Meldshaping class + Open Chakra feat interaction

[Werephilosopher]

I'm a bit confused by this. How do meldshaping classes and the Open <Least, Lesser, Greater> Chakra feats interact? If a character with 2 levels of totemist takes Open Least Chakra (Crown), can they bind a soulmeld gained through their totemist levels to their crown chakra, even if they've already bound another meld to their totem chakra (thus reaching the 1-bind limit of a second-level totemist)?

[Red Fel]

Basically, the Open X Chakra feats are redundant for a meldshaper unless you multiclass out of that class. Open X Chakra allows you to bind a soulmeld to that chakra point. It also grants you an added benefit that the class ability does not. (For example, Open Lesser Chakra (Arms) grants a +2 insight bonus to Grapple checks.)

That said... The RAW is ambiguous as to whether it grants you an additional chakra bind, on top of those listed for your class. In your example, a Totemist 2 can bind a single soulmeld. The RAW is unclear as to whether this allows you to bind a second soulmeld, or merely grants you a new space in which to bind it. A strict reading would suggest that it does not grant a meldshaper additional chakra binds, because it merely says that you are able to bind a soulmeld to that chakra, not that you gain additional chakra binds at once. However, a common-sense reading recognizes that non-meldshapers have no chakra binds, and thus the feat would become useless if that were the case.

It's worth noting that MoI suffered from some truly terrible editing, and may take several readings just to figure out where everything is. All that said, I'd call this one an "ask your DM" question, because the RAW simply isn't there to support either interpretation.

[malonkey1]

I always ruled it as it giving an extra "bind slot", that is, +1 meld/item bound at a time, but only to the opened chakra.