MoI - permanently giving up soulmeld slots to bind a soul

[Deadasadoor]

I'm playing a Soul Manifester (Totemist/Egoist) in a 3.5 game (currently level 10). The opportunity to bind a (willing!) soul as a permanent soulmeld has come up, through the power of talking to my DM, but I haven't been told the details of it. It will be better than a regular soulmeld, from what I'm told. The soul in question is a Grey Render. I'm aware that Totem Avatar is already a thing, but I feel that it doesn't really fit the flavor I'm going for.

I'm sure the DM has already made up their mind, I'm just curious about what the Playground thinks is an acceptable trade to give up a soulmeld slot for, or what kind of abilities it should have.

[Psyren]

I'm playing a Soul Manifester (Totemist/Egoist) in a 3.5 game (currently level 10). The opportunity to bind a (willing!) soul as a permanent soulmeld has come up, through the power of talking to my DM, but I haven't been told the details of it. It will be better than a regular soulmeld, from what I'm told. The soul in question is a Grey Render. I'm aware that Totem Avatar is already a thing, but I feel that it doesn't really fit the flavor I'm going for.

I'm sure the DM has already made up their mind, I'm just curious about what the Playground thinks is an acceptable trade to give up a soulmeld slot for, or what kind of abilities it should have.

If you're looking for a tradeoff suggestion, having it occupy multiple chakras simultaneously would be a strong downside to build from. You can also slow the rate at which investing essentia gives benefits, e.g. you need +4 essentia in it to get +3 or +2 to X.

As for abilites, Gray Renders look cool but they're kinda bland. They're large, they have grab (and rend, obviously) and high Spot - that's about it. Their AC and HD are mediocre for their CR. Girallon Arms already gets you the grabby meld so I'm not sure what they really bring to the table for a Totemist.

[MaxiDuRaritry]

Don't agree to anything until you know what it does. Let us know when you figure it out.

[Deadasadoor]

If you're looking for a tradeoff suggestion, having it occupy multiple chakras simultaneously would be a strong downside to build from. You can also slow the rate at which investing essentia gives benefits, e.g. you need +4 essentia in it to get +3 or +2 to X.

As for abilites, Gray Renders look cool but they're kinda bland. They're large, they have grab (and rend, obviously) and high Spot - that's about it. Their AC and HD are mediocre for their CR. Girallon Arms already gets you the grabby meld so I'm not sure what they really bring to the table for a Totemist.

I believe the permanent soulmeld loss was to keep the soul bound, in a way. It's what I offered to give up for it. I was more concerned about what it might offer mechanically.

As an update, it will likely give me the ability to bond to someone and gain bonuses for protecting them, as well as improved grab and "an enhanced attack". It seems like a decent tradeoff to me.

[LTwerewolf]

Depends on the bonus. Giving someone else +2 ac isn't really worth it. Giving someone else displacement+blur+permanent shield other might be.

[Psyren]

I believe the permanent soulmeld loss was to keep the soul bound, in a way. It's what I offered to give up for it. I was more concerned about what it might offer mechanically.

As I said above, Gray Renders are pretty bland. Totemist soulmelds always have some relation to the monster they're based on, e.g. Blink Shirt lets you teleport and Behir Gorget is electricity-themed. Even when Totem Avatar emulated them, it came up with the most generic bonuses possible (AC and damage), so I'm not sure what else you'd be expecting to get out of them.

[ExLibrisMortis]

I believe the permanent soulmeld loss was to keep the soul bound, in a way. It's what I offered to give up for it. I was more concerned about what it might offer mechanically.

As an update, it will likely give me the ability to bond to someone and gain bonuses for protecting them, as well as improved grab and "an enhanced attack". It seems like a decent tradeoff to me.
As a manifester, there normally isn't a whole lot to be gained from Improved Grab and increased damage. I'm assuming you are using metamorphosis to gish?

Let's say the permanent soul bind is considered equivalent to a meld bound to a chakra, with essentia invested (requiring no actual essentia), in terms of power. Improved Grab is the sort of thing that might be granted by a soulmeld. A bite attack for 1d8 damage (if medium) might also be appropriate - gray renders get a 2d6 bite attack, a bit stronger than normal for a large creature. Together, that sounds fine as a soulmeld, but we still need to add something that's roughly equivalent to essentia invested. Maybe the ability to intercept one attack directed at your ward per point of invested essentia per round?*



*That is, if you would be able to invest 3 essentia in a soulmeld, your permanently bound soul grants you the ability to intercept three attacks per round, as if you were the target, instead of your ward.