Ascetic Characters (LL)

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One of the basic Vedic doctrines is that in order to achieve unity with the Brahman, it is necessary to release worldly desires. In accordance with this line of thought, many people shunned worldly pleasures and devoted themselves to meditation, hoping to achieve some spiritual intuition that would allow them to join the Brahman. Often, they took their efforts to the extreme, forsaking family, friends, possessions, and even food. Although such efforts may seem peculiar to western minds, it must be noted that these "ascetics" achieved many remarkable insights that allowed them to perform seemingly impossible feats and produce an incredible understanding of the true nature of the world.
Player characters who forsake their worldly possessions and devote themselves to spiritual enlightenment may become ascetics. Ascetics are always dual-class characters (even if they are human). A character who wishes to become an ascetic gives away all of the trappings of his or her class (such as weapons, tools, magical components, etc.), saving only the clothing on his or her back. (Note: these items must truly be given away, not merely entrusted to another member of the party for safe-keeping.)
From that point forward, the ascetic must meditate four hours per day, cannot possess any item other than a begging bowl and the clothing on his back, and must deny himself all pleasures of the flesh (such as eating fine food, drinking expensive wines, the taking of a hot bath, etc.).
In return, the ascetic advances as a priest, using the priest hit point, combat, and saving throw tables. However, the ascetic casts wizard spells instead of priest spells, and gains new spells as if he were a wizard of the appropriate rank. Through his long hours of spiritual devotion, the character learns more and more about the true nature of the cosmos. He can use this knowledge in much the same way that wizards use their spells, except that he never needs material components to cast a spell and does not need to record the spells he knows in a spell book. Instead, his daily meditation serves to refresh these spells in much the same way that a priest's daily prayer restores his powers. Generally, the ascetic chooses two schools of magic from which he can cast spells. He has access to all spells within those schools.
As with any dual class character, the ascetic retains his former abilities and can use them as he pleases without gaining any experience. Any items that the ascetic used while performing as a former class must be immediately returned or given away, however, or the ascetic reverts permanently to his former class and loses all benefits of being an ascetic.
As ascetics advance, they earn several other benefits—and suffer one additional detriment. First, each time an ascetic advances a level, he loses a point of Strength because of the physical deprivations to which he is subjecting himself (though he never falls below a Strength of 3). But he also gains a point to put into either Wisdom, Constitution, or Charisma (his choice). In this way, an ascetic can raise any or all of these ability scores to a maximum of 19 (but never more).
More importantly, the ascetic gains the following powers:
: 1st Level: Turn undead
: 3rd Level: Endure heat / Endure cold
: 5th Level: Levitate (self only)
: 8th Level: Telekinesis
: 12th Level: Heal (self only)
: 15th Level: Ignore death
: 18th Level: Immune to all non-magical damage
: 20th Level: Reach unity with Brahman
The ascetic has the ability to continue functioning normally for 1d10 rounds after reaching 0 hit points. During this time, any manner of healing magic may be used to restore the character to life by bringing his hit points back to a positive value.
Ascetic characters who attain the 20th level have acquired an understanding of the universe so exact that they become one with the Brahman and are thus retired from play. A more worthy or noble end for a character is hard to imagine.
Ascetic Characters	Ascetic Characters	Ascetic Characters	Ascetic Characters	Spell Slots per Spell Level	Spell Slots per Spell Level	Spell Slots per Spell Level	Spell Slots per Spell Level	Spell Slots per Spell Level	Spell Slots per Spell Level	Spell Slots per Spell Level	Spell Slots per Spell Level	Spell Slots per Spell Level
Level 	Exp 	Hit Dice (d6) 	THAC0 	1 	2 	3 	4 	5 	6 	7 	8 	9
1 	0 	1 	20 	1 	— 	— 	— 	— 	— 	— 	— 	—
2 	1,500 	2 	20 	2 	— 	— 	— 	— 	— 	— 	— 	—
3 	3,000 	3 	20 	2 	1 	— 	— 	— 	— 	— 	— 	—
4 	6,000 	4 	18 	3 	2 	— 	— 	— 	— 	— 	— 	—
5 	13,000 	5 	18 	4 	2 	1 	— 	— 	— 	— 	— 	—
6 	27,500 	6 	18 	4 	2 	2 	— 	— 	— 	— 	— 	—
7 	55,000 	7 	16 	4 	3 	2 	1 	— 	— 	— 	— 	—
8 	110,000 	8 	16 	4 	3 	3 	2 	— 	— 	— 	— 	—
9 	225,000 	9 	16 	4 	3 	3 	2 	1 	— 	— 	— 	—
10 	450,000 	9+2 	14 	4 	4 	3 	2 	2 	— 	— 	— 	—
11 	675,000 	9+4 	14 	4 	4 	4 	3 	3 	— 	— 	— 	—
12 	900,000 	9+6 	14 	4 	4 	4 	4 	4 	1 	— 	— 	—
13 	1,125,000 	9+8 	12 	5 	5 	5 	4 	4 	2 	— 	— 	—
14 	1,350,000 	9+10 	12 	5 	5 	5 	4 	4 	2 	1 	— 	—
15 	1,575,000 	9+12 	12 	5 	5 	5 	5 	5 	2 	1 	— 	—
16 	1,800,000 	9+14 	10 	5 	5 	5 	5 	5 	3 	2 	1 	—
17 	2,025,000 	9+16 	10 	5 	5 	5 	5 	5 	3 	3 	2 	—
18 	2,250,000 	9+18 	10 	5 	5 	5 	5 	5 	3 	3 	2 	1
19 	2,475,000 	9+20 	8 	5 	5 	5 	5 	5 	3 	3 	3 	1
20 	2,700,000 	9+22 	8 	5 	5 	5 	5 	5 	4 	3 	3 	2
: * Usable only by Ascetic Characters with 17 or greater Wisdom.
: ** Usable only by Ascetic Characters with 18 or greater Wisdom.
 Ascetic Characters Saving Throws
 	Attack to be Saved Against 	Attack to be Saved Against	Attack to be Saved Against	Attack to be Saved Against	Attack to be Saved Against
Experience Level	Paralyzation,Poison, orDeath Magic	Rod, Staff,or Wand 	Petrificationor Polymorph*	BreathWeapon** 	Spell***
1-3 	10 	14 	13 	16 	15
4-6 	9 	13 	12 	15 	14
7-9 	7 	11 	10 	13 	12
10-12 	6 	10 	9 	12 	11
13-15 	5 	9 	8 	11 	10
16-18 	4 	8 	7 	10 	9
19+ 	2 	6 	5 	8 	7
:*Excluding polymorph wand attacks.
:**Excluding those that cause petrification or polymorph.
:***Excluding those for which another saving throw type is specified, such as death, petrification, polymorph, etc.