[3.5] Has anyone tried this?

[AnimeTheCat]

So, has anyone ever tried playing a vow of poverty totemist? It seems like a pretty potent combo, IMO. You get the benefit of magic items but you also get the benefit of vow of poverty.

Seems pretty awesome/fun to me. What does everyone else think?

[Fouredged Sword]

It works just fine. Now, keep in mind VOP isn't that great of an option to begin with. You NEED magic items past about level 12, even with VOP. You end up leaning on the party to stay relevant. Totemist lasts longer than most, but you trade away more than you get.

[noob]

The thing is that vop does not just forbids magic items it also forbids opening doors("it is using them") and a whole lot of other things.
If you can convince the gm to not interpret the feat in broken ways it is still bad for a totemist because there is a lot of cool slot-less magic items(or magic items which use slots in which you never bind melds) you could be using.

[Red Fel]

What others have said.

On the one hand, you basically need either magic items, or spells which specifically produce their effects, to remain effective as the game goes on. Certain things, like negative energy resistance, flight or teleportation, various saves, concealment, true seeing, and so forth, become increasingly vital. And, of course, being able to deal damage that overcomes or bypasses DR, if not skipping damage altogether and targeting saves directly. So when VoP comes along and "Nope"s you right in the face, that hurts your character's ability to remain relevant.

On the other hand, certain classes are less reliant on material wealth than others. Warlocks can use their invocations and EBs irrespective of material wealth. Druids will always have Wild Shape. And, yes, Incarnum classes such as the Totemist have a variety of tools at their disposal, some of which do reproduce some of the valuable magic item abilities you'll need.

That said, back to the first hand, soulmelds aren't magic items. They don't make up for everything you lose from losing out on magic items. Playing a character with an arsenal of soulmelds is not the same as being decked out in a Christmas tree's worth of magic items. It's a lesser benefit, and one that you may feel more keenly as the game goes on.

I'm not saying it would be badwrongfun, because it could be very cool. However, I am saying that it's not nearly as effective at bridging the magic item gap as you seem to think. Just go into it with eyes open, is all.

[noob]

Oh and yet another problem: vop forbids being evil(which is an additional reason for red fel to go and help you avoid that feat).

[Fouredged Sword]

Now, there ARE some really nice Vile feats for Totemist. Willing deformity tall adds reach to all your natural weapons, very nice thing to have.

[Bakkan]

Indeed. And as someone with essentia to invest, taking Shape Soulmeld (Necrocarnum Circlet) as a totemist lets you rip something to shreds and then bring them back as your devoted servant for just a bit of minionmancy.