Magic Of Incarnum?

[Sollir Furryfoot]

I'll give a shot at making a few incarnum characters and see where I get.

Edit-Made with 28 pt. buy. Hitpoints = Max at first level, average afterwards. Building from the ground up, lower level to higher level guys. Here's a melee guy, sadly I realized part way through my build that Cobalt Rage and Incarnate Avatar are both insight bonuses

Starke the Novice, NE Azurin Barbarian 1/Incarnate 1: CR 2;
HD 1d12+1d6+4; hp 19 (23 Raging); Init +1; Spd 40 ft;
AC 15 (+4 chain shirt, +1 Dex), 13 Raging;
Melee Great sword +6 (2d6+9);
Melee (Raging) Great sword +8 (2d6+12)
Melee (Raging, PA 1) Greatsword +7 (2d6+14)
SA Rage 1/day; SQ Aura, Detect Opposition, Fast Movement;
SV Fort +6, Ref +1, Will +1 (+2 F/W When Raging);
Str 17, Dex 12, Con 15, Int 8, Wis 8, Cha 8.
Skills: …
Feats: Expanded Soulmeld Capacity (Incarnate Avatar), Power Attack.
Equipment: MW Great sword, Chain Shirt

Attack Bonus: 1 BAB, +3 Str, +1 MW, +1 Morale (Bloodwar Gauntlets)
Damage Bonus: +4 Str, +1 Morale (Bloodwar Gauntlets), +4 (Incarnate Avatar-Evil)
Damage Bonus (Raging): +7 Str, +1 Morale, +4 (Incarnate Avatar)

Typical Essentia Invested (3 Total):
Bloodwar Gauntlets (Meldshaped) - 1 Essentia
Incarnate Avatar (Evil) - 2 Essentia

Bloodwar Gauntlets (+1 morale to attack, Per Ess. +1 morale to damage)
Incarnate Avatar (Evil) (Weapons count as evil, Per Ess: +2 melee damage rolls)

 

[Sollir Furryfoot]

Version 2 (Level 4)

Starke the Mauler, Azurin Barbarian 1/Incarnate 3: CR 4;
HD 1d12+3d6+12; hp 34 (42 raging); Init +1; Spd 40 ft;
AC 15 (+4 chain shirt, +1 Dex), -2 Raging;
Melee (IR*), Great sword +9 (2d6+14);
Melee (Raging, IR*) Great sword +11 (2d6+19)
Melee (Raging, IR, 2 PA) Great sword +9 (2d6+23)
Melee (Raging, IR, 2 PA, Necro Shroud) Great sword +10 (2d6+24)
SA Incarnum Radiance 1/day; Rage 1/day;
SQ Aura, Detect Opposition, Fast Movement;
SV Fort +7, Ref +2, Will +2 (+2 F/W when Raging);
Str 18, Dex 12, Con 15, Int 8, Wis 8, Cha 8.
Skills: …
Feats: Expanded Soulmeld Capacity (Incarnate Avatar), Power Attack, Weapon Focus (Great Sword).
Equipment: +1 Great sword, Chain Shirt
*Stands for Incarnum Radiance

Attack Bonus: 2 BAB, +4 Str, +1 MW, +1 Morale (Bloodwar Gauntlets), +1 Focus
Damage Bonus: +6 Str, +1 Sword, +1 Morale (Bloodwar Gauntlets), +6 Insight (Incarnate Avatar-Evil)
Damage Bonus (Raging): +9 Str, +1 Sword, +1 Morale, +6 Insight (Incarnate Avatar)
Necrocarnum Shroud: +1 profane to attack/damage when adjacent creature is damaged

Incarnum Radiance: 1/day for 6 rounds (or 8 in rage): +2 to melee damage

Typical Essentia Invested (2 Max, 4 Total):
Bloodwar Gauntlets (Meldshaped) - 1 Essentia
Incarnate Avatar (Evil) - 3 Essentia
Necrocarnum Shroud - 0 Essentia (+1 profane to attack/damage if creature damaged within 5’)

 

[Nifft]

I'll give a shot at making a few incarnum characters and see where I get.

Made with 32 pt. buy.

I do appreciate your efforts. How would this guy look at 25 point buy, though?

Thanks, -- N

 

[Sollir Furryfoot]

Kk, Revised for Build 3 (Level 12).

Design Notes-I don't have the starting wealth guidelines on me, I spent 89k on him but if that's too much I can tone it down. One trait of dubious nature is that I gave him two shields since he only uses bite attacks, although I only made the shields +2 each to stray from super cheese. His attack bonus is a little low for my tastes, but he can boost it up by 3 at the cost of 6 damage by moving some Essentia out of Dread Carapace. Overall I'd say he makes a practical front liner. A level of Barbarian wouldn't hurt this guy, boosting up his attack/damage by 2, hp, and saves and you could sub in Extra Rage instead of Expanded Soul Capacity (Totem Avatar) so he could do it 3/day.

Chimera Man, Skarn Incarnate 1/Totemist 11: CR 12;
HD 11d8+1d6+24+11; hp 93; Init +0; Spd 20 ft;
AC 35 (+12 Armor, +8 Shield, +0 Dex, +5 Natural)
Melee: 3 Bites +15 (Dragon 1d10+33, 19-20/x2, Lion/Goat, 1d8+33, 19-20/x2)
SQ Aura, Detect Opposition
SV Fort +11, Ref +7, Will +4
Str 22 (26), Dex 10, Con 15, Int 8, Wis 8, Cha 8.
Skills: …
Feats: Armor Proficiency (Heavy), Bonus Essentia x2, Double Chakra (Soul), Expanded Soulmeld Capacity (Incarnate Avatar), Expanded Soulmeld Capacity (Totem Avatar).
Equipment: 2 +2 Shields (8k total), +4 Full Plate (16k)
Amulet of Mighty Fists +2 (24k), Belt of Giant Strength +4 (16k), Incarnum Focus (Robe) (25k)
*Stands for Incarnum Radiance

89k Spent

Math:
Attack: 8 BAB, +7 Str, +2 enhancement, +1 Morale (Bloodwar), -4 Attack (Dread Carapace)
Damage: +7 Str, +2 enhancement, +5 morale (Totem Avatar), +10 insight (Incarnate Avatar), +8 (Dread Carapace)

Essentia Pool: 14 (13 Used, 1 Free Essentia wandering)

Incarnate Soul Melds (3 Ess. Max, 2 Molds):
Bloodwar Gauntlets (0 Ess., +1 morale to attack, +1 morale to damage per Ess)
Incarnate Avatar (Evil) (5 Ess., Weapon counts as evil, +10 insight to melee damage)

Totemist Soul Melds (3 Ess. Max, 6 Soulmelds, 3 Chakra Binds-up to 2 Totem Binds)
Dread Carapace (3 Essentia, Arm Chakra Bound, -4 Attack, +8 Damage, Crit ranged doubled for natural attacks)
Threefold Mask of Chimera (Totem Bound, 0 Ess, Can’t be flanked, 3 Natural Attacks, +1 Search/Spot per Ess)
Totem Avatar (Totem Bound, 5 Ess, +11 hp, +5 Nat. Armor, +5 morale to damage with natural attacks, weapons count as 1 size category larger)

Equipment Notes:
Dread Carapace-Arms, feet, or heart (Totem)
Bloodwar Gauntlets - Arms or hand
Incarnate Avatar - Soul
Threefold Mask - Crown or Soul (Totem)
Totem Avatar-Shoulders

 

[Sollir Furryfoot]

Edit-All builds changed to 25 pt. buy, also gave them all nicknames to make differentiation easier. I look forward to those fighter builds

Edit 2***-Oops, that was 28 pt. buy I reduced them to, more chopping is needed! I really don't play in anything less than 28 pt. buy these days and generally 32. *shrug* it does happen to favor fighters over those MAD classes. I'm going to leave the builds as is, if you *really* want to knock him down another 3 points, take it out of Dexterity I guess, really the build just needs a high Str score and 15 Con (for feat requisites).

Edit 3-I should also note I don't play anything this broken these days, either

 

[Tiberius]

Whoa, problem with versions 2 & 3, there. From my reading of the book, you need to have taken the feat Necrocarnum Acolyte in order to use the Necrocarnum soulmelds.

Edit: scratch that; I just reread the rules, and your dudes are good if they're evil; otherwise they'd need the feat.

I'm considering lobbying for the inclusion of Incarnum for an upcoming game, so I'll be curious to see how these builds go. If I get brave, I might just contribute my own.

 

[Sollir Furryfoot]

N/A since you edited your post

Edit, Future Builds:
For 2 rounds per day, an Incandescent Champion with a good amount of Cha can be really broken, but its not really practical so I'm not sure to follow up on this one. Perhaps a defensible one could be made using a Paladin/Soulborn or Incarnate (with nifty Divine Soultouch synergy*). Also, higher level builds would definitely use Incarnum Foci in their equipment**.

*-1 Turn attempt for +1 Essentia and being able to invest 1 more in any mold
**-Ability to invest 1 more in the mold corresponding to the focus.

Final Edit for the Night: Added in a 3rd contender.

Also, Incarnates are really, really good for dipping. By level 20, 3 Level of Incarnate, the feat Expanded Soulmeld Capacity (Incarnate Avatar), and an Incarnum Focus (Robe) can net you a +6 insight bonus to melee attack rolls (Law), +12 to melee damage (Evil), +6 to ranged attack rolls (Chaos), or +6 to AC (Good).

 

[Freymold]

Design Notes:
The idea was to make a solid Mounted combat specialist, that could cover another fields as needed (in this case, social face and Use Magic Device monkey), to demonstrate their flexibility (at least in the skill department this is mostly true).

The warhorse can be switched for any creature with 8HD or less that could be suitable as a mount. A dire lion, wyvern, griffon or young dragon would be prime choices for this. As a necrocarnum zombie, the mount will become stronger, thougher and faster.

Curiously enough, almost all the soulmelds used in this build will work just fine without binding them to a chakra. Perhaps this will help disprove that common complaint about Incarnum users being unable to wear magic items.

It seems that Evil is a popular choice for incarnate characters. Perhaps I'll try with another alignment later just to check if they are viable too.

Black Rider: NE Human, Fighter 2/Incarnate 8

Str 16(20), Dex 10, Con 16, Int 12, Wis 9, Cha 10

HP 69 (2d10+8d6+30)
AC 24/27 (10 +9 armor +3 shield +2/+5 wormtail belt)
Fortitude +12, Reflexes +2, Will +5
BAB +6, Grapple +11

Combat:
Both Incarnate Soul and Bloodwar Gauntlets should be maxed to get a combined +11 bonus to damage. The 3 remaining points should be distributed between Wormtail Belt, Riding Bracers and Necrocarnum Circlet as needed. Points allocated in Necrocarnum Circlet can be used to boost your (NC zombie) mount's Incarnum Defense and Incarnum Speed abilities.
If mounted combat is unfeasible, you can switch Riding Bracers for Incarnate Weapon via the Rapid Meldshaping ability.

Lance +14/+9 1d8+18* (triple damage if mounted & charging)
Longsword +13/+8 1d8+17* (double damage if mounted & charging)
Incarnate Weapon (Flail) +15/+10 1d8+19* (double damage if mounted & charging)

*-2/day you can use Incarnum Radiance to increase damage by 4 for 6 rounds

Feats:
Able learner (human), Mounted Combat (1st), Ride by Attack (Fighter), Spirited Charge (Fighter), Expanded Soulmeld Capacity (3rd), Bonus Essentia (6th), Shape Soulmeld (Wormtail Belt)(9th)

Skills: (52 skill points)
Ride +13(+17/+23)*, Handle Animal +8(+12/+18)*, UMD +6(+10/+16)*, Spellcraft +5(+9/+15)*, Knowledge (Arcana) +5(+9/+15)*, Bluff +5(+7/+13)*, Diplomacy +5 (+7/+13)*, Sense Motive +5(+7/+13)*
*-Depends on which soulmeld among the following is shaped: Riding Bracers, Silvertongue Mask or Mage's Spectacles.

Class Features:
Incarnum Radiance 2/day (+4 typeless to melee damage)
Share Incarnum Radiance
Rapid Meldshaping 1/day
Increased Capacity +1
Detect Opposition at will
Aura of Evil

Equipment:
+2 Lance (8310 gp), +1 Longsword (2315 gp), +3 Banded Mail (9400 gp), +1 Heavy Steel Shield (1170 gp), Heavy Warhorse (400 gp, Necrocarnum Zombie), 2xWand of Cure Moderate Wounds (9000 gp), Belt of Giant Strength(16000 gp), MW longbow (375 gp)
2030 gp left to spend on trail rations, potions, clothing and miscellaneous equipment.

Incarnum:
Essentia 10
Soulmelds 5
Binds 2
Max Essentia 3

Standard Setup:
Necrocarnum Circlet (crown,bound)
Incarnate Avatar (soul)*
Bloodwar Gauntlets (hands)
Riding Bracers (arms)
Wormtail Belt (wait)
*-Expanded Soulmeld Capacity

Alternatives:
The Riding Bracers can be replaced by any of the following soulmelds as required, either by using Rapid Meldshaping or by shaping them at the beggining of the day.

-Incarnate Weapon (arms) Create flail +1/essentia enhancement bonus.

-Silvertongue Mask (brow, bound*) 2+2/essentia insight to Diplomacy, Bluff & Sense Motive.

-Mage's Spectacles (brow) 4+2/essentia to Spellcraft, UMD and Knowledge Arcana.

-Impulse Boots (feet, bound*) Uncanny Dodge, +1/essentia to Reflex, Evasion.

*-Can't be bound if shaped with the Rapid Meldshaping ability.

 

[JiffyPopTart]

Whats the matter? No response to my post right after the above? It's ok to admit defeat, you know. I know MoI most of the way through, I think I can find and point out ways that are definite improvements over the core books. Now, granted, MoI is not without it's problems. Every book has problems in it. Even the core PHB, DMG and MM have problems!

Or possibly you just jump to conclusions that are incorrect, and I was out-of-town on vacation and unable to access the internet.

The point of my build (and I deliberately stuck to as close to your character as possible) was that I could recreate just about everything you character could do using the core rules only. Granted I may be missing a small thing here or there, but I make up for it with different abilities that you don't have access to.

If we were just trying to trick out a character to do lots of damage on a smite, I could easily recreate that with a paladin. If I was allowed access to the non-core books (giving me Divine Power and such) I could even surpass your build and do MORE damage with a smite.

Ultimately I stand by my original statement, a Soulborn can't do anything with his powers that other classes can't already do just as well either with more flexibility or better.

DS

 

[Aleolus]

Granted. There are lots of things in the various books that make the core classes better and more flexible than MoI. However, by your own admission, you have to delve into splat books to get those features. MoI can do all of that without any of the other books. All you need to do a pure MoI campaign is MoI and the DMG. You would be able to get by without even the PHB or MM, though it would be difficult. The build above was pure MoI, with the exception of the race (MM or RoD, take your pick) and the Gauntlets of War (Complete Champion). Also, the MoI classes can customize their "magic equipment" every day to suit the needs of that day. I find the Impulse Boots one of the most useful soulmelds, so I almost always have that one formed and bound (if possible), but the others are dependent on how I decide I want my character to behave that day. Name another class that can switch roles that quickly, aside from the Chameleon PrC (forget which book it's from).