A new idea for an ascetic character

[Lycanthromancer]

Instead of the Vow of Poverty feat, would it be fair and fairly balanced to allow a character who eschews equipment costing more than 5 gp to gestalt in a non-gestalt game?

No magical items, and nothing masterwork. Just plain basic items with no special qualities. The character could have companions/familiars/etc, and any class abilities that REQUIRE a monetary expenditure, but some (like the wizard's spellbook) are limited by what the class itself gives to you, and you're not allowed item creation feats. In other words, a wizard gets his 2 spells/lvl, but cannot research and cannot buy more than what he gets via class. Also, no spell components costing more than 5 gp (but he could spend XP instead, at a rate of 1 XP per 5 gp).

Also, due to potential MAD that is exacerbated by lack of magical items, I'd grant the character in question +1 to an ability score every 2 levels, rather than every 4. I'd also grant a bonus feat (any feat the character could qualify for) every 2 HD rather than every 3, alternating with the ability score bonuses (feats every odd level, and ability score increases every even level).

Does this sound reasonable? It'd be especially awesome with a ToB or psionic class mixed with an incarnum character. :D

[Jack_Simth]

Consider the Dwarf Druid//Ninja. He uses two stats: Wisdom and Con; the rest he pretty much ignores (0 points, for a base score of 8). Under a 25 point buy, that's a base 18 Wis (16 points), Base Con 15 (8 points), with a spare point to put wherever (not that it matters much - Charisma, maybe). After racial adjustments, that's Str/Dex/Cont/Int/Wis/Cha of 8, 8, 17, 8, 18, 7.

At 1st, he's not so much - but then, every character at that level is kinda "meh".
He's got his divine focus (cost line -, so no problems there) and he can't really use most equipment anyway. But he's got his animal companion (Riding Dog) to do the fighting, and five skill points per level (due to Ninja side), all good saves, and an AC of 13, HP of 10 (not good, but okay for someone hanging out in the back lobbing Produce Flame while the pooch eats the opposition).

At 5th, he's dumped two more points into Wis (for 8, 8, 17, 8, 20, 7); he's now got Wildshape, and spells for boosting himself. Oh yeah - and 3d6 Sudden Strike for when he Wildshapes into something with Pounce and 3+ natural attacks, using some Wisdom-powered swift-action invisibility. He starts to slaughter just about everything, even without equipment. Plus he keeps his AC bonus in Wildshape form. At 6th, he picks up another stat boost, and Natural Spell.

At 10th, he's had five stat boosts (probably dropping one into Con somewhere along the line, for an even 18) and is looking at 8/8/18/8/22/7. 5d6 sudden strike on five attacks on a pounce every round. He slaughters (until he runs out of Ki points for the swift action invisibility).

At 15th, the batman Wizard is beating him, but that's about the only one that can do it.

[Lycanthromancer]

Consider the Dwarf Druid//Ninja. He uses two stats: Wisdom and Con; the rest he pretty much ignores (0 points, for a base score of 8). Under a 25 point buy, that's a base 18 Wis (16 points), Base Con 15 (8 points), with a spare point to put wherever (not that it matters much - Charisma, maybe). After racial adjustments, that's Str/Dex/Cont/Int/Wis/Cha of 8, 8, 17, 8, 18, 7.

At 1st, he's not so much - but then, every character at that level is kinda "meh".
He's got his divine focus (cost line -, so no problems there) and he can't really use most equipment anyway. But he's got his animal companion (Riding Dog) to do the fighting, and five skill points per level (due to Ninja side), all good saves, and an AC of 13, HP of 10 (not good, but okay for someone hanging out in the back lobbing Produce Flame while the pooch eats the opposition).

At 5th, he's dumped two more points into Wis (for 8, 8, 17, 8, 20, 7); he's now got Wildshape, and spells for boosting himself. Oh yeah - and 3d6 Sudden Strike for when he Wildshapes into something with Pounce and 3+ natural attacks, using some Wisdom-powered swift-action invisibility. He starts to slaughter just about everything, even without equipment. Plus he keeps his AC bonus in Wildshape form. At 6th, he picks up another stat boost, and Natural Spell.

At 10th, he's had five stat boosts (probably dropping one into Con somewhere along the line, for an even 18) and is looking at 8/8/18/8/22/7. 5d6 sudden strike on five attacks on a pounce every round. He slaughters (until he runs out of Ki points for the swift action invisibility).

At 15th, the batman Wizard is beating him, but that's about the only one that can do it.

But then again, it's a druid, one of the most powerful classes in the game, especially later on. A druid with magic items (such as a monk's belt) is scary. He can get a maximum of +10 to one stat by 20th level, but with magic items, that's easily a +16 (+5 HD, +5 tome, +6 enhancement item).

[Jack_Simth]

But then again, it's a druid, one of the most powerful classes in the game, especially later on. A druid with magic items (such as a monk's belt) is scary. He can get a maximum of +10 to one stat by 20th level, but with magic items, that's easily a +16 (+5 HD, +5 tome, +6 enhancement item).

I picked Druid for the example primarily because it has the ability to render your physical stats (except con) redundant, which is really, really handy in Gestalt - as Gestalt characters tend towards Mad unless very carefully designed.

But yes - he is starting with a power class, and enhancing it. A quick way to check balance: Take the time to stat the character I outlined up against a regular Druid of the same level, and compare them to each other.