The new, shiny "Stuff I Have/Would Ban" thread!

[Obryn]

I know, I know, I'm a bad DM, but yes, I do ban certain things. We had one of these threads quite some time ago, so I figured I'd start a new one... There's been some errata (Battleragers, I'm looking at you...) and some new books, so I'm curious how things have changed. Personally, I try to ban as little as possible and just deal with problems as they arise, but there are certain things I just want to cut off before they even potentially become a problem.

For my default setting game, I don't allow...

Items
* Bloodclaw Weapons
* Reckless Weapons
* Iron Armbands / Bracers of Archery
* Phrenic Crown

Feats
* Dragonmark feats (I'd allow them for the "correct" races if I were running Eberron, though.)
* Any non-default-setting gods and their Channel Divinity feats require pre-approval, but in practice this mostly amounts to...
* Righteous Rage of Tempus, yes, even post-errata
* Kind of the Expertise feats, though since everyone gets the bonuses from them at 5/15/25 levels in my campaign, I'm not really taking anything away from my players.

Powers
* Wiz 5: Grasp of the Grave

Backgrounds
* Anything that gives benefits beyond the limitations in PHB2, so pretty much no backgrounds from FR, Scales of War, or a few other Dragon articles


How about you folks?

If you don't ban anything, I'd love to know that, too! And while I'd rather not have this descend into an "Only bad DMs ban stuff" discussion, I'm not going to pretend I can do anything about it. Just know that it's falling on deaf ears here.

-O

 

[Ryujin]

Hybrids. I flat-out banned them.

Expertise is automatic in my campaign; Weapon, Implement, or Focused as required.

Bloodclaw weapons will likely be out, but it hasn't come up yet.

Scales of War backgrounds.

I think that most of the rest can be dealt with.

 

[KarinsDad]

Hybrids. I flat-out banned them.

Interesting.

I tried putting together a few hybrids and they mostly sucked as PCs. Was your ban power-gaming based or flavor based?

 

[Ryujin]

Interesting.

I tried putting together a few hybrids and they mostly sucked as PCs. Was your ban power-gaming based or flavor based?

A little of both. A lot of the really heavy cheese that I've seen seems to revolve around hybriding and tossing that much in makes it pretty hard to ride herd.

 

[Obryn]

Hybrids. I flat-out banned them.

I'm on a "wait and see" for hybrids. Nobody has had any interest in them yet.

I'm a little skeptical of hybrids, but it seems to me like they're generally weaker than a full class, except for certain very specific mega-power-gamed signature tricks that involve taking toys from tons of classes at once.

-O

 

[Garthanos]

Wierd they hybrids are very rarely a way to get power... they make certain atwill boosters work better... and that is about it

 

[Markn]

Nothing yet but I'm considering Lasting Frost and Bloodclaw. My players haven't discovered reckless or bloodclaw yet so I haven't done so yet. Staff of Ruin has been picked up by 3 different players which makes me think banning that would be a good idea.

As for Hybrids, I considered it but for the most part they seem weaker, so for now I will allow it.

 

[Flipguarder]

interestingly enough... White lotus feats. I just don't like the idea of at-wills becoming more powerful than encounter powers. I made the call after my Swordmage told me his ridiculous plan for swordburst.

 

[Ravellion]

* Iron Armbands / Bracers of Archery

So far, just those two are definitely banned. Some other items are uder probation, but I can't recall the names at the moment.

 

[Cadfan]

I haven't banned bloodclaw, but I would if someone actually bought one and abused it.

I don't use backgrounds, but I don't consider that banning something. I view them as optional rules. Am I wrong on that?

My players mostly don't screw with me so I rarely need to ban things.