Inherent abilities in place of gear?

[Alzrius]

I'm trying to create a character who doesn't have a lot of items, but rather has inherent powers instead. Is there a system that outlines trading in character wealth for inherent abilities (that is, gp for special abilities rather than items)?

I'm aware of the Vow of Poverty feat, but that's really not what I'm looking for here. The character is a 9th-level Wizard, and I'm basically looking for inherent abilities that'd make her viable, rather than have her eschew magical gear and end up using most of her spell selection just buffing herself to be even halfway decent. I'm looking for something that works well with the normal 3.5 rules; e.g. rather than pay 36,000 gp for bracers of armor +6, she could give up a similar amount of gp for a permanent +6 bonus to AC.

I'm sure there are systems like this out there, but I can't think of them at the moment. WotC or third-party, I'm looking for anything that works in this regard.

 

[krupintupple]

magic of incarnum kinda dances along this line. in effect, when you bind something to a chakra, that 'area' becomes 'taken' and magic items cannot work there.

ie: bind something to your shoulder chakra, and it can no longer be used for your magic cloaks and capes.

that's all i've got, really. maybe blend that and the various 'vow' feats? an incarnum-weilder who channels exalted spirits?

 

[irdeggman]

Use permanency spell as a guide since that is what you are in effect looking for.

I think the gp to xp conversion is roughly 5 gp for each xp, but I could be way off - I know it is out there somewhere though.

But note that an inherent magic item equivalent is worth a lot more than a magic item. So something that gives you a +6 to AC inherently is worth a lot more than an item that does. This is because items can be stolen or damaged - and must be worn. Permanent effects can always be "on".

 

[RangerWickett]

Are we talking Core only?

If not, you could just have 'magic tattoos.' Basically, say that any 'magic gear' you have is actually in the form of ink tattooed onto you. You can never have your items stolen, but to balance that out, you can never sell your items, and if you want to replace an item slot, you have to have it disenchanted (by submitting willingly to a targeted dispel magic), or having your skin excoriated. We had rules for this in War of the Burning Sky #3.

Or you could check out Four Color to Fantasy (the original, not the modern version), which has rules for converting assumed GP amounts into equivalent superpowers.

 

[Graybeard]

You might want to look at the various Tomes of... in the DMG that give a permanent boost to an ability score as a guide of sorts. You could use that idea not only for stat boosts (cloak of Charisma, Headband of Intellect, etc) but for AC bonuses like deflection, natural armor, etc. Maybe you can work with your DM to devise a way using rituals, sacrificing valuable items, etc. in order to gain these benefits. I think I read something (don't recall which book) where a fighter could use a ritual over a period of time and sacrifice a certain GP amount of items to gain greater bonuses to weapons and such.

Graybeard

 

[akbearfoot]

A system like this won't be balanced if your character simply doesen't 'want to have many items'....Only way it could work is if he CAN'T have items. Its the balancing point of the VoP feat....you get cool powers, and they cant be taken away, but you pay a high price.


If you get all sorts of stat boosts and armor bonuses and stuff, then you can turn around and still get magic items to fill slots that simply stack on other types of bonuses or let you do things you can't do normally....Even if you have a roleplaying or themebased aversion to it, desperation leads players to violate those types of restrictions....because they can rationalize the need to.

 

[Jeff Wilder]

I don't know of any systems specifically for 3.5, but you should be able to work it out with your DM. RangerWickett already suggested magical tattoos, which is one of the things I was going to mention, but you can theoretically be even more direct.

As also mentioned, if the PC has the ability to wear items, you're going to need to pay for that. Slotless items have suggested pricing of double, so that's a good place to start. As RangerWickett mentioned, there are tradeoffs: your enhancements can't be taken away or destroyed, but neither can they be loaned out or sold. That seems to me pretty much a wash. You could upgrade them normally.

So, to sum up:

RangerWickett suggested normal item cost, but special rules for upgrading or changing your abilities.

I'd prefer double item cost (based on the slotless modifier), but no special rules for upgrading or changing your abilities, except that they can't be sold.

Special effects (tattoos or whatever) really only need to be specified by the player, except that all action costs and other drawbacks (high visibility of an effect's origin, for example) need to be retained.

What, exactly, the gold piece cost you're paying represents should be defined, too. Maybe it's actual gold pieces, used to pay for ritual magic to give the PC his abilities, or maybe the PC is cursed so that he must take a full share of treasure (or more!), but is doomed to lose it in some unrecoverable fashion. Whatever. Lots of possibilities.

I'd allow a player to try this in my game, as long as the player was genuinely willing to accept that it's a trial, and may end up changing or even going away completely. RangerWickett's idea is less conservative than mine, so although I think his take on it might work fine, I'd start with my "err on the side of caution" approach and go from there, personally.

 

[TessarrianDM]

Are we talking Core only?

If not, you could just have 'magic tattoos.' Basically, say that any 'magic gear' you have is actually in the form of ink tattooed onto you. You can never have your items stolen, but to balance that out, you can never sell your items, and if you want to replace an item slot, you have to have it disenchanted (by submitting willingly to a targeted dispel magic), or having your skin excoriated.

The 3.0 Edition Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting (pg. 68) has a 2nd-level wizard spell called Create Magic Tattoo that does this. They have a 10 min casting time, require a Craft skill check (DC 10-20) and last 24 hours, 3 per character at any one time. Effects rise as you increase in level (but are relatively limited; max bonus of +2 with most effects). Price: the cost of tattoo needles and inks. Even if made permanant a maximum of three tattoos should not be unbalancing.
You could probably try to research a higher-level version that would give greater bonuses, or require more expensive/rare inks and needles for some effects.

 

[StreamOfTheSky]

The 3.0 Edition Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting (pg. 68) has a 2nd-level wizard spell called Create Magic Tattoo that does this. They have a 10 min casting time, require a Craft skill check (DC 10-20) and last 24 hours, 3 per character at any one time. Effects rise as you increase in level (but are relatively limited; max bonus of +2 with most effects). Price: the cost of tattoo needles and inks. Even if made permanant a maximum of three tattoos should not be unbalancing.
You could probably try to research a higher-level version that would give greater bonuses, or require more expensive/rare inks and needles for some effects.

The Spell Compendium actually included this spell, so now it is available in many games that allow books beyond the core.

 

[Shin Okada]

I second to Jeff Wilder's "double item cost (based on the slotless modifier)" idea. Basically, permanent +6 armor bonus composed of force is just like having an item which works like Bracers of Armor +6 without occupying an item slot.

Or, you and your DM may rule that such upgrade DOES occupy item body slots. You simply pay costs for Headband of Intellect +6 (36,000 gp), but your version is not headband. Maybe that is a head tattoo, a magical gem grafted on your forehead, magical runes floating around your head (like those of illumians) and such. And that feature does occupy Head slot. And it can be suppressed by dispelling.

If your version of "grafted head slot item of Intellect +6" works just like the Headband of Intellect +6, appearance and nature of it is not so important.