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Character Tavern

Prohibited Content Guide

What is not allowed on Character Tavern, how content warnings work, and what happens when a rule is broken. Written to be actually read, especially before you publish.

Last updated: August 18, 2026

The TL;DR Version

Seven questions before you publish. Answer them honestly and you are already covered for most of this page.

  1. 1

    Does this card depict an underage character, including the user persona, in a romantic or sexual context?

    Yes 🚫 Prohibited
  2. 2

    Does this card contain any of these?

    bestialitynecrophiliascat, piss, vomit, fartsgurohate speechincitement to hatred
    Yes 🚫 Prohibited
  3. 3

    Does this card depict a real person, use a photographic or photorealistic image, or share private information?

    real people or photorealismdoxxing
    Yes 🚫 Prohibited
  4. 4

    Does this card depict a character that appears underage?

    Yes 👧 Label as Youth + SFW only
  5. 5

    Does this card contain sexual content or descriptions of sexual organs/body parts?

    Yes ❤️‍🔥 Label as Spicy
  6. 6

    Does this card contain heavy violence, gore, extreme mental health issues, depression, suicide, discrimination, or fictional incest?

    Yes ⚠️ Label as Mature
  7. 7

    None of the above?

    Yes ✅ Good to go

The Strike System

Breaking these rules earns strikes. The consequences are the same for every rule, and they stack:

  1. Strike 1

    Warning

    • An email explains the strike
    • The card may be modified, unlisted, or removed

  2. Strike 2

    Last warning

    • Same email and card action as strike 1
    • One more strike locks publishing

  3. Strike 3

    No public cards

    • You can no longer publish characters
    • Until one of your strikes expires

  • Fresh start

    Each strike expires exactly one year after it was given.

  • Appeals

    Disagree with a strike? Contact us on Discord and discuss it civilly.

  • No ban evasion

    Alt accounts may receive the same penalties immediately.

Content Warnings

Character Tavern uses warnings for filtering, not a separate rating ladder. They help users control what they see, and they do not override these rules: a card can be labeled correctly and still be prohibited.

  • ❤️‍🔥 Spicy

    Use this when the main purpose of the card is sexual or explicit content, or when the card's image contains sexual or explicit imagery. Do not use it for light flirting alone.

  • ⚠️ Mature

    Use this when a card includes sensitive or disturbing themes such as self-harm, suicide, abuse, heavy violence, discrimination, or fictional incest.

  • 👧 Youth

    Required for characters with a youthful or underage appearance, and for cards whose contents feature or imply underage characters. These cards must remain completely SFW.

Always label honestly. Misleading warnings, especially hiding sexual content, sensitive themes, or youth-related content, can lead to moderation action.

The Detailed Version

These are the rules moderators use when reviewing public content. 14 rules, covering what is prohibited and what stays fine.

No Sexualization of Minors

Zero tolerance. What counts is how the character is presented, not the stated age.

Counts as underage

  • Looks like a child or young teen
  • No stated age, but clearly coded under 18
  • A scenario that implies underage, like a high school setting
  • A user persona implied or intended to be a minor
See example Example of a character design that counts as underage

Counts as adult

  • Clearly presented as a young adult
  • Adult-coded anime characters without juvenile framing
  • Visuals and writing that consistently read as 18+
See example Example of a character design that counts as adult

Never with underage or underage-appearing characters

  • Sexual, erotic, or explicit content
  • Romantic or flirtatious framing meant to sexualize
  • Suggestive outfits, poses, or descriptions
  • Sexual chat generation

No Bestiality

Furry and monster content is fine. Sexual content with animals is not.

Prohibited

  • Explicit content with real or realistic animals
  • Characters framed as non-sapient animals in a sexual context
  • Animal content disguised with light anthropomorphism

Allowed

  • Anthropomorphic furry characters
  • Sapient fantasy or sci-fi species, adult for their kind
  • Monsters and creatures that pass the Harkness test

No Necrophilia

Realistic necrophilia is prohibited.

Prohibited

  • Content centered on realistic necrophilia

Allowed

  • Sapient undead: zombies, ghosts, vampires, resurrected beings

No Scat, Piss, Vomit, or Fart Fetish

Fetish content is banned. Normal bodily functions are not.

Prohibited

  • Sexualized scat, piss, vomit, or fart content

Allowed

  • Incidental, comedic, medical, or story-relevant mentions that are not sexualized

No Guro (Sexual Gore and Maiming)

Dark and violent stories are fine. Fetishized gore is not.

Prohibited

  • Gore, maiming, or mutilation as the erotic focus of the card

Allowed

  • Violence, injuries, horror, and dark themes within the story

No Hate Speech Toward Real-World Individuals or Groups

Promoting or glorifying hatred of real people is prohibited.

Prohibited

  • Cards built to promote, glorify, or celebrate hatred of real-world individuals or groups

Allowed

  • Hateful views as part of a setting, conflict, or flawed personality
  • Fantasy and sci-fi conflicts between fictional races or species

No Incitement to Hatred Against Real-World Groups

A narrow rule: it only catches content that functions as actual incitement.

Prohibited

  • Cards existing solely to dehumanize or attack a real ethnic, national, or religious group
  • Propaganda-style content designed to spread genuine hatred
  • Prompts that incite discrimination against the user for who they are in real life

Allowed

  • Bigoted characters, where the character holds the views rather than the card
  • Historical or political settings with discrimination as context
  • Dark or extremist concepts that are not vehicles for real-world hatred
  • Anything about fictional groups or non-human beings

No Malicious Content

Cards are for chatting, not for tricking people.

Prohibited

  • Scam or phishing links
  • Malware or deceptive download links
  • Tricking users into revealing personal or payment information
  • Impersonating Character Tavern staff or system messages

No System Prompts Encouraging NSFL

Hidden instructions follow the same rules as visible content.

Prohibited

  • Hidden text that encourages or permits prohibited NSFL content
  • Instructions like "explicit NSFL content is permitted"

No Real People or Photorealism

No identifiable real people, in name or in image. Card images must be drawn or AI-generated, never photorealistic.

Prohibited

  • Real photographs used as a card's image, even of yourself
  • Photorealistic images, AI-generated or otherwise
  • AI images made to resemble or impersonate a specific real person
  • Sexual or compromising artwork of a real person, even hand-drawn or stylized
  • Names of real people used without their consent

Allowed

  • AI-generated artwork of fictional characters, as long as it does not look like a real photo
  • Your own original drawings and illustrations
  • Original fictional personas that depict no one real

No Doxxing

Real people's private information stays off the platform.

Prohibited

  • Revealing a real person's name, address, contact details, accounts, or workplace
  • Cards made to expose or harass a real person
  • Encouraging users to contact or target someone

Allowed

  • Fictional characters with fictional personal details
  • Public figures' publicly known roles, within the real people or photorealism rule

No Stolen Characters

Public characters must be your own work. Creating cards and lorebooks takes real effort.

Prohibited

  • Public re-uploads of another creator's cards or lorebooks without permission

Allowed

  • Your own work, published however you like
  • Someone else's card kept private for personal use
  • Re-uploads with the creator's permission (keep proof)

No Spam

Public cards must be usable, coherent, and made for chat, not for testing, advertising, or flooding the catalog.

May be treated as spam

  • Fewer than 300 tokens, roughly 1200 characters, across fields that affect chat (Display Description and Tagline excluded)
  • Keyboard mashing or placeholder text like "test", "coming soon", or "Stolen from X"
  • Mostly ASCII art, URLs, or symbols with little actual character content
  • Nonsense or incoherent character names
  • Blank, placeholder, or unusably low-quality profile images
  • Duplicate public uploads that are not clearly forks or translations
  • Announcement-only or information-only cards not meant for chat

Additional Moderation Discretion

Not every harmful case can be listed in advance.

The moderation team reserves the right to reject, remove, or restrict content for reasons not listed above. Decisions weigh overall impact, appropriateness, intent, and fit with the Character Tavern community.

Questions or Edge Cases?

If you are unsure whether a concept is allowed, ask the moderation team before publishing it. Asking first is free, strikes are not.

This guide was inspired by Wyvern's Prohibited Content Guide. Thanks to the Wyvern team for setting a great example.