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I've noticed on a lot of threads discussions of Wizards always having "the spell" and I wondered if other shared the experience of always having to watch the Wizard at the table as a DM, because of the temptation to cheat that is inherent in the class.
I would rank the most likely to cheat classes as follow. To be clear, I'm not saying people who play these are more likely to cheat, I am saying they are the classes most likely to be abused by those who do cheat.
This is my opinion only, feel free to comment or post your own list.
1. Wizards- Between wanting to use a spell multiple times, despite only one memorization and the fact they could know any spell at any time, the temptation is high.
2. Cleric - Who doesn't want to have that heal,restoration, breath of life, etc...spell memorized so you can save your friends? It is almost virtuous cheating.
3. Witch - See wizard, but smaller spell list.
4. Druid - See Cleric, but less temptations.
5. Alchemist - Same temptation as any prepared caster, with less options. Has the added "My mutagen does this today..." sneak. Still the least of the prepared casters so far (Magus will be up here I am sure)
6. Sorcerer - Not as bad as a Wizard, as you can generally keep track of what spells they know.
7. Oracle - See Cleric, only you generally know what spells they know and they generally can cast them enough times.
8. Bard - Just the spell temptation, but like a sorcerer you kind of know what they know and don't know. And they are generally useful enough they can find something to do without having to resort to cheating.
9. Summoner - When did you buff what now?
10. Monk - Sure you have the ki points for that...also monks have so much movement they can sometimes slip one by a DM who doesn't watch them count out the distances and assumed the monk can make it there.
11. Ranger - Have some prepared spells, although this doesn't come into play as much, as they are rarely that useful. Occasionally you'll get a "What was your favored enemy?" thing going.
12. Rogue - How did you get into flanking position?
13. Paladin - Prepared spells. I would put him higher, but the ability as a DM to punish a paladin player for cheating by forcing them to atone balances things (No it isn't RAW to force the character to atone for the player, but I suspect cheating is handled this way at a lot of tables)
14. Fighter - Wait, when did you get that feat?
15. Inquisitor - The fact that you can make your weapon a bane for whatever you are fighting helps discourage cheating I think.
16. Barbarian - Wait, now that you stopped raging aren't you at negative hit points?
17. Cavalier - Who are you challenging?
I don't consider cheating to be a major problem. I have one player who I do think is a cheater, but that's brought more to my attention by other players who don't cheat catching it and making fun of the one who cheats. When your players police the problem, it's often mitigated.
I don't know too many people who outright cheat, but I notice a lot of negligence any time I have to count above 3 (say) in a slow-running game (e.g. play-by-post or play-by-email). So I can never remember how many rounds of bardic music/barbarian rage/sorcerer spell slots/psionic power points I've got left. Shame on me. :-(
Forgetfulness is probably a lot more common than intentional cheating, especially as combats get more complicated. When haste, prayer and divine power get cast at the start of the combat (all at CL 7), how many people are actually aware of what round it is once it gets to rounds 8 and 9 and these effects start to expire?
This gets to be even more true when playing someone else's character or when passing around party items. I suspect that in a party where multiple characters can use it, there is at least a 5% chance a wand of Cure X Wounds will split into two before it runs out of charges.
I've never had a problem with wizards cheating when it comes to which spells they have prepared that day. In a tabletop game, I just have the wizard player write up a list of all their prepared spells on a post-it or a small scrap of paper, and have them toss it to me. When they cast a spell, I just cross it off. I tend to allow players to make up a "default" spell list that I keep permanently; if we all forget to go through the routine, it's assumed that they memorized those spells (since the character is probably less forgetful than we are). To save time (and paper), some players like to have a few premade spell selections for various purposes, such as downtime, combat, etc. If they're feeling lazy they can say "I prepare my usual 'downtime' spell list".
I tend to have the most trouble with rogues, in cases where players really try to push the limits of what constitutes stealth or the helpless condition or whatever. It can also be annoying keeping track of all those skill points and modifiers. Paladin players can sometimes be annoying when trying to argue really feeble excuses for their behaviour. But both of those are pretty minor problems and we always find solutions to them.