"Magic of Incarnum" Totemist Questions

[RigaMortus2]

It sounds more impressive then it ends up. The +1 Bonus per essentia on the arms is nice, but you're still only doing 1d4 base with the arms. Additionally, as they're natural weapons (And mostly SECONDARY natural weapons at that), you're only adding .5 Str damage to all but the primary Girallon arm, and 3 of the 4 are at -5. My preference is going for one of the more 'regular' dual claw melds, skipping the dual arm binds, grabbing one of the +1 bonus/essense bite (I'd rather have an accurate bite+trip then 2 that miss most of the time) and getting either multi-attack or bonus essense

That is why it is much better with Power Attack + Leap Attack...

I did a little research, and I agree with you regarding the Girallon Arms and them being secondary attacks at -5. But I don't think this is true with the Chimera Mask. For example, the Threefold Mask of the Chimera (when bound to the totem chakra) has the following attack options:

1) As a Standard Action, you may attack with any ONE of the heads, add full Str damage.
2) As a Full-Attack Action, you may attack with all three heads and apply full Str damage to all of the attacks.
3) As part of Full-Attack, you can make a secondary attack with one head at -5 to hit, and dealing half Str damage.

(Note that #2 does not state any of the attacks are "secondary" and they all grant full Str damage w/ further suggest that none of them are "secondary").

Now combine this with Sphinx Claws, which states:

When you use the charge action, at the end of your charge you can make a full attack using any natural weapons you possess.

I guess the question is, if you attack with the Chimera Mask, are you using it as a full-attack action, or part of a full-attack action (ie part of the charge). I can see it both ways, only because charge doesn't normally allow a full-attack action at the end, and it is it's own full-round action to begin with. Also, you aren't just attacking with only 1 head (option 3 above), you are attacking with all 3 of them (option 2 above).

Oh well, a few levels of Sorcerer and some Wraithstrike, and we'll be fine

 

[RigaMortus2]

Rend is nice, but you dont need it bound to the totem chakra to get it. 3 of those attacks would be at -5. You'd still be better off getting one of the more 'normal' claw attacks so both claw attacks are at full attack bonus.

There is also some discussion whether with the particular Rend ability if you get the Rend:

1) Each time you hit with 2 natural attacks (ie for every 2 natural attacks hit = 1 Rend)
OR
2) When you hit with at least 2 natural attacks, you only get 1 Rend (ie hit with 2 natural attacks or hit with 100 natural attacks, it is only 1 Rend attempt regardless).

The wording can go either way...

 

[RigaMortus2]

The Worg pelt just grants a free Trip attempt if either of the bite attacks succeed - with no chance for counter-Trip should you fail in your trip.

Actually, the Worg Pelt grants 1 additional bite attempt on it's own, this is in addition to the 2 you get from the Chimera Mask (1 from the Dragon head, 1 from the lion head). The other effect of the Worg Pelt is, anytime you hit with a bite attack (any bite attack, so dragon and lion heads would count), you'd get a free Trip attempt... Now just pick up Improved Trip and you are all set

I wonder, if a creature has natural reach (such as most large creatures), and you had a bite or gore attack (via one of these soulmelds), would they gain the reach advantage too?

 

[D.Shaffer]

Actually, the Worg Pelt grants 1 additional bite attempt on it's own, this is in addition to the 2 you get from the Chimera Mask (1 from the Dragon head, 1 from the lion head).

Not quite. The worg pelt gives you a bit attack if you bind it to your totem chakra. The trip bonus is if you bind it to your hand chakra. A high enough Totemist CAN bind it to both of these at once, but then you lose out on the Chimera totem bind. (Unless you combine it with the dual chakra bind feat, but then you're losing out on the Giralon arm binds)

For example, the Threefold Mask of the Chimera (when bound to the totem chakra) has the following attack options:

Actually, the answer to this one lies in the text for natural attacks. As per the SRD "When a creature has more than one natural weapon, one of them (or sometimes a pair or set of them) is the primary weapon. All the creature’s remaining natural weapons are secondary. " The clarifications in the entry are essentially just restating several of the natural weapon rules with some special rules. If you attack with JUST the heads, they become the primary weapon (Set of three natural attacks with just the head). If you dont, they become secondary weapons that you can only use one at a time. So if you have the girallon arms and the Chimera head dual bound, you're getting one primary claw, 3 secondary claws, and 1 secondary head attack as a full attack OR 2 bite primary attacks and 1 gore primary attack

I guess the question is, if you attack with the Chimera Mask, are you using it as a full-attack action, or part of a full-attack action

IMO, it doesnt really matter. The Sphynx Claws clearly let you attack with every natural attack you have. So you're getting all 4 claw attacks, 2 bites and a gore.
However, no matter how many natural weapons you have, one is always going to be the primary and the others are going to be secondary. The only possible argument is whether one of the head attacks will be primary or one of claw attacks with be primary. In this case, I'd say the claw is the primary.