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View Full Version : Sacred Vow/Vow of Poverty Redux [PEACH]



Nostri
2007-11-27, 12:15 AM
Alright, here is my remake of these feats both to make them less powerful and to make it so not only Good characters (with a capital 'G') can take them, which never made much sense to me since not all ascetics were paragons of Dungeons and Dragons style virtue...

Sacred Vow
You have taken a sacred oath to your deity or an ideal you revere. Others recognize your dedication to your cause and are more likely to react how you want them to.
Benefit: You gain a +2 bonus to Diplomacy and Intimidate checks.

Vow of Poverty
Prerequisites: Sacred Vow
Benefit: In exchange for forswearing material possessions and worldly goods you gain bonuses to armor class, ability scores and bonus feats.
Special: To fulfill your vow you may not own any material possessions with the following exceptions: basic clothing (generally this consists of simple homespun robes with sandals and perhaps a hat) with no magical properties. You may carry a nonmagical sack with enough food for a day. A single simple or martial, nonmagical weapon (generally this is a quarterstaff or the chosen weapon the the character's deity). You may carry a representation of your ideal as well (this item is generally a holy symbol of some sort). You may carry and use a spell component pouch. You may not own any magic items of any sort, though you can benefit from such items used on your behalf.
If you break your vow you immediately loose all benefits of this feat. You may not take another feat to replace it and all bonus feats are lost.

Table
Vow of Poverty
{table=head]Level|Benefit

1st|
+4 AC, Bonus Feat

2nd|
Bonus Feat

3rd|
Endure Elements, Clear Sight +2

4th|
+5 Ac, Ascetic Strike +1 (magic)

5th|
Sustenance, Bonus Feat

6th|
+1 Deflection

7th|
+1 Resistance, +2 Ability Bonus, Clear Sight +4

8th|
+1 Natural Armor, Bonus Feat

9th|
Mind Shielding

10th|
Ascetic Strike +2, Fast Healing 5

11th|
Bonus Feat, +4 Ability Bonus

12th|
+2 Deflection Bonus, Vigilance, Clear Sight (illusions)

13th|
+8 AC, +2 Resistance, Energy Resistance 5

14th|
Bonus Feat, DR 5/magic

15th|
+6 Ability Bonus, Freedom of Movement

16th|
+2 Natural Armor, Ascetic Strike +3

17th|
Bonus Feat, +3 Resistance, Fast Healing 10

18th|
+9 AC, +3 Deflection, Clear Sight (True Seeing)

19th|
+8 Ability Bonus, DR 10/magic

20th|
Bonus Feat, Ascetic Strike +4[/table]

Voluntary Poverty
AC Bonus: The ascetic gains the armor bonus listed at each level starting with +4 at 1st level. This is treated in all ways as normal physical armor except that it has no armor check penalty, weight or arcane spell failure chance.
Bonus Feats: At 1st level the ascetic gains a bonus feat just as if they had went up a character level. Another feat is gained at second level and every 3 levels after that. Unlike the rest of the abilities gained by taking this feat bonus feats are not gained retroactively so only a first level human could gain the 1st level bonus feat by using both his racial bonus feat and 1st level feats on Sacred Vow and Vow of Poverty.
Endure Elements: The person bound by this oath has become acclimated to inhospitable weather. As such they can operate normally in temperatures between -50 degrees F and 140 degrees F and suffer no adverse effects.
Clear Sight: At third level the ascetic gains clarity of vision. This gives them a +2 divine bonus to all Spot, Search and Listen checks. This bonus increases at 7th level to +4. At 12th level the ascetic applies the bonuses gained from Clear Sight to all saving throws versus spells of the illusion school due to their intimate relationship with the world. In a further enhancement of this ability they gain a continuous true seeing effect as the spell cast by a sorcerer of their level.
Ascetic Strike: At forth level the ascetic's strikes become aligned with their purpose. This grants them a +1 enhancement bonus to any attack they make with their weapon or their bare fists. Such an attack also counts as being magical for the purposes of overcoming damage reduction. The enhancement bonus increases by 1 every 6 levels (so at level 10 the bonus +2, at level 16 +3 and so on).
Sustenance: At 5th level the ascetic no longer requires food or drink.
Deflection Bonus: At 6th level the ascetic gains a +1 deflection bonus to AC. This stays in effect for both touch attacks and when flat footed, in addition it effects incorporeal attacks. This bonus goes up to +2 at level 12 and +3 at level 18.
Resistance: The ascetic gains a +1 bonus to all saves at level 7. This bonus increases to +2 at level 13 and +3 at level 17.
Ability Bonus: Through long hours of meditation and exercise the ascetic has trained his body to the extent that they can surpass normal people. They gain a +2 bonus to a single ability score exactly as if they had increased their ability through leveling at level 7. They gain this ability again every 4 levels.
Natural Armor: By level 8 the ascetic's skin has toughened to a leathery state due his long exposure to the elements. This grants him a +1 natural armor bonus to AC at level 8 which increases to a +2 bonus at level 16.
Mind Shielding: At level 9 the ascetic becomes immune to detect thoughts and discern lies. In addition they gain a +4 bonus to any save made to resist a spell that reveal their alignment or grant control of their body to another being (command, suggestion, etc.).
Fast Healing: At 10th level the ascetic gains Fast Healing 5. This works just like the ability listed in the Monster Manual or in the SRD. This increases to Fast Healing 10 at level 17.
Vigilance: The ascetic no longer requires sleep, instead going into a trance like an elf. They become immune to sleep spells and only require half the rest of a normal person (4 hours). In addition they only take a -5 to Listen checks while trancing instead of the normal -10 while asleep.
Energy Resistance: The ascetic gains energy resistance 5 to any three energy types they wish. These choices are made upon gaining the class ability and cannot be changed.
Damage Reduction: The ascetic has become inured to physical harm, gaining Damage Reduction 5/magic at level 14. This goes up to DR 10/magic at level 19.
Freedom of Movement: At level 15 the ascetic gains the effects of a permanent freedom of movement effect, cast as a sorcerer of their level.

So that's it, comments/constructive criticisms and ideas are welcome.

StickMan
2007-11-27, 12:23 AM
Well first off why would you want to make Vow of Poverty weaker its horrid as it is. Making it weaker is just well no point to it. The feat does not make up for the lose of gold this has been more or less proven.

*Waits for the break down of how much VoP is worth in to Gold pieces that will soon come*

Necros19
2008-07-10, 11:41 PM
Hey just read this, and I have to say that Vow of pov will be missed. many thought it bad however, as a monk there were no worries, bonuses on attack rolls and damage rolls, Ac, stats and feats! a Vow of pov monk just isn't fair. many a DM have bar this feat from the table because I abused it, with in bounds.

For more fun, try a Kensai monk, after a while you have vorpal fists, which means (coupled with the versitile unarmed strike feat) a monk's nat 20 is even more of a threat! and flurry of blows and two weapon fighting increase those odds significantly.

RTGoodman
2008-07-11, 12:56 AM
*cough*points to date*cough*

This thread's been long dead. Let it rest in peace.