Vow of Poverty

[Adindra]

I'm posting on behalf of my current dm.

She's new to dming and has only run one game before (the one we are currently playing) and all of her players have already started making characters for the next game. The problem is that the level of optimization seems to be out of whack, one player wants to play an exalted strongheart halfling cleric/monk starting with vow of poverty.

the rest of the party looks like this
1.gnome wizard (not optimizer his current character is a druid that doesnt use his animal companion and only really uses call lightning in elf form)
2.dragonwrought kobold bard (not aged for the stat bonus's this player actually dislikes optimization)
3. poisondusk lizardfolk scout (me)

the question i have is will his cleric/monk with vow of poverty be too much for her to deal with?

[Bucky]

Are you worried about the VoP character being to powerful or too weak? What level are you starting at?
No matter what the circumstances are, I strongly suggest houseruling the VoP to allow 1gp worth of non-magical possessions to cover very basic equipment such as holy symbols.

[gkathellar]

Oh, a VoP thread. Is it Tuesday already? ... Not quite. Okay.

VoP is pretty subpar, and Monk is pretty subpar, but as long as the player in question is handy with the cleric side of their build they should be okay. Clerics are very strong when used competently, so as long as the player in question isn't planning to run a healbot and understand the basics of self-buffing, they should be okay. Also, remind them they'll need spells like Air Walk to deal with flying enemies.

I'd personally counsel them to take the Sacred Fist prestige class, and to take no more than 1 or 2 monk levels.

[Keld Denar]

Just don't touch Vow of Peace and Vow of Non-Violence. Those two are the truely broken ones.

The VoP character won't be "overpowered" unless she gives out almost no treasure. The perks look "glitzy", but in reality, only math out to about 65% of the standard assumed WBL. Assuming she actually gives out treasure in the approximate amounts according to that guideline, then the character will be fine.

[Calanon]

2.dragonwrought kobold bard (not aged for the stat bonus's this player actually dislikes optimization)

...Wut? :smallconfused:

[Adindra]

...Wut? :smallconfused:

yeah its kindof funny because he played one optimized character in my game and as soon as it became powerful he wanted to get rid of it because he didnt enjoy the power



so the consensus is that it isnt anything to worry about then? I'm glad to hear it that takes a load of both her and my shoulders than you very much :smallsmile:

[Dimers]

so the consensus is that it isnt anything to worry about then?

Nonono, consensus is that it's not too powerful. Vow of Poverty is a potential source of headaches in other ways, such as distribution of loot within the party (the cleric/monk gets an equal share but has to give it away outside the party), keeping balance between VoP benefits and other characters' item benefits, practical and social repercussions of nonownership, and maintaining exalted status which can force the rest of the group to play the game in a way they don't enjoy. In my opinion, the rest of the players should be made aware that there'll be some weirdness, and they have to agree to that without coercion.

Of course, I also feel that way about Chaotic Neutral, so ... grain of salt. :smallamused: