Incarnate Question

[jguy]

I am curious as to why Wizards decided to give Incarnates 1/2 BAB, it seems like it hinders them so much. At low levels the Incarnates ability to have a +2 weapon really early makes BAB not as needed, but at high levels a Fighters or Barbarians ability to get off 2nd or 3rd attacks would overcome that.

A Psychic Warrior is a close analogy to the Incarnate with their powers giving them more options then a straight up warrior, but even they get 3/4 BAB and bonus feats.

[Urpriest]

A Psychic Warrior is supposed to be analogous to the Totemist, not the Incarnate. While Incarnates can gish, they're intended to be analogous to the fullcasters of other systems.

[jguy]

If they are full casters, then why are they seemingly focused on melee combat?

[Person_Man]

You could easily give the Incarnate 3/4 BAB as a house rule without breaking them. Or you could buy a Skillful weapon (Complete Arcane) to bump it up to 3/4 BAB on your own. Or go into the Soul

But keep in mind that if you stack the various bonuses (http://community.wizards.com/go/thread/view/75882/19870566/Incarnate_by_the_numbers) that the Incarnate has access to, Incarnum Radiance, Incarnate Weapon, Incarnate Avatar, and all the various smaller bonuses, you end up getting a fairly impressive bonuses to To-Hit and Damage (like in the +20ish to hit or +40ish to damage, depending on your alignment), and some ridiculous defensive abilities. High Spell Resistance, Damage Reduction, Energy Resistance, Evasion, Miss Chance, massive bonus hit points, Deflect Arrows multiple times per round, and a lot more.

On top of that, they can switch roles from melee to ranged to Skill Monkey to backup healer quite easily. And they're freaking amazing tanks at low levels (Astral Vembraces, Mantle of Flame, and Necrocarnum Circlet). At higher levels if you abuse Share Soulmeld then you essentially double the power of every soulmeld you possess. And unlike the Psychic Warrior or most other classes, their resources do not decline throughout the game day. Like the inferior Warlock (which has 3/4 BAB but is a weakish class) and the comparable Dragonfire Adept (which also has 1/2 BAB) the Incarnate is an "all day" class.

So I think it was actually a fairly good decision on their part. Though it would have been nice if they had made the Incarnum rules a lot simpler so that people could actually use the book after one read through.

[Urpriest]

If they are full casters, then why are they seemingly focused on melee combat?

Because Incarnum works better for gishing than it does for traditional casting. Doesn't change the fact that Incarnates are closer to full casters than any of the other Incarnum classes.

[danzibr]

Person Man said it wonderfully.

You *could* houserule 3/4 BAB but not necessary.