Pax said:
A class would be a very poor way of modelling voluntary poverty because it would restrict it to one archetype. You could make a voluntarily poor version of each class that would be more balanced but it would be FAR more work and it would still be open to abuse.
Of the various D&D mechanics, I think a feat fits VoP the best. Not using any mechanics and just saying "you take a vow and gain these benefits and these restrictions" might have been even better but it's a bit too ad hoc to fit in the spirit of the new rules.
And really, you don't need the "one per two levels" bonus exalted feats; I tested the effects with a 21st level character, with a houseruled-to-be-more-expensive Saint template. And he fared reasonably well against the other characters - with no bonus feats, at all.
At 20th level, wihtout feats, I guarantee you the VoP's numeric benefits add up to more than it would cost to buy those abilities in magic items. Just the Attribute bonusses alone ...
+8 - this is an Epic item, and it's list price is 640,000gp.
+6 - 36,000gp
+4 - 16,000gp
+2 - 4,000gp
+8 is not necessarily 640,000gp. By the time a character gets to 20th level, he is likely to have inherent bonusses to his main stat from tomes, etc. Assuming that all of the bonusses in this case come from a single epic item leads you to overvalue them. A +6 item and a +2 tome (both prohibited to the VOP character) would net +8 total bonus for a cool 91kgp.
That's 696,000gp right there; a 20th level character has all of 760,000gp. The remainign 64Kgp is not enough to pay for the other benefits, even assuming all items were "slotted" and single-effect - like the +10 Exalted bonus to AC (say, 100Kgp)
Remember, however, that the non-VOP character is likely getting the equivalent bonus from multiple sources that are prohibited to the VoP character.
+5 fullplate is +13 AC for 26,650gp.
+5 chain shirts are +9 AC for 25,250gp.
+5 mithral chain shirts are +9 AC for 26,100gp.
A +5 mithral breastplate is +10 AC for somewhere around 29kgp.
A non-VoP character can also add a shield for another +1 to +9 (+5 tower shield) AC.
the +3 deflection bonus (~18Kgp), the +5 exalted strike (~50Kgp), the energy resistances (~144Kgp, as a ring of minor universal energy resistance))
Of course, you can get Energy resistance 10 to everything for 90kgp by buying the appropriate armor enhancements.
the continual freedom of movement (~112Kgp, by the DMG guidelines),
Or 40kgp if you assume a ring of Freedom of Movement as the base.
the +2 natural armor (18Kgp), the continual True Seeing (~180Kgp by the DMG guidelines),
Considerably less if you just buy a gem of seeing from the DMG. And that's an unslotted item....
the resistance bonus to saves (9Kgp), the greater sustenance (11Kgp), the damage reduction (no comparable items to base the pricing on; certainly better than the DR-producing magic armor abilities), the mind shielding (ditto), and the endure elements (probably ~1Kgp). In fact, damage reduction and mind shielding aside, those cost another 643Kgp.
Thus, without the bonus feats, the VoP is worth significantly more than 1.25 million gold pieces.
Considering that you can get most of the big ticket items you listed as equipment for significantly less than you costed them, I'm not convinced that this analysis is accurate. In fact, simply costing the +8 attribute as a +6 enhancer and a +2 tome brings your 1.25 million gp down to 709kpg. Ordinary 20th level characters are expected to have significantly more than 709kgp.
Also, while unslotted items which can't be lost are nice, there is a lot more flexibility that comes with equipment. A character might want a +5 resistance bonus to saves rather than a +3 bonus. A character might consider that getting wounding and holy on their weapon is more important than picking up a gem of seeing. Etc. So there are a lot of compensating factors for equipment users as well as for VoP characters.
Each feat is worth an average of 10,000gp. So, taken as early as possible, the eleven resultant feats are worth an average of 110,000gp. We're getting to about 1.5Mgp approximate value, for everything.
And that doesn't take into account the impossibility of taking those benefits away. IMO, adding some sort of "indestructible and unstealable" trait to any magic item should double it's price.
Do you think ONE FEAT should allow someone to effectively QUADRUPLE the benefits they would have gotten, had they KEPT all their money ... ?!? I certainly don't!
Actually, it's worth twice to four times as much, so I question it's balance based on PC wealth levels, too.
Any shapeshifting-focussed build benefits GLORIOUSLY from the VoP.
I won't maintain that VoP isn't easy to abuse but by focussing primarily on abusive builds (like shape-shifting builds) and basing the majority of your cost estimates on the most expensive way to go about things, you don't make a convincing enough case to justify all the bolds, italics, and exclamation marks.
)... I'd probably only count it as 64k still, tho, the epic prices are a bit insane, really.
