Incarnate questions

[harikus]

The campaign I'm in is getting pretty good, but due to scheduling conflicts we may not be able to finish it. So the people my schedule works with mentioned to me they were wanting to start a "good guy" campaign. There is on system I haven't utilized yet and therefore I was curious.

In Magic of Incarnum there is a class named Incarnate. I was wanting to do a double whammy and try to do a Vow of Poverty with this. 1. Since the soulmelds aren't technically worth anything, do they ignore the limitation of this feat. 2. The exhalted strike feature turns your weapon automatically into a magic like item. If I were to use an Incarnate Weapon, does it work on that? 3. If it does, will adding Essentia to the Incarnate Weapon stack? Since you have to be neutral good to do the whole Vow thing, will the AC bonuses from being Good stack with the Vow AC bonuses?
I don't think its meant to be a high powered campaign, I doubt we'll make it to 20. Would this be viable for a up to 15 game?

 

[harikus]

Another question I had concerning the Incarnate is it says you get expanded soulmeld capacity at level 3 and level 15. Does this mean that you can effectively add 6 essentia by level 20 when it is normally 4? I may also ask the DM if she is ok to houserule that certain Incarnum feats as exalted feats? Is this something that is reasonable? I figured since I can't use gear to boost my Essentia pool, that this could make up for it since a number of them add Essentia upon taking the feat. I know its up to her ultimately but I was going to try to make a good case for it.

 

[Weather Report]

Soulmelds bo not count as magic items/possessions, so are a perfect class to abuse/exploit with Vow of poverty.

This is definitely one of the types of things that started to burn me out on 3rd Ed.

 

[harikus]

Oh ok. Do you know if the exalted strike stacks with the essentia bonus on the Incarnum Weapon, or do you essentially have to pick one or the other?
I don't believe this guy will be overpowered. But I think it would be cool concept for roleplay. Like I rely only on my knowledge of Incarnum and the characters faith. Not terribly powerful but a great RP guy, and a decent tank for a group.

 

[Weather Report]

Oh ok. Do you know if the exalted strike stacks with the essentia bonus on the Incarnum Weapon, or do you essentially have to pick one or the other?

I might allow it as a DM, especially for Incarnates with their crap BAB; oh, I made an Incarnate/Monk once, nice way to multi-class, with VoP, perfect.

 

[harikus]

That sounds like it would be a good option. You'd certainly be fast on your feet lol. I'll present the idea to her. She is pretty accepting as long as I can explain why it makes sense.

 

[Weather Report]

That sounds like it would be a good option. You'd certainly be fast on your feet lol. I'll present the idea to her. She is pretty accepting as long as I can explain why it makes sense.

The Lightning Gauntlets soulmeld synergies perfectly with the monk's unarmed strike.

What race are you going with?

 

[Vael]

Another question I had concerning the Incarnate is it says you get expanded soulmeld capacity at level 3 and level 15. Does this mean that you can effectively add 6 essentia by level 20 when it is normally 4?

Yes. And combined with "Expanded Soulmeld Capacity" and an "Incarnum Magic Item", a 20th level Incarnate can potentially put up to 8 essentia into a single soulmeld. This is one of their key strengths. Totemists can do this too, but only in their soulmelds bound to their Totem Chakra.

 

[harikus]

The Lightning Gauntlets soulmeld synergies perfectly with the monk's unarmed strike.

What race are you going with?

After debating this in my head today. I am pretty set on picking Azurin. The extra feat, the bonus essentia sound great. Also, since Incarnates are extremes of their moral stance and so are the Azurin, I think it makes perfect sense from a RP point of view. Also, what I like about it is I may even come up with a story like he left his town with only the shirt on his back due to his obvious differences. He ends up becoming a wandering hero he remains selfless even though he has every reason to be bitter against his human family and friends.

editted - So if you equipped Lightning Gauntlets to an Incarnate/Monk, and then bound it to your chakara, and early on managed to invest about 2 essentia, it could effectively add 2d6 or 3d6 on top of your normal attack! It also says handheld so I could even take advantage with my trusty Incarnate Hammer.

 

[harikus]

Yes. And combined with "Expanded Soulmeld Capacity" and an "Incarnum Magic Item", a 20th level Incarnate can potentially put up to 8 essentia into a single soulmeld. This is one of their key strengths. Totemists can do this too, but only in their soulmelds bound to their Totem Chakra.

So I end up making a difficult choice between VoP and maybe getting a max of like 7 essentia invested, or dropping the VoP feat and taking up some Incarnum Magic Items. I may go with the VoP choice, but I don't know. Its such a hard choice. The RP value maybe really rewarding. But wow I had no idea it could hit up to 8. Now that you mention the expanded soulmeld capacity I can understand it breaching 6 for sure.