D&D 5E "When Running a 5E Campaign I Always Ban at Least One Core Race, Class, or Sub-Class" (a poll)

[Hussar]

Other than a couple of times because of setting restrictions, nope. And certainly not in a long time.

 

[Vaalingrade]

Haven't even had to ban Paladins for two editions now.

 

[cbwjm]

I'll sometimes limit stuff, but typically not the core races/classes unless I'm going for a very specific setting. For something more general though, the core options are typically all in.

 

[Charlaquin]

I have done, but certainly not always.

 

[EzekielRaiden]

Still early days, and I've seen a situation like this completely reverse, but...

I'm real damn surprised to see a majority "no." Real damn surprised. I couldn't count the number of people over the years who have been so gleefully delighted about the stuff they're going to ban.

 

[Guest 7034872]

No way. My players' fun is the whole point of this entire thing, and my own sentiments about "game balance" or what-have-you really aren't relevant. The players' fun is my purpose.

 

[Hussar]

Still early days, and I've seen a situation like this completely reverse, but...

I'm real damn surprised to see a majority "no." Real damn surprised. I couldn't count the number of people over the years who have been so gleefully delighted about the stuff they're going to ban.

I think it's yet another example of the Gnome Effect. Whenever we talk about stuff getting banned, those of us that don't generally ban anything don't really have much to say. "What classes do you ban in your game?" doesn't get much of a response other than "none". Those that do ban material are generally doing so for a fairly specific reason which they will generally want to discuss.

But, overall? I doubt banning actually impacts that many tables. If curated class/race options were overwhelmingly popular, we wouldn't see a bajillion new races on offer. And, from the D&D Beyond factoids we've seen, none of the classes are overwhelmingly popular or unpopular, at least suggesting that class often isn't much of an issue either.

 

[John R Davis]

Only if it really doesn't fit the adventure.
For example I assumed clerics would be way to needed and busy to allow on to be a PC in ROTFM, plus added more peril that way.

 

[delericho]

No. Sometimes I'll ban some options (e.g. gnomes when running Dark Sun, half-orcs in Dragonlance), and other times I'll discourage some options (in my next campaign I'll be encouraging everyone to take a subclass we've never seen before). But those are reasonably rare - I certainly don't always ban something.

I am extremely limiting when it comes to non-core material, but that was specifically something the OP didn't ask about.

 

[Larnievc]

Once again. . .

The premise:
True or False: "When Running a 5E Campaign I Always Ban at Least One Core Race, Class, or Sub-Class"

Note, it says "CORE" for the purposes of this poll not allowing stuff from non-Core books is not "banning" it is "not using an option," which is different.

My players are all mid to late 40s so we rarely playing anything more exotic than a halfling or orc. I’ve never had to ban anything.