What stuff gives advantage to characters without equipment?

[magicalmagicman]

Vow of Poverty is a shining example of something that gives advantage to characters without equipment, but it seems clear to me now that my current character can never take it.

So what other stuff gives advantage to characters without equipment?

Items: All of the +5 insight books.

And that's it. That's all I know.

[Kelb_Panthera]

Fiendish Codex I has the extract gift spell. It gives you the benefit of one of the +X to Y stat items.

The heroics spell gives you fighter bonus feats for a short time.

Magical locations and touchstones are things too.

[magicalmagicman]

Fiendish Codex I has the extract gift spell. It gives you the benefit of one of the +X to Y stat items.

The heroics spell gives you fighter bonus feats for a short time.

Magical locations and touchstones are things too.

I'm looking for things that benefit the equipmentless exclusively rather than stuff that I can have without equipment.

The +5 insight books, you are trading virtually all of your wealth for them so it's kind of like VoP. I guess in that sense extract gift spell qualifies too.

[Kelb_Panthera]

I'm looking for things that benefit the equipmentless exclusively rather than stuff that I can have without equipment.

The +5 insight books, you are trading virtually all of your wealth for them so it's kind of like VoP. I guess in that sense extract gift spell qualifies too.

You're not going to find anything that exclusively benefits characters who eschew gear other than VoP. The game was designed with the WBL table on DMG 135 as part of what balances PCs against NPCs and MM critters. It's simply expected that PCs will have magical gear so you're going to have to settle for things that give benefits without -being- gear. Permanent spell effects and magical locations are your best bets for that.

Although, you could give an incarnum using class a swing. Their major feature is using soul-stuff to generate magical pseudo-items that give them special abilities and bonuses to various rolls.

[death390]

the only "good" VoP character i have made is a warlock/ totemist/ soulcaster. got around the lack of magic items with soulbinds and eldritch blast for damage. mind you it wasn't the best since lock kinda needs the damage boosters. but flight, alter self (humanoid), negative level damage, vision modes, battlefield contol, ect, ect; and that is just warlock stuff.

soulmelds alone. . . gods they are damn nice. teleportation, uncanny dodge, miss chance, skill focuses, minor version of mind blank, DR for ability damage, and more. even better is that its not even bound yet, you use magic item slots to bind the powers and they get even better, add essentia to power them up even further! mind you not all of these are availible to the same incarnate class. i prefer totemist but incarnate is ok too.

chakra binds: evasion, telepathy, natural attacks, abilities that inflict stun, improved critical, AT WILL ETHEREALNESS!!!, DR vs ranged attacks AND deflect arrows # arrows per essentia invested!, and more.



the problem with VoP is like you have already said not much gives you bonuses outside of magic items. your weapon is limited, you have no armor, cant use any magic gear (or consumables), and you have to be good.

the only major problem in that listing is the lack of magic gear and the only ways to get some semblance of it back is spellcasting/ soulmelds/ supernatural abilities.

i suppose a mix of incarnum + anything else could work but you run into the lack of magic weapon/ armor with mundanes/ initators, and casters loose caster levels and have to use the dual advancement classes to stay relevant.

[Zaq]

In theory, bound soulmelds occupy magic item slots, so a high-level meldshaper with a ton of bound melds won’t want as many items as a normal character.

In practice, there are enough workarounds and enough slotless or semi-slotless items to make meldshapers able to benefit from every bit of their WBL.

[daremetoidareyo]

magic locations?

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

There are a lot of grafts (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?190350-Fleshwarping-A-List-of-Grafts-Symbionts-and-Related-Goodies) that permanently modify a creature without being magic items.

[Necroticplague]

Sculpt Self let's you essentially make permanent modifications to yourself to make up for lack of items. Only go if custom ones are allowed, the default ones bite really badly.

[EnnPeeCee]

While I make no claim that it is a good option, the Forsaker PrC gives a bunch of benefits for not using any magic equipment (or magic at all).

[Shalist]

You wouldn't have to worry about gear restrictions from unusual body sizes / types (quadruped, ethereal, etc.).

You can have some exotic mounts/pets (HD advanced rustmonsters or balhannoths (aberrations), living spell: disjunction (ooze)) and companions (nishruu, discenchanters, etc.).

[death390]

the problem with grafts is that you have to find a way to get them without paying for them. AND a DM could rule them as being magic items (just part of you).

"You may carry and use ordinary (neither magic nor masterwork) simple weapons, usually just a quarterstaff that serves as a walking stick. You may wear simple clothes (usually just a homespun robe, possibly also including a hat and sandals) with no magical properties. You may carry enough food to sustain you for one day in a simple (nonmagic) sack or bag."

that is the limit of vop possesions. the limits on magic items are not well written.

"You may carry and use a spell component pouch. You may not use any magic item of any sort, though you can benefit from magic items used on your behalf—you can drink a potion of cure serious wounds a friend gives you, receive a spell cast from a wand, scroll, or staff, or ride on your companion's ebony fly. You may not, however, "borrow" a cloak of resistance or any other magic item from a companion for even a single round, nor may you yourself cast a spell from a scroll, wand, or staff. If you break your vow, you immediately and irrevocably lose the benefit of this feat. You may not take another feat to replace it."

the shape self feat is a interesting one though not sure if the xp costs are worth it before you max level.


while all classes benefit from gear massively the inverse is quite the opposite. most classes are basically useless later in the game without gear. 9s casters can basically function without gear due to the power of magic. also classes like duskblade can work without gear as well since weapon channeling can still work with simple weapons and dragonscale husk to get around the armor loss. but on the flip side some of the good classes (tier 3+) need their gear to do anything artificer is literally gear dependant cause he builds his own, several classes that don't focus on damage like beguiler and factorum need magic gear to function in combat, or initiator classes being able to use their limited abilities but need some gear to get that extra bit of oomph.

meanwhile everything Tier 4 or lower is boned horridly except: healer, warlock, warmage, (can still use damaging spells), and possibly soulknife or soulborn. (problem with soulborn is they arn't that good period, while soulknife just gets a magic weapon)

some of the light armor skill users would be ok without magic gear like rouge/ scout/ ninja since they are skills based but anything with medium+ armors and/or low skill points NEEDS gear especially magic gear to stay relevant. look at a paladin, he has casting so he should be relevant right? nope he needs his gear to even stay T5 since his abilities are bad, and barely magic use, ranger is in the same boat.

[Necroticplague]

the problem with grafts is that you have to find a way to get them without paying for them. AND a DM could rule them as being magic items (just part of you). While you're correct that finding a way to get them without paying would be hard, the latter part would be incorrect. They might houserule that, but they cannot rule that, because the rules explicitly state the exact opposite.

Grafts are not magic items....
They explicitly aren't magic items, even though they're crafted like them.


the shape self feat is a interesting one though not sure if the xp costs are worth it before you max level.

That's why one's first prestige race should be based on a Thought Bottle.

[Calthropstu]

Leadership, familiars, animal companions, summons and spells can all grant mad bonuses without equipment.
Extraplanar pacts can also do it. Permanency on spells can make permanent powerful buffs.

Grafts technically do not count as equipment.

Purchasing a golem also is not technically equipment.

Tattoos, depending on gm ruling, may be able to fit this bill.

Hirelings do not count as equipment.

Pets do not count as equipment.

Allies do not count as equipment.

Mind controlled puppets do not count as equipment.

Created undead do not count as equipment.

All of these and more can provide numerous benefits.

[ExLibrisMortis]

Technically, a spell clock or automatically resetting trap of disjunction + Chained disintegrate gives advantage to characters without equipment...

[Psyren]

Your best bet if you truly want a gearless character is an alternate gearing system like PF's Automatic Bonus Progression. But even then, there is no good subsititute for just having items, or at least the effects/abilities they grant; the game's math depends on it.

[death390]

(removed) see edit2.

but i disagree with tattoo, they are a form of magic item. that is why they have a specific feat, and the following line "the magic tattoo is always the first item "worn" on that part of the body, negating the effects of all other items. A tattoo can be created that does not use a magic item space, but the base price of such a tattoo is double the normal value."

it literally says it is a item so is ineligible for VoP use. mind you they seem like a single use piece of gear (since it is so cheap) that has a LOT of drawbacks.

EDIT2: (Removed some text)

ok i found it in races of the dragon (2006) it explicitly states that grafts are not magic items!!! finally a 3.5 book that has the damn line.

[Telonius]

Sacred Fist and Fist of the Forest might kinda-sorta meet what you're talking about. Sacred Fist has a code of conduct that bars you from carrying a weapon. Normally that could be a problem, but if you're not carrying anything anyway, it's a requirement that doesn't hurt you. Fist of the Forest has a similar requirement for "Primal Living." (Giving up all possessions is called out as something that some of them do, but is extreme enough that it isn't required). So again, if you've already given up all material possessions, it's a requirement that doesn't require anything.