willpell
2012-04-22, 01:46 AM
The Soulborn sucks, everyone who has read Magic of Incarnum knows it. Combined with the many issues I have with the fluff of MoI in the first place, and I've been planning to make a lot of changes; I'm not done with the first of these, but think it's to a point where I can hang it out in public and let people PEACH it. The intent of this design is to create a class which is a warrior first and Incarnum user second, with fluff that's a bit less New Agey and a bit more genuinely introspective, to have a limited list of melds to choose from so that you don't have to learn the entire list at first level, to have a little fun with the weapon and armor rules, and to take a bit of inspiration from the Bard and the Knight, who both feel like they use Ideology as a power source (which is also an accurate statement of how Incarnates and Soulborns were conceived), but don't have mechanics which make this literal.
Note: Emphasis is my word for what MoI calls Essentia, as I don't think it needed such a vague and spacey-sounding term. I have alternate names for pretty much all the features of the incarnum system, including "incarnum", but so far none of them have "stuck" except this one.
Let's begin.
**************************************************
THE EXEMPLAR
**************************************************
While incarnum has granted the ability to hold a soul in your hand for all the world to see, some individuals have always known the soul was a reality; their surety in the knowledge of their spiritual self and the fate that awaited them on the appropriate Outer Plane brought them a sense of peace and inner strength, which made their physical or magical abilities seem secondary by comparison. Upon the unleashing of incarnum upon the world, these individuals have found that they take naturally to the creation of certain specific soulmelds, ones which visibly manifest their ideals to ensure that their devotion protects them and fells their enemies. They become living symbols of all that they have chosen to make of their souls - the Exemplars.
Unlike the Incarnate, who dips into the sea of all souls and can draw out any soulmeld she can imagine, the Exemplar has only a small number of soulmelds to wield at any time. At first her incarnum-channeling abilities are largely limited to enhancing her combat prowess; by giving proper Emphasis to attack or defense, she can become either deadlier or more enduring than a fighter, but not both at once. Only through experience does the Exemplar learn to wield the full range of incarnum's capabilities.
These are the class features of the Exemplar:
Base Attack bonus: Good.
Good Saves: Will.
Skill modifier: x2.
Class Skills: Concentration, Craft, Gather Information, Knowledge (religion), Knowledge (the planes), Profession, Ride, Sense Motive, Spellcraft. Additionally, the following skills are class skills for you if you possess the corresponding alignment:
Good - Diplomacy and Heal
Chaos - Bluff, Escape Artist and Disable Device
Evil - Intimidate and Disguise
Law - Handle Animal, Balance and Use Rope.
Alignment - Since an exemplar gains additional class skills for being a certain alignment, they are usually a member of one of the four non-neutral alignments. The extremely rare True Neutral exemplar might devote himself to balance as an ideal, or he might simply have a highly abstract ideology which does not fall within any major alignment. While the polarization of souls toward an ideological extreme is fundamental to the structure of the planes, it does not explain everything that matters in the beliefs of sentient beings, and so it is perfectly possible for an Exemplar to represent some highly abstruse commonality underlying the souls of those who cleave to no extreme. Piorrb Siegart is the best known of these, espousing his belief in a "universal harmony with the cosmic flow," whereby all beings should "follow the path of least resistance" so that their actions may be "dictated by the sublime design of the invisible pattern". The majority, however, stand for ideologies that make intuitive sense to a large section of the populace - selfishness or self-sacrifice, devotion or indulgence, freedom or obligation, community or enmity.
Proficiencies - Simple and martial weapons, all armor, shields.
Aura - You radiate utter conviction in your ideals, which in most cases produces a powerful aura corresponding to your alignments which can be detected by appropriate spells. This aura is equal to your Exemplar level. (Technically a neutral Exemplar also has such an aura; there simply aren't any commonly used spells which detect for such unusual resonances. If anyone ever comes up with a Detect Vaguely Zen/Tao/Feng-Shui-Inspired Philosophy spell, Piorrb Siegart is in trouble, but for now he earns a certain mystical anonymity by cleaving to an ideal which nobody else recognizes, though contemplating such mysteries apparently keeps him too busy to spare much time for learning more immediately practical skills.)
Emphasis - An Exemplar possesses more Emphasis than any other meldshaping class, although his ability to use it is distinctly limited. At low levels, the exemplar can do little with his Emphasis except enhance the powers of his Incarnate Weapon and Armor. Once he gains the ability to shape soulmelds, the Exemplar can begin to expand beyond his initial combative role and begin displaying the benefits of his spiritual path in every arena.
(Full table of Emphasis per level forthcoming; this is a part of the incarnum rules I am still learning to understand.)
Incarnate Weapon - An Exemplar can conjure a weapon from out of his very soul, and continues to improve this weapon's abilities throughout his career. See the next post for the details of this ability.
Incarnate Armor - Beginning at 2nd level, an exemplar's ideology begins to physically protect her in the form of a soulmeld resembling full body armor. Like her weapon, her armor is highly personalized and symbolic. The armor protects both body and soul, granting immunity to certain status effects depending on alignment, as well as improving armor class and saving throws.
Initially the character's Incarnate Armor functions as a Chain Shirt (+4 AC, maximum Dex bonus of +4), though it has no armor check penalty. At every level divisible by 4, the character may either:
* increase the maximum Dex bonus and reduce any armor check penalties by 1 (make the armor more flexible),
* increase the AC bonus by 1 while gaining a -1 armor check penalty (stiffening the armor slightly), or
* increase the AC bonus by 2 while gaining a -2 armor check penalty and reducing maximum Dex bonus by 1 (thickening the armor considerably).
Thusly, the character might make his armor thicker (+6 AC, -2 ACP, max Dex +3) at level 4, then at level 8 lighten it (+6 AC, -1 ACP, max Dex +4), and at level 12 lighten it again (+6 AC, -0 ACP, Max Dex +5), then at level 16 increase its rigidity (+7 AC, -1 ACP, Max Dex +5), before lightening it one more time at level 20 (+7 AC, -0 ACP, Max Dex +6). Alternatively, he could just making it thicker at every single opportunity, resulting in a monstrous +14 AC but a highly impractical -10 ACP and with no Dexterity bonus allowed at all. (Actually it should probably be ruled that if the Dexterity bonus drops to 0, it can't be further reduced and the character must choose a different enhancement, lest the armor make him unable to move at all.)
Rules for adding Emphasis to the armor forthcoming. I'm not sure I was quite thinking about that part when I wrote this bit.
At 6th level, the character may automatically add a shield to the armor if he wishes to; he may make the shield appear or disappear as part of his swift action each turn, though he must still have a hand free in order to make use of it. Treat the shield as heavy (+2 AC), but it has no armor check penalty. At 16th level, the shield gains the ability to grow into a tower shield on command (as part of the character's swift action), while in this form it offers either total cover or +4 AC, but applies a -5 armor check penalty and restricts the character to a +4 Dex bonus for as long as it is in this form.
At 10th level, the character gains immunity to dazzling and fear if Good, immunity to stunning and paralysis if Chaotic, immunity to sickening and nausea if Evil, and immunity to dazing, fatigue and exhaustion if Lawful.
At 4th level, the character gains a +4 bonus to saves against any effect which he will be immune to at 10th level (assuming his alignment remains the same). At 14th level, all of his allies within 30 feet gain the +4 bonus to whatever he is immune to, and at 18th level they are immune as well.
At 20th level the character is immune to blindness, deafness, and death effects if good, to petrification if chaotic, to ability damage (not drain) if evil, and to confusion and disabling (treat him as having the Diehard feat) if lawful. Only at epic levels does the exemplar gain the ability to grant these higher-level immunities to others.
A character who wishes to wear normal armor may shape his Incarnate Armor into a skintight suit or shirt and still gain the benefit of his immunities or save bonuses. He may not produce a shield while using this "incarnate clothing".
Resounding Conviction - Beginning at 3rd level, an exemplar can bind her incarnate weapon to her chakras, causing that chakra to glow brilliantly in the same hue as the weapon. This enables her to inflict a status effect on anyone of an opposite alignment whom the weapon strikes. The character must use an available chakra bind and must have opened the chakra in question (through either a meldshaping class level or the Open Chakra feats). Each chakra grants a minor and a major condition, and affects foes who are a "perfect opposite" (exactly the opposite alignment) with the major condition while "imperfect opposites" receive the minor. In the case of a half-Neutral Exemplar, for example Lawful Neutral, the perfect opposite is also half-neutral, in this case Chaotic, while the imperfect opposites are any others who do not share the examplar's non-neutral alignment but are not True Neutral. Peculiarly enough, True Neutral functions as its own perfect opposite, while its imperfect opposites are the extreme alignments; such an irregularity has yet to be explained.
Crown chakra - Perfect opposites panicked, imperfect opposites shaken
Brow chakra - Perfect opposites blinded, imperfect opposites dazzled
Throat chakra - Perfect opposites silenced, imperfect opposites deafened
Soul chakra - Perfect opposites petrified, imperfect opposites rendered unconscious.
Shoulders chakra - Perfect opposites stunned, imperfect opposites dazed
Heart chakra - Perfect opposites confused, imperfect opposites disabled
Arms chakra - Perfect opposites paralyzed, imperfect opposites staggered
Hands chakra - Perfect opposites blown away, imperfect opposites knocked down
Waist chakra - Perfect opposites nauseated, imperfect opposites sickened
Feet chakra - Perfect opposites exhausted, imperfect opposites fatigued
Soulmelds - Beginning at 4th level, you gain the ability to shape soulmelds other than your Incarnate Weapon or Incarnate Armor. An exemplar's meldshaping abilities are based on Charisma; he does not simply wield soulmelds, he proselytizes with them. The Exemplar knows how to shape two soulmelds at fourth level, and can add one to this list at every level thereafter; of the soulmelds known, he may shape one at fourth level and one more at every second level thereafter, to a maximum of nine soulmelds (from a selection of seventeen that he knows how to shape) at 20th level. In any case, he may have no more than his Charisma minus 10 soulmelds shaped (so with a Charisma of only 18 he could not shape a ninth soulmeld even at level 20).
(List of Exemplar soulmelds forthcoming. For now assume it will resemble the selection available to Soulborn, but eventually I hope to make it better represent the fluff of every meld being the manifestation of a concept that the character values - think of the Ardent from Complete Psi for a vaguely similar characterization basis.)
Leadership - A 6th-level Exemplar gains Leadership as a bonus feat. Swaying others to their cause comes naturally to Exemplars.
At higher levels, an Exemplar begins to gain abilities similar to those of a bard or knight, investing Emphasis in these effects in order to empower them. Many Exemplars believe that these powers are ultimately from the same source, whether or not incarnum is visibly involved; there is a shared weave among all souls which they believe draws - or chains - people together, and they can use those connections to inspire their allies or manipulate their foes.
Ex-Exemplars - An exemplar who changes alignment takes a penalty to each of the skills which come with the lost alignment equal to half of the number of ranks he has purchased in those skills, rounding up. For instance, a lawful good exemplar becomes lawful neutral. Her 5 ranks in Diplomacy still exist for the sake of synergies and so forth, but she takes a -3 penalty to all Diplomacy rolls. She does not treat any additional skills as class skills as a result of her new alignment. Additionally, her Resounding Conviction no longer functions with respect to any alignment she has drifted away from; our formerly-good example Exemplar, for instance, if her weapon was bound to her Crown chakra, could still render Chaotic foes shaken, but would no longer have any effect on Evil ones (including the Chaotic Evil foes which she would otherwise be capable of panicking).
Note: Emphasis is my word for what MoI calls Essentia, as I don't think it needed such a vague and spacey-sounding term. I have alternate names for pretty much all the features of the incarnum system, including "incarnum", but so far none of them have "stuck" except this one.
Let's begin.
**************************************************
THE EXEMPLAR
**************************************************
While incarnum has granted the ability to hold a soul in your hand for all the world to see, some individuals have always known the soul was a reality; their surety in the knowledge of their spiritual self and the fate that awaited them on the appropriate Outer Plane brought them a sense of peace and inner strength, which made their physical or magical abilities seem secondary by comparison. Upon the unleashing of incarnum upon the world, these individuals have found that they take naturally to the creation of certain specific soulmelds, ones which visibly manifest their ideals to ensure that their devotion protects them and fells their enemies. They become living symbols of all that they have chosen to make of their souls - the Exemplars.
Unlike the Incarnate, who dips into the sea of all souls and can draw out any soulmeld she can imagine, the Exemplar has only a small number of soulmelds to wield at any time. At first her incarnum-channeling abilities are largely limited to enhancing her combat prowess; by giving proper Emphasis to attack or defense, she can become either deadlier or more enduring than a fighter, but not both at once. Only through experience does the Exemplar learn to wield the full range of incarnum's capabilities.
These are the class features of the Exemplar:
Base Attack bonus: Good.
Good Saves: Will.
Skill modifier: x2.
Class Skills: Concentration, Craft, Gather Information, Knowledge (religion), Knowledge (the planes), Profession, Ride, Sense Motive, Spellcraft. Additionally, the following skills are class skills for you if you possess the corresponding alignment:
Good - Diplomacy and Heal
Chaos - Bluff, Escape Artist and Disable Device
Evil - Intimidate and Disguise
Law - Handle Animal, Balance and Use Rope.
Alignment - Since an exemplar gains additional class skills for being a certain alignment, they are usually a member of one of the four non-neutral alignments. The extremely rare True Neutral exemplar might devote himself to balance as an ideal, or he might simply have a highly abstract ideology which does not fall within any major alignment. While the polarization of souls toward an ideological extreme is fundamental to the structure of the planes, it does not explain everything that matters in the beliefs of sentient beings, and so it is perfectly possible for an Exemplar to represent some highly abstruse commonality underlying the souls of those who cleave to no extreme. Piorrb Siegart is the best known of these, espousing his belief in a "universal harmony with the cosmic flow," whereby all beings should "follow the path of least resistance" so that their actions may be "dictated by the sublime design of the invisible pattern". The majority, however, stand for ideologies that make intuitive sense to a large section of the populace - selfishness or self-sacrifice, devotion or indulgence, freedom or obligation, community or enmity.
Proficiencies - Simple and martial weapons, all armor, shields.
Aura - You radiate utter conviction in your ideals, which in most cases produces a powerful aura corresponding to your alignments which can be detected by appropriate spells. This aura is equal to your Exemplar level. (Technically a neutral Exemplar also has such an aura; there simply aren't any commonly used spells which detect for such unusual resonances. If anyone ever comes up with a Detect Vaguely Zen/Tao/Feng-Shui-Inspired Philosophy spell, Piorrb Siegart is in trouble, but for now he earns a certain mystical anonymity by cleaving to an ideal which nobody else recognizes, though contemplating such mysteries apparently keeps him too busy to spare much time for learning more immediately practical skills.)
Emphasis - An Exemplar possesses more Emphasis than any other meldshaping class, although his ability to use it is distinctly limited. At low levels, the exemplar can do little with his Emphasis except enhance the powers of his Incarnate Weapon and Armor. Once he gains the ability to shape soulmelds, the Exemplar can begin to expand beyond his initial combative role and begin displaying the benefits of his spiritual path in every arena.
(Full table of Emphasis per level forthcoming; this is a part of the incarnum rules I am still learning to understand.)
Incarnate Weapon - An Exemplar can conjure a weapon from out of his very soul, and continues to improve this weapon's abilities throughout his career. See the next post for the details of this ability.
Incarnate Armor - Beginning at 2nd level, an exemplar's ideology begins to physically protect her in the form of a soulmeld resembling full body armor. Like her weapon, her armor is highly personalized and symbolic. The armor protects both body and soul, granting immunity to certain status effects depending on alignment, as well as improving armor class and saving throws.
Initially the character's Incarnate Armor functions as a Chain Shirt (+4 AC, maximum Dex bonus of +4), though it has no armor check penalty. At every level divisible by 4, the character may either:
* increase the maximum Dex bonus and reduce any armor check penalties by 1 (make the armor more flexible),
* increase the AC bonus by 1 while gaining a -1 armor check penalty (stiffening the armor slightly), or
* increase the AC bonus by 2 while gaining a -2 armor check penalty and reducing maximum Dex bonus by 1 (thickening the armor considerably).
Thusly, the character might make his armor thicker (+6 AC, -2 ACP, max Dex +3) at level 4, then at level 8 lighten it (+6 AC, -1 ACP, max Dex +4), and at level 12 lighten it again (+6 AC, -0 ACP, Max Dex +5), then at level 16 increase its rigidity (+7 AC, -1 ACP, Max Dex +5), before lightening it one more time at level 20 (+7 AC, -0 ACP, Max Dex +6). Alternatively, he could just making it thicker at every single opportunity, resulting in a monstrous +14 AC but a highly impractical -10 ACP and with no Dexterity bonus allowed at all. (Actually it should probably be ruled that if the Dexterity bonus drops to 0, it can't be further reduced and the character must choose a different enhancement, lest the armor make him unable to move at all.)
Rules for adding Emphasis to the armor forthcoming. I'm not sure I was quite thinking about that part when I wrote this bit.
At 6th level, the character may automatically add a shield to the armor if he wishes to; he may make the shield appear or disappear as part of his swift action each turn, though he must still have a hand free in order to make use of it. Treat the shield as heavy (+2 AC), but it has no armor check penalty. At 16th level, the shield gains the ability to grow into a tower shield on command (as part of the character's swift action), while in this form it offers either total cover or +4 AC, but applies a -5 armor check penalty and restricts the character to a +4 Dex bonus for as long as it is in this form.
At 10th level, the character gains immunity to dazzling and fear if Good, immunity to stunning and paralysis if Chaotic, immunity to sickening and nausea if Evil, and immunity to dazing, fatigue and exhaustion if Lawful.
At 4th level, the character gains a +4 bonus to saves against any effect which he will be immune to at 10th level (assuming his alignment remains the same). At 14th level, all of his allies within 30 feet gain the +4 bonus to whatever he is immune to, and at 18th level they are immune as well.
At 20th level the character is immune to blindness, deafness, and death effects if good, to petrification if chaotic, to ability damage (not drain) if evil, and to confusion and disabling (treat him as having the Diehard feat) if lawful. Only at epic levels does the exemplar gain the ability to grant these higher-level immunities to others.
A character who wishes to wear normal armor may shape his Incarnate Armor into a skintight suit or shirt and still gain the benefit of his immunities or save bonuses. He may not produce a shield while using this "incarnate clothing".
Resounding Conviction - Beginning at 3rd level, an exemplar can bind her incarnate weapon to her chakras, causing that chakra to glow brilliantly in the same hue as the weapon. This enables her to inflict a status effect on anyone of an opposite alignment whom the weapon strikes. The character must use an available chakra bind and must have opened the chakra in question (through either a meldshaping class level or the Open Chakra feats). Each chakra grants a minor and a major condition, and affects foes who are a "perfect opposite" (exactly the opposite alignment) with the major condition while "imperfect opposites" receive the minor. In the case of a half-Neutral Exemplar, for example Lawful Neutral, the perfect opposite is also half-neutral, in this case Chaotic, while the imperfect opposites are any others who do not share the examplar's non-neutral alignment but are not True Neutral. Peculiarly enough, True Neutral functions as its own perfect opposite, while its imperfect opposites are the extreme alignments; such an irregularity has yet to be explained.
Crown chakra - Perfect opposites panicked, imperfect opposites shaken
Brow chakra - Perfect opposites blinded, imperfect opposites dazzled
Throat chakra - Perfect opposites silenced, imperfect opposites deafened
Soul chakra - Perfect opposites petrified, imperfect opposites rendered unconscious.
Shoulders chakra - Perfect opposites stunned, imperfect opposites dazed
Heart chakra - Perfect opposites confused, imperfect opposites disabled
Arms chakra - Perfect opposites paralyzed, imperfect opposites staggered
Hands chakra - Perfect opposites blown away, imperfect opposites knocked down
Waist chakra - Perfect opposites nauseated, imperfect opposites sickened
Feet chakra - Perfect opposites exhausted, imperfect opposites fatigued
Soulmelds - Beginning at 4th level, you gain the ability to shape soulmelds other than your Incarnate Weapon or Incarnate Armor. An exemplar's meldshaping abilities are based on Charisma; he does not simply wield soulmelds, he proselytizes with them. The Exemplar knows how to shape two soulmelds at fourth level, and can add one to this list at every level thereafter; of the soulmelds known, he may shape one at fourth level and one more at every second level thereafter, to a maximum of nine soulmelds (from a selection of seventeen that he knows how to shape) at 20th level. In any case, he may have no more than his Charisma minus 10 soulmelds shaped (so with a Charisma of only 18 he could not shape a ninth soulmeld even at level 20).
(List of Exemplar soulmelds forthcoming. For now assume it will resemble the selection available to Soulborn, but eventually I hope to make it better represent the fluff of every meld being the manifestation of a concept that the character values - think of the Ardent from Complete Psi for a vaguely similar characterization basis.)
Leadership - A 6th-level Exemplar gains Leadership as a bonus feat. Swaying others to their cause comes naturally to Exemplars.
At higher levels, an Exemplar begins to gain abilities similar to those of a bard or knight, investing Emphasis in these effects in order to empower them. Many Exemplars believe that these powers are ultimately from the same source, whether or not incarnum is visibly involved; there is a shared weave among all souls which they believe draws - or chains - people together, and they can use those connections to inspire their allies or manipulate their foes.
Ex-Exemplars - An exemplar who changes alignment takes a penalty to each of the skills which come with the lost alignment equal to half of the number of ranks he has purchased in those skills, rounding up. For instance, a lawful good exemplar becomes lawful neutral. Her 5 ranks in Diplomacy still exist for the sake of synergies and so forth, but she takes a -3 penalty to all Diplomacy rolls. She does not treat any additional skills as class skills as a result of her new alignment. Additionally, her Resounding Conviction no longer functions with respect to any alignment she has drifted away from; our formerly-good example Exemplar, for instance, if her weapon was bound to her Crown chakra, could still render Chaotic foes shaken, but would no longer have any effect on Evil ones (including the Chaotic Evil foes which she would otherwise be capable of panicking).