Not using magic items seriously limits you, indeed. Without VoP, I don't think it's very possible. Bargain with your DM to have the quarterstaff only restriction lifted. Recently, I wanted to play a fighter with VoP. Knowing just how ridiculous that sounded, my DM was willing to compromise. I suggested a variant that allowed martial weapons, still non-magical and non-masterwork, but provided no VoP bonus feats. This makes perfect sense as well, as the VoP feats are best suited for the monk/cleric/druids who benefit most from VoP.
At any rate, VoP still works as long as you have a dagger. My suggestion is to take a race whose favored class is any or Rogue, then your basic set-up is Ninja 3/Scout 3/Barbarian 2/Rogue X. If your DM allows Oriental Adventures, then try to max out Iajitsu Focus. Your highest stat should be Wisdom, followed by Dexterity, followed by Constitution. You'll need Quick Draw, Weapon Finesse, and Improved Initiative as soon as possible. Here's my reasoning for all this:
* Most full BAB classes suck and die against mages. Monks and Rogues do best against mages. Monks are more defensive, whereas Rogues are more offensive. But in my opinion, the offensive approach wins out. Rogues are usually better good against every mage which isn't immune to critical hits. If you're pitted against an undead mage, well, yes, a monk might stand a better chance. On the other hand, it's an undead mage, killing something like a Lich without magic or magic items tends to be as silly as killing a dragon without magic or magic items.
* In this build, your damage comes from a combination of sneak attack, sudden strike, skirmish, and possibly iajitsu focus. It wont matter that you're using a crappy weapon with a low strength as long as you can hit and make your opponent lose their dexterity bonus.
* The Scout and Barbarian bonuses to speed stack, whereas Scout and Monk do not stack. So if your race had 30 land speed, it increases to 50. You'll need this and more to kill wizards, you really will.
* You want to hit first, but if you can't, you need a high saves all around. Your Fort save is improved by a few levels of barbarian. Your reflex saves will come from everywhere else. Your will save is going to be your lowest, so you'll need a high wisdom score to make up for it, which makes ninja a nice class because it grants bonus to AC for a high wisdom and barbarian because you'll get a bonus to your will save while raging. At later levels when your Will and/or Fort seems lacking, you might wish to invest in feats which improve them.
Here's your tactics! If your fighting one mage, it should be quite clear what you're doing. If you're fighting multiple mages, then it gets tricky. First round of combat, if you win initiative, charge the closest mage within 100 ft and you'll get all of your bonus damages in one stab. With all the dice you roll, if it doesn't kill the jerk outright or massive damage, he's hurting quite badly. After you've attacked, activate your ghost step. The next turn, charge the next mage within 100 ft, even if the mage you first hit isn't dead, he's so badly wounded that the party will more than likely finish the job. Rinse and repeat. Alternatively, you lose initiative to every wizard or it's a surprise round, willingly delay your initiative to see if you can get flanking bonus with the beatstick or a buffing spell from your party's wizard/cleric. I know, you hate magic and it'd be hypocritical of you to let them help you with their magic, but sometimes your ambition can only be achieved through hypocrisy. Every man who's ever been elected president knows this truth only too well. If no clear way to 1-hit-KO a mage presents itself after delaying your initiative, then ghost step. If ever you run out of ghost steps, just rage out and hope for the best.
