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<blockquote data-quote="Lord Zardoz" data-source="post: 4118965" data-attributes="member: 704">The only thing that ever stops the DM from doing what the DM pleases is the players at the table.&nbsp; In theory, the DM could house rule everything until your essentially playing GURPS instead of D&amp;D.&nbsp; However, some things are easier to modify in practice than others.If I want to have a size Huge White Dragon that has the same stats and attacks as a Colossal Red Dragon except swapping Fire for Ice, I can do that.&nbsp; I could have Save or Die Rattlesnakes roaming about.&nbsp; And I could have an NPC Fighter that has 1 feat every level instead of only on even levels.&nbsp; But the players probably wont stand for it unless there is some precedent for such a massive alteration in my game.&nbsp; If I pull this sort of thing on them without warning, I could suffer a player revolt.Most players wont complain to much if you disallow something in a non core book.&nbsp; (And despite what Wizards may want to say, only the original MM, DMG, and PHB are ever considered core).&nbsp; If they want to use Complete Scoundral, and you say no, most will accept it.&nbsp; But if you try to remove the Barbarian, Spiked Chain, or Gnomes, you run the risk of having long and potentially heated discussions with one of your players about your reasoning.&nbsp; In short, the DM has to justify to the player why he cannot play a Spiked Chain Wielding Gnome Barbarian.Another good example of how much the core rules of the game actually matter is 3.0 Haste.&nbsp; That spell was broken, and pretty much everyone who took the time to consider it knew it was broken.&nbsp; But if you tried to introduce 3.5 Haste as a house rule, you would probably have to argue with a player over it if that player used 3.0 Haste often.&nbsp; But as soon as the rule is put in print in a revised handbook, much of the complaining stopped.It often turns out that the only thing that will get a player to stop saying &quot;This is not fair&quot; is if you can say &quot;It is in the rules&quot;.END COMMUNICATION</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Lord Zardoz, post: 4118965, member: 704"] The only thing that ever stops the DM from doing what the DM pleases is the players at the table. In theory, the DM could house rule everything until your essentially playing GURPS instead of D&D. However, some things are easier to modify in practice than others. If I want to have a size Huge White Dragon that has the same stats and attacks as a Colossal Red Dragon except swapping Fire for Ice, I can do that. I could have Save or Die Rattlesnakes roaming about. And I could have an NPC Fighter that has 1 feat every level instead of only on even levels. But the players probably wont stand for it unless there is some precedent for such a massive alteration in my game. If I pull this sort of thing on them without warning, I could suffer a player revolt. Most players wont complain to much if you disallow something in a non core book. (And despite what Wizards may want to say, only the original MM, DMG, and PHB are ever considered core). If they want to use Complete Scoundral, and you say no, most will accept it. But if you try to remove the Barbarian, Spiked Chain, or Gnomes, you run the risk of having long and potentially heated discussions with one of your players about your reasoning. In short, the DM has to justify to the player why he cannot play a Spiked Chain Wielding Gnome Barbarian. Another good example of how much the core rules of the game actually matter is 3.0 Haste. That spell was broken, and pretty much everyone who took the time to consider it knew it was broken. But if you tried to introduce 3.5 Haste as a house rule, you would probably have to argue with a player over it if that player used 3.0 Haste often. But as soon as the rule is put in print in a revised handbook, much of the complaining stopped. It often turns out that the only thing that will get a player to stop saying "This is not fair" is if you can say "It is in the rules". END COMMUNICATION [/QUOTE]

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