Magic of Incarnum-how to optimize equipment?

[genericwit]

So I really like the Incarnum question. I really like the Totemist, and I'm thinking of using one in an upcoming gestalt campaign. We're starting somewhere in the 8-12 range, the DM hasn't decided what exactly.

The problem that I'm having is losing magic items by binding soulmelds to chakras, especially since we'll probably be getting into high levels (where, as a melee character, being able to have a belt of strength, gloves of dex, and an amulet of health are going to be really important).

Is there a way to get around the magic item supressing functions of soulmelds? or is it just necessary to get much more creative with items, and never use items that occupy chakras you want to use?

[Melayl]

There is a feat, Split Chakra, that will let your chakra hold a soulmeld and a magic item. Has to be taken for each chakra you want to do double duty on. MOI 41.

A DM might allow Double Chakra to be used in the same way. MOI 38.

[Person_Man]

Totem Chakra is unique in that it does not take up a body slot. Most of the Totemists best chakra binds are in the Totem chakra slot. At Totemist 11, you can bind 2 soulmelds to your Totem chakra. So for most builds, you'll only be closing off 0-3 body slots.

You can also build a custom magic item for any slot. For example, instead of a Belt of Strength, you can have someone make a Helmet of Strength.

If there is one particular slot that you absolutely need open, you can take the Split Chakra feat that Melayl suggests.

[Darrin]

Consulteth thou, Magic Item Compendium pages 233-234, and thus bask in the eternal bliss of enlightenment.

[Hunter Noventa]

Don't forget to stay clear on the difference between Shaping a Soulmeld and Binding it. Merely shaping a Soulmeld lets you continue to use a magic item there, while binding overrides it.

But other than that, basically yes, Split Chakra is the way to go. Identify slots where you want to have both a magic item and the Bound effect of a Soulmeld and take the feat accordingly. it'll leave you a touch feat-starved in other places unless the other half of your gestalt offers some kind of bonus feats. Since you mentioned melee

[genericwit]

Consulteth thou, Magic Item Compendium pages 233-234, and thus bask in the eternal bliss of enlightenment.

Awesome, this helps a lot.

[genericwit]

Totem Chakra is unique in that it does not take up a body slot. Most of the Totemists best chakra binds are in the Totem chakra slot. At Totemist 11, you can bind 2 soulmelds to your Totem chakra. So for most builds, you'll only be closing off 0-3 body slots.

You can also build a custom magic item for any slot. For example, instead of a Belt of Strength, you can have someone make a Helmet of Strength.

If there is one particular slot that you absolutely need open, you can take the Split Chakra feat that Melayl suggests.

Actually, I'm not sure the totem slot is free from taking up slots. In the Magic of Incarnum book, it states:

The totemist’s totem chakra is unusual in several respects. It does not correspond to any body slot, so soulmelds cannot occupy the totem chakra. For this reason, the totem chakra appears in parentheses at the end of this entry for totemist melds. When a totemist wishes to bind a soulmeld to her totem chakra, she must choose a different chakra for that soulmeld to occupy. Regardless of the chakra occupied by the soulmeld, however, the totemist can bind it to her totem chakra. This is an exception to the normal rule that a soulmeld can only be bound to the chakra it occupies. At higher levels, totemists gain the ability to change which of their soulmelds are bound to their totem chakras. Although this might entail a significant change in the totemist’s appearance and abilities, no soulmelds actually change location on her body when she rebinds her melds.

This seems to suggest that the totem would still take up a chakra somewhere on the body, just that you could choose which. Unless I'm mistaken... But making custom items with multiple enchantments certainly would help, and would certainly shore up the problem, along with split chakra [feat intensive as that would be].

[NoldorForce]

While the soulmeld occupies a body slot and is bound to the totem chakra, it is not necessarily bound to that body slot, which would preclude the use of magic items. This is part of the point of having a slotless chakra, to be able to bind something without taking up physical space.

[Amnoriath]

Actually, I'm not sure the totem slot is free from taking up slots. In the Magic of Incarnum book, it states:

The totemist’s totem chakra is unusual in several respects. It does not correspond to any body slot, so soulmelds cannot occupy the totem chakra. For this reason, the totem chakra appears in parentheses at the end of this entry for totemist melds. When a totemist wishes to bind a soulmeld to her totem chakra, she must choose a different chakra for that soulmeld to occupy. Regardless of the chakra occupied by the soulmeld, however, the totemist can bind it to her totem chakra. This is an exception to the normal rule that a soulmeld can only be bound to the chakra it occupies. At higher levels, totemists gain the ability to change which of their soulmelds are bound to their totem chakras. Although this might entail a significant change in the totemist’s appearance and abilities, no soulmelds actually change location on her body when she rebinds her melds.

This seems to suggest that the totem would still take up a chakra somewhere on the body, just that you could choose which. Unless I'm mistaken... But making custom items with multiple enchantments certainly would help, and would certainly shore up the problem, along with split chakra [feat intensive as that would be].
Well, first I would like to say that interpretation is contradictory to the rules of Incarnum. If that was true then it would occupy 2 while only gaining the benefit of 1. There is only one feature that lets bind a soulmeld twice and that is the Totem(double bind). What I think it is trying to say is that unbound soulmelds actually occupy against other unbound soulmelds so your soulmeld still occupies its unbound location(however a few different unbound soulmelds often seem not to have a slot).

[Darth Stabber]

I see lots of incarnum misunderstandings here, and I am happy to help. Incarnum kind of has the opposite problem of psionics, if you misunderstand it, it seems really weak.

1) A soulmeld that is shaped but not bound in no way interferes with magic items, the two can very happily coexist all day without issues.
2) Once you bind a soulmeld to a chakra it will turn a magic item sitting in the same slot off.
3) when a soulmeld is listed as having two nontotem chakra it can use any one of them that is not already occupied.
4) In order to bind a soulmeld to a nontotem chakra it must be shaped on that chakra. If tou have a meld that can sit in the hands or arm chakra and one that can only occupy the hands, you may use both. However if you wanted the effect from binding the first meld to the hands, you would have to have the meld sit on tour hands slot and thus preclude the second, hands only, meld.
5) The totem chakra is weird, it has no body slot, and it can't hold a soulmeld on its own. You can however bind a soulmeld from another body slot to it. The meld is still sitting on the nontotem chakra, precluding another soulmeld in that slot, but it is not bound to that slot unless you use another bind to do so and have the appropriate class ability to allow that. This allows you to use magic items to your heart's content on that slot.

As far as my advice goes: you might consider a mere 2lvl dip in totemist. This gets you the the ability to bind to the totem chakra which is easily the best feature, while keeping you "real" chakra unimpeded. Or consider Vow of Poverty. Totemists are one of the few classes that can really benefit from that feat.

[Psyren]

This seems to suggest that the totem would still take up a chakra somewhere on the body, just that you could choose which.

It does have to occupy another slot, but will not close that slot off to items unless you bind it there as well. This would require you to have the corresponding slot available for binding, as well as have a chakra bind free to utilize it.

Summary in spoiler:
For example, a Totemist who wants to use Sphinx Claws to attack can do so at level 2, when his totem chakra opens up. He therefore shapes Sphinx Claws and binds them to his totem chakra. However, he still needs a body slot for them to occupy, because the totem chakra doesn't have a slot of its own. For Sphinx Claws, the only option is Hands, so he has them occupy his hands. Now he can make attacks with the claws, but he does not gain the Pounce ability that a Hands bind would get him - his hands chakra is not open yet. But he does get to wear, and benefit from, magical gloves and gauntlets.

At level 5, his Hands chakra opens. However, he still can't bind the Claws to his Hands because he only has one chakra bind available - the one that he used at level 2 to bind to his Totem. So now he can choose between using the claws to attack (totem) or, if he has other natural attacks available, unbinding the Claws from his totem and binding them to his hands instead. He will lose the natural attack from his claws, but gain the ability to Pounce with any other natural weapons he possesses (e.g. from race or feats.) Binding them to his hands, however, will prevent him from benefiting from (and in some cases, physically wearing) magical gloves or gauntlets.

At level 6, he gains his second chakra bind. This allows him to finally do both - bind the claws to his Totem, and to his Hands. He thus not only gains a set of claws, he can Pounce with them too.

[Kazyan]

Summary in spoiler:
For example, a Totemist who wants to use Sphinx Claws to attack can do so at level 2, when his totem chakra opens up. He therefore shapes Sphinx Claws and binds them to his totem chakra. However, he still needs a body slot for them to occupy, because the totem chakra doesn't have a slot of its own. For Sphinx Claws, the only option is Hands, so he has them occupy his hands. Now he can make attacks with the claws, but he does not gain the Pounce ability that a Hands bind would get him - his hands chakra is not open yet. But he does get to wear, and benefit from, magical gloves and gauntlets.

At level 5, his Hands chakra opens. However, he still can't bind the Claws to his Hands because he only has one chakra bind available - the one that he used at level 2 to bind to his Totem. So now he can choose between using the claws to attack (totem) or, if he has other natural attacks available, unbinding the Claws from his totem and binding them to his hands instead. He will lose the natural attack from his claws, but gain the ability to Pounce with any other natural weapons he possesses (e.g. from race or feats.) Binding them to his hands, however, will prevent him from benefiting from (and in some cases, physically wearing) magical gloves or gauntlets.

At level 6, he gains his second chakra bind. This allows him to finally do both - bind the claws to his Totem, and to his Hands. He thus not only gains a set of claws, he can Pounce with them too.


Aaaaaactually...the Totemist eventually gains a "double bind" class feature that allows a meld to be bound to the totem chakra and whatever it's occupying. This implies that, before then, you can't bind Sphinx Claws to Hands and Totem at the same time, even if you have two binds available.

[Psyren]

Aaaaaactually...the Totemist eventually gains a "double bind" class feature that allows a meld to be bound to the totem chakra and whatever it's occupying. This implies that, before then, you can't bind Sphinx Claws to Hands and Totem at the same time, even if you have two binds available.

Yes, my bad. Push that last paragraph from 6 to 11.

[Kaustic]

For a good synergy of classes Druid//Totemist on the Vow of Poverty. I'm currently playing one at level 7, it's really fun. Especially when the DM thinks I'm done with my attacks, and then I add in four more because of Girallon Arms...During a Charge.

Looking at things now though, I don't think I would really have taken Vow of Poverty in the long run. 1) Keeps me from Chaos Shuffling 2)Distribution of Wealth wise I have to donate all that money off which I could be using to up my AC or Attack/Damage Bonuses. 3)For what bonuses you get, they just don't seem to scale well enough for what I would like. It might just be the campaign the DM's running, but we have some strong demons and undead we've been encountering as of late.

[AmberVael]

Consulteth thou, Magic Item Compendium pages 233-234, and thus bask in the eternal bliss of enlightenment.

There's another good use of the MIC combining rules for Incarnum if you have high wealth.

All of the incarnum focus magic items (MIC has these too, pages 112-113) can coexist with a bound soulmeld. Therefore, by utilizing the Improving Magic item rules, you can add other effects on top of the Incarnum Focus items, and that item can thereafter coexist with a soulmeld. In addition, it increases your essentia capacity there.



At Totemist 11, you can bind 2 soulmelds to your Totem chakra.

I also want to note that this is incorrect. Totemist 11 gives you the ability to bind a single soulmeld to the Totem chakra and another chakra at the same time. Binding two soulmelds to the same chakra is the province of the Double Chakra feat (which, admittedly, Totemists should really, really take for the Totem chakra).

[Psyren]

For a good synergy of classes Druid//Totemist on the Vow of Poverty. I'm currently playing one at level 7, it's really fun. Especially when the DM thinks I'm done with my attacks, and then I add in four more because of Girallon Arms...During a Charge.

Looking at things now though, I don't think I would really have taken Vow of Poverty in the long run. 1) Keeps me from Chaos Shuffling 2)Distribution of Wealth wise I have to donate all that money off which I could be using to up my AC or Attack/Damage Bonuses. 3)For what bonuses you get, they just don't seem to scale well enough for what I would like. It might just be the campaign the DM's running, but we have some strong demons and undead we've been encountering as of late.

Ask your DM to let the bonus feats from VoP be Incarnum feats - the flavor is easy to swing, since Incarnum's source is the Positive Energy Plane. Then grab every single one that gives extra essentia, as well as a bunch of Shape Soulmelds from the Incarnate list, and further ask if the "Open X Chakra" feats can be used to gain additional chakra binds.

Another option is, instead of going pure Totemist on your incarnum side, to go Totemist/Incarnate/Vivicarnate (the goody-goody version of Necrocarnate.) The flavor synergizes with Exalted Good very well, plus you will get All The Melds and All The Chakras. If you fight regularly, you will also have All The Essentia.

If he's letting you gestalt anything with Druid, it's likely a high-power game anyway.