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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Anax" data-source="post: 1973077" data-attributes="member: 19868">(Wow.  This thread is long now--I bet my reply gets lost in the shuffle.)Heh.  Actually, my current PC is a halfling rogue 3/monk 9 who gave up all of her possessions at the start of level 11 (after a bit of plot in which she cracked and nearly became entirely insanely evil.)  And the whole reason for this is that I realized around level 9 or 10 when trying to figure out what items to work towards next just *how far* the character was from the ideal of the order she's a member of.Specifically, she was trained in a Da'shon monastery, in the teachings of Zuoken.  (Greyhawk lore here.)  Zuoken, of course, is famous for having practically fought off an entire Suel army with nothing but his bare hands.  (This is before the whole rising to demigodhood bit.)Anyway, I realized while working on equipment that I could not conceive of the character doing anything but:1) Falling into corruption through the weakness of her dependence on magic items and other artifice to prop up her skills.  (This is made especially bad since she's a halfling, and feels that her slight stature is a weakness compared to others.)2) Realizing just how much she is trying to prop up this weakness with a crutch, and doing something about it.So I talked to my DM a bit, and got permission to swap my level 9 feat out for Sacred Vow from BoED, and to gain Vow of Poverty (slightly modified to remove the initial +4 from AC and keep things sane) from BoED at level 12.  And then we did a bit of plot, and if she makes it through level 11 with no equipment, well, things will get interesting.  I'm still trying to figure exactly how to treat the VoP benefits--on the one hand, they're clearly related to Good (tm).  On the other, if they were simply bestowed by a good power, it would continue to be propping up a weakness.  So I'm trying to strike a balance in which the powers are mixed between growing out of her newfound strength and clarity of belief, and granted by good powers for her commitment to the cause.Anyway, I feel much better now.  Because, yes, depending on thousands of gold pieces worth of magic items just doesn't feel right.  Sure, a monk who has lost all of her gear is in many ways in better shape than other melee characters in those circumstances... but it's hard to pretend that gear is abstract when you're wondering what kinds of magic items you should invest in next.</blockquote>

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