had. I can understand the frustration for not having a proper reference, though, which is why I'm not too big on homebrew unless I at least have some sort of written form of it.

[Stormbow]

I run 3.5E games in what I consider a very boring, old school way, with no prestige classes and I've virtually never used or allowed Psionics. (As for the Psionics, I think it makes the system so much cooler to restrict it entirely to Mindflayers, giving them an exceptionally cool and unique aspect of their being.)

I really haven't run into much that has attempted to ruin a game, so I haven't really had to rule out anything else. "DM has the final word.", of course.

[ekarney]

Any sort of TO-esque abuse which is fairly common sense.

Any system I haven't actually bothered looking into yet (Currently just Incarnum and ToB)
Eberron. I hate Eberron, Artificer's being the exception to that ban.

[Barbarian Horde]

Anyone have a problem with people trying to model their character's after a anime character? I know I see a lot of homebrew content for anime races/classes. I can't... I just can't do it. I like homebrew sometimes, but that's a big no for me if it's themed after an anime.

[Necromancy]

1) Can we not call it "adamantium"
2) leadership is fine if you agree cohorts stay home. They make great item crafters though.
3) psionics and guns are most definitely out.
4) furries, furry characters, pedos, anything of that nature is frickin out. Yes it has come up...

[Afgncaap5]

Any sort of TO-esque abuse which is fairly common sense.

Any system I haven't actually bothered looking into yet (Currently just Incarnum and ToB)
Eberron. I hate Eberron, Artificer's being the exception to that ban.

Do you hate Eberron's options for mechanical reasons, or flavor reasons? Or both? Or, uh... or something else entirely?

[Inevitability]

Anything not on the same level as the other players.

You all want to play optimized tier 1's, fine with me. I'll go write up a story about how you need to kill some gods.

You want to play a dragonwrought kobold druid/wizard/arcane hierophant/mystic theurge with two swindlespitters (to be swapped out for fleshrakers later) while the others are playing a paladin, a ranger and a healbot cleric? (actually had a player suggest this) Go build something appropriate.

[rrwoods]

Incantatrix
Initiate of the Sevenfold Veil
Leadership

These are the only things "explicitly" banned in my game. DCFS and other combos simply don't come up because the players aren't looking for them. Most players in my groups don't even know what embrace the dark chaos is at all, for example.

EDIT: and if they did, I'd solve the problem with errata to the spell, not banning the combo. (Is replacing one actually selected feat powerful? Yeah. But I don't think it's overpowered at spell level 8 unless you're doing racial feat cheese.)

[ekarney]

Do you hate Eberron's options for mechanical reasons, or flavor reasons? Or both? Or, uh... or something else entirely?

My opinions on eberron:


Pros:
Artificers
Mechanical

Cons:
It seems the whole "Everyone except the players is level 3 at highest save for a handful of people" is heavily enforced. But that's easily negated.
Flavour, honestly I find the flavour very WoWish I guess, I've played games in it, I've read through a few of the splatbooks, I just find it all very irritating presumeably since it doesn't have the 20-30 years of development and as such ideas that FR has. I dunno, Eberron's one of those things that I just don't like the flavour of.

[Troacctid]

Nightsticks, plural

Incantrix
Stacking Nightsticks (which I personally see as RAW)

Nightstick Stacking

Incantatrix

Are these really a problem if you ban Persistent Spell? Without DMM: Persist, nightstick stacking seems unimpressive, and while I realize Incantatrix does some good stuff for a mailman, that takes a ton of investment and doesn't come online until very late in the game.

Spell to Power Erudite

I don't see what's overpowered about this one. You gain some extra spells off other lists, but you have to pay XP for them, you can't cast any all-day buffs, and most of your utility spells are only really usable during downtime. It's basically like an artificer, except instead of getting everything two levels earlier, you get everything two levels later. I bet you could allow it and nobody would even want to play it over a regular psion.

I mean, the ACF is clearly better than what it replaces, so in that sense, it's unbalanced, but by that logic you'd also ban educated wilder and ectopic ally divine mind. Seems unnecessary.

[tiercel]

https://youtube.com/watch?v=WO23WBji_Z0

Basically, this.

In practice, I apply the Anthropic Principle to D&D: any build, spell, combo or technique that would break the world (make the campaign world unable to exist in its current form) in the hands of an already-higher-level NPC/BBEG is out, less by overt banhammer and more by virtue of my laying out to my players what it is likely to mean for the world/game if it is allowed.

[Malroth]

I disallow nightstick stacking because I EXPECT DMM persist and if they want enough turning attempts for more than one spell they're going to have to sink feats into it.

I don't like spell to power Erudite because They can pull off all the psion Infinite PP tricks and apply it to all the spells from all the classes at the same time.

[NapazTrix]

I normally allow 1 Summon + 1 Companion + 1 Mount + 1 Cohort, if you use a new summon spell the ones from the previous go home and you pull out some new ones.
Book of Erotic Fantasies, because there are other games/sites for that kind of thing and I don't really want to RP that. Relationships and sex in D&D are fine, but I do try to speed it up, the lads don't need much help in that area though ;)

Most of the time I ban Druid, though I give reasoning due to the world and setting, I prefer to control the Gods in my games, not have my PC's play gods.
Looping effects/infinite effects besides Permanency. You can work out persistent spell for 24 hour effects.

Character Knowledge over Player Knowledge, if a character just says "This enemy is weak to fire, or immune to poison" without any sort of roll, or class association, I will slap them on the head and say no.

I do allow players to fight each other, but they won't get exp unless they want to fight to the death and it is an actual battle not a spar.
If your character dies, you will be kept to the same ruling that players had at session 1, for LA, items etc, besides Level and Wealth. I normally give them less then max gold, since they should be getting that during the game, not from mysterious inheritance.

If you make a roll, enact an action, move your token for a view you can't go back, that has happened and you need to live with it.

I don't allow rolls against other party members, for example diplomacy, it's up to the role-play of the characters if they believe each other. They can only roll for thievery or attacking, however the rest of the party get spots (Though I roll them to keep the mystery).

There is no 1 person who speaks for the party, if a "leader" says something, then a character does something else then it's down to that individual what happens to them. There are some acceptions to that ruling, but for the majority every character is an individual trying to work to a common goal in their own way.


Besides those specifics, if it's overpowered I will talk to the player to work around it and ground him to the party. If not I either take away their power or their ability to continue playing the game. This is a group game, not a single-player adventure.

[Telonius]

I disallow nightstick stacking because I EXPECT DMM persist and if they want enough turning attempts for more than one spell they're going to have to sink feats into it.

That's about half of it for me as well. The other half is that it just seems cheesy to try to twist stacking rules like that. There are lots of things you can do with Turn attempts besides just DMM Persist. Multiple nightsticks takes what's supposed to be a pretty limited daily resource and makes all of those options a lot stronger, for a price that's way too low.

[Zale]

D&D 3.5

I mean this in complete seriousness. While it's the first edition I was able to play, and it holds a special place in my heart, you could not force me at knife-point to run a game with it.

This thread alone gives you a plethora of reasons. Running 3.5 in a way that would be satisfying for me and my play group would require such overarching changes that I would be better off making my own game based on the OGL.