So, who wants to know more about Magic of Incarnum?

[Ashanderai]

What are the new classes? I know the names are Incarnate, Soulborn, and Totemist. But, do they have any new, unique abilities or flavor besides the use of incarnum? How do they rate against the other classes? Do they provide a unique flavor to them or are they more like the totemist in the 'this is the druid-like incarnum user' sort of way. Is the incarnate the 'cleric-like' incarnum user and the soulborn the 'paladin-like' incarnum user? What about the races; is there anything about them that is new and unique (they don't look that way judging from the art) in the mechanics or their flavor? What are your favorite race, class, feats, and soulmelds from the book and why?

I know I'm not asking for much, so hurry up, okay. That's what you get for not only getting the book first, but for volunteering to tell us about it.

 

[Lackhand]

There was initially a lot of talk as incarnum as a substance.

Does that refer to the soul-energy itself, and thus I should conceptualize it as dweomer or mana; a fluid that suffuses the universe, not really a game-described term.
Or is it the term for the physical manifestations of the meldshapers' powers?
Or, finally, and this is the one I'm hoping for, is it a substance like adamantium or khyber dragon shards, a solid object-thing with game effects.

What? Is it too much to hope for Final Fantasy Materia in D&D?

 

[monkeynova]

Did the designers include any notes/sidebars/boxed text on how this new power will interact with the dead and undead? Of specific interest to me, what does this do to adventures set in the Ghostwalk setting? I mean, I don't think the deceased PCs of a party are going to take too kindly to the idea that you are (perceived to be) burning souls to make your melds...

monkeynova

 

[JustKim]

Well, that's what I meant anyway...my humor takes on many levels of subtlety.

Four minutes after the thread was posted you'd already decided nobody was interested? That seems premature. I'm going to be driving out to get it this afternoon, so I didn't see much point in posing a question, but I'm still interested.

 

[DungeonmasterCal]

Four minutes after the thread was posted you'd already decided nobody was interested? That seems premature. I'm going to be driving out to get it this afternoon, so I didn't see much point in posing a question, but I'm still interested.

Would love to hear your impressions of it after you've had time to dig around in it!

 

[Truth Seeker]

*Watching Fire Lance through his/her monitor*

 

[FireLance]

Firelance, I know that some people on these boards have complained about "the Christmas tree" look of D&D characters gaining multiple magic items for their powers. Some have indicated a preference to have more power inherent in the character, as opposed to magic items. So, if I was playing a fighter, a wizard, or a member of another class, how could I make use of Magic of Incarnum to benefit my character?

A character of any class can take a feat to shape a soulmeld, so it depends on whether you consider a soulmeld to be a magic item . If so, it's just another ornament on the Christmas tree. Otherwise, it does not tell you how to balance the game by giving out soulmelds instead of magic items.

It might be interesting, though, to run a campaign where everyone is a gestalt incarnate and balance that by not giving out any magic items.

 

[Knight Otu]

As Bastion of Broken Souls was cited as a bit of inspiration, is there anything about the Bastion of Unborn Souls, Birthplaces of Souls, Ashardalon, the Ban of the Unborn, Energons... etc in the book?

 

[FireLance]

How do soulmelds etc. manifest? Are they visible, ghostly, invisible, ethereal, etc.?

Soulmelds are visible, although some are transparent. There is a description of how each soulmeld looks in its entry. For example, the description for keeneye lenses reads:

Incarnum forms a pair of transparent blue lenses that hover in front of your eyes. As you peer through them, the world does not take on their blue color, but you find yourself more easily able to notice small details, even at long distances.

There is another description if you bind the soulmeld to a chakra (e.g brow for the keeneye lenses:

Instead of blue lenses hovering before you, the actual lenses of your eyes gain the blue tinge of incarnum. To an outside observer, your eyes look like solid blue orbs, although some distinction between the blue "white", the iris, and the pupil of your eyes is still noticeable. To you, the world simply seems sharp and clear - even things that are invisible to unaided sight.

 

[FireLance]

Concretely, what's the ratio of [coolness it brings to the game] versus [adding complexity by adding yet another magic system to the whole]?

What does the whole thing bring to the game that cannot be done with other magic/psionic systems?

Pretty cool, in my view, for not too much complexity. The system spreads out the decision-making, so while a high-level wizard or cleric might have to pick 40+ spells to prepare, a high-level incarnate picks 9 soulmelds, chooses which 5 to bind, and then distributes his essentia.

The flexibility of the system is the biggest plus to me. A meldshaper can change the soulmelds he shapes every day, choose different soulmelds to bind, and choose how much essentia he distributes among his soulmelds from round to round.