Vow of Poverty

[Solace of Tides]

I'm not sure if I'm reading this right... is it an actual feat you must take, or is it something you gain by making an in character decision?

[Elderand]

It's a feat you must (probably shouldn't) take

[AstralFire]

I'm not sure if I'm reading this right... is it an actual feat you must take, or is it something you gain by making an in character decision?

It is a feat (with a prerequisite of another feat) that reflects an in-character decision.

[Greenish]

It's a feat. You take Sacred Vow (the prerequisite), and then Vow of Poverty (or Vow of Whatever, or preferably don't take any of them).

You could be voluntarily poor without the feat, but then you wouldn't gain any benefits.

[Phelix-Mu]

In the feats section of BoED, there is a feat called Sacred Vow, which is the pre-req to a feat called Vow of Poverty (among other vow feats). It is clearly a feat, and an exalted one at that.

That said, a DM could honestly give all the benefits under "Voluntary Poverty" at a cost of exactly zero feats and affect the balance of the thing only very slightly.

EDIT: Super VoP Monk'd (how embarassing)

[danzibr]

In the feats section of BoED, there is a feat called Sacred Vow, which is the pre-req to a feat called Vow of Poverty (among other vow feats). It is clearly a feat, and an exalted one at that.

That said, a DM could honestly give all the benefits under "Voluntary Poverty" at a cost of exactly zero feats and affect the balance of the thing only very slightly.

EDIT: Super VoP Monk'd (how embarassing)
Yeah, free is the best way about it, all things considered.

[Phelix-Mu]

Yeah, free is the best way about it, all things considered.

Well, the thing that I really object to is the stupid Sacred Vow. Not only is it high-priced (being Exalted and thus Jump-Through-Hoopy), but extremely low payoff. Finally, it amounts to racism: only races with bonus feats can start the game with VoP in their starting, level 1 repertoire. That is stupid. More feats does not equal more holy, no matter how much they might have thought that was some kind of useful metric to imply.

[Fates]

I always houserule away sacred vow and allow people to take the differet vows free of charge. Generally (with the occasional exception of Vow of Nonviolence) the limitations more than make up for the benefits, or the benefits are so minor it doesn't make a big difference.