VOP and a Druid

[Count Arioch the 28t]

I've done a lot of looking at Clerics and VoP and it works pretty well (similar to druids but no wild shape stuff). Some spells are impossible to cast, and some just inconvenient with the extra XP in place of expensive spell components. I would not allow (and have not even discussed with my DM ) any spells with very special components to use the XP for gold rule, spells that, for example, trap a person inside an opal worth at least 5,000 gp. No XP substitution for that one. However, XP substitution should be allowed for resurrections, restoration, etc., where the expensive component is basically just money (crushed diamond, whatever)

My DM has allowed the three +2 saving throw feats to count as exalted feats to help with the fact that the number of exalted feats available to any VoP character is very limited - you almost have to take every single available feat, and that's pretty limiting.

Good luck with this!! It can be a bit of a challenge - already my character must get 8 hours rest while the rest of the party all got a gift that allows them to need only 2 hours a night.

One thing that I, as a DM, allow, is to allow other characters to buy certain expensive components for the VoP character, because he can accept expencive components from others.

 

[Count Arioch the 28t]

Guess you also really hate the psionic one as well then. Exalted feats are mostly pretty unimpressive, and what you have to give up for vop makes a need for something other than the non-feat benefits that it gives.. but it might just be more apparently when starting from first.. many things are broken/overpowered in the epic areana.. very unfortunate.

anyway though, hope it works out well for you

This wasn't directed at me, but I decided to reply anyway.

In my personal game, I also stripped out the bonus feats for VoP. I have two reasons:

1. One feat should not give out even more feats

2. A character who took the feat at level 1 should NOT be signifigantly more powerful than the character who took it at level 18.

And for the record, if there was a psionic feat that gave more feats in return, I'd take that out too, but as far as I know, there isn't any.

 

[Scion]

This wasn't directed at me, but I decided to reply anyway.

In my personal game, I also stripped out the bonus feats for VoP. I have two reasons:

1. One feat should not give out even more feats

2. A character who took the feat at level 1 should NOT be signifigantly more powerful than the character who took it at level 18.

And for the record, if there was a psionic feat that gave more feats in return, I'd take that out too, but as far as I know, there isn't any.

There is a psionic one that gives feats, more or less.

I agree about it being bad to have it give different power at different times, to some degree, but this also means that the character got the 'benefits' of not having the feat. So in some ways both ways are bad. They wanted to reward people who went through the sacrifices of getting it earlier, but it means that people have different abilties.

I dont know how to fix it to make it work best across the board, but taking away the feats means that something else should be added in.

I am actually also playing a vop druid right now, and at every level so far I have been 'very' behind the other people in power and versitility. I dont mind though, as I have some interesting options, but without those extra feats I would just be that much farther behind. (yes, the other people in the party have roughly the correct value of treasure for their level, some slightly above, some slightly below). Being able to choose your equipment is a huge boon for power and versitility.

 

[Artoomis]

... Being able to choose your equipment is a huge boon for power and versatility.

It is indeed. At higher levels (when Permanency is available - only an option for wizards, sorcerers and clerics through Miracle) you can use Permanency to create a few permanent effects on your self that help let you, to a very limited extent, choose some "equipment." My DM has allowed them the be actually permanent for this particular fairly short-term high-level campaign. So I spent 4,000 XP on Arcane Sight, Comprehend Languages, Read Magic, and Tongues.

If you want to see something fascinating , look for my New Feat - Permanent Permanency over in House Rules http://www.enworld.org/forums/showthread.php?t=80616. I made a chart comparing the Permanency XP costs and the costs for making an "always-on" "slotless" item. It was eye-opening. This is something WotC needs to fix. The XP cost for my 4 spells above as items would be 8,760 - I still would have done it - and I would have used up a feat to be able to do it, too. But that's just because those spells fit a cleric of Oghma (God of Knowledge) so incredibly well.

 

[Pax]

Guess you also really hate the psionic one as well then. Exalted feats are mostly pretty unimpressive, and what you have to give up for vop makes a need for something other than the non-feat benefits that it gives.. but it might just be more apparently when starting from first.. many things are broken/overpowered in the epic areana.. very unfortunate.

anyway though, hope it works out well for you

Considering Demetian is a character in an epic arena, and has a pretty good record so far ... without those "free feats" ... I'd say it's been working QUITE well so far. Especially as he's one of my characters ... and I'm the GM who nerfed the V/Pov, yet, still built a character that took it!

And unless you'd care to tell me which characters you've played in the Exodus, well ... I would like to kindly ask you not to adjudge the Exodus as having "many things [which] are broken/overpowered". I consider it a point of pride, that the GM team at the Exodus has managed to fix most of what is fixable, without resorting to outright banning things, except as and when they demonstrate themselves as unfixable.

The only real problem areas are, IMO, three: custom items (we made a mistake letting them in), Shapechange (it uses a mechanic which is nigh-irreparably broken), and Psionics (the whole 3.0 mechanic for Psionics is just plain busted ...).

And within the next couple months - 3.0 psionics will be gone completely, and custom items will similarly be gone. Leaving only the inherently-unbalanced Shapechange as a problem area ... and we've mostly fixed that, already.

And for the record, if there was a psionic feat that gave more feats in return, I'd take that out too, but as far as I know, there isn't any.

As would I - and thanks for the support.

 

[Scion]

And unless you'd care to tell me which characters you've played in the Exodus, well ... I would like to kindly ask you not to adjudge the Exodus as having "many things [which] are broken/overpowered". .

As I said, 'many things are broken/overpowered in the epic arena' and nothing about exodus (which I know is an epic arena, so I have no reason to ever go there) then you have little to no reason to be offended, no worries Epic games are different, things that work just fine, or even very well, at preepic might be horribly broken in epic, and things that might be just fine in epic might be horrible over or underpowered preepic. The game simply 'changes', as I am sure you and whoever runs it know all too well.


As for the rest, getting rid of psionics just makes me not to want at it even more. Psionics are the best!

Enough rambling from me though, vop druids are cool