Rewriting Incarnum Dragon Progression?

[Vrock_Summoner]

Compared to regular dragons' arcane casting, the progression of Incarnum Dragons' soulmelds and Chakra Binds are awful. This appears to be because the designers had a fit of temporary insanity and decided that Soulborn meldshaping correlates to Incarnate meldshaping the same way Sorcerer casting correlates to Wizard casting. Or... Something. I really don't know.

So, setting aside for the moment how much incredibly better arcane casting is than meldshaping, let's just focus on fixing the Incarnum Dragon relative to the meldshaping it was given. How would you change the progression of essentia-gaining and Chakra Binding slots for dragons so that they relate compared to meldshaping PCs in the same way that regular dragons' arcane casting matches a core party?

Also, should Incarnum Dragons really be limited to Soulborn soulmelds? I mean, Soulborn have some good melds, but their list is pretty small, and dragons are dragons, so I feel like opening them up to more soulmelds would be a good idea. What do you guys think?

EDIT: Okay, upon review, their Essentia progression is only slightly terrible (but it is terrible). Everything else still stands, though.

[marphod]

Shouldn't be too hard to fix. Let see.

Golds, Reds, and Silvers get to Caster Level 19 by Ancient Wyrm. So comparing that to the Incarnate and Totemist, that's around, the equivalent of 9 soulmelds, 20ish Essentia (akin to the Totemist -- 18 -- plus a race that grants a mote of essentia), and 5 chakra binds.

I'll go with the theory that an Incarnum Dragon isn't naturalistic enough to get the Totem Chakra, but isn't as studious as the Incarnate, so no Soul Chakra either. All the other Chakras, though. Possibly in a slightly different order.

Incarnate/Totemist get a new Soulmed every 3 levels (on average) and start with 2. Wyrmlings should be less strong in Incarnum than 1st level characters, so we'll try to even out the number of soulmelds granted by age categories rather than front-loading.

We could grant chakras in batches like the classes, but I'll think I'll open them one per age category, in a manner that makes sense to me (focusing on their head/neck region over their lower trunk).

Totemists and Incarnate get a total of 5 binds over their 19 levels, so we'll space those out fairly evenly for the dragon, as well.

As for which Melds?



Chakra
Incarnate
Soulborn
Totemist


Crown
5
7
5


Feet
4
3
5


Hands
6
5
5


Arms
9
5
6


Brow
7
5
6


Shoulders
6
3
7


Throat
7
5
5


Waist
5
4
5


Heart
4
3
4


Approx Total Distinct
45
30
35



(I hand did the total counts, so they are approximate at best.)

So, the soulborn has the smallest list, but its not that much smaller than the Totemist or the Incarnate. There are plenty of options per chakra, so I've not got a conclusive answer here. Either the Incarnate or Soulborn's list should be fine.


tl;dr: The Soulborn's list is smaller, but not that much smaller, than the Incarnate (30ish v 45ish total). there is also options for each chakra, so I don't care. I'd probably go with the Soulborn for (LC)(GE) dragons and Incarnate for (LC)N and N(GE) dragons.

So that works out to:

Soulborn or Incarnate Meld list.



Age
Melds
Essentia
Chakras
Binds


Wyrmling
0
1
--
--


Very Young
1
1
--
--


Young
2
2
Crown
1


Juvenile
3
4
Feet
1


Young Adult
4
6
Hands
2


Adult
4
8
Shoulders
2


Mature Adult
5
10
Brow
3


Old
6
12
Arms
3


Very old
6
14
Throat
4


Ancient
7
16
Waist
4


Wyrm
8
18
Heart
5


Great Wyrm
9
20
--
5



Possibly change a Young Adult to 3 Souldmelds rather than 4. Or make Very Old 7 soulmelds rather than 6. (or both)

[Vrock_Summoner]

Ah... Tables. You, sir, are a professional! :smallbiggrin: I approve of the results, too. Seems like a much more appropriate array, comparing them to non-Incarnum dragons. Thanks a ton for the quick and useful answer!

[noob]

they should have 6 amalgams 12 essentia and 3 chakras at great wyrm age since great magical wyrms have 12 caster level so essentia dragons should have 12 incarnum levels.