KillingAScarab
2015-04-13, 09:51 AM
I like the ideas presented in Magic of Incarnum, but I have not had much chance to play around with them. I have attempted to play a soulborn, but the game I did this for didn't last very long. I am aware of the criticisms against the soulborn class, particularly that a fighter with incarnum feats can be a better meldshaper (although there's some ambiguity in the rules (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?379118-Shape-Soulmeld-and-saves), there). I also recently read about the generic classes (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/classes/genericClasses.htm) in Unearthed Arcana and became aware of the criticism that the generic warrior is better than a fighter. So, I have come up with the following idea: recreate the soulborn with generic warrior and spend all the bonus feats on things like shape soulmeld and incarnum-fortified body. You can even purchase smite evil with the suggested list of abilities to trade feats for, then enhance that with sapphire smite. You miss out on incarnum defense and timeless body, and you don't get an aura, but with enough feats you can replicate nearly everything else a soulborn receives, in some cases at an earlier level.
That said, there's one thing I wonder how to approach: alignment. Both incarnates and soulborn have restrictions on soulmelds which have an alignment descriptor. I imagine the use of a soulmeld with an alignment descriptor would be treated as a chaotic/evil/good/lawful act, but how? Does merely shaping it count, or is it only the use of it which matters? Should armguards of disruption be entirely unavailable for purchase for evil characters, even though they doesn't seem anywhere near as... exclusive... as the necrocarnum soulmelds? Since a generic warrior (or any other non-meldshaper class) would need to purchase something like soulspark familiar with the shape soulmeld feat, would it require one feat for a good-aligned soulspark and another for a lawful-aligned soulspark, or are all alignment variations accessible with one feat?
That said, there's one thing I wonder how to approach: alignment. Both incarnates and soulborn have restrictions on soulmelds which have an alignment descriptor. I imagine the use of a soulmeld with an alignment descriptor would be treated as a chaotic/evil/good/lawful act, but how? Does merely shaping it count, or is it only the use of it which matters? Should armguards of disruption be entirely unavailable for purchase for evil characters, even though they doesn't seem anywhere near as... exclusive... as the necrocarnum soulmelds? Since a generic warrior (or any other non-meldshaper class) would need to purchase something like soulspark familiar with the shape soulmeld feat, would it require one feat for a good-aligned soulspark and another for a lawful-aligned soulspark, or are all alignment variations accessible with one feat?