Ascetic character - possible?

[Warclam]

So I'm starting out in a new campaign soon, and it's gotten into my head that it would be fun to try roleplaying an ascetic. The real sense of the word, not the "synonym for monk" that's occurred in some feats. Look here for an idea of what I mean:
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/ascetic
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asceticism

This is of course rather tricky to do in Pathfinder. The closest I've come so far is a monk with the vow of poverty and maybe some others like truth. It seems like that would be difficult to make actually effective though. Does anyone have an idea of how I might pull off such a character?

[Robb Smith]

Roleplaying wise? Sure. It's totally doable.

Mechanically wise? Absolutely not. It's a disaster area. There's not enough mechanics in the world to offset your lack of assumed-to-be-posssessed magical equipment.

[Mikaze]

If your GM will allow 3.x material, the original Vow of Poverty from Book of Exalted Deeds can help put you closer to the mark than the one in Ultimate Magic. Even that one still has issues and abuse possibilities, but it's workable if your GM will sit down with you and hash out how it'll work and how you should live up to the Vow. Like discussing a paladin's code of conduct pre-game really.

[Magicdealer]

How would I make this work for my player as a dm?

Just roleplay it, don't rollplay it. Gold is just an arbitrary measure of value. It could just as easily be a value called karma. You killed x, you find 2k gold. You kill y, you find 2k karma. Spend your gold on magic items. Spend your karma on magical effects.

[Dabbler]

How about the cloistered cleric? If they take crafting feats they could craft their own items out of whatever they have available (with agreement form the DM) in place or ordinary monetary treasure.

[Nephelim]

I actually started writing a system that replaced items, taking many cues from Magic of Incarnum and the Book of Exalted Deeds. Sadly, I lost interest and it fizzled out, but if you want to crib it, be my guest.

http://paizo.com/forums/dmtz3vcv&page=2?What-do-we-want-out-of-a-Monks- Vow-of-Poverty#51

[Tirq]

A Cleric of Irori sounds like it could fit the bill. Wear a Tengu mask and a large beaded necklace. Use this as the mini and BAM! you got yourself an Ascetic. This is another build that would be cool if you could pull it off, but would fail sadly if done wrong. Try the Divine Strategist if you want to use an Archetype. It fits with the whole "I know everything" motief.