The main issue I'm running into is that the normal 3-tiered chefstaff hardcore players use is impossible to make because I can't use bat guano to make the coffee cup for the first one. (This is an HC-only problem though - nothing will stop you from buying the cup, you just can't make it.) The mid tier of that 3-tiered chefstaff does have a B in it though, so you'll probably be stuck with a low-end one until late in the game, even in SC.
You'll run into a bunch of item issues, but most of them are minor:
-All of the tavern beers (besides the one-time quest reward) have "beer" in their name, so you can't order them.
-The chest of the bonerdagon can't be opened
-Blue Snowcones, Black Snowcones, and well... anything blue or black are out
-A few familiars are unusable (most notably the volleyball), but you likely have a replacement for those that works just as well, or at least close to it
-Unless your a muscle class, your epic gear set contains at least one B. Definitely don't play a disco bandit, as their epic gear has 5 B's spread over 3 items... yikes.
-Although muscle classes don't have to worry about epic gear restrictions, they can't use medicinal herbs, blood of the wereseal, or bengal, so they get screwed in the consumable dept. Also, most good non-epic clubs have "club" in their name.
-Hardcore players have major housing problems. Your only real option is the cottage. Softcore can of course just buy a ginormous pumpkin.
-You can't use a disassembled clobyr, so any clobyrs you want to save need to be shoved in your closet.
-A bunch of foods and drinks are blocked (especially everything with "beer" in its name), but most of the easily crafted ones are fine. In particular, the 3 main pasta/sauce combo foods all work fine.
-If you have snack voucher access, be careful as a caster - Tobiko is not usable.
I think it may actually be physically impossible to kill your nemesis as a sauceror, as he's 40% stronger, has hobo boss style DR, and autokills you on round 5. Everyone else should be able to manage, although some fo the fights are definitely going to be harder than normal.
Council quest-wise, there's some issues, but 1 quest is actually easier, and only 1 is really a huge issue.
The Sorceress quest is actually easier than normal. One packet of seeds covers the whole tower, and the 3 gates are replaced by a single gate that uses an item you're pretty much guarenteed to have the honey for. Don't forget the mirror though. You don't equip or use the musical instruments, so it doesn't matter if you use B items for that.
The boss bat quest is a bit harder due to every monster having at least one B in its name (Boss Bat Bodyguard in particular is at +60% stats), but it wasn't a very hard quest in the first place, so it shouldn't be too bad. If you're having any trouble with it, just come back in a level or two.
The knob goblin king is pretty much impossible for a caster to fight at level 5 (in HC anyway), but then casters don't care about his crown anyway, so you can just whack him later.
The Bonerdagon gets boosted, but by the time you get to him, he's unlikely to be an issue.
The main issue will be the war. 2 of the quests are locked out (you can't use a band flier or a molybendium magnet), and both uniforms have multiple B's. If you don't want this to take for freaking ever, play the war as a hippy, as both of the blocked quests are on the frat side of the battlefield.
The bee enemies themselves tend to be pretty easy to kill, and the honey and honey items are both fairly valuable due to not many playing the challenge mode. They will slow you down a bit by replacing normal combats. It's only ever 20-25 fights though, and you can temporarily disable them if you choose (3x honey = 100 turn disable). I found the moneybee to be particular useful in HC, as meat is tight early in a run.
All in all, it's definitely a bit harder, but as long as you plan ahead, it's only a bit harder. I expect it to add 1-2 days to my HC runs, for +100 karma. Quite worth it.
For the most part, it isn't nearly as bad as it initially sounds... it definitely won't take 50% longer to finish the run.
