Eating money for power?

[SangoProduction]

So, aside from Vow of Poverty, is there any sort of mechanic to consume gold in order to gain non-temporary power?

[Psyren]

Crafting - particularly consumables with long-lasting effects, such as a Scroll of Permanency or a Manual of Gainful Exercise.

[StSword]

Well there is the third party class- the Craven (http://spheresofpower.wikidot.com/the-craven), who's mechanics are making money and eating money for a power up.

[Eldest]

I believe there's a way to do this with Legacy Weapons? And possibly one of the samurai classes, I'm away from books right now so I am not positive.

[Helluin]

Stats tomes, Extract Gift, Sacrifice rules from BOVD, Dragon Ascendent (literally consumes gold to gain quasi-divinity)

[Sutr]

Ancestral Relic in book of exalted deeds, it's not an exalted feat.

[SangoProduction]

Well there is the third party class- the Craven (http://spheresofpower.wikidot.com/the-craven), who's mechanics are making money and eating money for a power up.

OK. Holy cow. That's actually kinda insane. I'm going to make a new thread about it.

[StSword]

OK. Holy cow. That's actually kinda insane. I'm going to make a new thread about it.

Yes, the Gonzo series has some really interesting character concepts for classes, Craven was one of the ones that I had the reaction of "Okay that's weird but really cool," I would recommend perusing the gonzo section of that wiki to see the other bits like the gravity defying Punks, the living warmachine Titan Architects, the cute but psycho Glitter Princesses, and the 4th dimensional warrriors the Davatti.

[Unavenger]

Tomes and manuals don't do this directly, but they allow you to trade money for books and books for stats, so maybe that counts?

[Mithril Leaf]

So I know this doesn't quite fit the permanent clause of the thread, but I do at the very least point out that the spell Genius Avaricious (https://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic/all-spells/g/genius-avaricious/) does let you eat gold in order to get buffs and heal, which is both very cool and very silly.

[weckar]

One could argue that consuming a fiat currency consumes the faith invested in that currency and should ultimately grant divine ranks.


Well there is the third party class- the Craven (http://spheresofpower.wikidot.com/the-craven), who's mechanics are making money and eating money for a power up.I never quite got why they called it Craven, the name does not fit... It also has some glaring editing errors.

[MaxiDuRaritry]

In a way, this trick (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?177889-Brainstorm-for-Psionic-Tricks-Tactics-and-Combos-Handbook&p=23285432&viewfull=1#post23285432) does this; it trades money for personal enhancement. It's a skin graft that covers your whole body and can be enhanced with all the different body slots. They can't be removed unless you're flayed alive or disjunctioned (both of which are equally unpleasant), so they're like trading money for personal magical power. It's even more literal if you take Ancestral Relic (Humanoid Skin Graft) so you can "eat" things like enemy strongholds (which are super expensive) and the individual features thereof.

[StSword]

I never quite got why they called it Craven, the name does not fit... It also has some glaring editing errors.

I would assume it's a pun- They crave, they're cravin'.

[Psyren]

I never quite got why they called it Craven, the name does not fit... It also has some glaring editing errors.

Maybe it was supposed to be "Craver?"

I'd probably have gone with something like... I dunno, Avaric? Materialist?

[EndlessKng]

Ancestral Relic in book of exalted deeds, it's not an exalted feat.

It's also based on the Ancestral Daisho from the OA samurai, as Eldest alluded to. Ancestral isn't an Exalted feat but DOES require Good Alignment. Daisho requires that you be lawful at some point to take the level of Samurai, but technically doesn't go away if you change your alignment (the Code of Conduct section for the Samurai is a bit weird). Both use money to empower a weapon - Daisho is technically more powerful because you can affect both a katana and a shortsword, allowing you to have two separate magic weapons for either two-weapon fighting or having two weapons for special tasks.

You could also argue that material components for spells turn money into power, just with a middle man.

[MaxiDuRaritry]

If you have a psychoactive skin of proteus (see my suggestion earlier in the thread), do note that you can use it to turn into a ship or building (or do so to a willing ally, such as a psicrystal or familiar), and both of those things count as strongholds for the Landlord feat. Feel free to improve your stronghold by enhancing it as a magic item using all of your monetary boons, including that granted by the Landlord feat itself.

[Telonius]

Both 3.X (http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/re/20030901a) and Pathfinder (https://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/monster-listings/constructs/golem/golem-gold/) have a Gold Golem.