D&D 5E Group Rule Deal-Breakers

[Alexemplar]

Like many others, I'm also not really interested in loads of racial/class restrictions that generally just reflect the DM's personal pet peeves or are grounded in their (often inconsistent) understanding of what's more realistic or scientifically/historically accurate. I actually don't mind loads of houserules or really complicated homebrew worlds with custom classes and the like. I just prefer them to all work towards an identifiable concept/style/tone everyone can buy into as opposed to a collection of arbitrary rules that reflect someone's idiosyncratic vision of how a D&D world should function.

 

[Oofta]

No evil PCs. I don't want to pretend to enjoy gaming with someone when they go on about how they enjoy <insert evil act here>. In addition, in my experience evil characters end up stabbing other PCs in the back at some point.

Consistent non-joke world. I'm OK with humor, but when you have a town name BobTown where everybody is named Bob just because you thought you were hilarious, I'm going to start looking for a new game.

Nonsensical house rules. It's OK if paladins and gnomes are banned in your world, just give me some justification.

No rolling for ability scores or HP.

No grim-dark/depressing campaigns. I play to have fun with friends, blow off steam and enjoy myself. Conflict and hard times are fine and even expected, but if the entire campaign is one depressing event after another and a futile fight against the overwhelming darkness we cannot hope to defeat? No thanks.

Inconsistent rulings/favoritism. The DM needs to make rulings all the time. But if they decide that their girlfriend can hide behind a blade of grass because her PC is skinny for a half orc and my halfling gets spotted half a mile away by a blind guard because I got "only" a 20 on my stealth check we're not going to be gaming together long.

Incredibly dumb house rules. I had a DM that had a 6 sided dice, with each side having a body part. Head, torso, leg and so on. When the enemies crit, he would roll the dice to see which body part got lopped off. Arm? You get your arm chopped off. Leg? No leg, you have to crawl. Head? You're dead. Torso? You're dead, stabbed through the heart. At 150 HP when the kobold stabbed you for what should have been 6 points of damage? Too bad, still dead.

 

[lowkey13]

*Deleted by user*

 

[ccs]

Are evil PCs banned? If yes, I'm out

They're not banned.... But bad things tend to happen to bad people. (including those who write one alignment on their sheet but then play as if they were evil anyways) So you might get tired of making new characters.

Are the players allowed to quaff a few beer during the game? If no, what's the point - I'm out

So you're hosting then? Cool, I don't have to clean the living room this week.


Inconsistent DMing - a ruling made once is or should be a ruling made for all time[/QUOTE]

?? How is it that you even play these games? The publishers change the rules all the time (and charge you for it) & yet you'd hold it against me?
Or do you want bad DMing? Because that's what you'd get if my crappy changes from 30 years ago were enforced for all time. Oh well, if you insist

 

[Oofta]

No jerks.

No paladins.

But I repeat myself.

Hey now, I play jerks all the time and not all of them are paladins.

 

[Sunseeker]

They're not banned.... But bad things tend to happen to bad people. (including those who write one alignment on their sheet but then play as if they were evil anyways) So you might get tired of making new characters.

I take much the same approach. Unfortunately the other party members are often enablers. I don't consider alignment terribly important, there's too much grey in my games for it to hold much meaning. But people who break the law, attack the innocent and are generally cruel jerkwads tend to live short lives, or at least, short lives in civilized lands out of prison. I have no problem arresting players and almost every city worth its salt has what I jokingly call "The A-Team" (the Anti-Adventurer Assault Team) which I send out to arrest/kill PCs who break the law.

It works out a lot better than watching Roguey McJerkface slaughter the city guard.

So you're hosting then? Cool, I don't have to clean the living room this week.

More to the point: you're not going to be able to drink in a public place where a lot of games are hosted.

 

[Lanefan]

Inconsistent DMing - a ruling made once is or should be a ruling made for all time

?? How is it that you even play these games? The publishers change the rules all the time (and charge you for it) & yet you'd hold it against me?
Or do you want bad DMing? Because that's what you'd get if my crappy changes from 30 years ago were enforced for all time. Oh well, if you insist

Changing rules between campaigns* is just fine - that's the time to do it, in fact. Changing them during a campaign gets murkier, though sometimes it has to be done if something's truly broken. Changing things that haven't become relevant yet e.g. changing rules for 15th-level characters when the party's still 6th level - no problem.

* - and if you've been running the same campaign for 30 years I tip my hat to you, sir.

What I'm referring to is the DM who rules one week that falling 100' won't kill you if you have enough h.p., then the next week rules that it will, then goes back on herself again three weeks later. No. Whatever it is rule it once, rule it right, for gawdrockses sakes write it down, and live with it for the duration of that campaign.

New "official" material that comes out after a campaign has started? My gut reaction is to say that adopting it will have to wait until the next campaign. An example might be that were I running 5e right now I probably wouldn't allow anything to begin with from X's Guide to Everything when it comes out; if the current campaign was to be short or was near its end I'd let it ride till next time, but if the campaign still had a long time to run I might pick and choose what to allow in over time.

Lanefan

 

[Lanefan]

Hey now, I play jerks all the time and not all of them are paladins.

Unlike many of the poor-sod PCs I've played over the years, the only Paladin I've ever played in my life was not in fact a jerk.

He never had the chance to be.

He died in his first combat....

 

[Lanefan]

More to the point: you're not going to be able to drink in a public place where a lot of games are hosted.

Though I have played in a pub now and then, almost all our play is at home; be it mine or someone else's.

Lan-"and having a few drinks lowers the wisdom and caution level of both players and DM alike, almost guaranteeing a more rollicking and fun game"-efan

 

[lowkey13]

*Deleted by user*