Understanding totemists (and incarnum in general)

[Kafana]

I've gone of the MoI book, but I'm still not completely sure how the melds work. I'd like to go over it with you guys with an example.

Now, I'll take as an example a level 6 duskling totemist with expanded soulmeld capacity on landshark boots and bonus essentia.

Reading from the table he prepares 4 soulmelds at the start of the day, has 7 essentia (4 per table + 1 duskling + 2 bonus essentia) and can have two charkas bound during any one round. He can invest 2 essentia on his crown, feet and hands, and 3 essentia on his totem (and 1 more on the landshark boots).

If I get this right, I can invest 4 essentia in the landshark boots if they're bound to the totem, and spread out the remaining 3 essentia to my hands, feet and crown (either 1, 1, 1, or 2, 1, 0) right?

As for preparing, do I need to specify which chakra do I bind the soulmeld to at the start of the day, or at the start of the round I wish to rearrange my essentia? For example, can I use the landshark boots on my feet in one round and on my totem in another?

[Darrin]

Binding has to be done when the soulmelds are shaped. Once bound, you can't change the binding until you can shape new soulmelds.

Investing essentia is the only thing you can change on a round-to-round basis.

Everything else sounds about right.

[Dread_Head]

You can shape a soulmeld in any of your eight body slots (as long as you have not already shaped a soulmeld there that day) not just to the places you can bind. The soulmeld you bind to your totem chakra must be shaped in one of the locations it can otherwise be bound. You can invest essentia in any of the places you have soulmelds shaped to a maximum of two normally, three if it is also bound to your totem ckakra and an additional one with the expanded soulmeld capacity feat.

You decide your ckara binds at the start of the day whilst shaping your melds and you can't change that without the rebind totem soulmeld class feature. Thus you can't change whether your landshark boots are bound to your feet or totem chakra between rounds. At 11th level you can bind the soulmeld to both your totem chakra and another chakra though.

Your Expanded Soulmeld Capacity feat isn't specific to a soulmeld so if you ever change your mind and want more essentia invested in say Manticores Belt or Girallon Arms you can change it to them whilst shaping soulmelds.

This handbook (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?287304-danzibr-s-Totemist-Handbook) is very helpful regarding totemists and incarnum in general.

[Kafana]

So let me see if I got this: basically you have 2 levels of "commitment" with soulmelds - forming them and binding them. As far as I can see, when you only form them you have minor bonuses, and when you bind them you get something even better, but do you keep the previous bonus as well? Also, you can invest essentia in both bound and formed soulmelds to improve them differently? If you bind to the totem, do you get the other bonuses (from binding to the original chakra, or at least from forming)? If so, does investing essentia for a bound soulmeld count for the passive bonus as well?

Somewhat related: If the totemist doesn't have multiattack or something similar, which penalties would he get when attacking with 2 claws, with 2 claws and a bite, with 4 claws and with 4 claws and a bite (some of these attacks might not even be possible). Please elaborate on this.

[Psyren]

So let me see if I got this: basically you have 2 levels of "commitment" with soulmelds - forming them and binding them. As far as I can see, when you only form them you have minor bonuses, and when you bind them you get something even better, but do you keep the previous bonus as well?

Yes - binding a soulmeld is "shaping it + extra." You must shape it in order to bind it, so you keep whatever benefits/abilities you got just from shaping it.


Also, you can invest essentia in both bound and formed soulmelds to improve them differently? If you bind to the totem, do you get the other bonuses (from binding to the original chakra, or at least from forming)? If so, does investing essentia for a bound soulmeld count for the passive bonus as well?


Yes, both shaped and bound soulmelds can hold essentia. And yes, if a soulmeld provides "benefit X" when essentia is put into it while shaped, and "benefit Y" when essentia is put into it while bound, investing essentia will give you both benefits X and Y simultaneously.

For example, if your Totemist has Behir Gorget shaped and bound to his Throat chakra with 4 essentia invested, you will have both resist electricity 20 (4 essentia * 5; the "shaped" bonus) as well as being able to shoot a 25ft. line of lightning that does 6d6 damage. (5ft. + [4e*5]; 2d6 + [4e*1d6]; the "throat bind" bonus).


Somewhat related: If the totemist doesn't have multiattack or something similar, which penalties would he get when attacking with 2 claws, with 2 claws and a bite, with 4 claws and with 4 claws and a bite (some of these attacks might not even be possible). Please elaborate on this.

As with all natural weapons combinations, your primary would have no penalties and add your full Str mod to damage, and all your secondaries would have -5 to hit and add 1/2 Str mod to damage.

Multiattack changes the -5 to -2.

[Fax Celestis]

I have a question: can you bind a shaped Soulmeld to more than one chakra at a time? Can I shape the same Soulmeld twice if I need to?

[Psyren]

I have a question: can you bind a shaped Soulmeld to more than one chakra at a time? Can I shape the same Soulmeld twice if I need to?

1) "[The meldshaper] can't shape the same soulmeld more than once." (MoI 50.)

2) The only class that can bind the same soulmeld to two chakras is Totemist, and then only to "Totem + something else." This is from their class feature gained at level 11.

[Fouredged Sword]

One good idea is to print the WOTC Incarnum character sheet

http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/dnd/charactersheets

It really helps keep track of what soulmelds you have, and the locations that are in, and if they are bound.

Remember, all soulmelds must occupy a location if shaped. They are restricted to locations you can bind them. You do not have to bind a soulmeld to a location, but if you do, you cannot also equip a magic item to that location. Unless altered by feat or class feature, no two soulmelds can occupy the same location, no magic item can be used in a location with a bound soulmeld, and no soulmeld can occupy two locations at once.

[Fax Celestis]

I have another incarnum question.

If I take Shape Soulmeld as a LG/CG/TN/LE/CE Totemist to get Incarnate Avatar, what happens?

My assumption currently, RAW:


If I am TN, the meld does literally nothing and has no descriptors.
If I am LG, my incarnate avatar looks like an astral deva/marut hybrid, it has the [Law, Good] descriptors, and I gain +1 insight to melee attacks and AC per essentia invested.
If I am CG, my incarnate avatar looks like an astral deva/glabrezu hybrid, it has the [Chaos, Good] descriptors, and I gain +1 insight to melee attacks and a varying bonus to all attacks based on a die roll per essentia invested.
If I am LE, my incarnate avatar looks like a nycaloth/marut hybrid, it has the [Law, Evil] descriptors, and I gain +1 insight to melee attacks and +2 insight to melee damage per essentia invested.
If I am CE, my incarnate avatar looks like a glabrezu/nycaloth hybrid (gross), it has the [Chaos, Evil] descriptors, and I gain a varying bonus to all attacks based on a die roll and +2 insight to melee damage per essentia invested.


Since totemists do not gain the soul soulbind pre-epic, the bind function is unusable.

[Psyren]

This one's tricky. However there's an easy way to solve it actually - Incarnate Avatar's "Descriptor" line says "Chaotic, Evil, Good or Lawful." This says to me that it can only have one descriptor regardless of the components to your actual alignment. So I would say that you get to choose the form it takes (depending on what is available to your alignment) when you shape it, and you would simply be treated as whatever your chose for the purposes of that particular soulmeld. So a CG Totemist would choose "chaotic or good" and their IA would treat them as CN or NG respectively for determining its abilities.

[Chronos]

Quoth Kafana:

Somewhat related: If the totemist doesn't have multiattack or something similar, which penalties would he get when attacking with 2 claws, with 2 claws and a bite, with 4 claws and with 4 claws and a bite (some of these attacks might not even be possible). Please elaborate on this.
Psyren is right about the general rules for natural weapons. However, be warned that most of the good soulmelds have their own special rules for using them in full attacks, which override the default rules. For instance, Threefold Mask of the Chimera lets you either full attack with three bites, or use only a single bite as a secondary weapon. If you want one that works the normal way, and which gives you a bunch of attacks, take Girallon Arms.