Vow of Poverty [General]
You have given up the pursuit of worldly goods, for personal, ascetic, or charitable reasons. In exchange you gain insight about the multiverse and access to your inner power.
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Prerequisite
You must give away all worldly goods save what is necessary for your survival and your trade.
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Benefit
You gain the following benefits depending on your ECL, as indicated on the table below.
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Special
You may only own what you can carry, and only what is necessary to your survival (including clothing, food, and shelter), or to your trade. For example, a fighter may own a weapon, a thief thieves' tools, a wizard a spellbook, or a bard an instrument. At any rate you can never own more than 100 GP worth of items, and none of your possessions can be masterwork or magical in nature. If you are good aligned then any surplus wealth must be donated to the poor, if you are evil aligned you must destroy it in a sacrifice to a dark god or archfiend, and if you are neutral you may choose either option. If you gain a reward, such as treasure, while working/adventuring alone or in a party, you must donate/destroy your share of the reward as soon as is reasonable or lose all benefits of this feat until you do. If you use any masterwork or magical items then you lose the benefits of this feat until you make an atonement, though you can have others use magic items to your benefit without losing the benefits of this feat.
A wizard who takes this feat may give up her scribe scroll and summon familiar class abilities in order to forgo the use of a spellbook. All her spells are instead stored within her own mind. She must learn spells normally, and may not pay for the privilege of scribing new spells, but now learns a greater number of free spells per level, and all the spells she knew when she takes this feat remain among her spells known. If she takes this feat at first level she knows 6 + Int modifier spells at first level. Moreover the wizard gains 4 spells at each new wizard level rather than 2, starting with the level she takes this feat.
| Power | Description |
|---|---|
| Force Armor (Su) | At 1st level you gain a +4 armor bonus to AC. This bonus increases to +5 at 3rd level, and increases by +1 every three levels thereafter. This bonus does not apply to touch attacks, but does apply to incorporeal touch attacks. |
| Deflection (Su): | At 2nd level you gain a +2 deflection bonus to AC. This bonus increases to +3 at 6th level, and by an additional +1 every 6 levels thereafter. |
| Natural Armor (Ex): | At 3rd level you gain a +2 enhancement bonus to natural armor. This bonus increases by +1 at 6th level and every 3 levels thereafter, to a maximum of +5 at 12th level. |
| Endure Elements (Ex): | At 3rd level you become immune to the effects of being in a hot or cold environment. You can exist comfortably in conditions between -50 and 140 degrees Fahrenheit without having to make Fortitude saves (as described int the Dungeon Master's Guide). |
| Empowered Strike (Su): | At 4th level you gain a +1 enhancement bonus on all attack and damage rolls. In effect, any weapon you wield functions as a +1 magic weapon, and can overcome the damage reduction of a creature as though it were a magic weapon. This enhancement increases by +1 at 8th level and every 4 levels thereafter. At 10th level any weapon you wield is also considered to have your alignment, so for example if you were Chaotic Good you would ignore damage reduction x/good and x/chaotic. At 7th level, and again every 4 levels thereafter, you may choose any +1 weapon ability or gain one weapon ability that costs up to 10k. Additionally instead of using it right away, one can chose to save it up to use later with additional gained weapon abilities for greater effect (IE: such as if saving the 7th lvl ability, upon reaching lvl 11 they could then purchase a +2 ability, or save the 11th lvl one and purchase a +3 ability at lvl 15, etc. or likewise if saving the 7th lvl ability, upon reaching lvl 11 they could then purchase one weapon ability of up to 20k in cost, or save the 11th lvl one and purchase one weapon ability of up to 30k in cost at lvl 15, etc). You may only gain up to +5 worth of abilities pre-epic. |
| Ability Score Enhancement (Ex): | At 4th level you gain a +2 enhancement bonus to one ability score. At 8th level and every four levels thereafter you gain a +2 enhancement bonus to an additional ability score, and each previous ability's enhancement increases by +2. |
| Resistance (Ex): | At 4th level you gain a +1 resistance bonus to saving throws. This bonus increases by +1 at 8th level and every 4 levels thereafter. |
| Sustenance (Ex): | At 5th level you no longer need to eat or drink. |
| Bonus Feats: | At 5th, 7th, 11th, 13th, 17th, and 19th levels you gain a bonus feat. You must meet all prerequisites for the feat. |
| Flight (Su): | At 6th level you gain a fly speed equal to your base land speed with average maneuverability. At 12th level this increases to double your base land speed with good maneuverability, and at 18th level it increases again to triple your base land speed with perfect maneuverability. |
| Empower armor (Su): | At 6th level, and again every 4 levels thereafter, you may choose any +1 armor ability or gain one armor ability that costs up to 10k. Additionally instead of using it right away, one can chose to save it up to use later with additional gained armor abilities for greater effect (IE: such as if saving the 6th lvl ability, upon reaching lvl 10 they could then purchase a +2 ability, or save the 11th lvl one and purchase a +3 ability at lvl 15, etc. or likewise if saving the 6th lvl ability, upon reaching lvl 10 they could then purchase one weapon ability of up to 20k in cost, or save the 10th lvl one and purchase one weapon ability of up to 30k in cost at lvl 14, etc). You may only gain up to +5 worth of abilities pre-epic. |
| Fortification (Ex): | Starting at 7th level, when you are affected by a sneak attack or critical hit you have a chance to negate the effect and take normal damage, depending on level: 7th: 25% 11th: 50% 15th: 75% 19th: 100%. |
| Mind Shielding (Ex): | At 8th level you become immune to detect thoughts, discern lies, and any attempt to discern your alignment. |
| Damage Reduction (Su): | You gain damage reduction 5/magic at 10th level. At 15th level this increases to 5/magic and silver (if you are lawful), or 5/magic and cold iron (if you are chaotic), or 5/magic and adamantine (if you are neutral). At 20th level this increases to 10/epic and silver (if you are lawful), or 10/epic and cold iron (if you are chaotic), or 10/epic and adamantine (if you are neutral). |
| Energy Resistance (Ex): | At 10th level you gain resistance 5 against acid, cold, electricity, fire, and sonic energy. This increases to resistance 10 at 15th level and resistance 15 at 20th level. |
| Spell Resistance (Su): | Starting at 11th level you gain spell resistance equal to your ECL + 10. |
| Greater Sustenance (Ex): | At 12th level you no longer need to breath. |
| Freedom of Movement (Ex): | Starting at 14th level you can act as if continually under the effect of a freedom of movement spell. |
| Regeneration (Ex): | Starting at 17th level you heal 1 point of damage per level every hour rather than every day. (This ability cannot be aided by the Heal skill.) Nonlethal damage heals at a rate of 1 point of damage per level every 5 minutes. |
| True Seeing (Su): | At 18th level you gain a continuous true seeing ability, as the spell. |
| Perfection: | At 20th level you transcend mortal limits. You become an outsider, gaining the outsider type with appropriate alignment subtypes and the native subtype (though you do not need to eat, sleep, or breath). |
| Level | Benefits |
|---|---|
| 1st | Force Armor +4 |
| 2nd | Deflection +2 |
| 3rd | Force Armor +5, Natural Armor +2, Endure Elements |
| 4th | Empowered Strike +1, Ability Score Enhancement +2, Resistance +1 |
| 5th | Sustenance, Bonus Feat |
| 6th | Force Armor +6, Deflection +3, Natural Armor +3, Empower Armor (Special Ability), Flight (Base Land Speed, Average Maneuverability |
| 7th | Empowered Strike (Special Ability), Bonus Feat, Fortification (25%) |
| 8th | Empowered Strike +2, Ability Score Enhancement +4/+2, Resistance +2, Mind Shielding |
| 9th | Force Armor +7, Natural Armor +4 |
| 10th | Empowered Strike (Alignment), Empower Armor (Special Ability), Damage Reduction (5/Magic), Energy Resistance (5) |
| 11th | Empowered Strike (Special Ability), Bonus Feat, Fortification (50%), Spell Resistance |
| 12th | Force Armor +8, Deflection +4, Natural Armor +5, Empowered Strike +3, Ability Score Enhancement +6/+4/+2, Resistance +3, Flight (Double Speed, Good Maneuverability), Greater Sustenance |
| 13th | Bonus Feat |
| 14th | Freedom of Movement, Empower Armor (Special Ability) |
| 15th | Force Armor +9, Empowered Strike (Special Ability), Fortification (75%), Damage Reduction (5/varies), Energy Resistance (10) |
| 16th | Empowered Strike +4, Ability Score Enhancement +8/+6/+4/+2, Resistance +4 |
| 17th | Bonus Feat, Regeneration |
| 18th | Force Armor +10, Deflection +5, Empower Armor (Special Ability), Flight (Triple Speed, Perfect Maneuverability), True Seeing |
| 19th | Empowered Strike (Special Ability), Fortification (100%) |
| 20th | Empowered Strike +5, Ability Score Enhancement +10/+8/+6/+4/+2, Resistance +5, Damage Reduction (10/varies), Energy Resistance (15), Perfection |
