Incarnum Quibbles

[Vraille Darkfang]

Ok. Piked up Magic of the For-errr, Incarnum.

It fits well with my oft-mentioned, never fully explained 'Blood Magic' in my campaign world.

So, good, book, just a few things that really, really, REALLY, annoy me.

1. You. The use of the Second Person throughout the book (especially the Characters section). It reads like those Choose Your Own Adventure books I read when I was 10. I admit, I guess they wanted to go for a more 'immersive' experience (as in YOU are YOUR Character). It falls flat. And, as a DM, I'm making up NPC's, not my own PC. The use of 'You' (generally regarded as a writing no-no) doesn't work here, and just seems to make the writing aimed at a pre-teen audience (where books with You do this, You do that are most prevalent). It just doen't flow well. I hope WoTC isn't going for this as a general rule now.

2. The Artwork. It seems to pale next to other WoTC books I own. I think my problems stem from the awkward poses the interior artists used, Like the Female Azurin. The best example is the halfling on page 65. He posed like a cartoon character about to go from a dead stop into the "Super Run-Away-Fast Pose" Look at him, watch a Bugs-Bunny Cartoon, you'll see the artist inspiration. Although maybe it isn't the ARTWORK I hate....

3. The dread Awful Captions! If they had more than 5 minutes to write this stuff, they should be ashamed. This is stuff Wrestling Shows wouldn't touch. Some Examples of this A-Plus Literature:

"The Pegasus cloak soulmeld allows this totemist to drop safely to the ground" An alternate would have been "Long falls hurt"

"His fellmist robe helps protect an incarnte from attacks" or they could have used "If they miss hitting you, it won't hurt'".

"This totemis's frost helm and girallon arms provide significant benefits in combat" or another option "A sword wound to the pancreas hurts"

"The sphinx claws soulmeld makes this a fair fight" (I hope Marvel doesn't see this, a lawsuit might be coming).

And my Personal Favorite:

"This Witchborn binder relies on his animal companion to help him sniff out foul magic" He has a wolf! GET IT! SNIFF OUT! WOLF!. HA-ha. ha.

Hands Down, the captions for the art in this book is so bad, it almost ruins the book. If you pick it up to leaf through it, please ignore the captions & try to stick to the real meat of the book.

I now must try to cleanse the limburger from my body.

 

[Numion]

3. The dread Awful Captions! If they had more than 5 minutes to write this stuff, they should be ashamed. This is stuff Wrestling Shows wouldn't touch. Some Examples of this A-Plus Literature:

"The Pegasus cloak soulmeld allows this totemist to drop safely to the ground" An alternate would have been "Long falls hurt"

"His fellmist robe helps protect an incarnte from attacks" or they could have used "If they miss hitting you, it won't hurt'".

"This totemis's frost helm and girallon arms provide significant benefits in combat" or another option "A sword wound to the pancreas hurts"

"The sphinx claws soulmeld makes this a fair fight" (I hope Marvel doesn't see this, a lawsuit might be coming).

And my Personal Favorite:

"This Witchborn binder relies on his animal companion to help him sniff out foul magic" He has a wolf! GET IT! SNIFF OUT! WOLF!. HA-ha. ha.

I'm not sure what you're saying but those captions in the book are more descriptive than your versions

 

[Knight Otu]

Admittedly, I don't have the book, but I think I can tuch upon some of those points.

1. You. ...I hope WoTC isn't going for this as a general rule now.

Wizards has always used 'You'. In spell descriptions. In feat descriptions. (oddly enough not in class descriptions, IIRC) And most of all, when actually addressing the player. Are you saying it is more common in MoI?

2. The Artwork. ... He posed like a cartoon character about to go from a dead stop into the "Super Run-Away-Fast Pose" Look at him, watch a Bugs-Bunny Cartoon, you'll see the artist inspiration.

I'd need to see the picture. Is it in the online art gallery?

3. The dread Awful Captions! ...
Hands Down, the captions for the art in this book is so bad, it almost ruins the book. If you pick it up to leaf through it, please ignore the captions & try to stick to the real meat of the book.

So, it is possible to find "cheesy" caption to (some) the art, while the actual captions are ok, but sometimes uninspired? That's true for every book in my experience.

 

[JustKim]

1. You. The use of the Second Person throughout the book (especially the Characters section). It reads like those Choose Your Own Adventure books I read when I was 10. I admit, I guess they wanted to go for a more 'immersive' experience (as in YOU are YOUR Character). It falls flat. And, as a DM, I'm making up NPC's, not my own PC. The use of 'You' (generally regarded as a writing no-no) doesn't work here, and just seems to make the writing aimed at a pre-teen audience (where books with You do this, You do that are most prevalent). It just doen't flow well. I hope WoTC isn't going for this as a general rule now.

You haven't read many WotC books recently, have you? Wait, I'm sorry, Vraille Darkfang has not read many WotC books recently, has he?

Do you know what annoyed me? Mentions of uses per day in the Necrocarnate PrC with no duration listed. Monsters designed with early drafts of feats and soulmelds that are now inaccurate. Natural weapons that function independant of size. Captions? Not so much, really. I like the book a lot, but it has its errors. Some of the art is great and some of it is not so great. The captions let you know what exactly is depicted in a picture which is helpful for those just flipping through a text dense book. Frankly, I'd rather a book just say "you" rather than switching back and forth between "he" and "she", sometimes in the same reference, for the sake of political correctness.

 

[MadMaxim]

I picked it up a week ago and I like it so far. This will certainly not be a viable alternative to the more explosive arcane/divine magic and psionics, but it's still an interesting set of rules. I think the incarnate is rather weak, while I really like the soulborn and totemist. The soulborn is an interesting alternative to the paladin, while the totemist reminds me somewhat of the druid, except the totemist is tied to magical beasts instead of nature. As for your points:

1. Like JustKim I prefer you compared to he/she. It isn't really a big deal to me...

2. I don't think the artwork is that bad. I my opinion, Wayne Reynolds still does an excellent job and the other artists are close behind. But it's all a matter of taste, of course.

3. As for the captions, who really cares...? I know that I don't.

 

[Vraille Darkfang]

You haven't read many WotC books recently, have you? Wait, I'm sorry, Vraille Darkfang has not read many WotC books recently, has he?

Flips through recent WotC purchases.

I'll be darned, since I spend 99% of my time as DM, I hardly ever look at Player Stuff unless I'm designing an NPC. I guess you are right, the 'You" has been around since at least Heores of Battle.

I still don't like it. I'm not sure why, just having some book say 'You do this because....' When I'm thinking 'I'd never do that.....' Just rubs me the wrong way. You is a great way to tell a story as long as you know 100% what your reader will think. I much prefer 'A Totemist can' to 'You can'. Maybe because I deferintiate between Myself & my Character, much like some gamers say "My Character does this", as "I Do this".

Personal Choice. I chose one way, WotC, has decide to try the other. That's Fine.

I'm still not sure why I dislike teh artwork. Dislike is too strong a word. It jsut doesn't grab me the way most of the recent D&D books have. I just can't put my finger on why I don't like it, but I don't. That's why its called Art, thopugh isn't it


As for captions. I would prefer simplicity. Just say "He's Wearing a Pegasus Cloak", Not "The Pegasus cloak soulmeld allows this totemist to drop safely to the ground" When the picture clearly shows him floating to the ground." It like a picture showing an ogre cutting someone's head off. Do we really need a caption saying "The Ogre just cut his head off"? And the witchborn binder caption is the sort of bad pun that gets you multiple d20's to the head in my gaming groups.

 

[Knight Otu]

As for captions. I would prefer simplicity. Just say "He's Wearing a Pegasus Cloak", Not "The Pegasus cloak soulmeld allows this totemist to drop safely to the ground" When the picture clearly shows him floating to the ground." It like a picture showing an ogre cutting someone's head off. Do we really need a caption saying "The Ogre just cut his head off"? And the witchborn binder caption is the sort of bad pun that gets you multiple d20's to the head in my gaming groups.

Well, it seems the captions are mostly explanatory than descriptive. "The Ogre just cut his head off" is descriptive. "The ogre puts his vorpal axe to good use" is explanatory, and appears to be more in line with the examples you gave. The picture shows that some guy floats safely to the ground, and the caption explains why. At least that's my impression.
The worst of the bunch, you gave is "This totemis's frost helm and girallon arms provide significant benefits in combat" in my opinion, if it is the picture from the gallery I think it is (a character not in combat?). It doesn't explain much, and if I'm thinking of the right picture, doesn't describe much either.
I guess that too comes down to taste.

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

I guess you are right, the 'You" has been around since at least Heores of Battle.

I could be wrong, but I'm fairly certain its been around since the 3.0 PHB.

 

[Peter Gibbons]

As for captions. I would prefer simplicity. Just say "He's Wearing a Pegasus Cloak", Not "The Pegasus cloak soulmeld allows this totemist to drop safely to the ground" When the picture clearly shows him floating to the ground."

Your suggested caption is even worse, though! (Or can we not see in the picture that he's wearing a Pegasus cloak?)

 

[Rystil Arden]

I like Magic of Incarnum, and I don't have a problem with any of the quibbles mentioned above. I do have my own quibble, though: Impulse Boots. I'll be removing that particular soulmeld due to the Shape Soulmeld and Bind Least Chakra feats.