Vow of Poverty and Stat books? [Archive] - Wizards Community

Vow of Poverty and Stat books? [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
Suppoko
10-27-07, 11:16 PM Can you read a stat enhancing tome and still keep your VoP? I know that you can use a potion or benefit from a scroll and stuff but since the book is only a temporary item like the pot is can you read it and be ok? Thanks for the help
runestar
10-27-07, 11:36 PM You will have to read those books before you take the VOP feat, since the idea of the feat is that you donate your belongings to charity rather than benefiting from them.

This means that it is viable only if you start at a higher lv game. Alternatively, play as normal until you get the tomes you want, then take the VOP feat.

It is hard to justify why you would consume a stat-boosting tome when you could sell it and use the proceeds to benefit others.:P
JulesCARV
10-27-07, 11:41 PM No; if you want inherent bonuses while you have a Vow of Poverty, you have to be a psion, sorcerer, or wilder using wish or reality revision to give them to yourself directly.
Tempest Stormwind
10-27-07, 11:42 PM The Sage strongly suggests that if you’re trying to find ways around the various Vow feats in BoED, you may be missing the point of the feats. (The book doesn’t bear the mature audiences warning just for subject matter, but also for approach to character creation.) These feats are intended to open up interesting roleplaying opportunities without unduly punishing a character’s playability.

In the case of the Vow of Poverty, the intent is to allow what would otherwise be a severely underpowered character (one without possessions) to retain viability in the game. Finding ways to retain one’s possessions while still benefiting from the feat defeats the entire purpose of the feat!

However, nothing stops you from playing a normal character, spending all their wealth on intangibles like ability score enhancing tomes, and then taking Vow of Poverty after all of this has been done. Sure, you lose out on bonus Exalted feats, but there really aren't all that many good ones out there.

This trick (which some consider an exploit) has been explored thoroughly by carnivore on the CO boards; he's deduced an interesting build approach that provides cover for all of VoP's weak spots (i.e. no ranged attack / means of advanced movement / minimal weaponry / etc) without resorting to being a caster.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Suppoko 10-27-07, 11:16 PM	Can you read a stat enhancing tome and still keep your VoP? I know that you can use a potion or benefit from a scroll and stuff but since the book is only a temporary item like the pot is can you read it and be ok? Thanks for the help
runestar 10-27-07, 11:36 PM	You will have to read those books before you take the VOP feat, since the idea of the feat is that you donate your belongings to charity rather than benefiting from them. This means that it is viable only if you start at a higher lv game. Alternatively, play as normal until you get the tomes you want, then take the VOP feat. It is hard to justify why you would consume a stat-boosting tome when you could sell it and use the proceeds to benefit others.:P
JulesCARV 10-27-07, 11:41 PM	No; if you want inherent bonuses while you have a Vow of Poverty, you have to be a psion, sorcerer, or wilder using wish or reality revision to give them to yourself directly.
Tempest Stormwind 10-27-07, 11:42 PM	The Sage strongly suggests that if you’re trying to find ways around the various Vow feats in BoED, you may be missing the point of the feats. (The book doesn’t bear the mature audiences warning just for subject matter, but also for approach to character creation.) These feats are intended to open up interesting roleplaying opportunities without unduly punishing a character’s playability. In the case of the Vow of Poverty, the intent is to allow what would otherwise be a severely underpowered character (one without possessions) to retain viability in the game. Finding ways to retain one’s possessions while still benefiting from the feat defeats the entire purpose of the feat! However, nothing stops you from playing a normal character, spending all their wealth on intangibles like ability score enhancing tomes, and then taking Vow of Poverty after all of this has been done. Sure, you lose out on bonus Exalted feats, but there really aren't all that many good ones out there. This trick (which some consider an exploit) has been explored thoroughly by carnivore on the CO boards; he's deduced an interesting build approach that provides cover for all of VoP's weak spots (i.e. no ranged attack / means of advanced movement / minimal weaponry / etc) without resorting to being a caster.