Why each class is in its tier: 2019 update!

[Troacctid]

I really like incarnum as a system, and I want Incarnate to be good, but whenever I look at it it seems to lack something to be actually good at. That being said, I lack the practical build experience to differentiate between T4 and T3. I did build a Necropolitan Incarnate/Necrocarnate as an NPC once, but it was more a puzzle excounter than anything.

Generally either you're going to pick one of melee, ranged, minions, or fifth-wheel support and be good at that one thing, or you're going to pick two of them and be slightly less good at both; and you can respec on a day-to-day basis as the situation demands.

If your making touch attacks aren't you being severly hampered by energy resistance and immunities in addition to dealing anemic damage from level 4 on?

Meh, Lightning Gauntlets and Dissolving Spittle use two of the least resisted energy types, so it's not nearly as glaring a weakness as, say, sneak attack being useless every third encounter. And you can also have minions with your necrocarnum zombie and/or soulspark familiar, neither of which cares about your BAB at all. Or, if you're going the UMD route, you might have wands to fall back on when your primary attack is ineffective. Or heck, maybe you're using weapons after all and you still don't care about BAB because you can just use one or more of your soulmelds to boost your attack and make up for it—with Incarnate Weapon, for example, you only have +1 BAB at 3rd level, but you're swinging a +3 weapon where the martial character is lucky to have a masterwork one, and you still have two other soulmelds and a crown bind. I call that a net win.