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Magic of Incarnum...thoughts?

I really like it a lot. Both the ideas and the rule implementations.

However, not having had a chance to use any of the rules in actual play, my opinion might be of limited relevance...
 

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It's okay. It's not completely and utterly awesome, but it's reasonably good.

I lent my copy to my Eberron DM to see what he thought about it. I'm strongly tempted to take my dwarven fighter into the Ironsouled Forgemaster class, which is part of my reason for lending it to him.

Brad
 

Macbrea said:
Sorry, was doing that by memory from work off stuff i read at 2am the previous night. Though, I must admit... they look interesting.

Now, if I can just find a copy of the character sheet in electronic format. That way I can play around with adobe and see if i can make one fill-inable.
No worries, I have been trying to dispel a number of misunderstandings about this book for a while now.
 
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I have it. I don't think there is exactly anything wrong with it. But it's not igniting my imagination and begging to be included in my world. It seems like too thin a veneer of fluff (and not so good fluff at that; naming feats after colors is not a way to impress me with your creativity) on top of a fundamentally workable if unexciting mechanic.

I don't think it will be making it in my game. I am sorry I paid MSRP for it.
 

I'm a DM running the WLD.

I've set up the "Well of Souls" in the dungeon. Assuming my players take it down, they'll have access to stuff from that book. One of my players bought it as well, so him and his brother will have access to it easily, and I lent it to another of my players. If they go with something from it, I'll see how it goes.
 

One of the things I like is how modular it all feels.

Racial substitution levels? Check.

Inclusion of details for the core classes? Check.

New races, classes, PrCs, and feats? Check.

New monsters, magic items, and spells? Check.

Makes me wish that the whole substitution level thing was around for the Expanded Psionics Handbook, but hopefully the Complete Psion will have those and more!
 

It's crap.

I mean, it's not repugnant, but it's something that tries to be what Psionics was, and it hasn't earned what psionics has earned. It wants to create a whole new vocabulary of mystical effects, and it just ain't really worth it. Essentia, incarnum, chakra, fixing, shifting, souls, blah blah blah. They do what they do well, but it's flawed on a very fundamental level -- it's just not very interesting. And the wierd interaction with magic items is awkward and way too meta for me.

People can probably get some use out of it, but, seriously....why would you want to?
 

I don't like the fluff. Magic items make out of soulstuff just doesn't fly with me. Luckily I almost always rewrite the fluff anyway, so no tears there.

However, the underlying mechanic for an all-day-long "spellcaster" is extremely nice. I'm quite pleased with how things fit together. I've noticed a few problems, but they'll hit the cutting block before they ever see the light of day in my game. The core idea of having a limited, non-consumed resource (esentia) to power magic is extremely interesting. Rather than spending power points or spell slots, you simply allocate your power where you need it and work your magic that way. This alone is a refreshing change from "spending" magic.

So what I'm doing is treating it as spirit magic. Rather than making boots out of the souls of acrobats, you call upon the aid of the spirits of acrobats and borrow some of their skill. I'm going to weave it in heavily with ritual magic, with lots of different rites associated with different types of spirits. The mechanical nugget at the heart of incarnum has promise. For my game, it just needs some better flavor.
 

I think it's interesting, but will have to try it out powerwise. I think it has much of the same advantages and disadvantages as the Warlock. Sure you can use the powers at will, but in general none of them are as powerful as a mage or such. Sure, you won't run out at the end of the day, but since the rest of the party has, what're you gonna do, adventure alone?

The Soulborn is more like the paladin with soulmelds replacing divine spells and some powers, than the Psychic Warrior.

The main problem I'm having with it is the summary chart. It lists the basic powers of the Soulmeld, but not the expanded powers. So for instance;

Crystal Helm: +2 resistance bonus on will saves against Charm and Compulsion.

That doesn't really sound that interesting.

The actual power however:
When the Soulmeld is chosen in the morning, gives that.
When Essentia is invested, gives a +1 deflection bonus for each point invested.
When bound to the Crown Chakra in the morning, lends all melee attacks you make the Force descriptor.

It seems a bit more interesting then, eh?

I think the higher level abilities aren't powerful enough, in general. Incarnate Avatar being bound to the Soul Chakra (which you can't do until 19th level, barring feats), gives you Flight, or maybe an enhancement bonus to land speed? That's just silly.

Otherwise, I like the flavor, I like the classes (except for Soulborn being half caster level, I hated that for paladin and ranger too though).

The races aren't bad, if they'd expanded the information on the Mishtai (ancient creators of the Rilkan and Skarn races from the book), maybe they'd have been more interesting.

Azurin are probably the only Human Alternate I've cared for. Drop the bonus skill point and favored class: any, for an extra point of essentia.

The Dusk thingees are bleh.
 

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