What spells do you ban?

[Arkhandus]

For the restrictions you're going for, I'd say....
Dimension Hop, Dimension Door, Teleport, Greater Teleport, Teleportation Circle, Overland Flight, Comprehend Languages, Tongues, and anything similar. The regular ol' Fly spell is fine in 3.5 since it's duration is shorter, so a mage can't just use it to make an entire overland/overseas trip.

 

[Knight-of-Roses]

I ban:
Magic Missile
Miracle
All Planar Travel Magic

Heavily modify:
Anything that restores the dead to life
"Animal Enhancement" spells (Bear's Endurance, et al)
Teleport and similar spells
Vampiric Touch (you can see that discussion here)

And I vet any spell from outside the Core Books before allowing it.

 

[Voadam]

I steered a spontaneous casting cleric away from dragon's breath one from spell compendium because I felt it would not fit any except certain concept characters (say with something related to dragons in their casting tradition) and certainly not his dwarven wisdom/smithing/earth/metal cleric.

I am not liking heroes feast, it's laundry list of immunities is a bit boring and having it as a default everyday spell seems less cool than having it be a special occasion ritual type buff.

I banned all sonic damage spells and effects from my game, replacing some with stunning effects where appropriate.

I banned searing light from one game. Thematically I don't like laser zaps as a cleric spell. Flamestrike I'm fine with but searing light rubs me the wrong way aesthetically.

 

[Zaruthustran]

I'm assembling my house rules for an upcoming game.
I want to ban skills that provide instant travel powers and push communication and skill use rather than relying on spells.
So ....

I'm DMing the Savage Tide path, so my players and I all decided to remove Teleport, Fly, Dimension Door, Raise Dead, and Scry. We all agreed that what makes a trip to the Isle of Dread fun is the feeling of isolation and remoteness. We wanted sheer cliffs to be major obstacles. We wanted to make it impossible to just pop home for tea. So as far as the gameworld is concerned, those spells don't exist--they are completely unknown to civilization.

 

[WhatGravitas]

I banned searing light from one game. Thematically I don't like laser zaps as a cleric spell. Flamestrike I'm fine with but searing light rubs me the wrong way aesthetically.

You mean like Gandalf shot rays of light at the Nazgul in the film?

Cheers, LT.

 

[MarauderX]

Limited Wish, Wish

Teleports, as I like the characters to find or develop other means of traveling, as well as have an elapsed time for moving in the campaign time to match that of armies mustering and moving.

 

[Cbas_10]

I'm assembling my house rules for an upcoming game.
I want to ban skills that provide instant travel powers and push communication and skill use rather than relying on spells.
So ....
With those restrictions in mind, what spells would you ban?
And, while I'm at it, what spells do you ban and why?

When it comes to the vast majority of WotC-published spells, I can't think of anything that i flat-out Ban. However, I restrict many spells that are not in the core PHB. For example, PHB spells are "common" spells for wizards, sorcerers, etc. Characters advancing in level may choose those spells without restriction. If a wizard wanted Backbiter (from the Spell Compendium), for example, that character would have to find it in the game (by finding another wizard to learn it from or something like that). Similarly, a sorcerer would have to do something special to "learn about" the spell (such as be exposed to it sufficiently to pick it up .... or come up with something compelling in the character's background for it to "spontaneously develop"). Some spells fit within my setting, and some would be considered "fringe" or rare in the setting.

Non-WotC spells are pretty much universally banned. Mostly because I like to have the book for any spell, item, monster, or whatever. Also partially because a lot of 3rd party stuff is geared to that publisher's setting; the spell fits in that setting, but may not translate well to others.

If I were to ban anything, I'd lean more towards some sort of damage-dealing spell from some other suppliment. Unfortunately, it seems that developers feel the need to raise the bar and make spells that are more awesome than the ones that came before. Transportation, utility, communication, skill-bonus spells, and all that are no problem. Anything to keep away from buff-buff-kill, buff-buff-kill, lather, rinse, repeat is great to me.

There are a few spells here and there that would be banned, not because they are broken or too powerful....but because they are just plain ol' silly and don't make any sense to me. One example is Spiritjaws from the Spell Compendium: a relatively low level druid whipping up ghostly disembodied jaws of force that can easily have multiple attacks, grapple as a free action with Each hit, and are invincible (except to a couple of spells)? Sorry....not for me.

 

[Zurai]

Knock, Know Direction, Legend Lore and any of the other 'skill' spells. Let them give a + 10 bonus but they should never replace a skill check. Plus why I need magic to find north is beyond me...

You don't. Any character with 5 ranks in Survival automatically knows where north is on any plane where a concept like north is relevant. There's a reason that know direction is a cantrip, mainly because it's utterly worthless.

 

[DrunkonDuty]

I ban teleport and the related family of spells for the reasons already mentioned: it spoils the feeling of isolation when going to some scary, far away place. Dimension Door I allow for monsters, like unicorns, that need a nice mysterious air.

I also ban all resurrection/raised dead spells. Where's the sense of danger if you know that all you have to do is wait for the party to find a high level cleric?

There's a lot of spells from Complete Divine I should ban. But they've been in my campaign for a while now and I'm reluctant to ret-con it.

All the animal buff spells, and for that matter most of the buffs, should have very limited durations. 1 rd per level. OK, most of them already do. I'm just saying.

I don't allow Wish spells, those are the perogative of special outsider beings and are damn dangerous to boot. Miracle spells would be OK as long as they're not used to replace any other banned spell and I'd also limit effects to those appropriate for the cleric's god.

Any spell (or ability!) that gives a total effect is modified. eg: One that automatically sees through illusions. These things should all be caster checks.

Aw heck, given my druthers I'd house rule the system so much you'd barely recognise it as DnD.

 

[Griffith Dragonlake]

All cure spells and inflict spells are combined and made empathic. For example, a cure light wounds will not cure any damage unless the caster or a convenient scapegoat incurs the damage to be healed. A single die roll determines the amount inflicted upon the scapegoat or cleric and the amount healed.

Resurrection is 8th level and requires someone to give up their life willingly or unwilingly.

Raise Dead is 7th level and likewise requires a victim or volunteer.

Restoration, Regenerate, etc. follow the same rules.

Greater Teleport and Teleport Object are 8th and Teleport is 7th level. Dimension Door is 6th level. Transport via Plants is 7th level.

Wizards cannot learn evocation spells.