Most nonsensical ban you've played under

[Killer Angel]

But aren't those edible thus falling under the allowed items?

and they cost nothing.
...hence the "nonsensical ban".

[SickBritKid]

Yeah, he had this major beef with the Ranger because according to him, the first time he went to play D&D the description of the game was that it was "high power LotR". So like every fanboy, he went straight ahead for the Human Ranger and was met with nothing but disappointment. Spells? Animal Companion? Two choices of Combat Style, neither of which are like Aragorn's?

He told the story like you would tell a sad one, but the entire table was just laughing by the end of his tale.

Honestly, considering the excellent BAB that Rangers have, you could easily RP Aragorn by going down the Archery path of Combat Styles and carrying a Bastard Sword for close-range fighting.

Aside from the spells and Animal Companion, the Ranger has a lot of things in common with a Dunedain Ranger from LotR: excellent knowledge of the wilderness and various fauna, specialization in fighting against certain foes(Favored Enemy), and automatically being able to Track all fit really well.

[Brookshw]

I had a DM back in High School that banned bonus feats, BAB, and Paladins. Her explanations for each of these respectively are: Bonus feats are a crutch and you guys need to earn anything bonus, I just don't like it and don't think it represents leveling realistically enough, and I don't want my players playing LG because then nobody has any fun. She was just awful.

I'm surprised she didn't just run an earlier edition.

[KillianHawkeye]

I had a DM back in High School that banned ... BAB

How in the heck can somebody ban BAB??? That's like an integral part of the d20 system!!

I mean, what does that even mean??

extra confused faces for emphasis

[bjoern]

I had a DM back in High School that banned bonus feats, BAB, and Paladins. Her explanations for each of these respectively are: Bonus feats are a crutch and you guys need to earn anything bonus, I just don't like it and don't think it represents leveling realistically enough, and I don't want my players playing LG because then nobody has any fun. She was just awful.

We discourage players playing a paladin because its kind of like a third wheel to the party. If a player does something stupid or unrighteous, then the paladin is forced to do justice to him or become fallen. It can derail a story unless the story is built around a holy quest or something like that.

[bekeleven]

and they cost nothing.
...hence the "nonsensical ban".

To fulfill your vow, you must not own or use any material possessions, with the following exceptions: You may carry and use ordinary (neither magic nor masterwork) simple weapons, usually just a quarterstaff that serves as a walking stick. You may wear simple clothes (usually just a homespun robe, possibly also including a hat and sandals) with no magical properties. You may carry enough food to sustain you for one day in a simple (nonmagic) sack or bag.

I guess this gets into RAI, but I don't think poisonous food should count under food that sustains you. The trick is you carry enough food to sustain you, so maybe if you carry a half-day of food and a half-day of poison you're still good...

[Tvtyrant]

How in the heck can somebody ban BAB??? That's like an integral part of the d20 system!!

I mean, what does that even mean??

extra confused faces for emphasis

5E is going with a similar concept right now. You would just drop everything's AC by the corespondent BaB to their CR. Balor's with ACs of 17, 15 for a mature adult gold dragon, etc.

[Reshy]

One DM banned theability for the Wizard to leave spell slots 'empty' for preparation later or using Uncanny Forethought. At first he tried to tell me that the book said you had to prepare all your spell slots at the beginning of the day, but I showed him he was full of **** and he said it's a house rule then.

[Ettina]

According to wikipedia:

"The term was applied originally to young gamers by older players, presumably because the connotation of being short and ridiculous (like the Munchkins in the book and film The Wizard of Oz) made it an apt label for the childish gamers it was applied to. However, before long it came to refer to anyone who engaged in a juvenile gaming style no matter their height, age or experience."

Really? I was told it came from halfling being a common race choice for players like that. Apparently they liked the bonus AC and such that comes from being small.

[Chronos]

The term "munchkin" far predates halflings being a useful race for anything but a thief.

And it should be noted that "munchkin" is not the same thing as "power-gamer" or "optimizer". A munchkin tries to be a power-gamer, but doesn't necessarily succeed. More to the point is the motivation: A munchkin tries to "win D&D" at all costs, whereas a power gamer might (or might not) be trying to make the game more fun for everyone.

As an illustration, munchkins are likely to take the Monkey Grip feat, or Vow of Poverty, because they're so unbalancingly overpowered. They aren't, of course, but many munchkins think so. And them being overpowered is a reason to take them, not a reason not to take them.

[Jormengand]

One DM banned theability for the Wizard to leave spell slots 'empty' for preparation later or using Uncanny Forethought. At first he tried to tell me that the book said you had to prepare all your spell slots at the beginning of the day, but I showed him he was full of **** and he said it's a house rule then.

Banning their ability to do that makes sense, even if the reasoning is a bit odd.

[Chronos]

Oh, and

Quoth Tvtyrant:

5E is going with a similar concept right now. You would just drop everything's AC by the corespondent BaB to their CR. Balor's with ACs of 17, 15 for a mature adult gold dragon, etc.

Does this mean that 5e is continuing the idiocy from 4e of assuming that all encounters will always be level-appropriate? Yeah, a first-level party shouldn't be fighting a mature adult dragon, but if they're idiotic enough to do so anyway, they should be missing on everything but a natural 20.

[Vhaidara]

Oh, and

Does this mean that 5e is continuing the idiocy from 4e of assuming that all encounters will always be level-appropriate? Yeah, a first-level party shouldn't be fighting a mature adult dragon, but if they're idiotic enough to do so anyway, they should be missing on everything but a natural 20.

Oh lord, I saw one of the playtest files. Asmodeus has AC 17.

[ryu]

Oh lord, I saw one of the playtest files. Asmodeus has AC 17.

So help me if he doesn't have ranged protection I will find a way to spontaneously bring forth hundred and hundreds of commoners with bows.

[Vhaidara]

So help me if he doesn't have ranged protection I will find a way to spontaneously bring forth hundred and hundreds of commoners with bows.

IIRC, he only takes half damage unless your weapon is good and silver.

So yeah. Fire away.

[ryu]

IIRC, he only takes half damage unless your weapon is good and silver.

So yeah. Fire away.

My word.... The folly is real. The folly is so REAL!

[Anlashok]

Oh, and

Does this mean that 5e is continuing the idiocy from 4e of assuming that all encounters will always be level-appropriate? Yeah, a first-level party shouldn't be fighting a mature adult dragon, but if they're idiotic enough to do so anyway, they should be missing on everything but a natural 20.

That's not really a 4e thing. The level appropriate workday is an invention of third ed.

What 5e is going for is a "Down to earth" world where a level 1 fighter isn't a nonthreat to a level 20 fighter because scaling is miniscule and magic is rare (unless you're a wizard then you get to ignore most of that).

[Seffbasilisk]

The first game I played, the DM banned Sneak Attacks with any weapon except a dagger.

After talking me into playing a Barbarian/Rogue because the Uncanny Dodge would stack, and totally being into my character forswearing all weapons save axes .

[Forum Explorer]

I saw a dm that ban bard's cute wound line spell because he think arcane magic shell not get healing spells..

Was it a Dragonlance campaign? Because that's actually part of the setting. He might just be a fan in that case.

I've had a GM ban feats.

Like. The entire concept. From everything that wasn't a Fighter.

His reasoning was that since fighter bonus feats were a Fighter's only class features, no one and nothing else should have feats AT ALL.

It was a....interesting game to say the least?

That actually sounds kinda fun. Though I speak from the experience of having a friend take over 3 sessions to select all of their feats. (They never did finish selecting their spells either)

[jaydubs]

Wait. Didn't I read somewhere that "no feats" is how 5th edition is set up to work?

[Vhaidara]

Wait. Didn't I read somewhere that "no feats" is how 5th edition is set up to work?

You can take feats or ability score increases. Which sounds worse than it is, but feats are better, and you can't raise a stat above 20. Oh, and everyone pays with elite array.

[Anlashok]

You can take feats or ability score increases. Which sounds worse than it is, but feats are better, and you can't raise a stat above 20. Oh, and everyone pays with elite array.

Basically it's a game for people who thought 4e had too much character customization.

And for people who don't like the idea of characters becoming exceptionally powerful superhuman paragons of their discipline (except wizards, they're exempt).

[TiaC]

You can take feats or ability score increases. Which sounds worse than it is, but feats are better, and you can't raise a stat above 20. Oh, and everyone pays with elite array.

Except that ability increases are the only scaling, so give up too many and you're in trouble.

[Leviting]

IIRC, he only takes half damage unless your weapon is good and silver.

So yeah. Fire away.

so just have twice as many commoners... He's taking damage either way.

[Reltzik]

I thought it was nonsensical at the time when I joined the gaming group.

Acid. Acid was banned.

All acid effects. All acid energy types. All acid breath weapons. All acid spells. Acid psionic powers. Alchemical acid. All of it. Banned.

Then they realized it was affecting game balance, so they allowed all of it back in. Except it was now required to be renamed "headache juice". So black dragons breathed headache juice. Headache juice didn't melt flesh. It just gave you a headache. But it still, for balance purposes, worked on brainless, headless things like, say, treasure chest hinges. By giving the hinges headaches.

.....

Turns out one of the core players in the group had a phobia regarding chemical burns. She vividly remembers watching Who Framed Roger Rabbit as a very young girl, and had recurring nightmares about the cute little shoe being lowered screaming into the Dip.

.... er, I'm calling 1-decade rule on movie spoilers.

[Anlashok]

I had a DM ban everything but the "key four" classes and races: Elf, Dwarf, Human, Halfing ... Fighter, Rogue, Wizard, Cleric and everything but SRD materials.

After all, that lets you form the iconic party and makes sure you can't play any of those super munchkiny broken races or classes like Drow or Tieflings or Warlocks or Spellthieves.

It ended up being beneficial though, as one Elven Domain Generalist later he decided to give the other splatbooks he owned another look.

[jaydubs]

I thought it was nonsensical at the time when I joined the gaming group.

Acid. Acid was banned.

All acid effects. All acid energy types. All acid breath weapons. All acid spells. Acid psionic powers. Alchemical acid. All of it. Banned.

Then they realized it was affecting game balance, so they allowed all of it back in. Except it was now required to be renamed "headache juice". So black dragons breathed headache juice. Headache juice didn't melt flesh. It just gave you a headache. But it still, for balance purposes, worked on brainless, headless things like, say, treasure chest hinges. By giving the hinges headaches.

.....

Turns out one of the core players in the group had a phobia regarding chemical burns. She vividly remembers watching Who Framed Roger Rabbit as a very young girl, and had recurring nightmares about the cute little shoe being lowered screaming into the Dip.

.... er, I'm calling 1-decade rule on movie spoilers.

"Headache juice" is still lol worthy. They could have at least tried to come up with some kind of alternate damage. Radiation maybe. Crystals, earth, void, etc.

[SiuiS]

DM that effectively banned darkvision (if you use darkvision, you are blinded in any place lighter than total darkness. Darkvision costs a standard action to activate and to deactivate).

Other DM banned teleport effects, because he had a tendency to trap high leveled spellcasters (thats us) to desolate places. He promised a deep storytelling experience, whereas the whole campaign was nothing more than random encounters and descriptions of boring places.

Man, yeah. I had a DM ban a ring of the darkhidden in an under dark campaign because it was too OP, so I just got permanent greater invisibility.

Not a DM of mine, but a friend told me some gems

1) The Cure line of spells was nerfed to d4's just because it was "too much OP"

2) Same DM banned Resurrection line. Motivation? "Because only Jesus Christ come back in life"

Pfff.

What am I, chopped liver?

I'm curious as to how they did that as Shadowcraft Mage can only emulate Wiz/Sorc Spells.

Sorcerer can learn any spell, this making it a sorcerer spell.

I mean... mistletoe is poisonous.

Druids are immune to that kind of poison.

We discourage players playing a paladin because its kind of like a third wheel to the party. If a player does something stupid or unrighteous, then the paladin is forced to do justice to him or become fallen. It can derail a story unless the story is built around a holy quest or something like that.

No, that's wrong. Neither stupidity nor lack of righteousness requires a paladin to act, and a paladin only falls for intentional evil themselves.

So help me if he doesn't have ranged protection I will find a way to spontaneously bring forth hundred and hundreds of commoners with bows.

Congratulations, you've just had te same conversation we did six months ago!

Basically it's a game for people who thought 4e had too much character customization.

It's available for free, so less rumor mongering and more just waitif for people to read it and come to to heir own conclusions, please. If if is indeed bad, they won't need you to tell them. Who knows? Maybe you've missed some gems?

[georgie_leech]

Congratulations, you've just had te same conversation we did six months ago!

I'm more of a fan of the ludicrous Break DC's (unless they fixed those). All are safe behind the mighty Iron Door!

[Reshy]

Banning their ability to do that makes sense, even if the reasoning is a bit odd.

It's specifically mentioned in the rules of the game that they can do that. How does it make sense?