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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Olgar Shiverstone" data-source="post: 625276" data-attributes="member: 5868">I'm in the "House-rule it in" crowd.Face it, there's stuff thats unbalanced or broken in every rule book (including core) -- and not everyone agrees on what is unbalanced or broken.You've got to have a baseline somewhere -- in my case, I allow the three core rulebooks as written plus the FRCS with a number of line-by-line changes (since its a FR campaign, it seemed wrong to disallow that book, though many individual items are changed).These house rules, along with the campaign-specific character creation guidelines, we posted to the campaign website before the campaign started.  If a player wants to use something from any other source, (WOTC splatbooks, WOTC FR material, 3rd party d20, etc), he has to email me the text of whatever he wants to include (the specific spell, feat, whatever).  I consider it against the core sources, and then either approve or disapprove the submission.  If I approve it, it immediately goes on the campaign website on the list of "approved additions", and it is now fair game for everyone to use -- including the bad guys.  If disapproved, it's out for good, unless the player can come up with sufficient changes to make it balance.  This does a number of positive things:- It allows me to try and keep the game balanced and the campaign flavor consistent.- Players can get what they want, provided they are willing to work a little for it.- Very little goes unused, since if the player is willing to take the effort to get the item added, he's probably going to use it.- It's fair for all players -- just because one player can spend megabucks on d20 products doesn't give him an advantage, since I provide a list of approved items to everyone.  It puts everyone on the same level tactically, as the player and monster "playbook" is then open to everyone.- The DM can keep up with all the additions (rather than blanket allowing a bunch of items into the campaign that I don't own and/or can't balance).  If a player manages to slip something unbalancing by me, they can be sure it will be used against them later.It has worked quite well so far with regards to spells and feats.  We haven't gotten to PrC's yet -- that may be more of a challenge, since I haven't told them what PrC's (outside of the DMG) may or may not exist -- they have to encounter them in game first.  Several players have given me PrC's that they want to work toward that I've approved, but they won't get access to them until the appropriate events are roleplayed out -- finding the organization, joining, etc.  It's a two-way street -- my approval means I commit to find a way to work the class into the game.I played in an "anything goes" campaign, and it soon lost a lot of the enjoyment, as those of us with more limited resources were rapidly outstripped by those with a wider access to d20 products.  It was kind of disheartening to have something nasty happen to your character, ask what it was, then have some sourcebook you've never seen dropped in your lap.</blockquote>

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