How many spells have you banned from your game?

[Dannyalcatraz]

I ban very little...and in fact, am quite expansive in my campaigns.

If I aprove a book's use, its pretty much blanket approval.

So far, I have yet to ban a spell.

3rd party PrCls, magic items, feats, etc. are a different matter.

 

[Buttercup]

Not every spell is "problematic" in every campaign.

True. Also, there are reasons for banning a spell, and then there are reasons.

For instance, I don't ever include resurection spells. It's not that I think they're broken, I just feel strongly that my campaigns shouldn't ever include resurection. But perhaps that's what Crothian means by "the setting bans the spells".

 

[Darkness]

But perhaps that's what Crothian means by "the setting bans the spells".

I think he only objects to banning something because you think it would derail your plot.

 

[IronWolf]

I have not banned any spells. Haven't really seen the need to as of yet...

 

[fanboy2000]

I'm stunned by the responce. I would have thought that most people would ban spells left and right given the number of threads I've seen discussing how such and such a spell is more broken than a box of good crystal sent via the US Postal System.

I'm curious about the one (at the time of my post) person who bans "more than many." Is it a game mechanics reason, or a flavor (setting banning the spell) reason?

 

[Wombat]

I have banned spells at various times in various campaigns, usually due to what I thought of as Campaign Parameters. In one game, for example, there were no Teleportation-type spells, in another Divination was severely limited; in most I limit Resurrection-type spells, as that is not the feel I am going for.

The point is that I let the players know right up front what is and is not useable. Also, if it is not available to the PCs, then NPCs cannot use it either (...except in one campaign, but that was a very weird one...).

 

[Darkness]

I'm stunned by the responce. I would have thought that most people would ban spells left and right given the number of threads I've seen discussing how such and such a spell is more broken than a box of good crystal sent via the US Postal System.

Hm. The question in this thread is limited to PHB spells. Maybe that's why...?

I'm curious about the one (at the time of my post) person who bans "more than many." Is it a game mechanics reason, or a flavor (setting banning the spell) reason?

*nods* Agreed, it would be interesting to hear from.

 

[jerichothebard]

Well, IMC, the only full spellcaster is the NPC cleric. So it hasn't been a problem. So, there are some spells I don't use, but none I ban outright.


Well, unless you consider that arcane magic is illegal in my Theocracy.

 

[Staffan]

I haven't banned anything yet, but I'm strongly considering using Rich "Order of the Stick" Burlew's alternate polymorph family of spells instead of Alter Self/Polymorph/Baleful Polymorph/Shapechange.

 

[Kalendraf]

I rarely ban, but I'm currently limiting my group's spell choices to primarily just the PHB and WotC's recent Complete books, which thus far haven't proven problematic.

That's a big contrast from my first campaign where I was allowing spells willy-nilly whenever anyone bought a new sourcebook. As you can expect, some of those earliest spells ended up being rather unbalanced, but even then I don't remember ever banning any of them. Some just got tweaked a tiny bit to make them more balanced.