Specific optimization questions: Incarnate / Totemist / IsFm

[smarti]

Hey,

I read a lot about incarnum the past couple of days and now settled with the suggestion of person_man. I want to do 2 Totemist / 3 Incarnate / rest IsFm

At the start of the campaign I will be LVL 8. Starting gold is standard 27k.
I want to go earth dwarf dragonborn. So I had a couple of questions:

1.: Does it make sense to rather go 2 tot / 4 inc / 2 IsFm? (that would get me feet and hand chakra)

2.: What armor would I wear? Sine I don't have much dexterity I was looking at a Heavy plate, thing is I am missing the proficiency :(

4.: If I get a soul bound shield (fueled by essentia) does that stack with the IsFm resistance ability? (meaning, can I spend one essentia for both bonuses? Is there a ruling or something?)

5.: Does it make sense to not buy a weapon and use the incarnum one?

6.: Items I was thinking about so far: Belt of Priestly Might (+1 NA and +2 Str); Animated Heavy Shield +1 (so I can use my weapon two handed); Some armor with agility on it (so I can get my reflex up) - that would leave me another ~10k to play with if I don't buy a weapon - any suggestions?

7.: A more substantial question: I was thinking to continue the incarnate path because their melds seem to be more versatile - does that make sense?

8.: And last: Is such a build competitive? I was just wondering because of the relatively low BAB and hitpoint progression (as let's say compared to a straight lvl 8 barbarian)

Thanks for your help!

[eggs]

That is an awful abbreviation.

1. Yes, it makes sense. It's not strictly better, but it makes sense. Remember that it comes at the cost of delaying high-level abilities. It really depends what melds you're going to be using, though.

2. Whatever makes your AC the highest without wasting feats.

3. Where did 3 go? :0

4. No. They're different abilities, with different investments.

5. Unless you use Kensai or something to jack up the Incarnate Weapon damage, you lose a lot of damage potential with IW. The one thing it's kind of useful for is the Stun effect, but that requires enough resource investment that I would consider it fairly niche.

6. Flight and Tactical teleportation are the big ones. If evil, a Feathered Wings graft is choice.

7. I'm not sure I agree with your reasoning (you will have all the melds, no matter which class you advance, and enough of all of them shaped to contribute), but I agree with your conclusion (Incarnate gives more Essentia and its melds are more often based on manifester level).

8. If you focus on generating lots of natural weapon attacks, you can make your damage relevant. Otherwise, you'll probably need to sporadically splash into Crusader or Warblade to make combat contributions more meaningful and reliable. And even with loads of natural attacks, that's probably a good idea.

[smarti]

1. 4/2 might be a multiclassing problem though , damn it, I hate that rule ;)

2. So what would that be? A breastplate? I skimmed through the books - or would a mithral plate work?

3. got lost along the way ;)

4. mh :( sad

7. But I will only have the chakras of the class I pursue (that was the reasoning)

8. ToB is not allowed :(

[eggs]

1. 4/2 might be a multiclassing problem though , damn it, I hate that rule ;)
If that rule's in place, and you can't finagle it with a subrace or anything, definitely Totemist 2/Incarnate 3/Forgemaster X. It still gets most of the good stuff, gets its thrid bind at the same ECL and has the chakras open to bind a third soulmeld at that ECL.

2. So what would that be? A breastplate? I skimmed through the books - or would a mithral plate work?
Assuming a middling Dex, Mithral Full Plate is ideal, but expensive.

If it's competing in the budget against something like an item of Natural Armor +1, an item of Deflection +1, and Boots of Big Stepping, it would probably be worth putting off for a while.

Chakra binds don't worry about where the soulmelds come from, so you could advance Incarnate with Forgemaster, and still bind Girallon Arms to your Arms at Forgemaster 4.

Without Tome of Battle, some options disappear. Rage-oriented classes are usually about as front-loaded as ToB, but they probably won't be necessary, as long as you have a good batch of secondary attacks (at least Girallon Arms and a Bite).

[smarti]

Okay, thanks. One Last question, ppl are favoring small characters in the handbooks - i dont really get why. You win +1 To ac and Hit but lose dmg for weapon size, do the bonuses outway the cons?

[eggs]

Small races have an awful time in melee. Their weapon damages drop, their combat maneuver bonuses (grapple, trip, etc.) collapse, they miss out on reach from size boosts. I would avoid them.

If they're getting good recommendations, it's likely due to multiclassing. A Psionic or Spellcasting incarnum build isn't going to be tossed around like a ragdoll by every enemy with a positive Grapple/Trip. So in those cases, Gnome and Strongheart Halfling's size bonuses end up being pretty slick (taking penalties on things they don't care about, like strength and grapple, in exchange for bonuses that matter, like Con/Dex, AC, attacks, illusions, feats, etc.)

[Chronos]

8.: And last: Is such a build competitive? I was just wondering because of the relatively low BAB and hitpoint progression (as let's say compared to a straight lvl 8 barbarian)Hitpoints shouldn't be a problem: Vitality Belt can give you more HP than a Barbarian. Most of your levels will have a d8, and two points of essentia would take that up to the same average as a d12. Of course, that's competing for essentia with everything else, but hitpoints don't matter until you're about to run out of them, so you could start the day with the belt empty, and not invest in it until you're starting to get hurt.