first and foremost, every player at my table much read and concur with Caelic's
10 Commandments of Practical Optimization.
It's kinda hard for me to actually quantify what I do and don't allow -- it's more of an instinctual thing on a case-by-case basis. The problem is that "no single rain drop is responsible for the flood".
I used to try to impose all kinds of artificial constraints and limits ... until I figured out that it's just a band-aid.
Since I'm fairly selective about who I let sit at my table, I usually don't have to worry about players trying to break the game -- they're pretty good at self-regulating.
some basic guide-lines I use:
- (like most people) no infinity/NI loops, or anything that lets you just arbitrarily do whatever the hell you want to do.
- if there is ambiguity in the rule, use the most straight-forward and/or conservative interpretation
- no multi-stacking. I don't care that you have 5 different and distinct abilities (all from different classes) that says you can add stat "x" to mechanic "y" -- they over-lap, not stack (except for the few cases where stacking is
explicitly mentioned)
- CONTEXT MATTERS!!! it's what defines a thing. it also goes a long way in determining the intent of a thing.
- like unto the previous: if you decide to call an effret ... I don't care if your diplomacy skill is
over 9000 - or even if you've managed to completely dominate him (such as
dominate monster, or even
necrotic tumor) - he's still gonna fuck you with that wish.
- speaking of skills: you can't perform epic uses of a skill unless you have at least 24 ranks in that skill. fuck skills.
- I'm still working on a way to streamline stackable bonuses ... somewhere between the umpteen existing bonus types and crippling the whole system down to like 3. (if there's already a thread/resource for this, please link it. if not, I may start my own)
- if it completely invalidates another PC, it's getting nerfed (given, of course, that the invalidated PC's player is competently playing/building/equiping the character and can't be adequately/reasonably compensated by a mild-to-moderate easter egg)
- if you can't be bothered with knowing what your character does, then you can't play it. I can be patient with a bit of a learning curve; but if you're not even trying, then you're assed-out.
- like unto the previous -- save the page-flipping for out-of-game.
for the most part, all you should need during the game is your character sheet:
-- if you can't fit it on a 4-page character sheet (not counting spell lists), then you probably have too much stuff going on
-- if you can't remember the particulars of a specific ability (feat, class ability, etc.), then you need to have some (at least) basic notes
-- your spellbook (or spells-known list) better be maintained, and have the basic stats included
-- if the MM is a regular part of your character (e.g., wild shape, summoning, etc.), then you need a quick-reference guide of some kind (index cards, "creature sheet", etc.)
-- if the books are more efficient than your notes, it's time to develop a better note-keeping system
-- etc., etc. -- you get the idea
that's all I can think of for now.
