D&D 5E 5e Players: How often have you been allowed to use 3PP?

[Zardnaar]

When I ran 5E, very rarely / never. Sturgeon's Law. 90% of everything is crap. I have a hard enough time keeping out the official crap. I don't have time to go through hundreds of 3PP books to find the 10% that might work for my table. If any of the players want something new or different we homebrew it ourselves.

When I played 5E, one DM let a player use a "song dragon" that's some kind of were-dragon thing. The DM didn't bother to check the stuff before the player, mid combat, changed into a massive dragon, breathed some kind of nasty on the enemies, and ended what was supposed to be a deadly encounter in a single action. That was the last time 3PP content came into his game.

This is why I only allow curated 3pp from trusted sources.

Archetypes are fairly safe. New classes not so much.

 

[Scott Christian]

Seven campaigns as a player.
Three different tables.
Two out of the three tables allowed it, and even encouraged it. (I never used it, but other players did.) The odd table out allowed it but was with DM permission.
Two campaigns as a DM.
One I allowed anything and everything. The other, PHB material only because they were levelling after every session, and it was meant to be a short campaign.
A half dozen one shots and a few that were three-four sessions as DM, I allowed anything and everything.

Side Note: As a side note, the one shots and shorts (three to four sessions) worked very well with an anything goes attitude. The campaigns that worked best were the more constrained campaigns. That is me saying this as a player and DM. It is also my players saying it when I was a DM. In my experience, there is something about restrictions in long campaigns that create less disparity between the characters. Maybe it just keeps the lore tight, or it's because the mechanics are better tested, or both. I am not sure. But that has been my experience.

 

[Starfox]

Facebook introduced a "care for" emote during the pandemic. Parts of this thread made me wish for that here on En World.
So, for what its worth, I sympathize with all the trouble people are having getting to play the games they want.
* Hug