[3.5] Building/Playing a Low-Level Lawful Incarnate

[balistafreak]

I have a Lawful Neutral Incarnate2. I have no clue how he's supposed to function.

It seems the classic thing to do is to shape the Incarnate Avatar and Incarnate Weapon (longsword) and go to town with your +awesome bonuses to hit. I will be taking the sub-par Lightning Gauntlets to heal thyself by being a Lesser Mechanatrix (lulz), so all my allotted Soulmelds are taken.

Query: should I carry around a shield with me as well, or ditch the shield and go 2-handed on the longsword? At this low level, it seems the former will be a better option, at least until I get a decent enough BAB to consider taking Power Attack.

I have two feats. As for what feats an Incarnate should take at this level, I'm completely clueless.

Quert: What feats have instant payoff at such low levels yet won't lose their usefulness as I rise in level? *cough*Toughness, Weapon Finesse fail*cough*

I was thinking about dipping into the Totemist soulmelds, with the Blink Shirt of awesome being first on my list. I'd like to avoid using feats to gain Incarnate soulmelds because I'm not sure if retraining is an option.

[Cadian 9th]

Hmm, I'm pretty new to Incarnum, but I'd suggest Expanded Soulmeld Capacity (req Con 15) for your lightning ability, so 3d6 on a successful melee touch attack. I'd like to know a bit more about what your ability scores are and what the rest of the party has as well. Azure Toughness is good, and should scale well. If you pick that, also think about Improved Essentia capacity, so you can get the full benefit out of it.

Dante

[balistafreak]

Hmm, I'm pretty new to Incarnum, but I'd suggest Expanded Soulmeld Capacity (req Con 15) for your lightning ability, so 3d6 on a successful melee touch attack. I'd like to know a bit more about what your ability scores are and what the rest of the party has as well. Azure Toughness is good, and should scale well. If you pick that, also think about Improved Essentia capacity, so you can get the full benefit out of it.

Dante

Actually, at 2nd level I'd only get up to 2d6 Lightning Gauntlets. Incarnates don't get Expanded Soulmeld Capacity as a class feature until 3rd level.

And apparently the Gauntlets stack poorly, so using a feat to concentrate on them seems like a bad idea.

Ability scores are 36 PB. I'm considering a 16/14/16/12/12/10 array before racial modifiers.

It's an application to a PbP game, so I have NO clue as to what the party composition will be... much less if I even get in, so yeah.

I don't know too much about Incarnum, but apparently the Essentia feats are for the most part Ackbar-sized traps, due to their 24-hour essentia lock ability. Getting extra Soulmelds it seems is almost always better, if you think ahead as to what melds you'll need.

[AmberVael]

Cadian was referring to the Expanded Soulmeld Capacity feat, not the class feature. This might be a decent choice, but I don't think I'd waste it on Lightning Gauntlets.

[ProfMoriarty]

The advantage of Expanded Soulmeld Capacity feat is that it can be applied to a new soulmeld every in-game day when you shape your soulmelds. So it's never a waste.

The incarnum feats are generally bad, though they do grant an extra essentia point which is useful, especially at low levels but still nice at higher levels.

Also don't forget the Astral Vambraces from the Mind's Eye article:
http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/psm/20060217a
DR 2/magic just for shaping it.

I personally would use lightning gauntlet as a melee touch attack at early levels dealing 3d6 as a touch attack (with the expanded soulmeld capacity feat) you can switch to the incarnate weapon later.

[AmberVael]

I personally would use lightning gauntlet as a melee touch attack at early levels dealing 3d6 as a touch attack (with the expanded soulmeld capacity feat) you can switch to the incarnate weapon later.

If he's going that route, he might as well just switch over to Dissolving Spittle to make it a Ranged Touch Attack instead (assuming a decent dex, obviously). And I think acid resistance is just a teensy bit rarer than lightning, though at this low level I can't imagine anyone would encounter a great deal of either.

V: Somehow I missed that. I hate it when I miss things like that. >.<

[ProfMoriarty]

If he's going that route, he might as well just switch over to Dissolving Spittle to make it a Ranged Touch Attack instead (assuming a decent dex, obviously). And I think acid resistance is just a teensy bit rarer than lightning, though at this low level I can't imagine anyone would encounter a great deal of either.

He does seem to be able to heal himself with the Lightning Gauntlets, so those might be preferable. But yes, Dissolving Spittle is superior in almsot every situation.

[balistafreak]

The advantage of Expanded Soulmeld Capacity feat is that it can be applied to a new soulmeld every in-game day when you shape your soulmelds. So it's never a waste.

Doh! I thought it locked in on one soulmeld when you picked it. Then I suppose that's not a bad idea at all.

So, as an Lawful Incarnate2, I can shape three Soulmelds and have two essentia. Because I'm building towards melee, my statline is 16/14/16/12/12/10, -2 Dex and Cha, +2 Con and Int after the bucket of Mechantrix racial modifiers.

I shape Lightning Gauntlets as my damage source, which should be Expanded by the feat to load in all of my two essentia. Next level I get both the Incarnate class ability of +1 to all Soulmeld capacities and +1 essentia, so then I'll be attacking for 3d6. Due to my ability to heal myself with the Lightning Gauntlets, I'll be taking Lifebond Vestments to act as party healer.

Because of the slot-crowding, the Blink Shirt is no longer an option. This means I've filled in my soulmelds, but now I have one free feat instead.

I've already taken Expanded Soulmeld Capacity once, and taking it again is going to be futile. Essentia feats other than Bonus Essentia are for the most part traps, and nothing else really jumps off of the page as a "must-take" feat. There's getting a Soulmeld that I can't normally have, but consider the slots already taken.

Slots taken: Hands (Lightning Gauntlets), Heart (Lifebond Vestments), Arms (Astral Gauntlets).

[Keld Denar]

Double Chakra Bind is an incarnum feat that is not a tarp, but that won't come until level 9 at least, so yea...Also, Bonus Essentia is a decent one since it gives you 2 essentia (1 more than any other feat gives). You can never have enough essentia, especially if you take Expanded Essentia Capacity.

Its not gonna do you much good now, but when you start swinging your Incarnum Weapon around, I'm a HUGE fan of the Soulborn meld Thunderstep Boots. Chance to stun on a charge? Oh yea! Add that to your chance to stun with Incarnum Weapon and pick up a Sudden Stunning (DMGII) weapon and you can force 3 saves vs stun in a single round. Stunned foes drop their weapons, so it doubles as a free disarm against anything wielding one.

[lsfreak]

At this point in time the essentia feats could be worthwhile for supplying additional essentia, even if you don't intend on using them for a number more levels. For example, if you're going melee, then you're going to be charging in the future - Cobalt Charge is pretty good, and while you might not be using it now, you could get it now purely for the +1 essentia.

[Cadian 9th]

Expanded Soulmeld capacity is quite versatile, hence why I suggested it.

The feat Healing Soul can be real handy, especially when you dip Azurin cleric, for some reason it doesn't say it doesn't last all day should you put it into a feat. With the Improved Essentia Capacity feat, you can combine it to get healing 6 hp 3 times a day as a swift action.

You could get Chaos or Law devotion for fun and profit. Of course, all this requires flaws and bonus feats.

Is it just me or is an Incarnate just like the Iron Man (tony stark)? I mean, he reroutes power to various gadgets. That's so much my next build.

Dante