Vow of Poverty - Exact Wording (Semiexact :P)

[Jack Simth]

But should I ever get to Epic, at least I'll never have to beg for a holy symbol again

As mentioned in this thread, there's a couple of ways around the lack of a holy symbol when it's used as written. They just tie your character down in certain ways, and are campaign-dependent.

 

[Dandu]

I think there's a spell which specifically summons a holy symbol for you. Whether that summoned item counts against VoP, is permanent, or anything else is beyond me, as I do not remember details about the spell.

 

[Jack Simth]

I think there's a spell which specifically summons a holy symbol for you. Whether that summoned item counts against VoP, is permanent, or anything else is beyond me, as I do not remember details about the spell.

Complete Champion: Summon Holy Symbol. 1 Round/level, is a Cleric-0 spell. Except under relatively stretched readings of the rules (which you can get, and they're not specifically inaccurate, so check with your DM), it'll be fine for Vow of Poverty, as you're permitted to benefit from spells, and it's a spell.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Complete Champion: Summon Holy Symbol. 1 Round/level, is a Cleric-0 spell. Except under relatively stretched readings of the rules (which you can get, and they're not specifically inaccurate, so check with your DM), it'll be fine for Vow of Poverty, as you're permitted to benefit from spells, and it's a spell.

Who else besides me saw that spell and immediately thought it was a gutless non-revision revision of VoP?

 

[Loren Pechtel]

Works for me.

The only errata for the book was for the shapechange/polymorph issue,

I believe that WotC didn't bother with paying attention to the book since it was "for mature audiences only" and they thought that meant a DM would be paying a lot of attention to how he/she incorporated the material into his/her game (hence house-rules).

IIRC the BoED and its sister book the Book of Vile Darkness came out in the cusp period between 3.0 and 3.5 which may also explain its apparent lack of good editing

I can't believe the BOED was play-tested.

 

[Slife]

I've heard of people taking the Heretic of the Faith feat or the Gray Guard prestige class to avoid the downsides of Vow of Poverty - does this actually work?

 

[Jack Simth]

I've heard of people taking the Heretic of the Faith feat or the Gray Guard prestige class to avoid the downsides of Vow of Poverty - does this actually work?

Let's see... Heretic of the Faith: Power of Faerun, page 46: "Without risk of loss of spells or class abilities" - some DM's might let it slide, but exactly as worded, it doesn't apply, as the Vow of Poverty isn't a spell or class ability (might work for Apostle of Peace, though).

Gray Guard: Complete Scoundrel, page 40:
Sacrament of Trust: That only makes Atoning easier (removes the XP costs), and even then, only applies when you're doing it in the pursuit of the order's goals.
Sacrament of the True Faith: Specifies class abilities, and still requires that he violations be in persuit of the order's goals.

So under a strict reading, no.

 

[Jacob]

Complete Champion: Summon Holy Symbol. 1 Round/level, is a Cleric-0 spell. Except under relatively stretched readings of the rules (which you can get, and they're not specifically inaccurate, so check with your DM), it'll be fine for Vow of Poverty, as you're permitted to benefit from spells, and it's a spell.

I'm supposed to stop buying supplement books, not get more...even if they are awesome. Something to check out though. Shame I don't have a single level of Cleric though, and this spell is not part of the Apostle of Peace's spell list.