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View Full Version : Soulborn... Cobalt headed stepchild of Incarnum?



Tokiko Mima
2008-03-20, 05:18 PM
What's up with the Soulborn base class? Granted, it's the only full BAB bonus Incarnum class, but look at what you get over twenty levels compared to, say, a paladin:

Full base attack bonus, good Fort saves and weapon/armor proficiencies (exactly the same as a paladin)
Smite Opposition 5/day (like a paladin's Smite Evil with two more possible alignments)
Incarnum Defense (as aura of courage only it affects only the Soulborn until 9th level, and then only a single other person at a time)
An aura that makes you more likely to be picked up and easier to track via detect alignment spells. (paladins have this as well)
3 bonus Incarnum Feats
The seven least powerful chakra bind locations out of 11 total. Note that you only get the ability to bind to 3 of them at any one time. (semi-useful as you get them usually 2 levels after any character could choose any one of them with a Feat, but they are free)
Meldshaper as a 10th level Incarnate with fewer soulmelds. (progression here is extremely weighted to the top: You don't get any essentia at all till 6th level)
Timeless Body - You still take bonuses for aging and still die when you reach your maximum age. You only look younger and don't take a penalty for aging any more than you already have. (not much of a benefit unless the campaign occurs over a duration of years.)

And that's it. Granted, none of the Incarnum classes is all that overflowing with usefulness, but Soulborn is particularly useless: It makes a terrible dip class, since you have to sink 6+ levels into it before you'll see any useful meldshaping and it's class feature consist mostly of gaining one more daily use of Share Incarnum Defense, more smites, and mostly subpar chakra bind locations. They don't even get Detect Opposition, so they must smite either blindly or from player Monster Manual knowledge.

Whereas a paladin, while far from an uber class, has Divine Grace, Lay on Hands, detect evil, and special mount all wrapped up in the first 5 levels. Is there something really worthwhile about Soulborn I'm not seeing? How would you fix it so a player would want to play it?

Azerian Kelimon
2008-03-20, 05:24 PM
Smite opposition is basically teh pwnzorz when you get Extra smites and all the other "pump it up, pump it up, you gotta pump it up" feats. The rest sucks. A Good fix would be giving the Soulborn the Totemist's soulmelds, whihc would make him a rather fearsome meleer.