Pathfinder: Vow of Poverty

Normally, the life of a humble ascetic has very few benefits and very many downsides. It's not an attractive life. However, in their infinite wisdom, Wizards of the Coast published rules for voluntary poverty in the Book of Exalted Deeds which provided very substantial game benefits for those whose devotion led them to forsake the material. Ever since, I have scarcely played in a D&D campaign without at least one player (sometimes myself, admittedly) who found the advantages of a Vow of Poverty entirely too compelling.

For most, the original BoED version of the rules should suffice in Pathfinder. However, I found that this version conflicted in certain ways with my own games. Most notably, I have an alternate system for ability score advancement which would render the ability score bonuses from a VoP extraordinarily powerful. Therefore, I created an alternative set of VoP benefits to be used in conjunction with this system.

The Vow of Poverty
Vow of Poverty
 * You have sworn yourself to poverty to sharpen your understanding of duty and to help others.
 * Prerequisites: Non-Evil alignment
 * Benefit: You are imbued with a sacred power, slowly bringing you toward a state of holy purity.
 * Special: To fulfill your vow, you must not own or use any material possessions, with a few exceptions. You may carry and use ordinary simple weapons, and wear simple clothes. You may carry enough food and water to sustain yourself for one day in an ordinary sack or bag. You may carry and use an ordinary divine focus and a spell component pouch, but you may not possess any material components or non-divine foci with a listed value. You may not use a magic item of any sort, though you may benefit from one that is used on you – a potion of cure wounds that a friend feeds you, a remove disease scroll cast upon you, etc. However, you may not “borrow” or otherwise possess such items even for a single round. You may not own valuable goods for your own use or gain; however, you may carry such items so long as you find a charitable use for them at the earliest opportunity. (“Charity” does not include giving such items to party members for the purposes of new magical items.) You may not use valuable items for your own gain. If you violate these conditions, you lose the benefits of this feat until you receive an atonement and undergo a quest to expiate your failure.

Benefits of Asceticism
Ascetics gain great strength from their spiritual purity, allowing them to perform near-miraculous feats. In game terms, these benefits compensate characters for the magical items that they cannot own.

Holy Armor: Starting at 1st level, an ascetic gains a protective aura which shields her from harm. She receives a +3 armor bonus to Armor Class. This bonus increases to +4 at 3rd level, and by an additional +1 for every three levels thereafter.

Bonus Feat: At 2nd level, an ascetic gains a bonus feat. She gains an additional bonus feat for every four levels thereafter.

Exalted Strike: A 3rd-level ascetic can channel energy into her attacks. Any weapon the ascetic wields gains a +1 enhancement bonus to attack and damage rolls. This bonus rises to +2 at 7th level, and by an additional +1 every three levels thereafter. Starting at 10th level, an ascetic's exalted strike bypasses damage reduction against good.

Resistance: A 4th-level ascetic gains a +1 resistance bonus to all saving throws. This bonus increases by +1 for every five character levels thereafter, to a maximum of +4 at 19th level.

Energy Resistance: At 5th level, an ascetic may choose one type of energy to gain resistance against: acid, cold, electricity, fire, force, or sonic. She gains resistance 5 against any effect that inflicts that type of damage. Every five levels thereafter, she may pick another type of energy. She gains resistance 5 against that energy, and all her other resistances gained through this ability increase by 5. At 20th level, she becomes immune to the element that she has the greatest resistance against.

Eschew Sustenance: A 5th-level ascetic no longer needs food or water.

Natural Armor: At 6th level, an ascetic gains a +1 natural armor bonus to AC. This bonus increases to +2 at 12th level, and to +3 at 18th level.

Deflection: At 8th level, an ascetic gains a +1 deflection bonus to AC. This bonus increases to +2 at 14th level, and to +3 at 20th level.

Mind Shielding: At 8th level, an ascetic becomes immune to detect thoughts, discern lies, and any attempt to discern her alignment, as well as the psionic equivalents of these abilities. At 10th level, she gains a +4 bonus to all saving throws to resist divination and enchantment spells, and to resist clairsentience telepathy powers. At 18th level, she constantly gains the benefits of mind blank. This is a supernatural ability.

Damage Reduction: At 10th level, an ascetic gains DR 5/magic. At 15th level, this improves to DR 5/evil. At 20th level, this improves to DR 10/evil.

Eschew Breath: An 11th-level ascetic no longer needs air, and does not suffer penalties for suffocation or drowning.

Freedom: Starting at 14th level, an ascetic constantly gains the benefits of freedom of movement. This is a supernatural ability.

Regeneration: Starting at 17th level, an ascetic begins to heal much faster than normal. She regain hit points equal to her level every hour instead of every day. Nonlethal damage heals at a rate of one hit point per level every five minutes. Once per day, the ascetic may focus her mind as a standard action to enter a healing trance. For every round that she remains in this trance she regains hit points as if she had rested an hour (one hit point per level per round). If the ascetic takes any action while so entranced, the trance ends immediately.

True Sight: Starting at 18th level, an ascetic constantly gains the benefits of true seeing. This is a supernatural ability.