I need help with Magic of Incarnum

[zen_hydra]

Can someone please break down how the "Magic of Incarnum" works? I just can't seem to grasp it. I usually don't have problems with new game mechanics, but this must have hit a part of my brain that doesn't function correctly. I will start with a few direct questions, but feel free to try and break it down for me like I am a mentally challenged gelatinous cube.

- Is it assumed that the Incarna energy just permeates the world, and is therefore always available, or is it just radiating out of the Incarnum user?

- There are all of these different steps and concepts, and I fail to GET how they interact (for instance: Soul Binds, Chakras, and Incarnum), how do they interact or work with each other?

- Am I right in understanding that one's incarnum pool is a resource that doesn't get used up, but is allocated to certain ???, and the ??? are more powerful if you allocate more incarnum to them, and that you can reallocate the incarnum from round to round?

- I don't understand how Incarnum and Magic (or Psionics for that matter) interact. How do they?

- What is the power level of Incarnum vs. Arcane Magic vs. Divine Magic vs. Psionics?

I don't understand enough to probably ask the right questions.

 

[Pyrex]

Soulmelds are basically spells with no duration limitation; you shape them and they stick around until you un-shape them.

Chakra == Magic Item Slot. When you bind a soulmeld to a Chakra it becomes more powerful; but prevents you from using an item in that slot.

Each Incarnum character has an Essentia pool. At the start of your turn as a free action you redistribute those Essentia points across any/all soulmelds you have shaped to make them more powerful.

Example: Posit the following Soulmeld (there's something similar in the book, but I don't have it here)

Surefooted
->When shaped, user gains +2 to Balance checks
->For each point of invested essentia, you gain a further +2 to balance checks
->If bound to your 'Foot' chakra, gain +10 to speed.

At the beginning of the day you shape Surefooted and bind it to your Foot chakra. Now you gain +2 to Balance and +10' to speed all day, but your Boots of Haste can't be activated unless you unshape the meld.

Later in the day you need to walk across a floor strewn with oil-soaked marbles so each round during the encounter you invest 3 of your Essentia Points into the meld to improve your Balance bonus to +8.

Make sense?

 

[Patryn of Elvenshae]

Unfortunately, I don't have it yet, so I can't authoritatively answer, but let me give you the feel I've gotten from reading a lot on it here.

1. It's pretty much always available.

2. Chakras are the same thing, generally speaking, as item slots (that's also what the internal D&D team refers to item slots as). Incarnum is soulstuff. An incarnum user takes incarnum and makes it work for him, generally by creating soulmelds and, eventually, binding those soulmelds to his chakras.

As a completely made-up example, an Incarnum-user could create a soulmeld that grants him a bonus on jump checks. This lasts until he decides to get rid of it. If he wanted to (and had the ability), he could bind the soulmeld to his "boot chakra," and thereby gain a larger bonus to jump and an enhancement bonus to speed, at the cost of being unable to wear magical boots.

3. Essentially correct. Some abiltiies have limits on how often you can reallocate essentia (like some feats requiring "at the beginning of the day" or somesuch).

4. Don't really know.

5. I believe that Incarnum is, generally speaking, limited to personal effects. So, an Incarnum user could make himself into a combat brute, but will never be able to pull off a fireball. Think, in general terms, of incarnum as a magic item creation scheme, and I don't think you'll go far wrong.

For better info (and my primary source), you can read this: http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?t=153241

 

[Pyrex]

5. I believe that Incarnum is, generally speaking, limited to personal effects. So, an Incarnum user could make himself into a combat brute, but will never be able to pull off a fireball. Think, in general terms, of incarnum as a magic item creation scheme, and I don't think you'll go far wrong.

Not entirely correct. There are several soulmelds which give you energy attacks. Mostly ranged touch attacks that do something like (Invested Essentia)d6 to the target. There are a couple Line attack, (IIRC) even a couple of Cones and at least one that gives you a Gaze attack.

 

[Patryn of Elvenshae]

Thanks for the clarification, Pyrex!

 

[zen_hydra]

some more questions

- How long does it take to make/cast a Soul Meld?

- Do you gain bonus Incarnum do to high primary stat (like a regular caster and spells per day)?

- Is the Totemist balanced with its poor BAB progression (I figured that WOTC would have one core class with the Intermediate BAB progression to play the more druidic role that this class seems to want to be)?

- For that matter how do the three core classes stack-up against each other?

- How do they compare power-wise to othe base classes, like the PHB core classes?

 

[Pyrex]

Typically you choose your Soulmelds for the day during your hour-in-the-morning prep time like other casters.

IDHMBIFOM and I don't remember how stats work into it offhand.

The Totemist looks balanced on first-read because they have an extra Chakra that other classes don't (the 'Totem' Chakra) which allows for some very powerful effects.

The Incarnate is best compared to the Paladin; an alignment-focused somewhat-magical(er, whatever) fighter. The Soulborn maps along the lines of Psion/Sorcerer. The Totemist is a combat-focused druid.

Not having played any of them (or seen played yet) I can't be sure; but my impression is that while the may not ever be the most powerful character in the party that due to their versatility they'll be great backup for any party.

 

[cignus_pfaccari]

The Incarnate is best compared to the Paladin; an alignment-focused somewhat-magical(er, whatever) fighter. The Soulborn maps along the lines of Psion/Sorcerer. The Totemist is a combat-focused druid.

I believe you're mixing up Incarnate and Soulborn. The Soulborn has good BAB and some minor meldshaping ability, and best resembles the paladin.

The Incarnate has poor BAB and lots of meldshaping, and so is the most "castery" of the three. However, I'm not entirely sure it's a viable class. There are a few melds that do elemental damage, but the limits on committing essentia are so low that the most an Incarnate can do with any one attack is 5d6 elemental damage at 18th level. Yes, you can do it all the live long day, but, really, any arcane caster* can have a higher useful damage ouput, in that they can do the nice mass attack pulses of damage. Even a comparable level single-classed warlock can do more damage/round. It certainly can't hang tough in melee; despite the need for a high Con score for meldshaping (see below) meaning you'll have a lot of HP, the poor BAB means you won't hit much, and there're very few melds that enhance attacks (and those that do are, surprise surprise, EVIL!). Oy. I'm not convinced that the self-buffing an incarnate can do really makes up for anything.

I swear, the only reason to play an incarnate is to go into one of the prestige classes listed and multiclass into usefulness.

The totemist does have a medium BAB, and is the more druidic of the classes. Of the classes given in MoI, I'd be most likely to play a totemist.

For the Navel-Gazing Hydra:

A meldshaper can have up to (Con - 10 ) soulmelds shaped at any one time. So, for example, a dwarf with Con of 16 could have up to 6 soulmelds at once.

Brad

* - Offer not valid for the bard.

 

[FireLance]

Can someone please break down how the "Magic of Incarnum" works?

I did a short write-up on the incarnum system in this thread. Hope this helps to address some of your queries.

- Is it assumed that the Incarna energy just permeates the world, and is therefore always available, or is it just radiating out of the Incarnum user?

Incarnum is like magic - it can be accessed from almost anywhere.

- Am I right in understanding that one's incarnum pool is a resource that doesn't get used up, but is allocated to certain ???, and the ??? are more powerful if you allocate more incarnum to them, and that you can reallocate the incarnum from round to round?

Yes, one's essentia pool doesn't get used up, although you can take essentia damage. You can allocate essentia to soulmelds, feats, and certain other abilities such as a duskling's speed bonus, or a skarn monk's AC bonus (if he has the racial substitution level). Essentia allocated to feats usually cannot be reallocated for 24 hours. Essentia allocated to soulmelds and other abilities can usually be reallocated from round to round.

- I don't understand how Incarnum and Magic (or Psionics for that matter) interact. How do they?

The standard rule is psionics-magic equivalency or incarnum-magic equivalency. So, dispel magic works equally well on magic spells, psionic powers, or incarnum soulmelds.

- What is the power level of Incarnum vs. Arcane Magic vs. Divine Magic vs. Psionics?

Psionics is close to the power level of arcane magic (and some would say even more powerful). Incarnum's main strength, in my view, is flexibility, because a meldshaper can shape new soulmelds every day, and reallocate essentia between soulmelds from round to round. There are some things that incarnum doesn't do well, such as heal, teleport, and deal large amounts of damage to multiple targets. DMs who prefer lower-powered campaigns may find this to be a feature.