Incarnum Orc [3.5 Race, PEACH]

[Bakkan]

In my campaign world, Orcs live on the border between the desert and the more fertile human lands and so far are the only practitioners of Incarnum magic. To reflect this, and to bring Orcs up closer to the level of Humans as an ECL 0 race, I have come up with a new variant of Orc called the Incarnum Orc.

Incarnum Orc Racial Traits

+2 Strength, +2 Constitution, -2 Intelligence, -2 Charisma. Incarnum orcs are not as strong as their more common kin, but have a vitality and insight born of their ongoing interactions with the souls they draw power from.
Medium: As Medium creatures, incarnum orcs have no special bonuses or penalties due to their size
Incarnum orc base land speed is 30 feet.
Humanoid(Orc, Incarnum): Incarnum orcs are humanoids with the orc and incarnum subtypes
Darkvison out to 60 feet.
Essentia Pool: An incarnum orc's essentia pool is permanently increased by 1. If he doesn't have an essentia pool, this trait grants him one with a single point of essentia.
Incarnum orcs gain Shape Soulmeld (any one soulmeld) as a bonus feat at 1st level, gained form the inherited connection with the souls that make up incarnum.
Automatic Languages: Common, Orc. Bonus Languages: Dwarven, Giant, Gnoll, Goblin, Undercommon.
Favored Class: Totemist
Level Adjustment: +0.


Opinions? Over/underpowered compared to the Human? What about the Dwarf? If it is overpowered compared to the Human, what adjustments should be made to fix that? I definitely want to keep the bonus feat and bonus essentia. Thanks in advance for your time, and I'll update this first post when I am able to get back on my computer.

Revision 1: Changed +4 Strength to +2, added +2 Constitution, removed -2 Wisdom, added descriptions and languages.

[Melayl]

In my campaign world, Orcs live on the border between the desert and the more fertile human lands and so far are the only practitioners of Incarnum magic. To reflect this, and to bring Orcs up closer to the level of Humans as an ECL 0 race, I have come up with a new variant of Orc called the Incarnum Orc.

Incarnum Orc Racial Traits

+4 Strength, -2 Intelligence, -2 Wisdom, -2 Charisma.
Medium size
Incarnum Orc base land speed is 30 feet.
Darkvison out to 60 feet.
1 Bonus Essentia
Shape Soulmeld (any one soulmeld) as a bonus feat at 1st level
Favored Class: Totemist
Level Adjustment: +0.


Opinions? Over/underpowered compared to the Human? What about the Dwarf? If it is overpowered compared to the Human, what adjustments should be made to fix that? I definitely want to keep the bonus feat and bonus essentia. Thanks in advance for your time, and I'll update this first post when I am able to get back on my computer.

Seems fine to me. The overall stat penalties more than compensate for the stat bonus. Darkvision is no big thing, nor is the bonus essentia. The free feat has a very limited choice (compared to the free human feat).

[Vadin]

Agreed. You might want to give them +2 Strength, +2 Constitution to help out the score their meldshaping depends on, and you could probably remove the Wisdom penalty as well.

[Draz74]

Ironically, I'd say this actually discourages Orcs from being Incarnum classes, since Shape Soulmeld is a lot more useful to non-Meldshaping classes than it is to, say, Totemists.

Of course, the bonus essentia helps make up for that. And Totemists could always splash an Incarnate soulmeld, I guess. (But does that introduce a weird new flavor that you didn't intend?)

Just stat up a few optimized Level 1 Orcs (totemists and non-meldshapers alike) and see if they really reflect what you want typical Orcs to be like in your setting.

[Bakkan]

Agreed. You might want to give them +2 Strength, +2 Constitution to help out the score their meldshaping depends on, and you could probably remove the Wisdom penalty as well.

I like both of these ideas, I think I'll borrow them.


Ironically, I'd say this actually discourages Orcs from being Incarnum classes, since Shape Soulmeld is a lot more useful to non-Meldshaping classes than it is to, say, Totemists.

Of course, the bonus essentia helps make up for that. And Totemists could always splash an Incarnate soulmeld, I guess. (But does that introduce a weird new flavor that you didn't intend?)

Just stat up a few optimized Level 1 Orcs (totemists and non-meldshapers alike) and see if they really reflect what you want typical Orcs to be like in your setting.

Actually, I don't mind so much that this makes Orcs less likely to be full meldshapers. I think it would be boring to have an entire race made up of Incarnates and Totemists, so my intention was to give the Orcs a consistent Incarnum theme while still having as much class diversity as you find in other races. The chiefs and leaders of the orcs will likely still be meldshapers, however.