Rebalancing VoP

[QuickLyRaiNbow]

Magic-mart is obnoxious. I dislike that the longest part of character creation for my group is item selection. It also, I think, detracts from the verisimilitude of the game when magic items are as or more important than class abilities. I'm working on developing a few rules to use in a low- to no-magic-item world, based on VoP.

First, I'm going to be giving the benefits of the feat free to all characters. No exalted prerequisites or anything like that. You get the bonuses listed in the table at that level. Second, I'm taking away the poverty part; since equipment past masterwork level won't be available (and since, for the most part, wondrous items or, indeed, any non-consumable magic items will be nonexistent) the restrictions on owning things are stupid. A character would be free to own whatever he or she wanted while still accruing benefits. Third, because there are very few worthwhile Exalted feats, all bonus feats obtained through VoP will be general bonus feats. To compensate, the number will need to be reduced - maybe to one feat every four levels instead of every two? Fourth, the Sustenance and Endure Elements abilities will be removed as they generally don't fit what I'm going for. Fifth, the Exalted Strike ability will be modified to provide an aligned weapon type of the character's choice, rather than only good-aligned. The Damage Reduction ability will similarly be changed.

I see problems occurring with damage reduction - it's now either a straight level check or depends on a spellcaster to provide the right weapon alignment - and of course with monsters who have natural flight. My hope is that, because flying mounts are still in play and the characters are not forbidden to own them, characters will be able to maintain effective mobility as levels increase. What other potential pitfalls can you see, and what can be done to overcome them and balance this concept?

qkrn

[AmberVael]

Might I suggest looking at Droylt's Vow of Poverty fix? It can be found on these very forums. Link is here. (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=140428)

It can be a bit potent, but generally I find it works pretty well, and certainly better than the standard.

[DoctorGlock]

alternately there is ericgrau's system

http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=134805

Which essentially gives a great deal of the stuff you'd get with WBL without using actual WBL. That way it's a class feature and not your shiny toys.

[NOhara24]

Magic-mart is obnoxious. I dislike that the longest part of character creation for my group is item selection.


That part of your problem can be solved easily. Tell your group to do their shopping on their own time. Game sessions are for actually gaming, that means rolling dice and roleplay. Not flipping through sourcebooks for magic items.

[Eldan]

I actually once had the idea of making VoP by degrees: you can spend parts of your WBL to gain certain bonuses, either from a list or in a kind of bonus tracks:
I.e. your Paladin wants to increase his inherent toughness, so he spends, say, 20% of is WBL on the toughness track and, in exchange, gains a scaling non-item constitution bonus and a few immunities.

Because I like the idea of a more versatile VoP, basically.

[timekart]

I think that trial and error may be the right thing to do here, with all your PCs having your new VOP it may not be too unbalanced. Unless something during your sessions strikes you as overly over-powered, just adjust the encounter's difficulty.