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MeklorIlavator
2007-06-28, 05:56 PM
How easy is it to "get" incarnum? One of my players(ZOGoubeaux on the forums) wants to play an incarnate, but I really have no idea how the stuff works, and I have been burned by allowing stuff I don't understand in the past. So, is incarnum easy to understand, or should I ask him to play something else?

Eldmor
2007-06-28, 06:32 PM
Incarnum is sort of like "pimping" a car.
At the beginning of each day, you choose which parts to add to the car. These mods are called soulmelds. To make the mod stronger, you can screw it into the chasis and no other things can be there. This blocks off the body slot the soulmeld is in from magical items. You can also upgrade mods with your limited amount of resources. You can move these around anytime you want to. This is called essentia.
That help any?

Shhalahr Windrider
2007-06-28, 07:08 PM
Incarnum is really easy to learn. Maybe the easiest non-core system out there. I think Eldmor hit everything you need to know in his analogy there. It's that easy.

MeklorIlavator
2007-06-28, 07:32 PM
Mainly, is that if this works, it will be my first actual campaign, and I don't want to throw too many systems in(I have a psion and a cleric already). I Don't want to have to look at 5 different books for every encounter, but if its that simple I'll definably take a look.

Fax Celestis
2007-06-28, 07:44 PM
Think of soulmelds as feats that take item slots and can be changed daily. Also, you can invest essentia in them to make them work better.

Yuki Akuma
2007-06-28, 08:01 PM
Think of soulmelds as feats that take item slots and can be changed daily. Also, you can invest essentia in them to make them work better.

And you can "attach" them to the item slots, making them take up too much space for you to benefit from any other item you try to put there.

No boots of striding and springing while using bound cloud sandals, for instance.

(I think that's the name. DOn't have the book with me..)

The Valiant Turtle
2007-06-28, 08:28 PM
Incarnum is a pretty easy system to understand. What I like the best about it is that in most cases it is very clear what each meld does. There are a few slightly confusing melds, but those tend to be the Totemist melds anyway.

The balance on them seems to be pretty good. They are very powerful in the first few levels, but balance out pretty quickly afterwards.

The main question I would be asking your player is what role he expects to fill in the party. The straight Incarnate isn't particularly strong at any given role. You can make a pretty tough tank with the right melds, but their melee output isn't that great.

It can add a lot of punch and versatility to pretty much any non-caster role. A rogue or bard mixed with Incarnate makes for a fun and versatile skill-monkey with lots of other unusual abilities. Incarnum users of all kinds do multi-class pretty well.

ZOMGoubeaux
2007-06-28, 08:40 PM
As far as the Incarnate goes, Meklor, I intend to either take him as a straight up Law incarnate, Azurin...or go with an Azurin incarnate/cleric/sapphire hierarch...

Granted, at 5th level that's impossible, but it's what I'll most likely work towards becoming.

I'm glad that others out there have learned about incarnum, and how interesting a system it is. I personally fell in love with how it works...after the tenth time I read how it worked. (It was late, in my defense.)

So Meklor, I wouldn't worry too much about me trying to shaft you in terms of the rules or mechanics of Incarnum. Besides, if I do, I'm only destroying the experience which I work too hard to help create.

Basically, I'm not going to destroy your game with a single character...I'd worry about that more from the Cleric, for obvious reasons.

MeklorIlavator
2007-06-28, 09:13 PM
As far as the Incarnate goes, Meklor, I intend to either take him as a straight up Law incarnate, Azurin...or go with an Azurin incarnate/cleric/sapphire hierarch...

Granted, at 5th level that's impossible, but it's what I'll most likely work towards becoming.

I'm glad that others out there have learned about incarnum, and how interesting a system it is. I personally fell in love with how it works...after the tenth time I read how it worked. (It was late, in my defense.)

So Meklor, I wouldn't worry too much about me trying to shaft you in terms of the rules or mechanics of Incarnum. Besides, if I do, I'm only destroying the experience which I work too hard to help create.

Basically, I'm not going to destroy your game with a single character...I'd worry about that more from the Cleric, for obvious reasons.
That being said, I will still need to go over the book before I okay it. No repeats of the psionic incident. Oh, and just so you know, you will need all 4 party slots covered in this thing, so both you and the other guy(snugglebuddy) may not be able to both be the same class.

ZOMGoubeaux
2007-06-28, 09:18 PM
That being said, I will still need to go over the book before I okay it. No repeats of the psionic incident. Oh, and just so you know, you will need all 4 party slots covered in this thing, so both you and the other guy(snugglebuddy) may not be able to both be the same class.


A few things:

1) Snugglebuddy? I cringe at that memory.
2) He's probably going to play a totemist. Different soulmelds means different abilities...
3) The only reason the psionic incident happened is because NOONE knew how the hell psionics worked...there are two of your players that know how Incarnum works, and both of us would shoot ourselves in the foot before breaking a game just to show off how cool we (the player) are.

Everyman
2007-06-28, 09:25 PM
For the record, the totemist is Incarnum's version of a druid.

Incarnates are more like alignment-focused marshals mixed with a little cleric action, but with a poor BAB.

MeklorIlavator
2007-06-28, 09:30 PM
For the record, the totemist is Incarnum's version of a druid.

Incarnates are more like alignment-focused marshals mixed with a little cleric action, but with a poor BAB.

Thats kinda what I'm afraid of. Right now( not including the incarmun), we have a Cleric(though I am using the cloistered variant) and a Psion, so we're missing a tank and a skillmonkey. If we need it, I'll go back to DnD standard cleric, but right now we have some definite gaps.

Jimp
2007-06-28, 09:33 PM
Soulborns are fun too. They're like the alignment Paladins from UA except that they use soulmelds and have some cool abilities.
Also, their Smite Opposition works very well. I prefer it to the regular Smite [good, evil, etc]

Shhalahr Windrider
2007-06-28, 10:10 PM
Thats kinda what I'm afraid of. Right now( not including the incarmun), we have a Cleric(though I am using the cloistered variant) and a Psion, so we're missing a tank and a skillmonkey. If we need it, I'll go back to DnD standard cleric, but right now we have some definite gaps.
Well, the Incarnate can make a good pseudo-skill monkey, given the different utility levels of their souldmelds. However, like a utility wizard, the ability to monkey a particular challenge may have to be postponed until to tomorrow when he can shape the needed meld.

And a Soulborn is a combat type, so there's your tank, too.

Fax Celestis
2007-06-28, 10:23 PM
For the record, the totemist is Incarnum's version of a druid.

...except without the horrible brokenness.

Everyman
2007-06-28, 11:25 PM
...except without the horrible brokenness.

Well, of course.:smallbiggrin:

ImperiousLeader
2007-06-28, 11:53 PM
Thats kinda what I'm afraid of. Right now( not including the incarmun), we have a Cleric(though I am using the cloistered variant) and a Psion, so we're missing a tank and a skillmonkey. If we need it, I'll go back to DnD standard cleric, but right now we have some definite gaps.

Incarnates actually make decent skill monkeys. Here's (http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?t=574633) an analysis of their abilities from an optimization point of view.

Ramza00
2007-06-29, 12:08 AM
As far as the Incarnate goes, Meklor, I intend to either take him as a straight up Law incarnate, Azurin...or go with an Azurin incarnate/cleric/sapphire hierarch...

Granted, at 5th level that's impossible, but it's what I'll most likely work towards becoming.


Cleric 1/Incarnate 2/Sapphire Hierach 10/X 7

Feat
1 Some feat that grants you one extra point of essentia
3 Improved Sigil Krau
Rest are free.
Cast as 18th lvl Cleric, Incarnum of 12th lvl, thus 6 soulmelds, 12 essentia from levels+at least 1 from feats, 3 charka binds, though the only charka bind you gain from class levels is the crown (thus you use feats/spells to expand it even more so, I don't have my books with me but if I recall its open least charka, open less charka, and open greater charka).

JackMage666
2007-06-29, 01:21 AM
I made an Evil Incarnate for one game that served pretty well as the damage dealer of the group. Required alot of the Evil soulmelds, though (Necrocarnum Touch/Lightning Gauntlets, Incarnate Avatar, Bloodwar Gauntlets/Necrocarnaum Weapon). Wasn't great, but was able to do alot of damage to alot of foes (provided they were living). Another benefit was the fact that I only ever made Touch attacks, so I hit often (except on the Natural 1 where I almost accidently killed the party Drow in one hit.)

Had an Awakened Rat Beguiler co-hort, too. I called her my Color Spray cannon.

Incarnate is kinda like a Bard, though, I think. It's decent at a number of things, but never as good as a class that specializes in it. You won't do as much damage as a wizard, take the damage a fighter can, sneak attack like a rogue (though you can get trapfinding with the right soulmeld), or heal like a cleric. It's much more a of a 5th party member situation.

Totemists, though I've never played one, seem to be much for fit for a warrior type role, though. They get alot of cool special attacks, as well as a natural weapon from most of the soulmelds they can bind to their Totem Chakra.

I like Incarnum because it allows Grum-grum, the Half-Orc with 4 Int, 8 Wis, and 6 Cha the ability to use some form of magic.

Armads
2007-06-29, 01:50 AM
If you're at lower levels, incarnum might be too powerful, because at level 1, an incarnate with mantle of flame and dissolving spittle is very, very powerful. Totemists get Landshark boots, which is a really powerful soulmeld at level 2, because they can make a huge number of attacks.

But, it's still pretty good, like ToB.

Ali
2007-06-29, 03:40 AM
I would say definately use Incarnum. It is a cool type of power, and not a lot of people know too much of it.

I am currently playing a Totemist, and last session when we were choosing level three feats, I taught the monk how to shape a soulmeld (and as a result, he of course picked the Shape Soulmeld feat). That was pretty cool.