soulmeld guidelines (an incarnum discussion)

[big teej]

Greetings Playgrounders,

I was reading Magic of Incarnum the other night, trying to get a feel for what I want some incarnates I'm creating to have shaped.

I was taking a look at the Soulborn list as well, partially out of curiosity, partially out of continued research related to the soulborn thread I posted recently.

after finishing the soulmeld section, I came to the conclusion that I wanted to be able to create my own (and enable my players to do so as well)

however, there are no real guidelines given for creating your own homebrew soulmelds.

now, obviously, from the book itself we can draw a template of what information we require

name, basic effect, location, essentia effect, chakra binds, etc. (and, if I recall, you can infer from the magic item bind section, what sort of effects go to what chakra)

that said, there are no actual guidelines for creating new ones.

... any ideas? :smalltongue:

[Ezekiul]

Google some homebrew incarnum and judge off that. Soulmends can be basically anything, so they can be tricky to balance probably. That being said, what do you intend to do (I.e. tank, damage, utility, support) in your party?

[HunterOfJello]

pick a magical beast and then go from there.

the soulmelds aren't designed for what you want as much as what the different magical beasts can do. If you want more try grabbing copies of other monster manuals and books with monsters in them and go from there. Monster Manual IV and V would probably be the best place to start.

[Answerer]

That's only true of Totemist soulmelds, really. Incarnate and Soulborn soulmelds are all over the place.

[big teej]

Google some homebrew incarnum and judge off that. Soulmends can be basically anything, so they can be tricky to balance probably. That being said, what do you intend to do (I.e. tank, damage, utility, support) in your party?

honestly?

I've not the slightest clue.... I imagine I'd get plenty of ideas if I got to play more. :smalltongue:

as it stands I have a single PBP and a 1 shot under my belt with Incarnates (Law and Good respectively)


pick a magical beast and then go from there.

the soulmelds aren't designed for what you want as much as what the different magical beasts can do. If you want more try grabbing copies of other monster manuals and books with monsters in them and go from there. Monster Manual IV and V would probably be the best place to start.

an excellent idea, but the totemist interests me the least. unfortunately.

also...


That's only true of Totemist soulmelds, really. Incarnate and Soulborn soulmelds are all over the place.

^ this is correct.

[Piggy Knowles]

Some thoughts on balancing...

Remember that any soulmeld's base effect will be available at level 1 (yes, even a Soulborn only meld, thanks to the Shape Soulmeld feat). When designing any soulmeld, ask yourself if its base effect would be suitable for a level 1 character. If not, you may want to switch it over to a chakra bind, or make it something that requires a decent amount of essentia to take effect.

That said, essentia-scaling effects are great, as they will grow with the character. They also differentiate a soulmeld from your usual buff spell or magic item. If I were making new soulmelds, I would make it worthwhile to invest essentia in them.

Chakra bind effects should be balanced against when they come online. MoI made a few blunders here, especially in melds like the Phase Cloak (nearly unlimited etherealness at level 9 is a bit much... it would be decent as a Heart chakra bind!) or the Necrocarnum Circlet (componentless Animate Dead at level 2 is quite good, although it at least has some limitations built in to keep it somewhat sane). I like to look at ToB and psionics for an idea of whether a chakra bind effect is too powerful... Would a martial maneuver or power of the same level seem overly strong if it did what your chakra bind does?

[Glimbur]

Some thoughts on balancing...

Remember that any soulmeld's base effect will be available at level 1 (yes, even a Soulborn only meld, thanks to the Shape Soulmeld feat). When designing any soulmeld, ask yourself if its base effect would be suitable for a level 1 character. If not, you may want to switch it over to a chakra bind, or make it something that requires a decent amount of essentia to take effect.

That said, essentia-scaling effects are great, as they will grow with the character. They also differentiate a soulmeld from your usual buff spell or magic item. If I were making new soulmelds, I would make it worthwhile to invest essentia in them.

Chakra bind effects should be balanced against when they come online. MoI made a few blunders here, especially in melds like the Phase Cloak (nearly unlimited etherealness at level 9 is a bit much... it would be decent as a Heart chakra bind!) or the Necrocarnum Circlet (componentless Animate Dead at level 2 is quite good, although it at least has some limitations built in to keep it somewhat sane). I like to look at ToB and psionics for an idea of whether a chakra bind effect is too powerful... Would a martial maneuver or power of the same level seem overly strong if it did what your chakra bind does?

This is wisdom.

I have homebrewed some incarnate (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?p=6496398), totemist (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?p=6321801), and soulborn (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=127348) soulmelds. You might get more ideas from aberrations or fey for totemist melds.

[big teej]

Some thoughts on balancing...

Remember that any soulmeld's base effect will be available at level 1 (yes, even a Soulborn only meld, thanks to the Shape Soulmeld feat). When designing any soulmeld, ask yourself if its base effect would be suitable for a level 1 character. If not, you may want to switch it over to a chakra bind, or make it something that requires a decent amount of essentia to take effect.

That said, essentia-scaling effects are great, as they will grow with the character. They also differentiate a soulmeld from your usual buff spell or magic item. If I were making new soulmelds, I would make it worthwhile to invest essentia in them.

Chakra bind effects should be balanced against when they come online. MoI made a few blunders here, especially in melds like the Phase Cloak (nearly unlimited etherealness at level 9 is a bit much... it would be decent as a Heart chakra bind!) or the Necrocarnum Circlet (componentless Animate Dead at level 2 is quite good, although it at least has some limitations built in to keep it somewhat sane). I like to look at ToB and psionics for an idea of whether a chakra bind effect is too powerful... Would a martial maneuver or power of the same level seem overly strong if it did what your chakra bind does?

an excellent idea..... I won't be able to apply the TOB method for awhile though. :smalltongue:



This is wisdom.

I have homebrewed some incarnate (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?p=6496398), totemist (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?p=6321801), and soulborn (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=127348) soulmelds. You might get more ideas from aberrations or fey for totemist melds.

these may be helpful