Feats, etc. that would help a nudist character

[aabicus]

I want to play a skyclad character. So, as few items and equipment as possible, mainly a focus on improving their body & unarmed/improvised skills.

What feats, traits, etc. would benefit such a character, and is there a better class than monk? I'd prefer core rulebooks over supplements, and no homebrew whatsoever, but give me whatever official stuff you can think of.

[LadyLexi]

VoP Unarmed swordsage?

[Ravens_cry]

It's hard to exactly be nudist if you are decked out in magic bracers, vestments, helmets and boots.
The only thing missing is pants as there is no pants slot.
So yeah, vow of poverty could work here.
Druid would work and even works fluff wise, child of nature and all that jazz, and any lacks from vow of poverty could be made up by your own spells.

[Urpriest]

Are you aware of this (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=45529)?

[Mordokai]

Are you aware of this (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=45529)?

That was the first thing that came to mind :smallbiggrin:

[aabicus]

^ I read it a long time ago, but she homebrewed one of the core feats, so it doesn't fit my rule of no homebrew.

[Kalaska'Agathas]

I want to play a skyclad character. So, as few items and equipment as possible, mainly a focus on improving their body & unarmed/improvised skills.

What feats, traits, etc. would benefit such a character, and is there a better class than monk? I'd prefer core rulebooks over supplements, and no homebrew whatsoever, but give me whatever official stuff you can think of.

Yes.

Tashalatora Monk (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/classes/monk.htm) 1/Psychic Warrior (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/classes/psychicWarrior.htm) 19, Tashalatora Monk 1/Ardent 19, Tashalatora Monk 1/Psion (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/classes/psion.htm) 19 (with Carmendine Monk), Tashalatora Monk 1/Erudite 19 (again, with Carmendine Monk), Druid (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/classes/druid.htm) 20, shall I go on?

Tashalatora is a feat from Secrets of Sarlona which allows you to stack some Monk abilities with a Psionic class of your choice (potentially more, if you're willing to blow feats on it), Ardent and Erudite are from Complete Psionic, Psychic Warrior and Psion are from the Expanded Psionics Handbook (and the SRD), Monk and Druid are from the Player's Handbook (and, again, the SRD), and Carmendine Monk is a feat from Champions of Valor which allows you to base several Monk Wis based features on Int instead, along with some minor bonuses.

Any of these are better than Monk at being an Unarmed, Unarmored character. If any of these interest you, please let us know.

[aabicus]

So... No advice, other than Vow of Poverty?

[Kalaska'Agathas]

So... No advice, other than Vow of Poverty?

Look up one post from your last.

[Palanan]

Well, there's Fist of the Forest from Complete Champion, which is a 3-level PrC. Might be worth looking at.

[Aharon]

For some purposes, 2 or even up to 6 levels of Monk are acceptable. I was even a bit surprised, because I thought the Tashalatora standard was Monk 2/X 18

[Elric VIII]

So... No advice, other than Vow of Poverty?

Well, if your character is going to be naked, you might as well benefit from it.

However, a radically different approach would be a Warforged Artificer. You can quite literally enhance your body without actually wearing anything but your "skin." Take IUS, SUS, Second Slam, and Multiattack and you're basically a Monk with FoB. If walking around as a metal/wooden man is not your thing, I would recommend reflavoring the race and use or crafting to fit your tastes.

[ericgrau]

Improvised weapon master? Improvising in core seems harder and unarmed damage is so-so. I think in core you'd be stuck either being a focused grappler or else wielding a weapon.

[Kalaska'Agathas]

For some purposes, 2 or even up to 6 levels of Monk are acceptable. I was even a bit surprised, because I thought the Tashalatora standard was Monk 2/X 18

Monk 2 isn't a bad level, a bonus feat, Evasion, and a +1 to saves. Monk 6/Ardent 14 with Tashalatora and Practiced Manifester even gets ninth level powers. I was just throwing out that Tashalatora is an option and an excellent one at that.

[molten_dragon]

You'll definitely want vow of poverty since you won't be wearing clothes/armor and stuff anyway.

As far as classes, unarmed swordsage would work well, druid would work well (although I don't know if being a bear or a bird or a dinosaur or whatever counts as 'naked' in your mind), sorcerer could work, though it wouldn't be ideal. Monk fits well, but it's a terrible class.

[Ravens_cry]

Are the other players and DM okay with you wondering around in the nuddy?
This does have the potential to make some people uncomfortable.

[Terazul]

If you're not opposed to homebrew, there's always the Naked Knight (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=7661877&postcount=19).

[killianh]

VoP Tashalatora monk 1/Psychic warrior 9/Forsaker 10

Forsaker is a 3.0 class that is all about physical improvement and the forsaking of magic. Psionics are not the same as magic per se so it can work. Otherwise VoP Unarmed Swordsage 10/forsaker 10. If you don't want to wear anything VoP is basically a necessity.

[Kalaska'Agathas]

Well, if your character is going to be naked, you might as well benefit from it.

However, a radically different approach would be a Warforged Artificer. You can quite literally enhance your body without actually wearing anything but your "skin." Take IUS, SUS, Second Slam, and Multiattack and you're basically a Monk with FoB. If walking around as a metal/wooden man is not your thing, I would recommend reflavoring the race and use or crafting to fit your tastes.

Would you be able to run this with a Psi-Artificer (Magic of Eberron) - and would a Psi-Artificer be a valid class for Tashalatora? If so then I may want to work up a build - a Psychic Kung-Fu Robot sounds like a fun concept to play.

Edit: Ok, so I'm AFB but it looks like a Psi-Artificer would, so long as it meets the "Able to Manifest 1st level powers" or whatever the line is. And yeah, a Tashalatora Psion/Erudite/Ardent/PsyWar Warforged would be a Psychic Kung-Fu Robot, but Psi-Artificer is uniquely suited to the build in question.

[Hiro Protagonest]

VoP Tashalatora monk 1/Psychic warrior 9/Forsaker 10

Forsaker is a 3.0 class that is all about physical improvement and the forsaking of magic. Psionics are not the same as magic per se so it can work. Otherwise VoP Unarmed Swordsage 10/forsaker 10. If you don't want to wear anything VoP is basically a necessity.

Psionic-magic transparency is the default, and easiest to implement, rule.

[eggs]

Psionic-magic transparency is the default, and easiest to implement, rule.
If it applied to class abilities, psion optimization would get way more interesting.

[Togo]

Druid, or wildshape ranger?

Another possibility is to go sorceror or wizard and go for blood magus (complete arcane). It fits well with the skyclad theme, and you might pursuade your DM that no clothes means you should be allowed more space on your skin to scribe scrolls. Combine with some of the tatoo magic and you basically have an illustrated man.

[Darrin]

What feats, traits, etc. would benefit such a character, and is there a better class than monk?

Unarmed Swordsage = better monk. However, for a nude character, I'd probably start with Battle Dancer (Dragon Compendium), which gets to add Cha bonus to AC.

Then I'd probably go to town on Shape Soulmeld, picking up Wormtail Belt and maybe Astral Vambraces for some DR.

[kitcik]

If you walk around naked (and are a man) you will want either the Deepspawn feat or the Illithid Grapple feat, along with the Extended Reach feat. Think about it.

[Ravens_cry]

If you walk around naked (and are a man) you will want either the Deepspawn feat or the Illithid Grapple feat, along with the Extended Reach feat. Think about it.
It also works if you are a really old woman.

[dspeyer]

"improving their body"...

The biggest improvement is to swap it out entirely. That might not really fit your concept, though. No one looks at a charging Tyrannosaurus and thinks "she's naked".

Apart from that, Psychic Warriors probably get the best body-improving powers. Or at least they do in the SRD. Sorcerers might catch up if the Spell Compendium is allowed.

You really want a way to add something to your AC. Unarmed Swordsage is probably the best. Unfortunately, there's no official TOB/Psionics dual-progression. If homebrew is banned, it's probably best to go Sorcerer/Unarmed Swordsage/Jade Phoenix Mage with Ascetic Mage. That has a nice exalted flavor that goes well with Vow of Poverty.

[QuickLyRaiNbow]

Even playing a nudist, VoP is a trap. Don't use it. There are too many useful magic items.

[ericgrau]

Hmm for 5,450 gp a pop you can pay an NPC mage to make each magic item you wear permanently invisible. Since you can't see it either and since you're still very, very visible, I don't see this as abuse even when you carry the item. Problem is each dispel magic will partially unnudify you. Slotless items are another option, but they cost twice as much as slotted items.

[Kelb_Panthera]

It's 3rd party, but the Book of Erotic Fantasy has a PrC that lets you get magical piercings. You could dump the crappy PrC and just use the piercings as alternatve magic item slots.

[Mystic Muse]

I want to play a skyclad character. So, as few items and equipment as possible, mainly a focus on improving their body & unarmed/improvised skills.


Even playing a nudist, VoP is a trap. Don't use it. There are too many useful magic items.

As he specifically mentioned his intent was to use as few magic items as possible, VoP is the only viable option. Does VoP generally suck? Yes, it does. It's often a trap except in a few corner cases, but for this character concept, there's no other way to make it remotely work at the level a PC is expected to without VoP.

As others mentioned, make sure a nudist is okay with your group before playing it, and don't choose Monk. While it's not great with unarmed/improvised skills (Unless you use a different definition of Unarmed besides the Monk definition) Druid is a class that can still function fairly well with VoP.