Improved Essentia Capacity Query

[LairdMaon]

The feat doesn't say that you can take it multiple times. But it does say:
The essentia capacity of your incarnum feats improves by 1, up to a maximum value equal to your Constitution bonus.
That last part, "up to a maximum value equal to your Constitution bonus", makes me think the feat can be taken multiple times.

Can anyone clarify this for me?

[Aracor]

Only feats that explicitly state they can be taken multiple times can be. They'll contain verbiage on exactly how that works.

[LairdMaon]

I'll accept that. Many thanks!

[ottdmk]

The reason you're confused is pretty simple: Improved Essentia Capacity has a built in limiter.

The Essentia Capacity of all your Incarnum Feats improves by +1, to a max of your Con Bonus.

So this means a couple of things:

1) The reason this Feat has a Con pre-req of 15 is that unless you have a Con Bonus of +2, it's useless. (Any 1st level character will have an Essentia Capacity of 1.)

2) Eventually the Feat will become useless as your Character Level increases to the point that your natural Essentia Capacity is equal to or greater than your Con Bonus.

Example: You have Con 16, with a +3 Bonus. At CL12 your Essentia Capacity is 3. So at this point Improved Essentia Capacity does nothing, making it a good candidate for retraining if your DM allows those rules from PHBII.

[LairdMaon]

Yeah, it was the limiter that threw me.

Thanks for the assist there!

[Psyren]

MoI is unfortunately a victim of bad editing. It's entirely possible that they meant your Con bonus to be a limit on your essentia capacity, but that feat is (IIRC anyway) the only place that mentions it, and is worded in such a way that if you never take that feat you won't actually be subjected to said limit.

[Waker]

Character Level
Essentia Capacity


1-5
1


6-11
2


12-17
3


18-20
4


Here is the essentia capacity table found on pg19. This applies to anything you can invest essentia into; soulmelds, feats, items and other miscellaneous receptacles.

The essentia capacity of your incarnum feats improves by 1, up to a maximum value equal to your Constitution bonus.
The feat raises the cap on all feats, but you can't get the bonus if your Con mod doesn't equal or exceed the amount. So a character who was 1-5 level with this feat could invest up to 2 points into a feat. Once they hit level 6, they could invest 2 by merit of their character level, but would need a Con score of at least 16 to invest the 3rd point. So yeah, if you wanna go beyond the cap imposed by your character level, you need a decent con score. The feat would have been a little nicer if they didn't require your con keep pace.

[ottdmk]

It seems to me that it's meant almost exclusively for meldshapers. As Con is the primary stat for meldshapers, they have a good chance of keeping pace. An Incarnate or Totemist will likely have Con 20 by the time Essentia Capacity reaches 4 at CL18, keeping the Feat relevant until CL30 easily.

The thing is though... Improved Essentia Capacity is not a good feat for Totemists or Incarnates, neither of whom are likely to invest heavily in Incarnum Feats. It could be a little more useful for Soulborns, as a non-ACF Soulborn will normally have at least three Incarnum Feats by L11. But I don't like it for Soulborns either. Soulborns can do a lot with their limited Essentia Pool, but it requires careful management of Incarnum Feats, which are the only things that lock Essentia in place (for 24 hours after it's invested.) Increased Essentia Capacity can add to the problem, obviously. It's why I'm not terribly enthusiastic about the feat in my Soulborn Handbook (link in the .sig. :smallsmile: )

[Waker]

I could see the feat having some value to multiclass meldshapers as well. A fighter/Incarnate or Barbarian/Totemist wanting to get more mileage out of Cobalt Power or a spellcaster with Midnight Augmentation/Metamagic for instance.

[Fouredged Sword]

It is useful on a barbarian-totemist who invests in cobalt power. You have high con AND a feat you really like putting essence in.