Soulmeld Question

[Yorae]

I was thinking on which soulmelds to choose for a character and came across a situation I was unsure about --

I know that you can have a soulmeld and a magic item in the same slot, if the soulmeld is not chakra-bound (i.e., it is "floating" over the item)

I know when you chakra-bind a soulmeld that it becomes "real", solidifies into an actual item, and that you wear it and cannot use another magic item in that slot, because it is already taken up.

BUT, can you chakra bind a soulmeld, making it take up the magic item slot, then shape another unbound soulmeld over it? It makes logical sense that you could, but I wasn't sure what the rules say.

[Zaq]

Nope. One soulmeld per chakra, bound or unbound. Check pg. 50 of MoI.

An exception is if you take the feat Double Chakra, but that's an exception, not a rule.

[Yorae]

Nope. One soulmeld per chakra, bound or unbound. Check pg. 50 of MoI.

An exception is if you take the feat Double Chakra, but that's an exception, not a rule.

Yep, looks pretty conclusive. =\

Oh well. No point in taking Double Chakra if not binding the second meld, since that part would be wasted. I'll have to revise my choices again...

[Zaq]

A meldshaper is much more than his or her (or its . . . a warforged is fine too) binds. I would argue that to ignore (or devalue) your unbound melds is to grossly sell your meldshaper short. Binds are usually better, sure, but really, every meld you have is precious and (can be) useful. If you have a very specific combo in mind that you can see yourself using over and over (or, indeed, several combos that use the same chakra), Double Chakra is very well worth it.

Oh, and of course Totemists get Double Chakra at 9th the same way that Druids get Natural Spell at 6th (MANDATORY), but you knew that.

[Psyren]

The key distinction that caused your confusion is noting the difference between "bound to a chakra" - i.e. being physically attached to a chakra/body slot - and "occupying a chakra" - i.e. merely being associated with one. All soulmelds do the latter, whether or not they are set to do the former.

For soulmelds that can occupy multiple chakra, you choose which one to associate it with when you shape it. This gives you quite a bit of granularity in terms of which melds you can shape.