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<blockquote data-quote="MoogleEmpMog" data-source="post: 2418827" data-attributes="member: 22882">Whatever the likelihood may be, the core rules AREN'T better balanced, at least beyond about 7th level.&nbsp; Why that should be, I don't know, but I'm not interested in what 'should be,' only what all the actual evidence indicates is the case.You're right - &quot;core rules + x&quot; or &quot;any WotC&quot; or &quot;just these books*&quot; IS arbitrary.&nbsp; So, I don't ban any book.&nbsp; Simple as that.&nbsp; If I can find a way to work around the rules differences, I'll allow Mutants &amp; Masterminds material, much less any standard d20.Now, I've banned specific classes, feats and spells (mostly from the aforementioned core + Complete and FR, and a lot of the 1st-generation 3.0 material from Wizards, Mongoose, and the like), but not the entire books they came from.&nbsp; Some books may eventually be gutted in this way, but often there's a gem here and there.Discovering whether a combination of WotC-only material is balanced is as simple as running a Search on Wizard's very helpful character optimization board.&nbsp; As its regulars regularly point out, one of their main goals is to provide GMs with a head's-up, equivalent to the stop signs on certain powers in the HERO rules.&nbsp; They usually respond to questions about d20 material, too.Again, why does the GM have to know this stuff before it comes up? <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f615.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":confused:" title="Confused&nbsp; &nbsp; :confused:"&nbsp; data-smilie="5"data-shortname=":confused:" />&nbsp; If a player comes to him with an option, he reviews it and determines if it's horribly unbalanced, or allows it in play with the caveat that he may later judge it too powerful and reduce it's effectiveness somewhat.&nbsp; At worst, the dread power gamer may get one good shot off with his much-feared power before the GM nerfs it (which is usually not the same as booting it outright).* Just these books (for example, PHB + Dragonlance Campaign Setting + War of the Lance, or Arcana Evolved + Diamond Throne, or OGL Conan + Aquilonia) is a valid restriction for flavor purposes.&nbsp; While I'm inclined to work races and especially classes in from other sources, I can understand restricting it to just those specifically designed to exemplify the flavor of the setting.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="MoogleEmpMog, post: 2418827, member: 22882"] Whatever the likelihood may be, the core rules AREN'T better balanced, at least beyond about 7th level. Why that should be, I don't know, but I'm not interested in what 'should be,' only what all the actual evidence indicates is the case. You're right - "core rules + x" or "any WotC" or "just these books*" IS arbitrary. So, I don't ban [U]any[/U] book. Simple as that. If I can find a way to work around the rules differences, I'll allow Mutants & Masterminds material, much less any standard d20. Now, I've banned specific classes, feats and spells (mostly from the aforementioned core + Complete and FR, and a lot of the 1st-generation 3.0 material from Wizards, Mongoose, and the like), but not the entire books they came from. Some books may eventually be gutted in this way, but often there's a gem here and there. Discovering whether a combination of WotC-only material is balanced is as simple as running a Search on Wizard's very helpful character optimization board. As its regulars regularly point out, one of their main goals is to provide GMs with a head's-up, equivalent to the stop signs on certain powers in the HERO rules. They usually respond to questions about d20 material, too. Again, why does the GM have to know this stuff before it comes up? :confused: If a player comes to him with an option, he reviews it and determines if it's horribly unbalanced, or allows it in play with the caveat that he may later judge it too powerful and reduce it's effectiveness somewhat. At worst, the dread power gamer may get one good shot off with his much-feared power before the GM nerfs it (which is usually not the same as booting it outright). * Just these books (for example, PHB + Dragonlance Campaign Setting + War of the Lance, or Arcana Evolved + Diamond Throne, or OGL Conan + Aquilonia) is a valid restriction for flavor purposes. While I'm inclined to work races and especially classes in from other sources, I can understand restricting it to just those specifically designed to exemplify the flavor of the setting. [/QUOTE]

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