What's on your banned list?

[RNightstalker]

So what is banned at your table? Tired of persistent spell? What spell like Shivering Touch breaks your/the game? No more stockpiles of nightsticks fueling DMM?

[Crake]

The things I ban are on a per-campaign basis, depending on the theme I want to run, rather than the power level of said option. That said, I'm also rather conservative with my rulings, and don't believe that nightstick stacking is possible for example, so I wouldn't call it a ban really.

[Quertus]

1) any final build outside the table's balance range (individual components are never evaluated for balance in a vacuum).

2) temporary buffs. If you can't Persist it, don't slow the table down with it.

3) anything else you can't handle quickly (which, for some players, means "spellcasters", or even "anything more complicated than 'hit it with your single attack form' characters (yes, rage and power attack are too many options / too slow for this example)").

4) anything else the group wants to "fade to black" / breaks their versimilitude (drown healing, for example).

[Biggus]

Spells: (Greater) Consumptive Field, Wraithstrike, (Lesser/Greater) Celerity, Shivering Touch, Starmantle, Venomfire, Wings of Cover, Polymorph Any Object

Feats: Invisible Spell, Shock Trooper, Leadership (unless it's a very small party), Craft Contingent Spell, Fell Drain, Words of Creation, Initiate of Mystra

Presige Classes: Frenzied Berserker, Hulking Hurler, Planar Shepherd, Ur-Priest, Tainted Scholar, Beholder Mage, Illithid Savant

There are lots of others which I've nerfed or otherwise changed, but those are the only ones I've banned completely.

[Max Caysey]

2) temporary buffs. If you can't Persist it, don't slow the table down with it..

So what you ban all buff spells with a duration, that can’t be persisted? 🧐

I don’t ban anything blanketly... it all depends on the game, the players and the specifics surrounding the campaign... usually I don’t ban anything at all...

[Falontani]

Spells: (Greater) Consumptive Field, (Lesser/Greater) Celerity, Starmantle, Venomfire

Feats: Invisible Spell, Leadership (unless it's a very small party), Initiate of Mystra

Presige Classes: Frenzied Berserker, Hulking Hurler, Planar Shepherd, Ur-Priest, Tainted Scholar, Beholder Mage, Illithid Savant

Races: Dvati, Anthro Animals

Content: Dragon Magazine, 3rd party

Probably more stuff than that though. Like Power Point Regeneration, but not the different parts that go into Power Point Regeneration.

[ManicOppressive]

Besides some stuff that just doesn't fit my setting for flavor reason (Truenamer, which no one weeps for anyway, for instance) the only thing I've banned is Natural Spell. Which might be a controversial one, but honestly it's drastically reduced the animosity toward druid players at my table throughout my time DMing.

As a general rule I don't have a problem with optimization producing results, but Druid doesn't get to simultaneously have Planar Shepherd making its top end monstrous while also having Natural Spell and an animal companion (oh yeah I also removed the animal companion [but gave them a domain instead] and gave ranger the full sized one) making its low-end optimization just as dominant. Rather than take out the top-end option I actually find really fun (By all means, pick Dal'Quor. I dare you.) I opted to knock out some bottom-end and require some actual build intention to go nuts on a Druid.

Oh, and I guess Wish, but that's not exactly 'banned' just 'not available on standard lists and not going to be dispensed for free by anything you summon.'

I allow Leadership, and I've even added some extra feats to take to buff it further, because players at my table (myself included when I'm playing not DMing) absolutely go nuts designing fun followers and the result is literally hundreds of interesting minor NPCs floating around the setting. I definitely don't judge people for banning it though--I have the benefit here of a consistent years-long group of people who aren't out for top-op for top-op's sake.

Otherwise, I quite enjoy builds that stretch the edges of balance. One of my players is on an Escalation Mage/Shadowcraft Mage right now and I only even have SOME regrets.

[malloc]

The things I ban are on a per-campaign basis, depending on the theme I want to run, rather than the power level of said option. That said, I'm also rather conservative with my rulings, and don't believe that nightstick stacking is possible for example, so I wouldn't call it a ban really.

Mostly this. I have a few staples that I ban--Mage's Disjunction, and Leadership, for example. But mostly it's all open book. A few games ago, I soft-banned all arcane casting classes for plot reasons (players were part of the church, hunting "witches"). For my next game, I'm thinking of banning all full casters, and giving the game sort of an E6 feel, letting martials get deeper into their builds before casters start to break the game open. In my most recent game, it was just Mage's Disjunction and Leadership.

Mage's Disjunction is off the table because breaking legendary items doesn't benefit anyone, and players would be upset if I used it against them and broke all their nice toys. Leadership ban is for obvious reasons. Apart from that, I just make the blanket statement "infinite loops, or anything that smacks of bull****," which covers most T.O. tricks.

I like to let my players try out builds. I like to let them plan, then reap the benefits of what they think is strong. But I try to keep everyone roughly in line--if your character is absurdly powerful and wiping the floor with everything, and others are struggling to keep up, I'll let that player know that the kiddie gloves are off. If you take the time to go for a double-weapon lightning mace build, I want you to be able to do it. I want you to feel silly and powerful and reach the point where your build is fully operational. But I also want other people to feel strong, and if I have to spend 2x the time planning just to keep your character in check without making it feel like I'm picking on you, I'm going to start challenging you more and more, to see how far you can survive, so that other people, who are playing terrifying builds like "rogue 12" can feel cool as well, on their own merit (not because I fiat them into position).

I'm very up front with all my players about this, and they're very up front about their builds with me (often, they ask for help or advice). It lets us all come together and have a communally fun experience, explore the boundaries of what the system has to offer (or, what they understand the boundaries to be), and still make opportunity for people of different skill levels to feel like they're part of the team.

[RNightstalker]

and don't believe that nightstick stacking is possible for example, so I wouldn't call it a ban really.

Rereading the source has me agreeing with you.

1) any final build outside the table's balance range (individual components are never evaluated for balance in a vacuum).
2) temporary buffs. If you can't Persist it, don't slow the table down with it.
3) anything else you can't handle quickly (which, for some players, means "spellcasters", or even "anything more complicated than 'hit it with your single attack form' characters (yes, rage and power attack are too many options / too slow for this example)").

1 could be done at the right table with the right people...not everyone wants to play the hero.
2 & 3 I fully agree with...slowing the table down is a cardinal sin.

Spells: (Greater) Consumptive Field, Wraithstrike, (Lesser/Greater) Celerity, Shivering Touch, Starmantle, Venomfire, Wings of Cover, Polymorph Any Object

Feats: Invisible Spell, Shock Trooper, Leadership (unless it's a very small party), Craft Contingent Spell, Fell Drain, Words of Creation, Initiate of Mystra

Presige Classes: Frenzied Berserker, Hulking Hurler, Planar Shepherd, Ur-Priest

There are lots of others which I've nerfed or otherwise changed, but those are the only ones I've banned completely.

Would you mind explaining your thoughts behind (Greater) Consumptive Field, Venomfire, Wings of Cover, Polymorph Any Object, Craft Contingent Spell, Fell Drain, Initiate of Mystra, and the PrC's? I ask for your point of view, not to challenge or argue.

Presige Classes: Tainted Scholar, Beholder Mage, Illithid Savant

Races: Dvati, Anthro Animals

Why these?

I allow Leadership, and I've even added some extra feats to take to buff it further, because players at my table (myself included when I'm playing not DMing) absolutely go nuts designing fun followers and the result is literally hundreds of interesting minor NPCs floating around the setting. I definitely don't judge people for banning it though--I have the benefit here of a consistent years-long group of people who aren't out for top-op for top-op's sake.

Otherwise, I quite enjoy builds that stretch the edges of balance. One of my players is on an Escalation Mage/Shadowcraft Mage right now and I only even have SOME regrets.

I kinda enjoy the same about leadership, but I haven't had the chance to do it in-game yet. I also like trying out builds that look like they'd be fun.

I like to let my players try out builds. I like to let them plan, then reap the benefits of what they think is strong. But I try to keep everyone roughly in line--if your character is absurdly powerful and wiping the floor with everything, and others are struggling to keep up, I'll let that player know that the kiddie gloves are off. If you take the time to go for a double-weapon lightning mace build, I want you to be able to do it. I want you to feel silly and powerful and reach the point where your build is fully operational. But I also want other people to feel strong, and if I have to spend 2x the time planning just to keep your character in check without making it feel like I'm picking on you, I'm going to start challenging you more and more, to see how far you can survive, so that other people, who are playing terrifying builds like "rogue 12" can feel cool as well, on their own merit (not because I fiat them into position).

I'm very up front with all my players about this, and they're very up front about their builds with me (often, they ask for help or advice). It lets us all come together and have a communally fun experience, explore the boundaries of what the system has to offer (or, what they understand the boundaries to be), and still make opportunity for people of different skill levels to feel like they're part of the team.

What? You guys try to have fun!? What a novel concept. Of course I have no trouble blatantly picking on a character that's getting out of hand...if they can handle it.

[calam]

I never had to ban overpowered things since the gentlemen's agreements work pretty well but I once had to ban someone from taking the CW samurai in a 3.5/PF game. It was an extended campaign and I knew the joke aspect wouldn't be worth it in the long run.

[Rynjin]

The only first party thing (I play PF, mind) I ban outright is Blood Money.

I allow most 3PP material on request, so the only things on my hard blacklist are Godlings.

[newguydude1]

at my table? nothing.
he allows everything thats not dragon magazine, 2nd party, or 3rd party, or web content because he doesnt accept their authority or something iunno.
he is raw or die so all tricks are allowed

and if something is too powerful compared to the rest of the party we discuss additional restrictions in order to keep our shtick without being imbalanced.
and everyone plays in good faith so drown healing never comes up.

i use mirror mephtis and our additional restriction was only 1 simulacrum whose cr is equal or less than our party ecl. but talks have come up in removing the 1 simulacrum limit restrictions because the rest of our players got better at the game and im in the weaker half at the moment.

[Fizban]

From my main doc, everything from initial bans through character creation:
(italics and bullet points won't have transferred, so reduced legibility)

Spoiler: several pages

Show

ACFs and "bans." No "ban" list is ever free from further additions as required, but these get the idea.

Complete Champion
-1st level pounce from Spirit Lion Totem Barbarian is banned, other spirit totems may be negotiable.
-Spontaneous Divination and Domain Granted Power for Wizards are banned.
-Travel Devotion gives you one move as a swift action, not ten of them.
-Ring of the Beast is banned.
Complete Mage
-Arcane Hunter is banned.
-Focused Specialist is banned.
-Arcane Fusion errata is ignored (you cannot metamagic spells within the fusion)
Dragon Magic
-Dragonscale Husk is a normal armor bonus, can be targeted as armor.
-Taking a Drakkensteed does not remove access to other mounts.
Drow of the Underdark
-Hit and Run Tactics Fighter is banned.
-Ring of Anticipation is banned.
-Shadow Cloak is banned.
Dungeonscape
-Dungeoncrasher is banned.
-Paladin's Spirit of Healing is equal to their Lay on Hands pool rather than double (since Lay on Hands has been upgraded)
-Penetrating Strike is banned.

Other
Whirling Frenzy is banned.
Improved Trip does not give you a free attack.
Knock-Down is banned.
Tripping now includes BAB on both sides of the check
Shocktrooper (heedless charge) provokes an AoO from target (compare Power Lunge feat).
Leap Attack applies only on the first attack.
Abrupt Jaunt is now Abrupt Blink (50% miss chance as Blink against one attack/effect, still huge)
Uncanny Forethought is banned.
Craven is banned.
Splitting is banned.
Valorous is a +3 enhancement that applies only on the first attack.
-Any other charge multipliers I haven't caught below also apply only on first attack.
Magebane is banned.
Wraithstrike is banned.
Heartseeker Amulet is banned.
Anklets of Translocation (and essentially all teleportation items less than 10,000gp) are banned.
Belt of Battle is banned.
Nerveskitter is banned.
Massive initiative bonus items (say, anything higher than +2, no stacking) are banned.
Crafted Contingent Spells are banned.
Restful armor and Restful armor crystals are banned.
Animated shields are banned.
Bead of Karma is banned.
Metamagic Rods are on thin ice.
Sculpt Spell (clarification): must choose area mode on preparation.
Wand Chambers: banned.

Cloistered Cleric is banned.

Darkstalker: banned.

Hellfire Warlock's Hellfire takes a swift action.

Entangling Exhalation: banned. I do not care enough to want to use this myself, nor to fix it when its only use is turning simple at-will low damage effects into no-save AoE control effects.
-Exhaled Barrier could be re-worked into a proper metabreath feat. Exhaled Immunity is stupid and banned.

Healing Belts: banned. Yes, you heard me. They grievously violate all pricing guidelines, are so good that they effectively become mandatory for every character, displacing all other healing items, and push the "1 hour adventuring day" even harder.
-Cure potions have been reduced in price to match wand charges, to encourage use even at the lowest levels.

---
Negative hit points increased to -10-1/2 level? Or, is -10-full level so bad?


Spells
Alter Self uses 3.0 version (disguises w/poor quality wings/gills only, can alter clothing)
Assay Spell Resistance is reduced to +5, standard action cast.
Wraithstrike is banned
Conviction is banned.
Benediction is banned.
Divine Insight is banned.
Nerveskitter is banned.
Glibness is reduced to +10 enhancement (and Bluff is not insane), could be competence instead if stacking remains a problem, or stripped all the way down to merely negating truth magic.
Inspirational Boost is 3rd level (but base Inspire Courage progression has increased)
Enhance Wild Shape can only grant extraordinary senses or boost an ability score.
Greater Blink is 7th level Sor/Wiz (6th for Bards)
Greater and Superior Resistance have 10 min/level durations.
Mass Resist Energy is 4th level.
Greater Mighty Wallop is banned.

Mage Armor and Shield are reduced to +3 each.
Enlarge and Reduce 3.0 versions are available (10%/caster level up to 50%, +1/-1 str at 20% and 40%), standard action cast, and at 30/50% they also give +1/-1 and then +2/-2 on weapon damage (could be restricted to creature-only, but leaving that alone for now).
-Enlarge Person is renamed Gigantize and is pushed back to 3rd level, does not stack with Enlarge.
-Reduce Person is renamed Shrinkify, otherwise remains unchanged, does not stack with Reduce.
Web lasts 1 round/level and once free only reduces speed by 1/2 (as creatures are still entangled within).
Glitterdust blinds for 1 round, dusting remains for 1 round/level.
Stinking Cloud only forces one save, lasts 1 round after leaving.
Entangle affects a 10' radius.
Greater versions of Web, Glitterdust, Stinking Cloud, and Entangle are available at 4th, 4th, 5th, and 3rd levels with their original effects.

These are banned, but for completeness I would make the following minimum changes:
-Wings of Cover is 4th level, and you lose your next turn.
-Lesser Celerity is 4th level and you lose your next turn.
-Celerity is 8th level and you lose your next turn.

Ray of Stupidity is banned.
Ray of Dizziness is banned.
Shivering Touch could maybe be fixed, but I'd rather just ban it.

A growing list of buffed spells in Spell Compendium shall be un-buffed.

Many spells which grant blindsense, blindsight, and burrow speeds are awaiting roundup for the chopping block. PCs are not meant to perfectly ignore stealth with ease any more than they are meant to have perfect stealth, nor has anything ever been written assuming they can just walk through earth. Some will remain, but only at 4th+ levels.

Blasting Spells: see Traditional Energy Spells below for changes to many popular (and unpopular) blasting spells, including the Orbs, Scorching Ray, Combust, Chain Lightning, and Freezing Sphere.
-Melf's Unicorn Arrow is banned.
-Ray of Frost, Acid Splash, and similar 0th level damage rays are 1d6.

Polymorph is not banned, but may also be restricted by HD of target, only allows the given creature types regardless of the target's type, forms may be vetoed individually at any time, and further restrictions may apply if needed (such as single-brained creatures being un-able to use multiple Hydra heads or Octopus limbs, disorientation penalties, lists of familiar forms, strength of new form limited to +X above original, etc.). Polymorphing is cool, but I will adjust or prohibt as needed to account for how monsters are not written for polymorph. If you just want a specific form, consider asking for a dedicated spell.
-No, the Pathfinder version is not the solution. A list of buffs and a disguise bonus is not polymorph. Polymorph turns you into something, and if that doesn't involve a massive replacement of stats, it's not polymorph.

Polymorph Any Object can be used only to duplicate the spells given in the PHB, as well as appropriate spells from other books such as fuse or transmute sand<->stone/glass and flesh<->ice. It can also instantaneously transmute objects as Fabricate, or temporarily turn an object or creature into an object within the parameters of Major Creation. If used to duplicate Polymorph, the duration increases to 1 hour/level. Spell might be renamed to Greater Polymorph.
-PAO (experimental): more powerful and instantaneous transformations such as lead into gold, turning an object into a creature, or changing a creature's race, might be possible with an xp cost. I'm thinking xp cost= gp cost of desired result as a safe minimum. This fixes a number of entries that seem to think the spell could already do this, and putting them here makes it more obvious that some thing are absolutely within range of wish and other non-epic (but still high level) magic.

Flesh to Stone (and similar): This family of spells might require some rewrites regarding the status of items worn and/or carried by the target. The classic petrification shtick of "incredibly lifelike statues," obviously has an expectation that the target's clothing and gear must transform with them to create the proper image. But 3.x relies heavily on the magic item system, where the PCs are expected to loot their foes' equipment. Thus, the PCs cannot actually use any petrify effects without causing an even worse version of the prisoner problem, needing to un-petrify and deal with the "defeated" foe in order to get the loot. This can be viewed as a "balancing" factor of such spells (and the freezing of gear an effective complication when it happens to PCs), but it simply clashes too much with gameflow, pacing, and the existence of flat-out kill spells at the same levels. Furthermore, well-known "exploits" found in the lack of real defintion or limitation on things like: petrifying someone, turning the statue to mud or dust, and purifying the mud/dust out of existence, potentially leaving them and everything they carried not-dead and not-destroyed but impossible to un-petrify, well that's the heck of a dumb loophole to have in the rules of the universe.
Potential fixes:
-Non-magical gear is always petrified, magical gear is not.
-Petrified items on a creature can be targeted and restored individually.
-The caster may choose to affect only the creature and not their gear, or everything.
-A petrified creature or item is never treated as stone for any other effects: even a stone to flesh spell only affects them because they are a petrified creature.
-Destroying or rendering incapable of de-petrification any of a creature's life-critical organs, a full cross-section of an item, or more than 50% of the original statue regardless of shaping, kills the creature or destroys the object. The soul departs, the magic of an item is lost, and effects which attempt to locate them work only as they would for a dead or destroyed target, because the target was in fact killed or destroyed, while petrified.

Planar Binding only allows you to bargain, bound creatures will never work for free. If a bargain is not made they may automatically return to their home plane once free of the binding regardless of effects or local conditions that would attempt to retain or compel them. If a bargain is made, the payment is bound to the agreement and returns to the creature's home plane with the same guarantee even if they are slain, or possibly immediately (at their option). Bargains for non-immediate or non-material rewards are enforced upon the caster directly- such as transporting the caster or their soul to a desired point on the creature's home plane, the transferal of magic or ability, etc. Payment may only be extracted in this way from the caster (and possibly children sired after the deal is made). Any equipment carried by the called creature may be designated "bound" (as DMG2) by the DM, making it useless to anyone but the called creature itself.
While you can only bargain, the spell remains risky because plenty of creatures would rather break out and do as they please anyway, as well as subverting your orders out of spite. While a "Planar Bargain" variant initially seems reasonable, the lack of risk and reliable bargaining is why Planar Ally has an xp cost in the first place (and the further deity restricted lists in the second place). No xp cost, no guarantees.
Defeating a creature you oringally called (or created) never earns you xp in any way, in case you had to ask.
The corpse of a called creature may be deemed unsuitable for other purposes. A core part of the calling descriptor's optics is that the body remains, the same as if they had planeshifted or travlled in some other way, but I could just as easily make a blanket ruling that elementals, outsiders, spirits, etc. slain on the material plane are always rendered useless no matter how they got there.

Planar Ally typically calls only a specific type of creature per spell depending on the caster's god (see Complete Divine), and casters whose gods aren't represented there or elsewhere can submit a list for DM approval. The DM may alter the default creatures to create unique individuals and/or substitute another creature if it seems appropriate, including instances where the caster has made an attempt to request a different creature by some means even if they don't have a specific name, or any other reason. As with Planar Binding, any payment offered is bound to the agreement and disappears even if the called creature is slain, and the creature's own equipment may not be transferable.

Animate Dead: is in line for nerf and/or split as soon as I decide what particular changes to use (or if a particular game will not need any changes).
-The main split is: the "3.5" versions at 3rd/4th level become Lesser, and use the 3.0 skeleton and zombie statistics and spell details, with Greater versions at 6th/7th for the 3.5 templates and spell details (IIRC, 3.5 massively increased HD cap- the overall gp cost may have gone up a bit though).
-The DM may make adjustments to the 3.0 statistics as neccesary, such as changing claws to hooves for a horse skeleton, allowing an alternate weapon such as a scorpion with a single more powerful stinger instead of claws, or altering movement modes. In rare cases this might include a direct upgrade such as an extra natural weapon, natural armor or statistic increase, or retained special ability, if and only if the DM feels they are neccesary to capture the feel of a high quality animated corpse, and do not create an overpowered result.
-An alternative might be restricing Animate Dead to targets of humanoid (two arms, legs, and head, not the creature type) design and explicitly removing weapon and armor proficiencies, or even the ability to use them at all, regardless of proficiency (no untrained weapons and strappping on armor just leaves the minion entangled and unable to act). The goal here is to force the templated creatures into end results more like the original expectations without divorcing the bloodthirsty pokemon trainer model completely. In the end it is still very highly dependent on what the DM uses, just from a smaller allowed pool with the worst offenders removed- and making the spell much more situational as it no longer works on huge swathes of monsters. I much prefer the consistency of the lesser/greater split.
-Another alternative could be creating a separate "control pool" system that runs through all classes, taking the place of any and all companion or minion (heck, maybe even summoning! And transforming!) limits. This would be a more ambitious overhaul project that while attractive, really isn't in my preferred style of individually quick fixes- but to truly balance minions, one would need to properly incorporate them at the ground level.
-Yet another alternative would be the abolishment of automatic control entirely, and directly prohibiting it: no creature created by ones own spells, features, etc., could ever be directly controlled by the creator. This forces the use of external means such as simple bargaining, blackmail, or a "sufficiently external" effect like a Leadership feat for recruitment. Or more involved methods, such as creating specific types of creatures that naturally do a thing you want them to do (undead that hate their former loved ones). Or incentivise villains to control someone and then turn them into a useful monster (since a monster created from "nothing" is useless), making "body horror" more interesting. Or most simply, incentivising pairs where each can create undead or other creatures, but they must be controlled by the partner. Under this ruling, the intent is obviously that PCs just don't create undead or other minions, unless there is a specific two-character combo that the DM has ok'd and the game is being planned for.

Command Undead: Duration reduced to 1 hour/level, as it is effectively "Charm Undead." Though because nobody complains about commandeering a pile of mindless undead abominations, no comparison is ever made to the fact that those using Charm Person in the same way would be gutted morally for enslaving a bunch of people (assuming a Charm was sufficient to do so).
-The spell should also give the +4 on saves if allies are already threatening or attacking the target, as charm effects, and should allow a save even for mindless undead. "Charm Persoon, but it works on undead" is a fully valid reason to push the spell to 2nd level on its own.
-As interesting as it might seem to make mindless undead so "vulnerable" to control, in practice this means that (one, poorly considered) spell screws over of a foundational type of foe for the DM. Command Undead is, surprise surprise, not a 3.0 PHB spell, and thus was no part of any of the main testing of such foes. It appeared in 3.0 Tome and Blood (alongside two necromancer classes)- so, any testing it did undergo was most likely with the far weaker and standardized skeletons and zombies of 3.0, and none of the additional and more powerful mindless undead added in later MMs or using the 3.5 templates.

Summon spells: the summon X lines may be cast as a standard action by anyone without any special features, in which case the creature(s) will appear immediately and be vulnerable to attack, but are unable to act until the start of your next turn. Rapid Summoning can be taken as a feat by anyone with an appropriate spell.
-This is mostly to reconcile the existence of such features and items, which are weirdly restricted but also widely assumed. Rather than try to make a dozen ACFs just to let characters who can can summon spells function at full speed, a basic tradeoff added to the spells themselves and a general feat seem much more effective.

Summon spell lists: I've rewritten the Summon Monster list based on the 3.0 and 3.5 lists and the changes made. Summon Nature's Ally will use the same list for natural creatures, but without templates, and needs to have some fey/plants/beasts added.

Gate: all creatures are unique creatures, boom done.

Sending: while the response must be made immediately, the recieved message lingers and is easily recalled for several minutes (so it can be commited to memory or written down). Because while it would make narrative sense in a book for something to hinge on failure to immediately write down a Sending, for practical use and actual play standards, it's better to be clear that the recipient has every opportunity to commit the information.



Disguise magic and skills (clarification): successful spot checks inform the user that the target is disguised, ex: "Something seems off, you think that X is under some sort of disguise."
-People who don't know anything about the sort of creature you are disguised as take a -10 penalty on their spot checks.

Line areas (clarification): as per Rules Compendium p135, when a line goes through an exact intersection, it hits all squares around that point. Thus a 5' wide line can always be aimed such that it will hit a given 10' square- just look at the diagram. Furthermore, because you can fire a line at any angle you want, you can always avoid hitting people at the "end" of a line, by angling it up or down so that it grounds out before or flies over a certain square.

Mirror Image (clarification): if you don't spread out your images, people can just swing blindly at you for 50% miss chance, no special rulings needed. If you do, they can make educated guesses about which one is you. A typical response would be to ready an action to attack whichever image launches a spell or projectile, or to attack whichever image is shown to be solid by an ally's action.

Dominate (clarification/houserule): subsequent saves do not currently end the spell, because that would make it impossible to dominate anyone with half a spine, making it rather useless and non-scary for long-term compulsion. However, anyone with half a spine has plenty of room to resist and subvert orders, and as a spell that requires a move action directive to change orders, you can be under only one set of orders at a time- so making that save to resist a subersive order means you're free. Until they issue a new order that sticks (and there are plenty that won't trigger that extra save). Intelligently worded orders require an intelligent being, while an emotionally agitated fool might give easily subverted orders.


PHB list of 1 round casting time spells: antilife shell, call lightning, changestaff, creeping doom, deep slumber, dominate animal/person, enlarge person, enthrall, fire storm, lesser geas, hypnotism, insect plague, modify memory (1 round+), mount, reduce person, sleep, statue, storm of vengeance, summon X, zone of silence. Similar spells may have their casting times adjusted at any time, and many items ought to as well.
-Also: baric Inspire Heroics. None of the other songs for whatever reason, just this one.

1 round casting time spells in items that don't inheret casting times: Mostly this is calling out Potions of Enlarge Person, normally a super cheap and super powerful buff. With the nerfs applied above, those versions of Enlarge/Reduce are fine acting at potion speed, but a potion of Gigantize should not take effect until the start of your next turn (still effectively granting you an un-interruptible casting benefit). Other items have often had their cost, trigger, and duration heavily modified, and so should be ruled individually.
-Items that produce sleep, or use prices based on sleep items, need to have this accounted for.

Phantom Steed: should probably be nerfed into submission. It grants scaling speed into flight which might have been less ridiculous when fly was 90' Good and flight items were wrong decimal point cheap, but not now.

Prestidigitation only manifests one effect. Yeah that's right, I'm even nerfing the Big P. The available effects of prestidigitation will also be limited by that of any dedicated cantrips added- in particular the cleaning effect needs to shrink, 'cause that's good enough to be its own spell, and eventually Big P will have its own entry with a fully revised list.

Move Silently: the penalty for moving faster than half your speed but not more than double your speed is -10. The bonus for remaining still, if needed, might be +10 (say for invisible creatures). Since you normally only roll for movement this isn't likely to come up, and could increase for holding your breath or not apply at all if you're moving too much while "standing still."

Characters with Item Creation feats may designate what type of materials they primarily use for item creation: gems, rare metals, rare plants, monster bits, art objects, etc. Generally this should not restrict any item creation in a city, but may allow you to create items in the field (such as a megadungeon) without a vendor to buy "crafting components" from, depending on what you've found, as well as defining a general theme for the visuals of anything you craft.

Magic Items
-My magic item bans and alterations notes are much older than the rest, so some entries will need to be revisited. But more importantly I only got through the DMG and about half of MiC, with a few extras.
-Which means I don't have explicit notes on Complete Mage and Complete Champion, but many of their items are most definitely getting whacked.
-A character may only wield as many weapons or "weapons" as they normally have hands. Some creatures have fewer slots for other magic items due to physiology, and the majority of humanoids only have two "slots" that can activate weapon properties.
Thus, holding a weapon in the same hand as a gauntlet suppresses any weapon properties of that gauntlet. Actively wielding armor or shield spikes or a hidden blade, will suppress a held weapon (while applying those of the new weapon), though if wielding two weapons you may choose which to retain and which to suppress (as you are now wielding a body blade and a weapon, one primary and one "off-hand").
-This still isn't enough to fix the ridiculous initiative bonus items mind you, those are still banned.
Magic Item Changes
-Sending Stones can use whispering candle, whispering sand, or forest voice as their prerequisite, and no longer function accross planes. They still use a single message and response of 25 words, because they're cheap- and while this does encourage obsessive word counting, it avoids the drawbacks of timing a normal conversation.
-Bags of Holding, Handy Haversacks, and similar use shrink item as their default prerequisite. Rupturing the bag causes all items to spill out, rather than being permanently lost in a method more powerful than anything short of a 9th level spell. Being in the "extradimensional space" of one of these or any similarly priced storage item, does not count as being on another plane, thereby not preventing various effects.
-Sizing weapons can also be hammers and axes, because why not?

Banned Prestige Classes:
Incantatrix, Spelldancer
Shadowcraft Mage, Shadowcrafter, and the other one (no shadow illusion boosting).
Abjurant Champion
-Most prestige classes can be fixed easily so there's no need to make a massive list. For example, Initiate of the Sevenfold Veil would lose casting levels, while a Blood Magus would gain some back, and Green Star Adepts could take full BAB and a rebuilt capstone.

Other clarifications and changes.

• Magic Immunity does not care about SR and blocks any spell, save those the DM decides are sufficiently indirect. Supernatural abilities will be ruled case by case.
• LA buyoff does not exist (it is a variant, that is not being used). If level adjustment is assigned it stays until/unless the rest of the party recieves similar bonuses.
• NPC attitudes are a Cha+circumstances check, not Diplomacy.
• Bluff and Diplomacy (Negotiate) have been rebuilt to work more like Intimidate.
• Standing orders for mindless creatures start at max 25 words, may be reduced further.
• Potions worth 100gp or less may be brewed in 1 hour.
• Potions of Cure spells use 15gp instead of 50gp to determine their price (compare wands), though almost no other spells are appropriate.
• Brew Potion governs all elixers, unguents, salves, ointments, glues, pigments, perfumes, dusts, powders, slingy stones, etc. Any of these is a specific "potion."
• Scrolls worth 100gp or less may also be scribed in 1 hour (per spell).
• Staves must have a minimum of two spells and one of them must cost 1 charge per use.
• Scepters (LEoF) are allowed to have a single spell, and at 2 charges per use if desired.
• Scepters have min CL 6th, and otherwise use staff pricing.
• Unconscious creatures and saving throws/willingness are determined by the DM based on the creature's best interest/desire regardless of subterfuge. Hostile intent is hostile.
• Stealthy spells (proof-of-concept, not in use): Creatures that succeed on saves against a non-obvious effect (typically a mind-affecting spell from an unknown source) could require a secret Sense Motive check vs the spell DC to notice the attack, with distraction penalties when appropriate (normally any successful save alerts the target).

From NPC's and Animals
-Brown Bear is effectively banned, because I nerfed it into an actual non-game-breaking grizzly bear.

From Character Creation
-Ridiculous stat rolling and uber point buys are "banned." Not even min-maxing 25 point buy, we're going arrays only, Elite or Specialized (a 25 point array I wrote which has a 17).
-Abuse of the lack of prerequisites on metamagic feats is explicitly called out as unacceptable, as are having too many spellcasters in the party, and having spellcasters that are too far apart in power level.

You will of course note many things others have mentioned, such as Greater Consumptive Field, which I have not. This is either because they're so broken that anyone who understands the entries I've already listed should be able to grok that worse things are also not allowed, or because if someone wanted it I'd consider and make some changes. Or because I just haven't thought of it. Stuff that is "banned," despite the word not actually truly applying to tabletop, have specifically been judged and removed with prejudice.

[Max Caysey]

From my main doc, everything from initial bans through character creation:
(italics and bullet points won't have transferred, so reduced legibility)

Spoiler: several pages

Show

ACFs and "bans." No "ban" list is ever free from further additions as required, but these get the idea.

Complete Champion
-1st level pounce from Spirit Lion Totem Barbarian is banned, other spirit totems may be negotiable.
-Spontaneous Divination and Domain Granted Power for Wizards are banned.
-Travel Devotion gives you one move as a swift action, not ten of them.
-Ring of the Beast is banned.
Complete Mage
-Arcane Hunter is banned.
-Focused Specialist is banned.
-Arcane Fusion errata is ignored (you cannot metamagic spells within the fusion)
Dragon Magic
-Dragonscale Husk is a normal armor bonus, can be targeted as armor.
-Taking a Drakkensteed does not remove access to other mounts.
Drow of the Underdark
-Hit and Run Tactics Fighter is banned.
-Ring of Anticipation is banned.
-Shadow Cloak is banned.
Dungeonscape
-Dungeoncrasher is banned.
-Paladin's Spirit of Healing is equal to their Lay on Hands pool rather than double (since Lay on Hands has been upgraded)
-Penetrating Strike is banned.

Other
Whirling Frenzy is banned.
Improved Trip does not give you a free attack.
Knock-Down is banned.
Tripping now includes BAB on both sides of the check
Shocktrooper (heedless charge) provokes an AoO from target (compare Power Lunge feat).
Leap Attack applies only on the first attack.
Abrupt Jaunt is now Abrupt Blink (50% miss chance as Blink against one attack/effect, still huge)
Uncanny Forethought is banned.
Craven is banned.
Splitting is banned.
Valorous is a +3 enhancement that applies only on the first attack.
-Any other charge multipliers I haven't caught below also apply only on first attack.
Magebane is banned.
Wraithstrike is banned.
Heartseeker Amulet is banned.
Anklets of Translocation (and essentially all teleportation items less than 10,000gp) are banned.
Belt of Battle is banned.
Nerveskitter is banned.
Massive initiative bonus items (say, anything higher than +2, no stacking) are banned.
Crafted Contingent Spells are banned.
Restful armor and Restful armor crystals are banned.
Animated shields are banned.
Bead of Karma is banned.
Metamagic Rods are on thin ice.
Sculpt Spell (clarification): must choose area mode on preparation.
Wand Chambers: banned.

Cloistered Cleric is banned.

Darkstalker: banned.

Hellfire Warlock's Hellfire takes a swift action.

Entangling Exhalation: banned. I do not care enough to want to use this myself, nor to fix it when its only use is turning simple at-will low damage effects into no-save AoE control effects.
-Exhaled Barrier could be re-worked into a proper metabreath feat. Exhaled Immunity is stupid and banned.

Healing Belts: banned. Yes, you heard me. They grievously violate all pricing guidelines, are so good that they effectively become mandatory for every character, displacing all other healing items, and push the "1 hour adventuring day" even harder.
-Cure potions have been reduced in price to match wand charges, to encourage use even at the lowest levels.

---
Negative hit points increased to -10-1/2 level? Or, is -10-full level so bad?


Spells
Alter Self uses 3.0 version (disguises w/poor quality wings/gills only, can alter clothing)
Assay Spell Resistance is reduced to +5, standard action cast.
Wraithstrike is banned
Conviction is banned.
Benediction is banned.
Divine Insight is banned.
Nerveskitter is banned.
Glibness is reduced to +10 enhancement (and Bluff is not insane), could be competence instead if stacking remains a problem, or stripped all the way down to merely negating truth magic.
Inspirational Boost is 3rd level (but base Inspire Courage progression has increased)
Enhance Wild Shape can only grant extraordinary senses or boost an ability score.
Greater Blink is 7th level Sor/Wiz (6th for Bards)
Greater and Superior Resistance have 10 min/level durations.
Mass Resist Energy is 4th level.
Greater Mighty Wallop is banned.

Mage Armor and Shield are reduced to +3 each.
Enlarge and Reduce 3.0 versions are available (10%/caster level up to 50%, +1/-1 str at 20% and 40%), standard action cast, and at 30/50% they also give +1/-1 and then +2/-2 on weapon damage (could be restricted to creature-only, but leaving that alone for now).
-Enlarge Person is renamed Gigantize and is pushed back to 3rd level, does not stack with Enlarge.
-Reduce Person is renamed Shrinkify, otherwise remains unchanged, does not stack with Reduce.
Web lasts 1 round/level and once free only reduces speed by 1/2 (as creatures are still entangled within).
Glitterdust blinds for 1 round, dusting remains for 1 round/level.
Stinking Cloud only forces one save, lasts 1 round after leaving.
Entangle affects a 10' radius.
Greater versions of Web, Glitterdust, Stinking Cloud, and Entangle are available at 4th, 4th, 5th, and 3rd levels with their original effects.

These are banned, but for completeness I would make the following minimum changes:
-Wings of Cover is 4th level, and you lose your next turn.
-Lesser Celerity is 4th level and you lose your next turn.
-Celerity is 8th level and you lose your next turn.

Ray of Stupidity is banned.
Ray of Dizziness is banned.
Shivering Touch could maybe be fixed, but I'd rather just ban it.

A growing list of buffed spells in Spell Compendium shall be un-buffed.

Many spells which grant blindsense, blindsight, and burrow speeds are awaiting roundup for the chopping block. PCs are not meant to perfectly ignore stealth with ease any more than they are meant to have perfect stealth, nor has anything ever been written assuming they can just walk through earth. Some will remain, but only at 4th+ levels.

Blasting Spells: see Traditional Energy Spells below for changes to many popular (and unpopular) blasting spells, including the Orbs, Scorching Ray, Combust, Chain Lightning, and Freezing Sphere.
-Melf's Unicorn Arrow is banned.
-Ray of Frost, Acid Splash, and similar 0th level damage rays are 1d6.

Polymorph is not banned, but may also be restricted by HD of target, only allows the given creature types regardless of the target's type, forms may be vetoed individually at any time, and further restrictions may apply if needed (such as single-brained creatures being un-able to use multiple Hydra heads or Octopus limbs, disorientation penalties, lists of familiar forms, strength of new form limited to +X above original, etc.). Polymorphing is cool, but I will adjust or prohibt as needed to account for how monsters are not written for polymorph. If you just want a specific form, consider asking for a dedicated spell.
-No, the Pathfinder version is not the solution. A list of buffs and a disguise bonus is not polymorph. Polymorph turns you into something, and if that doesn't involve a massive replacement of stats, it's not polymorph.

Polymorph Any Object can be used only to duplicate the spells given in the PHB, as well as appropriate spells from other books such as fuse or transmute sand<->stone/glass and flesh<->ice. It can also instantaneously transmute objects as Fabricate, or temporarily turn an object or creature into an object within the parameters of Major Creation. If used to duplicate Polymorph, the duration increases to 1 hour/level. Spell might be renamed to Greater Polymorph.
-PAO (experimental): more powerful and instantaneous transformations such as lead into gold, turning an object into a creature, or changing a creature's race, might be possible with an xp cost. I'm thinking xp cost= gp cost of desired result as a safe minimum. This fixes a number of entries that seem to think the spell could already do this, and putting them here makes it more obvious that some thing are absolutely within range of wish and other non-epic (but still high level) magic.

Flesh to Stone (and similar): This family of spells might require some rewrites regarding the status of items worn and/or carried by the target. The classic petrification shtick of "incredibly lifelike statues," obviously has an expectation that the target's clothing and gear must transform with them to create the proper image. But 3.x relies heavily on the magic item system, where the PCs are expected to loot their foes' equipment. Thus, the PCs cannot actually use any petrify effects without causing an even worse version of the prisoner problem, needing to un-petrify and deal with the "defeated" foe in order to get the loot. This can be viewed as a "balancing" factor of such spells (and the freezing of gear an effective complication when it happens to PCs), but it simply clashes too much with gameflow, pacing, and the existence of flat-out kill spells at the same levels. Furthermore, well-known "exploits" found in the lack of real defintion or limitation on things like: petrifying someone, turning the statue to mud or dust, and purifying the mud/dust out of existence, potentially leaving them and everything they carried not-dead and not-destroyed but impossible to un-petrify, well that's the heck of a dumb loophole to have in the rules of the universe.
Potential fixes:
-Non-magical gear is always petrified, magical gear is not.
-Petrified items on a creature can be targeted and restored individually.
-The caster may choose to affect only the creature and not their gear, or everything.
-A petrified creature or item is never treated as stone for any other effects: even a stone to flesh spell only affects them because they are a petrified creature.
-Destroying or rendering incapable of de-petrification any of a creature's life-critical organs, a full cross-section of an item, or more than 50% of the original statue regardless of shaping, kills the creature or destroys the object. The soul departs, the magic of an item is lost, and effects which attempt to locate them work only as they would for a dead or destroyed target, because the target was in fact killed or destroyed, while petrified.

Planar Binding only allows you to bargain, bound creatures will never work for free. If a bargain is not made they may automatically return to their home plane once free of the binding regardless of effects or local conditions that would attempt to retain or compel them. If a bargain is made, the payment is bound to the agreement and returns to the creature's home plane with the same guarantee even if they are slain, or possibly immediately (at their option). Bargains for non-immediate or non-material rewards are enforced upon the caster directly- such as transporting the caster or their soul to a desired point on the creature's home plane, the transferal of magic or ability, etc. Payment may only be extracted in this way from the caster (and possibly children sired after the deal is made). Any equipment carried by the called creature may be designated "bound" (as DMG2) by the DM, making it useless to anyone but the called creature itself.
While you can only bargain, the spell remains risky because plenty of creatures would rather break out and do as they please anyway, as well as subverting your orders out of spite. While a "Planar Bargain" variant initially seems reasonable, the lack of risk and reliable bargaining is why Planar Ally has an xp cost in the first place (and the further deity restricted lists in the second place). No xp cost, no guarantees.
Defeating a creature you oringally called (or created) never earns you xp in any way, in case you had to ask.
The corpse of a called creature may be deemed unsuitable for other purposes. A core part of the calling descriptor's optics is that the body remains, the same as if they had planeshifted or travlled in some other way, but I could just as easily make a blanket ruling that elementals, outsiders, spirits, etc. slain on the material plane are always rendered useless no matter how they got there.

Planar Ally typically calls only a specific type of creature per spell depending on the caster's god (see Complete Divine), and casters whose gods aren't represented there or elsewhere can submit a list for DM approval. The DM may alter the default creatures to create unique individuals and/or substitute another creature if it seems appropriate, including instances where the caster has made an attempt to request a different creature by some means even if they don't have a specific name, or any other reason. As with Planar Binding, any payment offered is bound to the agreement and disappears even if the called creature is slain, and the creature's own equipment may not be transferable.

Animate Dead: is in line for nerf and/or split as soon as I decide what particular changes to use (or if a particular game will not need any changes).
The main split is: the "3.5" versions at 3rd/4th level become Lesser, and use the 3.0 skeleton and zombie statistics and spell details, with Greater versions at 6th/7th for the 3.5 templates and spell details (IIRC, 3.5 massively increased HD cap- the overall gp cost may have gone up a bit though).
The DM may make adjustments to the 3.0 statistics as neccesary, such as changing claws to hooves for a horse skeleton, allowing an alternate weapon such as a scorpion with a single more powerful stinger instead of claws, or altering movement modes. In rare cases this might include a direct upgrade such as an extra natural weapon, natural armor or statistic increase, or retained special ability, if and only if the DM feels they are neccesary to capture the feel of a high quality animated corpse, and do not create an overpowered result.
An alternative might be restricing Animate Dead to targets of humanoid (two arms, legs, and head, not the creature type) design and explicitly removing weapon and armor proficiencies, or even the ability to use them at all, regardless of proficiency (no untrained weapons and strappping on armor just leaves the minion entangled and unable to act). The goal here is to force the templated creatures into end results more like the original expectations without divorcing the bloodthirsty pokemon trainer model completely. In the end it is still very highly dependent on what the DM uses, just from a smaller allowed pool with the worst offenders removed- and making the spell much more situational as it no longer works on huge swathes of monsters. I much prefer the consistency of the lesser/greater split.
-Another alternative could be creating a separate "control pool" system that runs through all classes, taking the place of any and all companion or minion (heck, maybe even summoning! And transforming!) limits. This would be a more ambitious overhaul project that while attractive, really isn't in my preferred style of individually quick fixes- but to truly balance minions, one would need to properly incorporate them at the ground level.
-Yet another alternative would be the abolishment of automatic control entirely, and directly prohibiting it: no creature created by ones own spells, features, etc., could ever be directly controlled by the creator. This forces the use of external means such as simple bargaining, blackmail, or a "sufficiently external" effect like a Leadership feat for recruitment. Or more involved methods, such as creating specific types of creatures that naturally do a thing you want them to do (undead that hate their former loved ones). Or incentivise villains to control someone and then turn them into a useful monster (since a monster created from "nothing" is useless), making "body horror" more interesting. Or most simply, incentivising pairs where each can create undead or other creatures, but they must be controlled by the partner. Under this ruling, the intent is obviously that PCs just don't create undead or other minions, unless there is a specific two-character combo that the DM has ok'd and the game is being planned for.

Command Undead: Duration reduced to 1 hour/level, as it is effectively "Charm Undead." Though because nobody complains about commandeering a pile of mindless undead abominations, no comparison is ever made to the fact that those using Charm Person in the same way would be gutted morally for enslaving a bunch of people (assuming a Charm was sufficient to do so).
-The spell should also give the +4 on saves if allies are already threatening or attacking the target, as charm effects, and should allow a save even for mindless undead. "Charm Persoon, but it works on undead" is a fully valid reason to push the spell to 2nd level on its own.
-As interesting as it might seem to make mindless undead so "vulnerable" to control, in practice this means that (one, poorly considered) spell screws over of a foundational type of foe for the DM. Command Undead is, surprise surprise, not a 3.0 PHB spell, and thus was no part of any of the main testing of such foes. It appeared in 3.0 Tome and Blood (alongside two necromancer classes)- so, any testing it did undergo was most likely with the far weaker and standardized skeletons and zombies of 3.0, and none of the additional and more powerful mindless undead added in later MMs or using the 3.5 templates.

Summon spells: the summon X lines may be cast as a standard action by anyone without any special features, in which case the creature(s) will appear immediately and be vulnerable to attack, but are unable to act until the start of your next turn. Rapid Summoning can be taken as a feat by anyone with an appropriate spell.
-This is mostly to reconcile the existence of such features and items, which are weirdly restricted but also widely assumed. Rather than try to make a dozen ACFs just to let characters who can can summon spells function at full speed, a basic tradeoff added to the spells themselves and a general feat seem much more effective.

Summon spell lists: I've rewritten the Summon Monster list based on the 3.0 and 3.5 lists and the changes made. Summon Nature's Ally will use the same list for natural creatures, but without templates, and needs to have some fey/plants/beasts added.

Gate: all creatures are unique creatures, boom done.

Sending: while the response must be made immediately, the recieved message lingers and is easily recalled for several minutes (so it can be commited to memory or written down). Because while it would make narrative sense in a book for something to hinge on failure to immediately write down a Sending, for practical use and actual play standards, it's better to be clear that the recipient has every opportunity to commit the information.



Disguise magic and skills (clarification): successful spot checks inform the user that the target is disguised, ex: "Something seems off, you think that X is under some sort of disguise."
-People who don't know anything about the sort of creature you are disguised as take a -10 penalty on their spot checks.

Line areas (clarification): as per Rules Compendium p135, when a line goes through an exact intersection, it hits all squares around that point. Thus a 5' wide line can always be aimed such that it will hit a given 10' square- just look at the diagram. Furthermore, because you can fire a line at any angle you want, you can always avoid hitting people at the "end" of a line, by angling it up or down so that it grounds out before or flies over a certain square.

Mirror Image (clarification): if you don't spread out your images, people can just swing blindly at you for 50% miss chance, no special rulings needed. If you do, they can make educated guesses about which one is you. A typical response would be to ready an action to attack whichever image launches a spell or projectile, or to attack whichever image is shown to be solid by an ally's action.

Dominate (clarification/houserule): subsequent saves do not currently end the spell, because that would make it impossible to dominate anyone with half a spine, making it rather useless and non-scary for long-term compulsion. However, anyone with half a spine has plenty of room to resist and subvert orders, and as a spell that requires a move action directive to change orders, you can be under only one set of orders at a time- so making that save to resist a subersive order means you're free. Until they issue a new order that sticks (and there are plenty that won't trigger that extra save). Intelligently worded orders require an intelligent being, while an emotionally agitated fool might give easily subverted orders.


PHB list of 1 round casting time spells: antilife shell, call lightning, changestaff, creeping doom, deep slumber, dominate animal/person, enlarge person, enthrall, fire storm, lesser geas, hypnotism, insect plague, modify memory (1 round+), mount, reduce person, sleep, statue, storm of vengeance, summon X, zone of silence. Similar spells may have their casting times adjusted at any time, and many items ought to as well.
-Also: baric Inspire Heroics. None of the other songs for whatever reason, just this one.

1 round casting time spells in items that don't inheret casting times: Mostly this is calling out Potions of Enlarge Person, normally a super cheap and super powerful buff. With the nerfs applied above, those versions of Enlarge/Reduce are fine acting at potion speed, but a potion of Gigantize should not take effect until the start of your next turn (still effectively granting you an un-interruptible casting benefit). Other items have often had their cost, trigger, and duration heavily modified, and so should be ruled individually.
-Items that produce sleep, or use prices based on sleep items, need to have this accounted for.

Phantom Steed: should probably be nerfed into submission. It grants scaling speed into flight which might have been less ridiculous when fly was 90' Good and flight items were wrong decimal point cheap, but not now.

Prestidigitation only manifests one effect. Yeah that's right, I'm even nerfing the Big P. The available effects of prestidigitation will also be limited by that of any dedicated cantrips added- in particular the cleaning effect needs to shrink, 'cause that's good enough to be its own spell, and eventually Big P will have its own entry with a fully revised list.

Move Silently: the penalty for moving faster than half your speed but not more than double your speed is -10. The bonus for remaining still, if needed, might be +10 (say for invisible creatures). Since you normally only roll for movement this isn't likely to come up, and could increase for holding your breath or not apply at all if you're moving too much while "standing still."

Characters with Item Creation feats may designate what type of materials they primarily use for item creation: gems, rare metals, rare plants, monster bits, art objects, etc. Generally this should not restrict any item creation in a city, but may allow you to create items in the field (such as a megadungeon) without a vendor to buy "crafting components" from, depending on what you've found, as well as defining a general theme for the visuals of anything you craft.

Magic Items
-My magic item bans and alterations notes are much older than the rest, so some entries will need to be revisited. But more importantly I only got through the DMG and about half of MiC, with a few extras.
-Which means I don't have explicit notes on Complete Mage and Complete Champion, but many of their items are most definitely getting whacked.
-A character may only wield as many weapons or "weapons" as they normally have hands. Some creatures have fewer slots for other magic items due to physiology, and the majority of humanoids only have two "slots" that can activate weapon properties.
Thus, holding a weapon in the same hand as a gauntlet suppresses any weapon properties of that gauntlet. Actively wielding armor or shield spikes or a hidden blade, will suppress a held weapon (while applying those of the new weapon), though if wielding two weapons you may choose which to retain and which to suppress (as you are now wielding a body blade and a weapon, one primary and one "off-hand").
-This still isn't enough to fix the ridiculous initiative bonus items mind you, those are still banned.
Magic Item Changes
-Sending Stones can use whispering candle, whispering sand, or forest voice as their prerequisite, and no longer function accross planes. They still use a single message and response of 25 words, because they're cheap- and while this does encourage obsessive word counting, it avoids the drawbacks of timing a normal conversation.
-Bags of Holding, Handy Haversacks, and similar use shrink item as their default prerequisite. Rupturing the bag causes all items to spill out, rather than being permanently lost in a method more powerful than anything short of a 9th level spell. Being in the "extradimensional space" of one of these or any similarly priced storage item, does not count as being on another plane, thereby not preventing various effects.
-Sizing weapons can also be hammers and axes, because why not?

Banned Prestige Classes:
Incantatrix, Spelldancer
Shadowcraft Mage, Shadowcrafter, and the other one (no shadow illusion boosting).
Abjurant Champion
-Most prestige classes can be fixed easily so there's no need to make a massive list. For example, Initiate of the Sevenfold Veil would lose casting levels, while a Blood Magus would gain some back, and Green Star Adepts could take full BAB and a rebuilt capstone.

Other clarifications and changes.

• Magic Immunity does not care about SR and blocks any spell, save those the DM decides are sufficiently indirect. Supernatural abilities will be ruled case by case.
• LA buyoff does not exist (it is a variant, that is not being used). If level adjustment is assigned it stays until/unless the rest of the party recieves similar bonuses.
• NPC attitudes are a Cha+circumstances check, not Diplomacy.
• Bluff and Diplomacy (Negotiate) have been rebuilt to work more like Intimidate.
• Standing orders for mindless creatures start at max 25 words, may be reduced further.
• Potions worth 100gp or less may be brewed in 1 hour.
• Potions of Cure spells use 15gp instead of 50gp to determine their price (compare wands), though almost no other spells are appropriate.
• Brew Potion governs all elixers, unguents, salves, ointments, glues, pigments, perfumes, dusts, powders, slingy stones, etc. Any of these is a specific "potion."
• Scrolls worth 100gp or less may also be scribed in 1 hour (per spell).
• Staves must have a minimum of two spells and one of them must cost 1 charge per use.
• Scepters (LEoF) are allowed to have a single spell, and at 2 charges per use if desired.
• Scepters have min CL 6th, and otherwise use staff pricing.
• Unconscious creatures and saving throws/willingness are determined by the DM based on the creature's best interest/desire regardless of subterfuge. Hostile intent is hostile.
• Stealthy spells (proof-of-concept, not in use): Creatures that succeed on saves against a non-obvious effect (typically a mind-affecting spell from an unknown source) could require a secret Sense Motive check vs the spell DC to notice the attack, with distraction penalties when appropriate (normally any successful save alerts the target).

From NPC's and Animals
-Brown Bear is effectively banned, because I nerfed it into an actual non-game-breaking grizzly bear.

From Character Creation
-Ridiculous stat rolling and uber point buys are "banned." Not even min-maxing 25 point buy, we're going arrays only, Elite or Specialized (a 25 point array I wrote which has a 17).
-Abuse of the lack of prerequisites on metamagic feats is explicitly called out as unacceptable, as are having too many spellcasters in the party, and having spellcasters that are too far apart in power level.

You will of course note many things others have mentioned, such as Greater Consumptive Field, which I have not. This is either because they're so broken that anyone who understands the entries I've already listed should be able to grok that worse things are also not allowed, or because if someone wanted it I'd consider and make some changes. Or because I just haven't thought of it. Stuff that is "banned," despite the word not actually truly applying to tabletop, have specifically been judged and removed with prejudice.

Wow... I would not want to play in your game... you’ve basically removed all the things I use in my builds! 🤯

One might say some of your bans for spellcaster are valid but why tho would you ban things for fighters and barbarians? That make little sense to me without further explanation... but as always if you have fun and all that ☺️

[Kitsuneymg]

I play pathfinder 1e. And this is going to be super controversial.

I ban vancian casting. We use spheres of power. Advanced talents are on a case-by-case, game-by-game basis. But I’ve never allowed Improved Afterimage/Temporal haste.

Multiple simultaneous companions. You can have a familiar, animal companion, drake, bound creature, conjuration companion, etc. but you can only have one with you at a time. I might make an exception for beastmastery if someone demonstrates they can run a zoo without slowing down turns. We use roll20, so basically people that can write their own macros.

I ban the joke bull**** (Jester’s handbook, bear sphere, etc). Most games I ban Tech sphere and similar classes. Just go find a star finder or Star Wars group FFS.

If the rest of the table is down here doing 2d6+12 damage twice a round, and you’ve got your 4 attacks for 3d8+4d6+2*level+bane barrage inquisitor, we’ll have a talk about appropriate table balance. But I don’t tend to ban specific things from the martial spheres.

I do encourage people away from bad options (fallen fae sphere, chained rogue, not using Spheres of Might options,) simply to help with table balance. But I won’t tell you that you can’t take a bad option if you want to, I just try to steer you to a better one.

[Fizban]

Wow... I would not want to play in your game... you’ve basically removed all the things I use in my builds! 🤯

And that is the true beauty of a "ban" list: it lets you instantly know whether someone will be comfortable playing under a certain "op level."

One might say some of your bans for spellcaster are valid but why tho would you ban things for fighters and barbarians? That make little sense to me without further explanation... but as always if you have fun and all that ☺️

Because fighters and barbarians can be broken too, and for the point at which I aim my game (MM1 monsters [dragons are outliers] vs the standard party, where it feels a way I can only describe as "how the game was supposed to be" back when I first started*), there are a bunch of things that need banning- particularly from the "so good literally every character in that archetype should have it" (DMG-given) definition of overpowered. Free pounce for taking a barbarian level is broken (even moreso than vanilla barbarian 1 dip, which is already super strong). Getting it for a feat or Cleric dip is also broken. Whirling Frenzy is zero-downside, all-upside, broken. Dugneoncrasher is essentially an at-will touch attack for massive damage when used the way everyone uses it, nope. Weapon damage was never intended to completely ignore all armor, pitch just about everything that turns it into "touch" attacks (Emerald Razor is like the one thing that gets to stay, because it has actual opportunity costs). Ubercharger "lol I one-round level appropriate enemies" is by explicit DMG definition broken (you spent zero resources to beat something that is supposed to cost four characters 20% of their spells and abilities? ha!), so all the components need to be nerfed and/or separated. Trip builds invalidate entire archetypes of foes and are unfun for the DM in general, so those get the same. Sneak attack is not supposed to work all the time, so pitch the stuff that makes it work all the time- which also keeps TWF blender rogues in-line.

You can play a game where the DM has taken MM3+ monsters and char-op'd and metagamed them against the party, and thus those builds are actually expected and required. But that's not the game I want to play- I want fights that require the whole party and last a few rounds, against normal monsters, in fair situations. And perhaps even more importantly, that's the kind of game my experience has shown to be required in the first place: no game I've been in has had more than two hardcore 3.5'ers that could even try to sustain that sort of game. You can't have half the party playing char-op and the other half playing no-op, and no matter how op'd a build you hand the latter, it's not going to change who they are.

*But with some extra layers of polish, tuning up and fixing a bunch of classes so that they work they way they're supposed to work. Monks that don't get hit, sorcerers that actually are equal but different from wizards, paladins and paladin-likes tuned up, druids toned down, bunch of defensive and shield-fighting and even some crossbow feats added, and so on. Most classes only have a couple lines worth of text, a few more plus new spell lists for the bigger overhauls.

[Kurald Galain]

From Pathfinder,

• Authoritative Spell
• Dazing Spell
• Leadership
• Sacred Geometry
• Slumber hex
• Magical Lineage and Wayang Spell Hunter traits
• Chained Summoner
• one-level dip of Crossblooded Sorcerer
• a few of the variant channeling options
• any build revolving around the Summon Monster line of spells, unless I know its player can still run his turns in a timely fashion

[Melcar]

So what is banned at your table? Tired of persistent spell? What spell like Shivering Touch breaks your/the game? No more stockpiles of nightsticks fueling DMM?

When I am DM'ing, what ever I choose to ban is campaign specific, meaning that I only remove it if it disrupts the specific theme/mood of the setting I'm trying to create. That might include saying no to certain alignments, or certain templates, like Chaotic Evil or the Saint template. It might be that I for a specific game removes the options to be spellcaster all together, or that they can only be spellcasters.

What I do NOT do is have a list of things I NEVER allow... Sometimes we play über optimized epic characters, and sometimes, we're level 1 commoners. Naturally, both games should not include the same list of options/bans!

In my personal experience, setting gentleman agreements with my players asking them not to disrupt the game with their builds seem to work a lot better than banning stuff. In that sense, I work with my players. Like if they want to make a pounce barbarian or a hit-and-run fighter or a focused specialist with domain granted ability ACF they can, as long as they play nice.

That makes the players able to play and build what they want and makes them less antagonistic against me for banning their specific wishes, thus ensuring they don't destroy my game...

The reason I'm this open is because as a player, I like more options than less. Therefore I want to give my players the same enjoyment! More options are always better than less.

[Rynjin]

From Pathfinder,[*]Dazing Spell[*]Sacred Geometry

Oh yeah, I forgot about Dazing Spell. Giga-banned. So banned, in fact, that it's been assumed banned by all my players even though I've never explicitly said nobody could take it.

I'd probably ban Sacred Geometry with a group of strangers, but with my current group of friends all I've asked is if anyone DOES nab it, they use one of the Sacred Geometry Calculator apps to speed the process...

[Quertus]

So what you ban all buff spells with a duration, that can’t be persisted? 🧐

Don't make us do fiddly math at the table. If we can't write your buffs down as a permanent¹ part of the character sheet, don't. Just don't. (unless the table can handle "fiddly math" without slowing the game down, I suppose - really, this is just a special case of "don't slow the game down")

¹ "permanent" until you level, die, leave the party, etc - "between sessions" math, not "mid-session" math

1 could be done at the right table with the right people...not everyone wants to play the hero.
2 & 3 I fully agree with...slowing the table down is a cardinal sin.

Oh, absolutely! I *prefer* tables where the balance range is *huge*, where Not!Thor and a Sentient Potted Plant can be in the same party!

[False God]

Nothing really. Maybe some default assumptions about the game and setting but those are discussed at Session Zero. Like, I don't use WBL or magic item shops, and I run the "slow xp" option.

But no, I just inform players that what's good for the goose is good for the gander.

[The_Jette]

I don't really have anything that I've banned. Then again, I've never had anyone at my tables try to use some of the things that people get up in arms about here. I always play with a party of "good" or at least "neutral" characters. So, Consumptive Field would never be used at my table because it's an evil spell. Stuff like that. My players get through tough encounters by using their resources in intelligent ways that takes advantage of their enemy's weaknesses while building up their own strengths. One time the group I DM for took out an Iron Golem by opening a pit under his feet with a spell, then casting Grease on the sides of the wall so that he couldn't climb out of it even with a Nat 20 climb check.

[AnonymousPepper]

Chaotic Evil.

Also CN, if the player is new.

[Biggus]

Would you mind explaining your thoughts behind (Greater) Consumptive Field, Venomfire, Wings of Cover, Polymorph Any Object, Craft Contingent Spell, Fell Drain, Initiate of Mystra, and the PrC's? I ask for your point of view, not to challenge or argue.

The Consumptive Field spells are mostly a problem with Persistent Spell, as they have no upper limits to the Str and HP bonuses so you could make yourself all but invincible with them. There's a school of thought that it's more economical to ban Persistent Spell, but to my mind the feat itself isn't unbalanced, it's the other things it can be used with. DMM for example I've made work like the Bard equivalent Metamagic Song, i.e. that you can't use it to add metamagic feats that would make the spell's effective level higher than the highest level of spell that you can cast normally.

Oh that reminds me, I don't allow Arcane Thesis or Easy Metamagic either as too much metamagic reduction is one of the things which can take casters from tier 1 to tier 0.

Venomfire I banned because it's ludicrously overpowered and has no upper limit to the damage, but now I come to look at it again, it could be usable with some heavy nerfing. Give it a damage limit of 10d6, make it apply to only one natural weapon (so creatures like Fleshrakers don't get to use it several times a round) and reduce the duration to either 1 round/level or 1 minute/level. Even with all that it'd still be pretty good for a 3rd-level spell.

Wings of Cover because it's an absolute "no" button which is only a 2nd-level spell. It seems totally unbalanced to me that such a low-level spell can completely negate high-level and even epic spells and effects.

Polymorph Any Object...I don't know where to start. It's sufficiently vaguely worded (especially the bit about "related") that it would require DM adjudication every single time. It gives you the Intelligence score of the creature you transform into, so you can become a great gold worm (or great prismatic wyrm, or great time wyrm if the ELH and Dragon Magazine are open respectively) which makes Wizards far more overpowered than they already are. There are whole threads about how to abuse this spell.

Craft Contingent Spell allows a clever caster to make themselves almost entirely unkillable. It's expensive, but at higher levels that's not much of a restriction.

Fell Drain can be applied to even level 0 spells. Put it on a multiple-target spell like Magic Missile and give a negative level to 5 different foes. Gets even worse with metamagic reduction.

Initiate of Mystra allows you to attempt to cast in a dead magic zone or an antimagic field, and it gives you Anyspell and Greater Anyspell as normal spells, not just domain spells. Any one of those things would be a decent feat on their own; all of them from a single feat is just absurd.

Frenzied Berserker primarily because it makes you impossible to kill with hit point damage while your frenzy lasts which seems idiotic to me, but also because along with Shock Trooper it's one of the two main things which allow melee characters to go from very high power attack damage to kill-anything-in-the-game-in-one-round power attack damage.

Hulking Hurler because it allows builds which can average over 100,000HPs damage per round.

Planar Shepherd in general because it makes Druid, already one of the five strongest classes in the game, considerably stronger. Specifically because of its Planar Bubble ability which can be used to make time flow faster for you than everyone else. Again, there are whole threads about how broken this is.

Ur-Priest allows you to get 9th-level spells at 14th level. It also allows some horribly OTT theurge builds.

Tainted Scholar, Beholder Mage, Illithid Savant

Actually yeah, these as well.

You can play a game where the DM has taken MM3+ monsters and char-op'd and metagamed them against the party, and thus those builds are actually expected and required. But that's not the game I want to play- I want fights that require the whole party and last a few rounds, against normal monsters, in fair situations.

That's exactly how I feel about it, I would totally play in one of your games.

[Nifft]

I prefer to whitelist on a per-campaign basis than to ban.

What's on the whitelist is mostly determined by the Session Zero discussion which establishes the basis for the campaign.

Each campaign has a different "palette" both in terms of threats, and in the specific tools the PCs can use to combat those threats. In my experience, this keeps the game fresh and interesting.

[Particle_Man]

Evil, either through actions or on the character sheet. I like to eat when I DM and don’t want a Saw scene during that.

[malloc]

Oh yeah, I forgot about Dazing Spell. Giga-banned. So banned, in fact, that it's been assumed banned by all my players even though I've never explicitly said nobody could take it.

I'd probably ban Sacred Geometry with a group of strangers, but with my current group of friends all I've asked is if anyone DOES nab it, they use one of the Sacred Geometry Calculator apps to speed the process...

I've always wanted to play a Sacred Geometry build, just to use Sacred Geometry. Run it under a time constraint--30 seconds to do the math (maybe less, haven't "playtested" it). That way things keep moving.

[Falontani]

Why these?

Beholder Mage breaks the action economy over its knee. None of my groups have attempted to nab it yet, but they agree thus far that it should be banned for all parties, so I won't use it against them either.

Illithid Savant is much the same as beholder mage, except that a party member did attempt to grab it. When I explained why I don't allow it, they understood, agreed, and went for something else.

Tainted Scholar uses it's taint score for spellcasting. It has no limit to the amount of taint it can obtain. It can obtain taint very easily. A single level in Tainted Scholar allows you to get an spellcasting ability modifier arbitrarily high at a very fast rate. It may not be as broken as some things, but it is powerful enough to warrant a ban.

D'vati are a headache inducing mess, that is incredibly difficult to work with. Depending on the reading they can do extremely well and are balanced just fine, utterly unusable, or incredibly powerful. I didn't ban them at first, I liked the concept. But then someone broke found a way to read certain feats that made it quite unbalanced. Eventually I learned that they just break the action economy even when designed not to, and just fall apart in different ways. For example: Druid/Windrider using themselves as an ubermount. Access to Manyweapon fighting and Multivoice. And a bunch of other tiny things that explode.

Anthro animals: This is a personal opinion more than anything else. Some of them are unbalanced (anthro bat). But more importantly to me, whenever I have allowed anthro animals in a pug type group (where I am getting new players) the people that ask specifically about anthro animals are generally not the type of people that I want in my group. They usually role play in a style very counter to the kind of role play environment that I strive to achieve.

[the_tick_rules]

Starmantle+evasion=95% immunity to weapons chance. I don't agree they stack to begin with but even if I thought it did just no.

[RNightstalker]

From my main doc, everything from initial bans through character creation:
(italics and bullet points won't have transferred, so reduced legibility)

I appreciate your depth and thoroughness. If I had a consistent table that played for long I'm sure I could get close to that if I really wanted to.

In my personal experience, setting gentleman agreements with my players asking them not to disrupt the game with their builds seem to work a lot better than banning stuff. In that sense, I work with my players. Like if they want to make a pounce barbarian or a hit-and-run fighter or a focused specialist with domain granted ability ACF they can, as long as they play nice.

That makes the players able to play and build what they want and makes them less antagonistic against me for banning their specific wishes, thus ensuring they don't destroy my game...

The reason I'm this open is because as a player, I like more options than less. Therefore I want to give my players the same enjoyment! More options are always better than less.

I would definitely prefer the gentleman's agreement route.

I don't really have anything that I've banned. Then again, I've never had anyone at my tables try to use some of the things that people get up in arms about here. I always play with a party of "good" or at least "neutral" characters. So, Consumptive Field would never be used at my table because it's an evil spell. Stuff like that. My players get through tough encounters by using their resources in intelligent ways that takes advantage of their enemy's weaknesses while building up their own strengths. One time the group I DM for took out an Iron Golem by opening a pit under his feet with a spell, then casting Grease on the sides of the wall so that he couldn't climb out of it even with a Nat 20 climb check.

Chaotic Evil.

Also CN, if the player is new.

Yeah I run heroic campaigns...if you want to run an evil character, then I'm the wrong person for your group.

The Consumptive Field spells are mostly a problem with Persistent Spell, as they have no upper limits to the Str and HP bonuses so you could make yourself all but invincible with them. There's a school of thought that it's more economical to ban Persistent Spell, but to my mind the feat itself isn't unbalanced, it's the other things it can be used with. DMM for example I've made work like the Bard equivalent Metamagic Song, i.e. that you can't use it to add metamagic feats that would make the spell's effective level higher than the highest level of spell that you can cast normally.

Oh that reminds me, I don't allow Arcane Thesis or Easy Metamagic either as too much metamagic reduction is one of the things which can take casters from tier 1 to tier 0.

First off, thanks for going through those, I really appreciate it.

I've gone ahead and banned Persistent spell and Improved/Easy Metamagic...which pretty much means nobody will want to play an Incantatrix which will get nixed too if they can abuse cooperative metamagic without persistent spell. I'm cool with Arcane Thesis as it only works on one spell...it's ok to have a signature in that sense. Of course now that I've reviewed it again and there are no feat prerequisites, that might change...but unlike the special, it CAN only be taken once.

Evil, either through actions or on the character sheet. I like to eat when I DM and don’t want a Saw scene during that.

I heard that.

Beholder Mage breaks the action economy over its knee.

Thanks for answering those as well, I really appreciate it.

I appreciate all of y'all. I should be starting a few campaigns soon and I want to not learn some things the hard way when others have already paid the dumb tax for me.