How many spells have you banned from your game?

[Darkness]

Only a few rounds? What kind of pushover villains are you running?

What kind of munchkins villains are you running if they last, like, 100 rounds?

IMO banning spells is a bad idea.

Now why would that be?

 

[Dragon Mage]

So banned!

I must be a lazy DM

The one spell I have totally banned from any game I run is Mordenkainen's Disjunction. This spell is so broken for so many reasons. From a power standpoint it is more powerful than any thing that can be created with EPIC spellcasting. It will destroy any party in one casting. From a game play stand point it brings the game to a halt while every player rolls saving throws for every item they have. Then they still have to recalculate modifiers for lost spells and items. So a half hour latter the game picks up again.

My solution Superior Dispel Magic - as Gtr Dispel but up to a max of 30th level.

 

[Psion]

And, even more of that tasty Diablo 2 flavor. Players I've found will go nuts if there's a chance they can get their grubby paws on some of these gems.

Shhh. You might let on to people who speak about Diablo II and Final Fantasy in bitter tones that some RPGers actually like them...

 

[Psion]

Give me an updated list (the one in your link is 8 months old, so maybe you changed your mind on a few in the meantime, or found even more) and I'll consider each one very carefully.

Pay me and I'll do it.

Long ago, I decided that GMing is busy enough work as it is. I'm not going to flesh out any spells that I am not going to use soon. But you can consider that thread (with an emphasis on the assembled list I put in the beginning) as my "talking points" or guidelines for ad hoc house rulings.

 

[maddman75]

Shhh. You might let on to people who speak about Diablo II and Final Fantasy in bitter tones that some RPGers actually like them...

Heh, while I wouldn't run my game like diablo - senseless hack & slash with the barely maintained illusion of some kind of mission - that doesn't mean I wouldn't steal some cool bits. In another example of blatent theivery, I was debating whether to include malicious, designed as evil Tolkien orcs, or misunderstood spiritual warrior people Warcraft orcs. So I took both, including the evil Obsidian orcs as well as the spiritual Jade orcs.

I go by Scott Adams' creed. Creativity involves stealing something you like and disguising it as something else and hoping no one notices. For instance, he takes old Garfield strips, changes the cat to a dog, and adds in office humor to get Dilbert.

 

[MerakSpielman]

I go by Scott Adams' creed. Creativity involves stealing something you like and disguising it as something else and hoping no one notices. For instance, he takes old Garfield strips, changes the cat to a dog, and adds in office humor to get Dilbert.

That's like saying you have a recipe for cherry pie, replace the crust with dough, use a different pan, and replace the filling with toppings, and you get pizza.

 

[VirgilCaine]

What kind of munchkins villains are you running if they last, like, 100 rounds? Now why would that be?

To me "a few" is four or five.

 

[Pants]

Very few have I really banned, but many have been altered or changed or are going to be altered.... at some point...

Shapechange 3.5... I might ban it. It does really scream 'FIX ME!,' but after a few threads here about the spell, I'm less inclined to think that it is really that broken. But I'm still on the fence about it, but I probably won't use it as-is.

Gate - Haven't banned it yet, might fix it to HD no greater than the caster level or some such. Hasn't come up yet.

Mordenkainen's Disjunction - Haven't banned it. Told the players outright that it's more of cold war kind of thing. No one wants to risk having all their pretties destroyed, so no one will use it against you until you start using it. It's just such a cheesy spell.

Haste 3.0 - Didn't ban it, just had enemy spellcasters use it against the party more. I almost killed a 10th level PC wizard (who had been abusing haste for 5 levels...) with a flying, hasted, invisible wizard of 7th level. Thankfully, 3.5 came out and I started using the new haste right away. God I hated 3.0 haste...

Miasma - Banned the 3.0 version. Haven't touched the 3.5 version.

Shield - Took me using 3.5 to realize how stupid 3.0's version was. Never banned it though...

Firebrand - Never banned it, but I probably will never allow it in a game again as-is.

Mass Fireshield - Looks pretty powerful for 5th level, haven't banned it yet though. I'd like o see it in action first.

Summon Undead - Definitely needs a fixing as the LM version is pretty much a straight up cut-n-paste from 3.0. Won't ban it, but I'll fix it as I really like the spells.

 

[Darkness]

To me "a few" is four or five.

Ah, I see. I meant "a few" relative to my context (i.e., one combat vs. a campaign). Whether it's two rounds or two dozen - it's a short period compared to the whole. I.e., it's just a few rounds of an entire campaign.

I agree that 4-5 rounds isn't a long combat. I like my fights a bit longer that, or at least when they're important.
Although judging from posts on the boards, it seems many people's combats are very short, especially in high-level games. Like, 3 rounds short.

 

[Arnwyn]

None banned or drastically changed yet - but if I have any (big) problems, I won't hesitate to do so.

But haven't needed to so far.