Reversing the Concept of Vow of Poverty (i.e. Spending Wealth on Non-Items)

[DawnQuixotic]

Okay, first of all, massive apologies for coming out of the blue to ask a question, since I haven't really hung around D&D boards much, especially not lately, but I figured this was a good place to get feedback on what I want to ask.

Anyway, to the point. I'm joining a 3.5 game soon which has prompted me to go lurking about old threads looking for character concepts. One topic I saw rehashed in a lot of short treads was in regards to Vow of Poverty, is it good/bad etc. Consensus is bad, but it seemed to me it's a concept a lot of people are attracted to... trading gear for more abilities.

The recurring problems were these:
1) Abilities you get don't make up for magic items
2) You can't even borrow stuff, which draws logical criticisms of the concept
3) not really a problem that comes up in discussion, but you have to be an exalted good character, which does mesh with the character idea I have for this game I'm getting into (which is an evil-ish druid)

So the feat itself isn't what I want, but some of the concepts behind it interest me. Especially with the druid angle.

So my question is this.
If the abilities you get from the feat aren't equivalent to the wealth you're giving up... how would you use that wealth to emulate the abilities and play a character that minimizes their worldly possessions (keeping the concept but not being bound by the text of that rule).
How would a character spend their Wealth By Level and invest subsequent loot on things that aren't "gear" or "equipment" in a conventional sense.

It's not an actual vow of poverty, so, something like a tricked out wooden staff would be a given. The idea is simply to minimize the amount of stuff you're carrying around (and since I'm looking at a druid, making what stuff she does carry around be mostly naturalistic in flavor).

I know grafts would be a place to start, maybe something like a permanent magic tattoo, and if I recall there's some like... magical locations that give you a bonus that have a gp cost attached so you can spend your WBL on them.
It doesn't have to be super-optimized, just something that would work.

That was kinda long and repetitive. Hopefully it made sense.
Thank you so much for any ideas you have to offer.

[eggynack]

One reasonable plan might be stacking a bunch of abilities on a small number of items. This is already incentivized on a druid, owing to the nature of wild shape, and you get better stuff than you would going after intangibles and non-objects. That would change the question around into which slots are best for druids, and I'd probably tend towards a single ring and a single belt. That way, you'd be able to pick up a ring of the beast/counterspells/spellbattle/mighty summons/maybe enduring arcana, and back that up with a monk's belt of battle/wide earth, and you've got a character itemized to a pretty high level. I'd back that up with metamagic rods, mostly extend, and call them staves. It actually matches up pretty well to how I'd itemize a druid normally, if not exactly the same, and you're running a total of two items and a staff.

Alternatively, you could always ask to have VoP reflavored and reworked a bit. Maybe swap the relevant druid feats into corrupt wild shape, which provides blink wolves, and corrupt companion, which can in turn grant your companion wonky VoP. It wouldn't be all that difficult, mostly involving simple name swapping, and you could eliminate the silly issues involving not being able to open doors while you're toying with it. The consensus on VoP is that it's bad, but druids get something of an exception, only being lowered in power by a little bit, instead of being utterly destroyed. A few other classes can manage it, but druids do it best, with their high versatility without items, abilities that are naturally synergistic with what VoP provides, and higher than normal quantity of good exalted feats.

[Telonius]

You might want to set up something like the "Affiliation Score" idea from PHB2, for the recipients of your donations. Your loot isn't supposed to vanish into the ether, it's supposed to be given to worthy causes. As you gain in level and your donations get bigger, the people in those charitable organizations are going to want to do more for you than put your name on the wall.

[DawnQuixotic]

You might want to set up something like the "Affiliation Score" idea from PHB2, for the recipients of your donations. Your loot isn't supposed to vanish into the ether, it's supposed to be given to worthy causes. As you gain in level and your donations get bigger, the people in those charitable organizations are going to want to do more for you than put your name on the wall.

That's actually a good idea. Making a lot of allies.

And again, since I'm not actually using the feat, keeping the spirit of the vow isn't actually a concern (especially since my character isn't necessarily making a vow, just a personal decision to keep less stuff).

Come to think of it, tomes would be another thing to spend it on, since they give you the bonus and then you don't need it anymore.


Anyway, thanks so much for you feedback.

[golem1972]

Feats. Some magical locations give temporary or permanent feasts. Boroughs hole, frog gods phase, rewards hall, etc. You can find them in some of the complete books and a few other locations.

Other than that grafts, some spells grant templates, and I believe Dragon magazine had a feat /article to add / buy templates (use with level adjustment buy off).

[Dr.Gara]

Feats. Some magical locations give temporary or permanent feasts. Boroughs hole, frog gods phase, rewards hall, etc. You can find them in some of the complete books and a few other locations.

Permanent feasts? Where can I sign up?!