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Message: <blockquote data-quote="3catcircus" data-source="post: 3199205" data-attributes="member: 16077">I've come to the realization that the DM needs to be just like St. Peter and guard the gates religiously.  I would urge every DM to allow his players to use *only* the PHB to start.  If there is a campaign-specific book (FRCS, Player's Guide to Kalamar, etc.), then those are ok to start with too.Do not allow *anything* from any other source until you've thoroughly read through it and spent a lot of time figuring out how it will affect your game.  Do *not* allow variants from the DMG that seem like a good idea (discounts on magic items for creating restrictions on the item - i.e. must have x ranks in y skill, must be of good alignment, etc.)  Do *not* award as much treasure and xp as the encounter indicates they should get.  In essence, don't be me.My situation (and this is *my* fault, not my players'):I've allowed stuff from the Complete... books, BoED, BoVD, SSS's Advanced Player's Guide, Races of Books, *all* FR books - essentially almost every book and everything in it.All of the PCs are currently at Level 6.  I've got a human (Shaaran) Ardent/Elocater.  I've got a dragon-wrought kobold wizard.  I've got a human (Halruaan) Wizard.  I've got a Shield Dwarf Fighter/Dwarf Fighter/Giant-Killer. I've got an Aasimar Cleric of Anhur.Ok - this by itself is no problem.The problems lie in the fact that they've got feats and have created magic items that allow them to base move at around 70, increase caster level a bunch, increase Spellcraft skill ranks, etc.I've done the math and their *effective* levels make the party an EL 16 type of encounter for me to have to put monsters/npc's against.By limiting everything at first, you will avoid a situation where your players take advantage of more powerful options (that don't stack, but end up affecting multiple aspects of their PCs) to the point that they aren't even remotely resembling what the rules say that their effective power level is.</blockquote>

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