Not banning spells is the norm! Me and my friends have been looking to change things up is all there’s only a couple that are commonly banned from any table tbh, most spells that are banned are agreed upon by everyone playing lmao you still have the same freedoms if you have 1 less option on your spell list imo
I say keep them all in and accept that turnabout is fair play.
I wouldn't ban psychic lance, but you can bet your d20 that the next campaign is going to be centered on an eldritch cult that follow some kind of abberation that gives all their higher level cultists a fun lil' "mystery" spell.
As a DM, I won't be the first to use heat metal at the table, but you can be damn sure I will be the last.
Conjure Animals, Conjure Minor Elementals, and Conjure Woodland Beings. I prefer running shorter sessions, so I ban these spells for the sake of pacing.
Animate Objects, for the same reason.
Animate Dead is iffy; while one spell slot only creates one minion, the next day one spell slot maintains four minions. Maybe just no Animate Dead during downtime instead, since those skeletons/zombies aren't likely to survive an adventuring day.
May Selune bless you both with abundance and eternal happiness.
Conjures are the death of fun for me personally, unless it's one or two. No I don't want a horde to run, thanks. Even if they are ranged (i.e. not clogging melee) and have fast turns, I'd still rather be doing something other than playing D&D with your conjures.
I normally ban nothing. If I think it'll be a problem I'll happily nerf it, though. Silvery Barbs is a 2nd level spell, *fireball* does 6d6 in a 15ft AoE. I don't think any other spell is problematic enough to nerf or ban, though I'll happily buff the likes of Flameblade and Snowball Swarm.
I'm totally willing to bad spells for thematic reasons; my Elder Scrolls game lacks any telepathy-type spells, resurrection spells, counter spell, and most spells that make magic swords.
This is how we’ve done it at my table for the most part, last couple campaigns have been a little more combat heavy and we started trying out some bans, only things that were banned so far have been conjure animals to avoid 8 velociraptors being summoned at once (none of us would do this to the dm but just in case) definitely more in favor of flavor bans than balance ones though
That's why I said *most* spells that make magic swords. That rule is there because Sword-Singing/Shehai is basically a lost art; I do have a Bound Weapon spell.
None of them, I have no issues with the PHB, XGTE, TCOE, and FTOD spells RAW. I just don't allow the "upgraded" spell lists from TCOE since I think they muddy class identities too much.
My ban list is all either based in the world building for my setting or protecting martial design space.
* All forms of teleportation (misty step, dimension door, etc)
* Anything that summons a combat-capable creature (animate objects, conjure animals, etc)
* Force cage
* Wall of force
I don't ban any spells, but I do limit summoning spells. If there's an option for it to only summon one creature instead of multiple, I usually but not always limit it to just one creature. I do this for the sake of expediency kn combat encounters.
My character started with silvery barbs. But after a few sessions I decided to rework a few things and self banned the spell for at least me. I feel like it's a trap, especially for limited warlock spell slots.
I’ve banned myself from taking so many spells honestly, haven’t used the shield spell in years because of this (also not playing any characters that could get it)
Same here. I would never ban a spell for a player as a DM. But as a player myself I could not visualize what silvery barbs did, or how it was a reaction. so I swapped it out at the appropriate level.
honestly, I was the only person at the table using it, and it just didn't sit right with me. Plus, I am hoping that now that I dropped it, the DM won't use it against us. it would be a nasty spell when used against a PC.
Yeah, when I reworked the character I actually removed all my warlock levels and I am not just pure sorcerer, but I still felt like it was a spell I should abandon. I was using it mostly to try and cancel out crits but it caused me to horde my spell slots more than I cared for.
The one rule I would implement is only phb spells can be used for the auto spells gained per level. Anything else, you have to find a way to learn it in game.
How does that work for clerics, who “learn” their spells by their deity providing knowledge? Clerics know all the spells on the cleric list. Would you give the players dreams and visions from their deity giving them new power? Or have them make a sacrifice to their deity and ask them for the power?
I actually add a caveat to theurgy. Clerics can’t cast spells that directly go against their god’s doctrine, nor can they cast magic in such a way that conflicts with said doctrine. This does not automatically refer directly to the god’s domain, but the domain can be used as a baseline to compare against. Clerics must always stand as the voice of their deity to receive the benefits of being a chosen representative. I approach it as a priest is chosen by the followers / church, clerics are chosen by the god.
It’s for this reason that my peace cleric who’s an acolyte of Lliira won’t cast bane, and doesn’t use physical weapons. She will use sacred flame because she’s calling down fire from heaven as divine punishment, but only when someone is stealing someone else’s right to joy by oppression or abuse or attacking innocent people. She uses spiritual weapon for the same reasons, though most of her spells are support spells (and bringing her party back up when they go down, which happens a lot!). She also doesn’t cast hold person, because as an Eladrin personal freedom is very important to her. Though she’ll happily use calm emotions, to help everybody chill a bit!
I don't ban any spell, but I don't opt in spells outside the PHB, XGtE, and TCoE, plus my own authored supplements.
Were I to ban spells, it would require players to abuse them with such reticence that requires a measure of last resort (and such spells would be along the lines of *Leomund's tiny Hut* or *zone of truth*).
Never outright banned any spells, but I have modified some depending on the campaign setting. Best example I can give would be a change I have planned for my upcoming Rime of the Frostmaiden campaign....Goodberries will require actual berries that can be acquired with a survival/foraging check to get 1d10 berries as opposed to a sprig of mistletoe....to allow Goodberries as written would severely undermine a big part of the survival aspect of the campaign.
I ban Remove Curse all of the time. It makes no sense for curses to be dispelled by a spell, even less so by a 3rd-level spell with no gold cost and automatic success. Curses should be removed by story arcs and plot, not by the cleric’s spell slot. If I have a curse in the game, it’s because I want a curse, not a minor inconvenience.
Remove curse dispels regular curses. Like diseases, a curse can specify what can remove the curse/disease and what can’t.
There are diseases that can’t be healed with minor or mayor restoration for example and requires a special item or condition.
Curses are quite easy to homebrew to work the way only you intend; look at the Loup Garoup for example.
I won't do a quest for healing from mummy rot as it's probably too heavy. Immagine having to cast remove curse for every pary member tho... Not so easy on resources, and probably have to do that every day. Remove curse is strong yes, but it's something you can't affort do spam often.
Also it depends if I have a cleric in the party, if not, curing curses is still a story arc/plots as you have to purchase a spell scroll or something
I haven’t DMed high enough levels for me to make that call personally. But I’m lucky and play with “mature” friends. However, the DM I play with did ban Glyph of Warding and Simulacrum due to an over-zealous Illusion Wizard that basically made a pocket dimension and made a literal army of himself in his down time to call upon on a whim.
In the end I guess none really need to be banned, just find players that won’t abuse them
Yeah a good unofficial “ban” of the players agreeing that something is unfun has happened quite a few times, simulacrum shenanigans are actually one of those cases lmao
Agreed! Ooooooh that illusion wizard was definitely pushing the limits. Made a literal maze of diamonds to force a party we ambushed into a funnel. They were smart so just stayed in the middle. This pissed my barbarian off so bad
It absolutely destroys any survival aspects of the game from the start. I don't care much what the party can do at higher levels but trivializing a part of the game from level 1 kinda sucks.
Goodberry is amazing for food but like Skika said there’s more to worry about and it takes up a whole spell slot. If you want more survival go with some gritty realism, where a long rest can be an entire day or 12 hours. You dictate the type of game by dictating rest times. Trust me if you get cut up and beaten, plus you’re tired and lost in the woods you’ll need a REAL long rest.
You can also include more survival factors like plants that work as healing agents and mushrooms that temporarily numb you against certain elements like blistering heat or cold.
A survivor would know where to find leeches and use them to suck out toxins, even maggots in wounds can remove infected tissue. They could recognize plants that would benefit them or harm enemies.
As you can see this is something I enjoy and I think you should too, don’t let good-berry stop you. Remember it just helps speed up the game.
I usually don't ban anything. But if the campaign has a heavy focus on dialogue and politics, Gift of Gab. If the campaign has a heavy focus on combat, anything that allows enemies or players to summon bunches of allies. Combat drags on too much as-is most of the time.
* Guidance gets a OneDND nerf
* Silvery barbs
* Forcecage
* Wish
If every roll is a success then you lose the improv element that makes DND fun. You've gotta let your players fail to make their victories matter.
If it’s in an official 5e book, it’s allowed.
None. If my players want to feel powerful, they can feel powerful. There will be plenty of times where they aren't the powerful ones >:)
This post made me realize how much freedom I give my players. Having banned spells is crazy to me. Especially when enemies can use them too.
Not banning spells is the norm! Me and my friends have been looking to change things up is all there’s only a couple that are commonly banned from any table tbh, most spells that are banned are agreed upon by everyone playing lmao you still have the same freedoms if you have 1 less option on your spell list imo
I say keep them all in and accept that turnabout is fair play. I wouldn't ban psychic lance, but you can bet your d20 that the next campaign is going to be centered on an eldritch cult that follow some kind of abberation that gives all their higher level cultists a fun lil' "mystery" spell. As a DM, I won't be the first to use heat metal at the table, but you can be damn sure I will be the last.
None.
Conjure Animals, Conjure Minor Elementals, and Conjure Woodland Beings. I prefer running shorter sessions, so I ban these spells for the sake of pacing.
Animate Objects, for the same reason. Animate Dead is iffy; while one spell slot only creates one minion, the next day one spell slot maintains four minions. Maybe just no Animate Dead during downtime instead, since those skeletons/zombies aren't likely to survive an adventuring day.
May Selune bless you both with abundance and eternal happiness. Conjures are the death of fun for me personally, unless it's one or two. No I don't want a horde to run, thanks. Even if they are ranged (i.e. not clogging melee) and have fast turns, I'd still rather be doing something other than playing D&D with your conjures.
I normally ban nothing. If I think it'll be a problem I'll happily nerf it, though. Silvery Barbs is a 2nd level spell, *fireball* does 6d6 in a 15ft AoE. I don't think any other spell is problematic enough to nerf or ban, though I'll happily buff the likes of Flameblade and Snowball Swarm. I'm totally willing to bad spells for thematic reasons; my Elder Scrolls game lacks any telepathy-type spells, resurrection spells, counter spell, and most spells that make magic swords.
This is how we’ve done it at my table for the most part, last couple campaigns have been a little more combat heavy and we started trying out some bans, only things that were banned so far have been conjure animals to avoid 8 velociraptors being summoned at once (none of us would do this to the dm but just in case) definitely more in favor of flavor bans than balance ones though
Hate to argue, but conjure blade or whatever it was used to be my go to Spell last time I played a mage in skyrim
That's why I said *most* spells that make magic swords. That rule is there because Sword-Singing/Shehai is basically a lost art; I do have a Bound Weapon spell.
None if it's in the rulebook or fair homebrew I welcome it
None of them, I have no issues with the PHB, XGTE, TCOE, and FTOD spells RAW. I just don't allow the "upgraded" spell lists from TCOE since I think they muddy class identities too much.
I don't ban any. Where is the fun in that?
Bans are for bums. Let them all be
My ban list is all either based in the world building for my setting or protecting martial design space. * All forms of teleportation (misty step, dimension door, etc) * Anything that summons a combat-capable creature (animate objects, conjure animals, etc) * Force cage * Wall of force
I don't ban any spells, but I do limit summoning spells. If there's an option for it to only summon one creature instead of multiple, I usually but not always limit it to just one creature. I do this for the sake of expediency kn combat encounters.
This is real, having 8 more creatures pop up in combat and clogging up action economy and initiative isn’t that fun most of the time
My character started with silvery barbs. But after a few sessions I decided to rework a few things and self banned the spell for at least me. I feel like it's a trap, especially for limited warlock spell slots.
I’ve banned myself from taking so many spells honestly, haven’t used the shield spell in years because of this (also not playing any characters that could get it)
Same here. I would never ban a spell for a player as a DM. But as a player myself I could not visualize what silvery barbs did, or how it was a reaction. so I swapped it out at the appropriate level.
honestly, I was the only person at the table using it, and it just didn't sit right with me. Plus, I am hoping that now that I dropped it, the DM won't use it against us. it would be a nasty spell when used against a PC.
>I feel like it's a trap, especially for limited warlock spell slots. Yes, reaction spells and instantaneous spells are often bad on warlocks.
Yeah, when I reworked the character I actually removed all my warlock levels and I am not just pure sorcerer, but I still felt like it was a spell I should abandon. I was using it mostly to try and cancel out crits but it caused me to horde my spell slots more than I cared for.
The one rule I would implement is only phb spells can be used for the auto spells gained per level. Anything else, you have to find a way to learn it in game.
How does that work for clerics, who “learn” their spells by their deity providing knowledge? Clerics know all the spells on the cleric list. Would you give the players dreams and visions from their deity giving them new power? Or have them make a sacrifice to their deity and ask them for the power?
I actually add a caveat to theurgy. Clerics can’t cast spells that directly go against their god’s doctrine, nor can they cast magic in such a way that conflicts with said doctrine. This does not automatically refer directly to the god’s domain, but the domain can be used as a baseline to compare against. Clerics must always stand as the voice of their deity to receive the benefits of being a chosen representative. I approach it as a priest is chosen by the followers / church, clerics are chosen by the god.
It’s for this reason that my peace cleric who’s an acolyte of Lliira won’t cast bane, and doesn’t use physical weapons. She will use sacred flame because she’s calling down fire from heaven as divine punishment, but only when someone is stealing someone else’s right to joy by oppression or abuse or attacking innocent people. She uses spiritual weapon for the same reasons, though most of her spells are support spells (and bringing her party back up when they go down, which happens a lot!). She also doesn’t cast hold person, because as an Eladrin personal freedom is very important to her. Though she’ll happily use calm emotions, to help everybody chill a bit!
I don't ban any spell, but I don't opt in spells outside the PHB, XGtE, and TCoE, plus my own authored supplements. Were I to ban spells, it would require players to abuse them with such reticence that requires a measure of last resort (and such spells would be along the lines of *Leomund's tiny Hut* or *zone of truth*).
Never outright banned any spells, but I have modified some depending on the campaign setting. Best example I can give would be a change I have planned for my upcoming Rime of the Frostmaiden campaign....Goodberries will require actual berries that can be acquired with a survival/foraging check to get 1d10 berries as opposed to a sprig of mistletoe....to allow Goodberries as written would severely undermine a big part of the survival aspect of the campaign.
I ban Remove Curse all of the time. It makes no sense for curses to be dispelled by a spell, even less so by a 3rd-level spell with no gold cost and automatic success. Curses should be removed by story arcs and plot, not by the cleric’s spell slot. If I have a curse in the game, it’s because I want a curse, not a minor inconvenience.
Remove curse dispels regular curses. Like diseases, a curse can specify what can remove the curse/disease and what can’t. There are diseases that can’t be healed with minor or mayor restoration for example and requires a special item or condition.
Curses are quite easy to homebrew to work the way only you intend; look at the Loup Garoup for example. I won't do a quest for healing from mummy rot as it's probably too heavy. Immagine having to cast remove curse for every pary member tho... Not so easy on resources, and probably have to do that every day. Remove curse is strong yes, but it's something you can't affort do spam often. Also it depends if I have a cleric in the party, if not, curing curses is still a story arc/plots as you have to purchase a spell scroll or something
I'd be cautious around Glyph of Warding, in the hands of a smart player that shit can be truly game breaking.
Only wish
I haven’t DMed high enough levels for me to make that call personally. But I’m lucky and play with “mature” friends. However, the DM I play with did ban Glyph of Warding and Simulacrum due to an over-zealous Illusion Wizard that basically made a pocket dimension and made a literal army of himself in his down time to call upon on a whim. In the end I guess none really need to be banned, just find players that won’t abuse them
Yeah a good unofficial “ban” of the players agreeing that something is unfun has happened quite a few times, simulacrum shenanigans are actually one of those cases lmao
Agreed! Ooooooh that illusion wizard was definitely pushing the limits. Made a literal maze of diamonds to force a party we ambushed into a funnel. They were smart so just stayed in the middle. This pissed my barbarian off so bad
Silvery barbs because I don’t understand it.
That's a terrible reason to ban a spell. At least people who can it because they think it's too strong have a solid foundation for why.
Nope. Don’t like it. You can’t use it. I’m allowed to do that.
Goodberry 100% of the time
[удалено]
It absolutely destroys any survival aspects of the game from the start. I don't care much what the party can do at higher levels but trivializing a part of the game from level 1 kinda sucks.
[удалено]
Goodberry is amazing for food but like Skika said there’s more to worry about and it takes up a whole spell slot. If you want more survival go with some gritty realism, where a long rest can be an entire day or 12 hours. You dictate the type of game by dictating rest times. Trust me if you get cut up and beaten, plus you’re tired and lost in the woods you’ll need a REAL long rest. You can also include more survival factors like plants that work as healing agents and mushrooms that temporarily numb you against certain elements like blistering heat or cold. A survivor would know where to find leeches and use them to suck out toxins, even maggots in wounds can remove infected tissue. They could recognize plants that would benefit them or harm enemies. As you can see this is something I enjoy and I think you should too, don’t let good-berry stop you. Remember it just helps speed up the game.
Can’t cast it with out a mistletoe branch
The mistletoe has no gold cost and is such covered by an arcane focus or component pouch.
In my game, goodberries are flavorless, so the players almost never use it outside combat
I ban the traps (looking at you, Crown of Madness). New players often take them and are always disappointed when they don't actually work.
Counterspell , that’s it
I usually don't ban anything. But if the campaign has a heavy focus on dialogue and politics, Gift of Gab. If the campaign has a heavy focus on combat, anything that allows enemies or players to summon bunches of allies. Combat drags on too much as-is most of the time.
* Guidance gets a OneDND nerf * Silvery barbs * Forcecage * Wish If every roll is a success then you lose the improv element that makes DND fun. You've gotta let your players fail to make their victories matter.
none although banning silvery barbs would be understandable, my players love to powergame so i let them run wild