Howdy all! Quick word: In a forum I'm on (PLANETADND.COM *shamless…

D&D 3E

18th-Nov-2004 12:32 pm

Howdy all!

Quick word:
In a forum I'm on (PLANETADND.COM *shamless plug for more members*), the topic of the "Vow of Poverty" from the "Book of Exaulted Deeds" came up. The topic came up just in time for a campaign I'm about to start playing in, so I figured I'd see what kind of psychotic, holy, ass-kicking zealot I could manufacture by using some of the Feats from "The Book of Exaulted Deeds".

And now the meat..

Name =Othic
Sex = Male
Age = 22 Years Old
Height = 5'8
Weight = 168 lbs
Eyes = Blue
Hair = Bald (dark brown)
Align = Lawful Nuetral

EQUIPMENT:
Equipment:
1) Monk's Clothing
2) Backpack with waterskin, one day's Trail Rations, Sack, Flint and Steel, Sunrod, and a small Prayer Book.
3) Pouch with 10 Sling Bullets
4) Wooden Holy Symbol (St. Cuthbert)
5) Quarter Staff and Sling

STATS -
Str 10
Dex 12 +1
Con 14 +2
Int 10
Wis 16 +3
Cha 12 +1

AC: 15 ((Base 10, +4 Exaulted, +1 Dex) TOUCH 11, FLAT 14)
HP: 10

FIRST LEVEL - Clr1
Abilities:
Turn Undead
Divine Casting (Protection/Strength Domains)

Feats:
Armor Proficiency (Light, Medium, Heavy)
Weapon Profeciency (Simple)
Sacred Vow (+2 Diplomacy)
Vow of Poverty (Crazy-ass perks)
Gift of Faith (+2 Save against Fear/Despair Effects)

SECOND LEVEL - Clr1/Mnk1
Abilities:
Turn Undead
Divine Casting
Flurry of Blows

Feats:
Armor Proficiency (Light, Medium, Heavy)
Weapon Profieciency (Simple)
Sacred Vow
Vow of Poverty (Crazy-ass perks)
Gift of Faith
Exalted Turning (+3d6 Turning Damage)
Improved Unarmed Strike
Stunning Fist

I'll do his skills and crap like that later on.. there's really no need to post the unimportant details, they're all going to be knowledge/survival/combat related. If anyone has any ideas for RP'ing him, twinking him out, etc etc, just drop a line. To make some sort of balance, I'm trying to hold off on completely powering him up (ie; taking that "Golden Ice" crap at 1st or 2nd level).
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Anyway, please let me know what you think :)

Comments

18th-Nov-2004 06:47 pm (UTC)

wmute

I think you ought to put the picture behind the cut.

18th-Nov-2004 06:48 pm (UTC) - I knew SOMEONE hadda say it..

thanitus

That doesn't count, I want another suggestion.

~Ray

18th-Nov-2004 06:55 pm (UTC)

foxsable

I found the vow of poverty to be exceptionally unbalanced in play. I had a character who had it, a druid. It gave the most ridiculous bonuses, and generally caused me a rough time. It also cuts out your ability to reward that character. Very difficult to run for/with.

(Deleted comment)

18th-Nov-2004 07:12 pm (UTC)

foxsable

well, first of all the campaign I was in was a collect-a-sword mission involving swords of the 4 elements, used then brought together for a greater purpose. So there was one character who couldn't use the swords.

But beyond that, one character seemed to get every ability a party would need. Normally, there are weaknesses, but this class had no weaknesses. The only weakness was the inability to have possessions, but the druid made up for hit. Flame blade, barkskin, shield of faith(maybe) etc. more than covered it.

As for rewards, this character needed nothing. I couldn't give her gems, gold, jewelry, magical items, nothing.

It's been almost a year, but I just remember a constant aggravation.

19th-Nov-2004 09:05 am (UTC)

jhubert

Apart from the balance issues...

Why should a character need rewards in the form of money or magic items?

I played a monk once who basically saw money as nothing more than worldly trifles not to be bothered with or spent on the poor at the earliest opportunity. And he didn't even have a Vow of Poverty - and yet it was a lot of fun to play him.

18th-Nov-2004 07:03 pm (UTC)

thanitus

Deleted and re-posted the comment due to horrendous spelling..

Anyway, Yea, it's definitely an outright brutal feat.

I imagine that I would have a hard time actually trying to DM a character who was using it simply due to the fact that my group (somewhat) are pretty twinky when it comes to making characters and whatnot. Even though I'm trying to twink this here fella out a little bit, I'm still trying to keep him balanced within the limits of sanity.

I got a question or two though... Can you part with an experience or two about how it disrupted your gameplay? I can imagine VoP combined with a solid spellcasting class to be a helluva combination.. mixing it with a Monk might be just as lethal, but I dunno.. I need to give it a shot. I'd love to play this character, but I'd hate to become a one-man ass-whoopin train and derail the campaign at the same time.

Also.. how did it cut your ability to reward the character?

Sorry for asking a lot of questions, I'm just trying to gather info though *shrug*

~Ray

18th-Nov-2004 07:12 pm (UTC)

foxsable

damn, see above

18th-Nov-2004 07:41 pm (UTC)

seidl

You don't need anything. You don't keep nifty magic weapons, so there's no push to acquire them. You don't keep cash, so theres no push to acquire it. You're sorta self contained.

One of my bitches about this class is its balance is directly tied to how magic rich/poor the game is. In a magic poor game, its way over the top. In a magic rich game (like our current Dawnforge game), it would be fairly wimpy I'd think.

18th-Nov-2004 11:00 pm (UTC)

tomcat5453

I had a character with that and the vow of non-peace who was also a monk.

Its simple. Make him break his vow. Do things that will force him, in game and conciously, to break his vow.

19th-Nov-2004 10:16 am (UTC)

wirrabane

I have a player who really wanted to take this. After talking to him about it, I got the impression that he had a developed character concept, and really wanted to roleplay this character. (He's a 2nd degree blackbelt and is also minoring in peace studies... so a monk turned apostle of peace just fell right into his area of interests).

Anyway, I allowed it. I knew it was really unbalanced, and now that we are playing, I'm getting an even better idea of how unbalanced it will be. Still, he's a very mature player, and I actually think it won't cause to many problems with this group. I hope, anyway.

19th-Nov-2004 01:02 am (UTC)

inncubus

Where does the vow come from? I'd like to have a look at it.

19th-Nov-2004 03:55 am (UTC)

foxsable

it's in exalted deeds. Vow of poverty is a hard one to get them to break, especially in a party situation.

20th-Nov-2004 04:00 am (UTC)

nviiibrown

Take him to Sacred Fist from Complete Divine. Holy monk beatdown!

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