Here is one every DM and probally quite a few players can get behind.
Make a list check it twice and never ever let it happen again.
Format:
(Character Level and Type); (Character Species)
Description of the horror that they wrought.
11th level Barbarian (8)/Frenzied Berserker (3); elf
He was killed multiple times and attacked the party multiple times because he was a killing machine that could not control himself; oh and he was a 7' tall 250 lb elf who acted like a crazy military guy that would try and sleep sitting up with his eyes open and would always stick his arrows in a circle around him, even though I don't recall ever seeing him use his bow. And he yelled all the time like a drill sergeant (even at children). And threw defeated enemies guts around, and I quote "like confetti". The defeated enemies in question had tried to surrender but instead he clubed their heads in with their dead friends body. I then changed his alignment to CE.
I'm the only person that owns a lot of rulebooks/options and I'm the most D&D enthused out of the group, so I don't have anyone making abusive min/maxed characters. But there is one person in my group that I simply do not want to ever play a spellcaster; he would never use his spells. Just sitting on them, figuring he would save them for a "big fight" while his companions got chewed up in combat encounters that didn't stop and say "hey, I'm the boss encounter!". Or maybe he just didn't want to do the light book keeping and planning required to be a druid, cleric or wizard. Regardless, he played his druid like a crummy fighter and I just had to finally speak up and tell him to re-examine his character. His gnome wizard would actually stand there doing nothing on some of his rounds. Give me a break! A light crossbow can be as effective as a first level damage spell. What was he afraid of? Jeez.
And these weren't pre-generated/iconic characters; he rolled them and chose their classes.
Before I grokked the ECL/LA system I let them play all kinds of weird stuff.
Sorcerer 1; Stone Giant
Pebbles the stone giant was the last straw. She was a sorcerer who never cast a single spell, preferring to clobber things with a greataxe and her obscene strength. Never again. The situation was not helped by the fact that the player thought that her repeating crossbow could fire five bolts a round.
Rogue 1; Pixie
In the same party there was a pixie with a name I don't recall. She was always flying and always invisible. This plus her rogue abilities and obscene Dex made her nigh unstopable. The only upside to this character was the fact that we got to make so many pixie jokes at her expense.
Sorcerer 1; mind-flayer
Ivellious was in the same party and was just overpowered (mindblast, spell-like abilities, stat boosts, ect).
The most normal character in the party was the Drow cleric. Those were weird times.
D&D
fighter/ duellist; human
He called himself a Pirate captain but had no ranks in boating, sailing, leadership or even swim. He acted very much like Blackjack from Pirates of the Caribbean. The character is enjoyable (mildly) on the movie screen but not when they are someone you are actually supposed to trust with your life. If I was supposed to adventure with that character type I would have put a bullet in his head by day two.
Barbarian; half flesh golem human
First of all he was a golem. Second of all I told him it must be a good character but he was too lazy to write up a back story. So he went with a character that had no memory except for extremely violent 'flashback' dreams. He had quite the bloodlust and talk with a German accent for some odd reason. He also was searching for “Sarah” an elven child he could remember that he was supposed to protect. Some played way to many video games or read/watch too much anime. He even drew a picture that made the guy look like a steam punk creature. The player has successfully gotten half golems permanently banned from my games.
D&D
Huh?
fighter/magic-user 7/7; Drow
Zress Ultran Nazgul - Self-hasting, double spec'd (1st edition) in dual-wielded Longswords, with 4 full attacks per round... Suffice to say I hadn't read about Drizzt yet when I allowed this. Never again.
Fire-elementalist Cleric; Human
Gillar - somehow convinced me to let him dual-wield Wands of Wonder (one of them a "cursed" 5 charges/use one). Most hated character ever, in game and out, allies and enemies alike.
Personally that kobold shapeshifter scares me more than a whisper gnome... I'm glad that I cruise D&D forums more than my players or I might be submerged in cheese.
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D&DHa ha...you're quite the character...kind of like an umlaut I imagine...good thing umlaut doesn't have an umlaut in it...
But to answer the post...be wary of the Ninja Whisper Gnome
Or the Rogue/Swordsage/Warblade Whisper Gnome......+18 hide at 1st level, Stance that allows anybody on the same foe to considered that foe flanked (sneak attack almost every single combat round), TWF, and maneuvers that add to his damage dealing and to hit options...every attack was 10 dice thrown on the table......'Nuff said.
Tome of Battle suxx.FH
Well, I'll save my DM ("Demiurge1138" on these boards) the trouble and pick out some stuff I'm not allowed to play anymore:
1) Keeper Fighter 1(pg 111 Fiend Folio) Totally my favorite monster ever, and with a quite playable ECL of 7. He, and his two Keeper Cohorts (Leadership and Undead Leadership, would probably add an Apprentice if I played that character today), as it turns out, are basically immune to dungeons. And since this was to Tomb of Horrors this left him quite disappointed in their durability. If I recall the official policy is that Keepers are for "DM Use Only"
2) "Kinless", Goliath Gestalt Druid//Warshaper/etc 12. It was the Aberration Wild Shape that I honestly didn't realize was going to be as powerful as it was. Specifically it was in the form of those Illithid/Ropers from Lords of Madness that took out a Frost Giant Barbarian pretty swiftly. Though, to be fair, we still got owned that combat as his mount was able to finish the job, those are totally never allowed again.
3) "Ka Sheshmu" Gravetouched Ghoul Elf Swordsage 4. Different DM, one I haven't played with much. But apparently being of the undead type in Expedition to Castle Ravenloft is totally broken and/or frustrating for a DM. And here I was just trying to come up with a really tragic angsty character since I thought it'd be appropriate.
In addition the following character concepts have been rejected outright:
1) Cursed Cold One (Sandstorm) Pyrokenetisist. What better way to stay warm?
2) Puppeteer (XPH) Psion (He has a "Thumb Rule" as you'll see later)
3) Karoti Fiend of Possession (Both the class and race independently, I believe)
4) Grey Jester (HoH). The idea is I pose as a leader of a monastery and so my hoards of CHA 0 zombie followers are simply in a deep meditative trance and have taken vows of silence.
5) Yak Folk (FF). I think because I talked about getting a bunch of Yak Folk together and possessing each other like one of those Russian Dolls.
6) Lantern Archon, Will-o-Wisp, or Flameskull. All because they don't have fine manipulators (See, "Thumb Rule", and no, apparently Mage Hand at will doesn't count).
7) Unicorn Paladin of Freedom. Hooves don't count either. Asking to be "Half Fey" as per the template didn't help.
I *think* that's it, my DM will hopefully chime in if I forgot about anything.
Swordsage 1; Owl
It's a long story, but in one of our games the swordsage became an owl through the use of a poorly-worded wish. Needless to say, his AC is somewhere around 26 at level 3 and thus nothing can ever hit him. This, combined with his maneuvers, makes him nearly unstoppable. Meanwhile my gray elf rogue has been nearly useless in comparison.
Dervish PRC from Complete Warrior built with Scout levels from CA and Swashbuckler levels from CW ---
Not necesarily broken in terms of power level (though a bit on the high end), but just created the slowest player turns ever. Dozens of tumbling rolls to avoid AoOs during the dervish dance special ability, tons of number crunching and reconfiguring damage rolls based on whether target could be critically hit... the rest of the players would literally leave the room (for the bathroom, a smoke, a cross-town food run) when this PCs turn came up. The player actually made things worse by just absolutely having to find out (the hard way) whether every single foe had the combat reflexes feat, then getting a weapon with the thundering ability... yeesh.
... and the worst part about it is the character was MY idea, thrown out in the open on an off-night one-shot game, and the adapted for a one-and-a-half year-long campaign.
OK, here are a few I'm never letting be played again.
Kyle, a Pixie Sorcerer. He spent all his time invisible and kept flying 'about 50 feet' above the party so he could just rain down destruction on the bad guys.
His 'brother' Myles, a Pixie Rogue. Sneak attack on every hit. 'Nuff said.
His spiritual successor, some wierd assassin type character. I can't remember the level/class/race build but I believe he was a Shade (FRCS) rogue/assassin/shadowdancer.... <shudder>
A build I worked out just for kicks... an 8th-level human Fighter/Exotic Weapon Master with Monkey Grip, Throw Anything, Quick Draw, Two-Weapon Fighting, Weapon Specialization... and lots of greataxes. This guy could just whip 'em out and hurl them... it was so incredibly bad I nearly disallowed myself from the gaming table.
A ghostwise halfling rogue solo-played by my brother... with the right feats, he got +17 on Hide at level 1 and just kept going, he avoided every single encounter in the game.
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Rather than discussing the usual sorts of brokenation, let me mention something I won't allow because it's not fun for the player of the character, even if the player thinks he's being really innovative when he takes it: Muteness.
Typically, this is taken by a player looking for more power in a system using Flaws or Disadvantages. The player thinks that he'll just play the "strong, silent type", so the sacrifice will be minimal. Then he finds that most roleplaying encounters result in his sitting there, twiddling his thumbs. It usually takes no more than two sessions for the player to decide that he hates the character.
I should, perhaps, note that there are things the player can do to participate in those sorts of encounters, but they rely upon brilliant acting (very uncommon), GM handwaving (annoying), and disruptive behaviors of one sort or another.
Been there, done that, ain't doing it again.
RPG Superstar 2009 Top 32, 2010 Top 8
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3.0 psychic warrior, 13th level, for a one shot.
I knew the XPH was due out and wanted to run all the broken combos before it did.
So out came Oneshot, with power attack, deep impact, cog crystals, extend power, and a keen mindfeeder scimitar.
Go through some puzzles and the like, then finally come up against a Stone Golem (mindfeeder weapons still work, even if the target's immune to crits) I pass one of the other players, who understood the abomination I'd created, a note. "Deep Impact Coming online, BA."
I hit a full out power attack deep impact full attack. I get lucky and crit on my second attack. I now have enough to fuel the rest of my attack routine, and put the rest in power crystals and burn on extended powers.
Rest of the dungeon was like that. As soon as I critted, I went nuts. The final battle, the druid stuns the flunkies and we agree to let the rest of the party tackle the bad guys while I coup de gracie the stunned critters. (The other fighter and rogue felt unloved)
Coup De Grace = auto crit = instant power points.
The party decides that they actually need help 3 rounds in, so my Psychic Warrior, glowing like Phoenix, goes in and toasts it.
Swore that combo would never be seen again.
Here's one my wife let a PC play that had all kinds of problems.
Unseelie fey Pettie Bramble- mage psionisist. (This is a creature from 2ED that I haven't seen converted to 3.5) the Fey is three inches tall.
...Let me say that again: She's three inches tall! The character spends most of the game riding around in someone's pocket. Not very productive when your character can only carry on gold piece at a time, cause it's the size of a manhole cover to you! It took some creative magic to make the character a little more viable.
For the most part, we're pretty openminded about what we let our players run. They just aren't allowed to b@*!& about the consequences.
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RPG Superstar 2009 Top 32, 2010 Top 8
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Oh. forgot this one. Though she was never played.
Friend was starting up a SW game, and I was planning to play. Decided to have some fun at his expence. (what, me sadistic?)
Him: Ready to play?
Me: Yup, have statted up Ttam Sirrom, Jedi Medic. (Bonus points if you catch the name) My wife's looking forward to it too.
Him: Cool. What's she playing?
ME: She wants to play a Gungan Jedi.
<Silence>
Me: You still there?
Him: Yeah. Are you serious?
Me: Yup, she's psyched. All set, big ears, light saber, long tongue.
Him: Please tell me you're kidding.
Me: Nope. All set to wade into combat. "Meesa gets Medival on yousa asses!"
Him: *swallows nervously* Um, Ok. Well I'm not going to say no, but she does realize I run a high fatality game, and can't promise she'll not lose her character...
Me: Yes, but she really wants to play this character. "Ooooh! Meeesa Jedi Knight! Looksa at me Lightsaberz."
Him: Oh god.... Please tell me you're just messing with me.
Me: I'm just messing with you, I'll be the only one playing.
Him: $#^$#^&&%$#%$#$#@^$#%$#@%@#&$!$^$$%
RPG Superstar 2013 Top 32
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I'm usually pretty good at shooting down hideously overpowered character concepts before they hit the table but every once in a great while, one of them slips through my defenses (or I voluntarily let them through for one-shot and/or Monte Haul campaigns).
I'll have to quiz my gaming buddies and get back with you, though, because I can't think of anything that I've allowed in the past that I would outright ban in future campaigns.
~LAUGHTER~
Good one Matthew. ~chuckles~
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Oh. forgot this one. Though she was never played.
Friend was starting up a SW game, and I was planning to play. Decided to have some fun at his expence. (what, me sadistic?)
Him: Ready to play?
Me: Yup, have statted up Ttam Sirrom, Jedi Medic. (Bonus points if you catch the name) My wife's looking forward to it too.
Caught it. My friend David's younger brother Matt (as a small child) had the annoyng habit of repeating anything you said. Backwards. His nickname is (and was) Matt-Matt. Read: he ran around the house yelling TTAM! TTAM! for HOURS on end. Annoyance incarnate.
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RPG Superstar 2009 Top 32, 2010 Top 8
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Caught it. My friend David's younger brother Matt (as a small child) had the annoyng habit of repeating anything you said. Backwards. His nickname is (and was) Matt-Matt. Read: he ran around the house yelling TTAM! TTAM! for HOURS on end. Annoyance incarnate.Oh. forgot this one. Though she was never played.
Friend was starting up a SW game, and I was planning to play. Decided to have some fun at his expence. (what, me sadistic?)
Him: Ready to play?
Me: Yup, have statted up Ttam Sirrom, Jedi Medic. (Bonus points if you catch the name) My wife's looking forward to it too.
sorry to traumatize you. It was funny though, everyone at the table thought it was cool.
Munchkins will munchkin any system. It is best to deal with the problem (munchkin) instead of trying to houserule a system into lawyerese.
I don't know why everyone digs so deep into the extra rulebooks for brokenness....
From my experience, the Paladin with levels of Templar (Um... Devoted Defender in 3.5??) and a ring of evasion is fairly broken...
Charisma modifier to all saves, and an "evasion" like effect on all saves.
I had a crazy super sayen like chracter in one of my group they made a sword sage 2/psion 2 low level yes but with the right feats he was dealing 3d6 dmg to 3 monsters at the same time, can you say one shotted ? he went MIA though
Wow -in my last campaign, I let something slip very early in the game that really came back to haunt me. The two players in question had an elven arcane archer and a halfing rogue (ranged dagger slinger). Our group has always been really good about staying out of any non-Wizards books (we still say "non-TSR" -our average age is about 32) but, one of our players shows up with a splatbook that he'd just bought and I felt bad telling him it was off limits, so I let him use it.
So, at about 3rd level, everyone kind of outlines their feat progressions for me to approve -I had enough to worry about, so everything sounded kosher at the time.
Then my party hit about level 10 and this one feat that our two range guys had been saving up came into play: it allowed attacks of opportunity with range weapons within short range. So, coupled with combat reflexes and two very-high-dex characters, you suddenly couldn't move anywhere NEAR the party without a total shitstorm of daggers and arrows pummeling anything that moved.
THEN, the halfing gets another feat from this book that allows all of his AoO to be treated as sneak attacks. Holy crap!
So, I suddenly have to contend with this halfing that can get up to about 7 sneak attacks to anyone who dares move within 30 feet or so of the party, not to mention the archer.
Of course, the feat was broken -not the class or race. That's about as crazy as my group gets -no weird races or templates. In fact, we all play humans about 95% of the time and don't get all crazy with 5 class combos or anything. And we NEVER venture past Wizards book anymore -not that there aren't some broken things in them, too...
Fleece
I once had a player with a super strong and dextrous air genasi monk(high rolls when making his character -he got two eighteens and not one bad score for his other abilities, his worst score was fifteen or something!). Later in the campaign he came into possession of a belt of stregth and an item that allowed him freedom of movement (all the time) and that was a knightmare!
He didn't need to breathe either and had lots of skills. Later he traded an item to another party member so he could go ethereal -he became almost unstoppable, like a super fast, stealthy, slippery ghost that could hit like a train!
He totally over shadowed the other party members at times but I never penalised him for it or anything, he deserved to shine for getting great rolls but it was a headache for me as DM to challenge him at times.
It's partially the reason I now use point buy I think.
Halfdoppelganger can be a very fun race for a player -but very large headache for the DM if you happen to have a super clever, machiavellian mastermind running the PC. :)
Halfdoppelganger can be a very fun race for a player -but very large headache for the DM if you happen to have a super clever, machiavellian mastermind running the PC. :)
Yep. That would make the DM's day hell. Of course, bring in a creature that uses sent or hearing to notice the PC for who he really is.
Every time someone has picked a character like this in one of my games they have killed themselves off shortly after due to intense stupidity.
Though they've already made an appearance in this thread, I'll say it again: Frenzied Bersker. NO! Just NO!
Player: Wow, barbarians are awesome, look at how much damage they can do!
WotC: Yep, and here, have some more awesomeness! For free! No reason at all; just heap on more of what a barbarian already does! Don't worry, we only pretend it has a "cost;" the requirements are really all just stuff you would want to take anyway.
Player: Gee, thanks!
DM:
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Anyone wanting to "try" an evil PC gets a solid no now. I have DMed it and never seen a player manage to pull it off without hurting the party too much.
The two occasions showed me that the slide into the dark side is too easy.
To be fair I doubt I could play a successful evil PC without slipping up. A friend explained that he has run one such PC, a LE necromancer, but they spent a lot of time doing stuff away from the table.
Cheers
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Heh. I ran an "all 1st level of the prestige class of your choice" game once. Someone played a frenzied berserker. They found some "unguarded" treasure and took it back to a "secure" room. The ghost that was lingering because of the treasure possessed one of the party members. I don't remember if it was the f.b. or one of the other members of the party. It didn't matter because it still had the same results: frenzied berserker goes crazy with no one else to attack but party members=near tpk. I think the Whisper Gnome Shadowdancer was the only survivor (hid in plain sight until the killing was over then capped off the f.b. iirc.)
Just say no to Frenzied Berserkers. If you've made the mistake of saying yes, try this method of getting rid of them-or the rest of the party.
Once a player of mine created a 1st level rock gnome rogue and asked if he could be really skinny and small for his race -I said yeah. He took a feat that gave him and animal cohort...or it might have been a feat called 'Animal Friend' from Races of Faerun?
He was flying around on an eagle at first level, dropping onto enemies for 'flying stabbings' and was a lot of fun but a flying PC at 1st level can br tricky. :)
Rather than discussing the usual sorts of brokenation, let me mention something I won't allow because it's not fun for the player of the character, even if the player thinks he's being really innovative when he takes it: Muteness.
Overall, I will agree with you on this. However, I was lucky that the one time I did allow this (back under 2nd edition Spells & Powers), I have a great roleplayer. He often got teamed up with a Kobold NPC ally (who he rescued and introduced to the party). He did a lot for that game.
Unfortunately, I have seen enough people play mute characters badly in games I did not run for me to question if i would aloow it again.
Barbarians
Rather than discussing the usual sorts of brokenation, let me mention something I won't allow because it's not fun for the player of the character, even if the player thinks he's being really innovative when he takes it: Muteness.Overall, I will agree with you on this. However, I was lucky that the one time I did allow this (back under 2nd edition Spells & Powers), I have a great roleplayer. He often got teamed up with a Kobold NPC ally (who he rescued and introduced to the party). He did a lot for that game.
Unfortunately, I have seen enough people play mute characters badly in games I did not run for me to question if i would aloow it again.
I've played mute NPC's (An evil wizard one time) -I found it fun, you just descibe everything and use your facial gestures to 'speak' I enjoyed it lots. The players ended up throwing the mute wizard off a cliff and saw him silently scream all the way down... ;)
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Well, I didn't play a mute character, exactly... My char had an ability that made his voice a Shout all the time... no whispering or talking really soft, just Shout. I used gestures and facial expressions. The char had a 'sign language' language but no ther PC would spend points to talk to him...
I had a good time playing him.
In any game I run, I'll let something in just to see what happens. If the players are having fun, it's good with me. I can make adjustments to avoid the min/max'er char being too excessive.
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I've played mute NPC's (An evil wizard one time) -I found it fun, you just descibe everything and use your facial gestures to 'speak' I enjoyed it lots. The players ended up throwing the mute wizard off a cliff and saw him silently scream all the way down... ;)
Oh, yeah; I'll do nearly anything with an NPC. A mute villain is pretty strange, though. I'm thinking that he should really have had a posse of evil mimes -- maybe evil mime cabaret dancers. I might have to steal that the next time I run Champions.
8-)
Well, I didn't play a mute character, exactly... My char had an ability that made his voice a Shout all the time... no whispering or talking really soft, just Shout. I used gestures and facial expressions. The char had a 'sign language' language but no ther PC would spend points to talk to him...
I had a good time playing him.
Blackbolt? ;)
I've played mute NPC's (An evil wizard one time) -I found it fun, you just descibe everything and use your facial gestures to 'speak' I enjoyed it lots. The players ended up throwing the mute wizard off a cliff and saw him silently scream all the way down... ;)Oh, yeah; I'll do nearly anything with an NPC. A mute villain is pretty strange, though. I'm thinking that he should really have had a posse of evil mimes -- maybe evil mime cabaret dancers. I might have to steal that the next time I run Champions.
8-)
He was a demonologist, he sold his voice and shadow to a foul Abyysal beastie for an extended lifespan and summoning powers. ;)
My guilty pleasure was a venerable human monk with vow of poverty named Gen Shao-Ming. Very hard to hit, and had holy ki strike. Never really had a chance to take him into the upper stratosphere of power, but I was getting there.
Currently, I'm also playing a lillend, with an emphasis on enchantment spells, cloak of charisma +6, and a veil of allure from MIC, which puts her enchantment spell DCs up to 26 + spell level. She's even going to go into sublime chord. (I even named her Zulshyn. Thanks, James Jacobs!)
Hmmmmm, the list is so long.....
-Half-fiend or Half-dragon troll using level progression (Savage Species): invincible due to regeneration and new immunities
-Vow of Poverty with anything that has Polymorph: VoP's bonuses stack with Polymorph whereas equipment effects do not since all equipment melds into the characters form and goes inactive. VoP itself seems to be a bit over powered to begin with, though it can add some really fun RP'ing moments if used correctly, which is why I don't get rid of it all together.
-Half Dragon Druid/1 (Shapeshift variant Phb 2) Fighter/4 Warshaper/5 (CW) Primeval 7 (Frostburn): 50-60 strength, plus great abilities depending on the creature chosen for Primeval, use power attack and go to work. Seriously, no one else in the party even got to participate in the fights.
-Sorceror/3 Monk/2 Enlightened Fist/- (CA): Full attack includes casting a spell, Spectral Hand can be used to both make the attacks and cast the spell meaning you have a monk fighting from 100+ feet away at full effectiveness while casting spells.... beyond powerful with the good attack progression.
-Pixie ninja/rogue: already outlined in previous posts.
-Nymphs: Why the hell a level adjustment is given for these creatures I will never know, even though its ecl 13. So annoying having to make saves for the blinding beauty, party included.
-Undead/Constructs: Should never be player characters, immunity to critical hits and sneak attacks is huge at 1st level, let alone any other, being as how its a +5 armor enchantment. Furthermore, with rare exceptions, all are supposed to be mindless, making for boring RP when all you do is take orders.
Killed MULTIPLE TIMES? Who kept raising him?11th level Barbarian (8)/Frenzied Berserker (3); elf
He was killed multiple times and attacked the party multiple times because he was a killing machine that could not control himself; oh and he was a 7' tall 250 lb elf
The party's cleric of Pelor... I don't know why.
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I will never allow a skulk rogue/shadowdancer in the party again (3.0 when skill bonuses weren't always clear on stacking). The one I did allow would remain hidden in plain sight all the time, but instead of staying silent he would make rude comments to confuse or anger any NPCs the party met. Only his hide skill and reflex saves were abusively high, and instead of helping the group by scouting for example, he would sneak off ahead of them in hopes of gaining extra treasure for himself, usually setting off a trap or alarm that made the encounter that much more difficult for the party. The other players eventually decided that if they ever found him, he would die.