Hey there everyone! If you know me (Frank), you know that I spend most of my game time playing Dark Souls III at the moment. Lately I've been toying with and attempting to fine-tune a rule set for a special challenge run called "The Scavenger" in Dark Souls III. What IS The Scavenger? I'm glad you asked!
"The Scavenger" is a playthrough style tinkered with in early Dark Souls games, but it never had a solid rule set, at least not one that made it an actual challenge. This rule set, through testing, has proven to be working all around. There may be a pending change regarding rings/spells at some point but for the time being it will be an optional change (details below).
The rules are as follows:
1. You must start a new character. Your character's skin, eyes, and hair/facial hair must be all be deep black. Their name must be "The Scavenger".
2. You must begin the game as the Deprived.
3. You must not choose a starting gift.
4. You can only equip weapons and armor dropped by enemies, other than your starting weapons/armor. (Mimics don't count). You are NOT allowed to equip weapons or armor you find in the environment. Rings and Spells are the only exception here. You may equip rings / spells found in the environment because enemies generally don't drop rings or spells. You may NOT use rings/spells purchased from or given to you by NPCs.
5. You can only use finite-items dropped by enemies (this includes knives, firebombs, etc) with only a few exceptions for items you pick up in-field (Estus Shard, Undead Bone Shard, and titanite). *This means you will need to keep close track of which materials were dropped by enemies and which were found in the field.
6. You can pick up items in the environment, but they must all immediately be sold each time you return to the shrine (with the exception of rings, spells, Estus Shards, Undead Bone Shards, and titanite - as their use is allowed). You also may not equip or use any of the items before you sell them. *Again, this means you will need to keep close track of which materials were dropped by enemies and which were found in the field. If you find Firebombs on an enemy, make a note or take a screen shot so you know how many NOT to sell off.
7. You may not join a covenant.
8. If it isn't abundantly clear, you may not purchase ANYTHING, including the white sign soap stone and keys.
9. Once you have completed NG, you are allowed to buy ONLY the White Sign Soap Stone. However, your password for pairing must be "SCAVENGE" at all times. Only Scavengers are allowed to play with each other and must earn the right by completing NG.
Below are edits and clarifications from previous rule sets I had written up. If there's anything I forgot to address, let me know: This is a work in progress.
EDIT 1: Coals found in the environment can be given to the blacksmith for use.
EDIT 2: Ashes found in the environment can be given to the shrine maiden, but have no effect. Since you can't buy items, whether you hand over the ashes or not is irrelevant.
EDIT 3: *Optional Ring/Spell mode* - Some rings and spells are found in treasure chests. In this optional version of the ring/spell rule set, all rings/spells found in a chest must also be sold rather than kept.
EDIT 4: All covenant items acquired are to be sold off. Since you are not allowed to join Covenants, you will not reap the rewards of any.
If anyone has any recommendations or questions, please let me know! I'm interested in fine-tuning this game mode and getting a few others on the train.