Okay, well, imagine that your character's inventory and spell resolution is all handled client side and the server host (whoever it happens to be) just takes you client's data at face value; assuming it doesn't cause the game to crash to desktop, or more likely bluescreen because this was pre-Vista.

It was possible to put so many buffs on an item that simply moving your mouse over the item would cause the game to crash FROM DRAWING THE TOOLTIP POPUP.

Okay, well, imagine that your character's inventory and spell resolution is all handled client side and the server host (whoever it happens to be) just takes you client's data at face value; assuming it doesn't cause the game to crash to desktop, or more likely bluescreen because this was pre-Vista.