Do you allow third party material in your games?

[Greenfield]

We generally restrict our campaigns to a specific set of source books. However, if someone has something they want to introduce from another source (be it Wizards or somebody else), we're generally open to the idea.

They suggest it, everybody looks at it (we often have to consider the source as some players like to power game in our mostly RP type campaign), and then we vote.

Of course, we need to have access to the source material so we can read it in its entirety. Some people have slipped a few things in that we later regretted allowing. One player, at the start of the campaign, announced that he'd be running a priest. What many of us didn't realize was that "priest" was a class from a third party book, and was kind of unbalancing. Nobody objected and we got burned.

Needless to say, that player went on the "consider the source" list.

 

[trancejeremy]

Sure. I mean, 3rd party material gave us the Thief, the Ranger, and the Bard, which stuck. The Illusionist and Anti-Paladin which didn't but sometimes show up.

 

[Legatus Legionis]

.

 

[Lanefan]

The best way to describe my tables is that I only allow second party material in my game, in that my tables tend to be so heavily house ruled that there is little point in using any documents but my house rules.

This.

And as there's next-to-zero 3rd-party player-side material for 1e I don't really have to worry about it. From the DM side there's all kinds of 3rd-party adventures and ideas out there, some of which are even good enough to be useful. I'll happily use or plunder those.

 

[Immortal Sun]

After being submitted to me for review and I approve of it, yes. There's a TON of 3PP material out there and I am not familiar with the overwhelming majority of it.

 

[MNblockhead]

As DM, yes. I use a lot of third-party material to help flesh out a home brew world, tweak the main WoTC adventures, and to assist me in prepping and running my games.

As for whether players can use third-party races, classes, spells, feats, and other character options...it depends on the campaign. I've run campaigns that were very liberal with allowing third-party character material. I've had others that have only allowed official. I'm planning a campaign where only human wizards will be allowed. Depends on what kind of game my friends and I want to play.

 

[Jacob Lewis]

If I didn't write it, then its all third party to me.

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

Sometimes. I’ll gleefully include third party monsters and magic items, but when it comes to character options, I tend to be somewhat circumspect. In fact, I don’t think I’ve allowed a single third party character option since the 3e days, when there was just so much unbalanced stuff out there (cough, Mongoose, cough...).

 

[Greg K]

Outside of the core 3e books, Unearthed Arcana, and a few web enhancements and Dragon articles, I primarily use third party supplements when I run 3e. Some specific third party books that I use are The Psychic's Handbook (Green Ronin), The Shaman's Handbook (Green Ronin), The Witch's Handbook (Green Ronin), Experts 3.5 (Skirmisher Publishing), From Stone to Steel (Monkey God Enterprises/ High Moon Media), Noble Steeds (Avalanche Press), Book of Iron Might (Malhavoc), Poisoncraft (Blue Devil Games), The Advanced Bestiary (Green Ronin), The Book of Templates Deluxe Revised (Silverthorne Games) ,Armies of the Abyss (Green Ronin), and the Artificer's Handbook (Mystic Eye Games). I also use some other material from Adamant Publishing, Bards & Sages (e.g. Sharks!) Blackdirge Publishing, EN Publishing, Green Ronin, Malhavoc Publishing, and various websites (e.g. Sean K. Reynold's website).

In addition to the above products that I own and use, my to buy list includes products from Alderac (AEG), Bastion Press, Blackdirge, Dark Quest Games, Green Ronin, Malhavoc, Mongoose, Second World Simulations with the products Insults and Injuries (Skirmisher Press) and Bestiary: Predators (Betabunny) topping my list. However, due to finances and my having been running other games for the past few years, I have held off on purchasing these items.

Why do I allow these and how do I choose what to allow? Those products that I allow either

a) provide an alternate set of mechanics that I prefer to an official core rule (for example, both Poisoncraft and The Artificer's Handbook );
b. it covers a topic in a way (including mechanics) that I prefer to an official WOTC supplement. Examples include: The Book of Iron Might, The Psychic's Handbook, The Shaman's Handbook, The Witch's Handbook, From Stone to Steel, and Book of Templates Deluxe Revised;
c) it covers and/or expands upon something found in the core rules (ex. Noble Steeds); or
d) it is a product that covers something that I would like to introduce into my game, but it is not covered at all by the core rules​

As for how I choose what to allow, I read the article, webpage, or book in question and then decide if it fulfills the following criteria: Do I like the mechanics and flavor? Does it fix a rule issue that I have with the game, handle an existing mechanic better, or otherwise enhance the game (in my opinion)?and , finally, does it fit the the campaign that I am running?

 

[Greg K]

I
So, what third party books do you use in your Pathfinder campaigns?

If I were to ever run Pathfinder, I would be using those Genius Guides to the Talented[X] and Genius Guides to the More Talented [x] books written by Owen K. Stephens for his company Rogue Genius Games (I was not as impressed with the books written by others). The books Owen wrote came very close to getting me to try running/playing Pathfinder.