Incarnum Help ASAP Please!

[Akennedy]

Ok, well, I'm quite confused about incarnum magic. I'm failing to understand Chakra and binding them and the like. Here are a few questions:

- On page 51 and 2 of Magic of incarnum, it's a misleading description. Do you need to have the class feature Chakra Bind (whatever) to bind a chakra of that type? And if you dont, why not just bind the soul chakra at level one?

- If above is false, then why do classes learn soulmelds before they can bind them?

- can the same chakra be used in more than one place, if it has Arm and Hands or something

- can magic items be used with Chakra binds?

- on page 51 and 52, the example is level three and it is binding things from the heart chakra that he isnt supposed to use until level 17!


Those are just some, if someone can tell me a step by step process of how this works, it would be greatly appreciated. Thank you. :)

-Akennedy

[Fax Celestis]

You can shape a soulmeld but not bind it.

Let's use Airstep Sandals as an example. If you shape it but don't bind it, it hovers on your feet and you don't get any of the benefits of binding it to a chakra (but you still get the basic ability associated with shaping it). That is, you gain the ability to fly 10' (good maneuverabilty) as a move action once per round. You can invest essential in this soulmeld to increase your maneuverability 10' per point of essentia. However, since it is not bound, you don't get the benefit associated with binding it to your feet--in this case, you have good maneuverability instead of perfect maneuverability. If you DID bind to the feet chakra, you wouldn't be able to wear magic boots.

In essence, just because you have a soulmeld shaped does not mean it is bound to the chakra in question. If a soulmeld is shaped but not bound, it does not close the item slot and allows you to still use equipment of the appropriate kind. In order to gain the better features of soulmelds, you need to bind it to a particular chakra, which you must have access to either through class levels or feat expenditure. Binding a soulmeld to a chakra closes the body slot and disallows you from using a magic item that would use that slot--effectively acting as a magic item in it's own right.