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

[FireLance]

What new material is there for Warlocks and Psionics?

There are four new warlock invocations and three new psionic powers.

Two of the invocations involve draining incarnum from others, one is an eldritch essence that dazes targets with an opposed alignment component, and the other is a protective invocation. You can invest essentia in the last two invocations to deal more damage or gain more protection (like investing essentia in a feat, you cannot change the allocation for 24 hours).

One psionic power allows you to bind soulmelds to a chakra, another allows you to put a psionic power and power points into a crystal for others to use (like a psionic version of imbue with spell ability) and a third gives a character the ability to bind a soulmeld or magic item to a chakra.

There are also five psionic feats which allow you to use incarnum to gain bonus power points, augment a psionic power, increase the damage from a mind blade, gain essentia when psionically focused, and expend your psionic focus to gain a short burst of essentia.

There are no prestige classes that blend psionics with meldshaping, which was a bit of a disappointment to me, at least.

 

[FireLance]

Does it add to D&D cosmology and the role of souls?

Does it explain how reincarnation works conceptually?

Aside from Chakras I'm not getting a real mystical soul power vibe yet. How in depth is it on using soul power for integrating the concept into a campaign as opposed to the mechanics.

I don't think it does, although I haven't read the last chapter on Incarnum Campaigns in very great depth (I'm more mechanics focused). That chapter does give tips on how to introduce incarnum into an ongoing campaign, though.

 

[FireLance]

I suppose the are no new cleric domains in MoI? :wink:
Are there any warlock invocations, as implied lately?
Is there anything that can be compared to Wish, Miracle or Reality Revision in MoI?

Actually, there is one: the Incarnum domain.

I've summarized the new warlock invocations in post #31.

The most powerful effect I've noticed is the ability to open a gate once per week at the cost of 1000 xp.

 

[Tarrasque Wrangler]

Is it a viable replacement for the default D&D magic system in a normal magic game (in your opinion), or is better used as an add-on?

 

[FireLance]

I'm also curious how these things manifest. I'm really really NOT fond of the idea of this stuff as summoned magic items, but love it as mystical chakra/soul powers. Is there any mechanic that requires the soulmelds to be physically there? Rules for sundering soulmelds, disarming them, damaging them with acid/fire/rustmonsters? If the only way to affect them is some form of dispel, then I'm not sure there's any real need for them to physically exist; maybe describe some sort of glowy light effect around a soulmeld-bearing bodypart as a clue of what's up & leave it at that.

In my view, the description of the soulmelds is fluff - you can describe them as glowy light effects if you want. However, soulmelds that duplicate a creature's physical abilities such as a displacer beast's tentacles or a manticore's volley of tail spikes might actually look cooler in physical form. A soulmeld can't be disarmed, sundered, or damaged, but certain spells can unshape them.

 

[FireLance]

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.

This also addressed caudor's query.

The Incarnate, Soulborn and Totemist are very similar to cleric, paladin and druid respectively, but the main focus is on meldshaping. They get very few class features that do not improve their ability to meldshape.

The Incarnate can generate an aura an increasing number of times per day that has different effects depending on his alignment: Good Incarnates get an increasing bonus to AC, Evil ones get an increasing bonus to damage rolls, Lawful ones get an increasing bonus to melee attack rolls and Chaotic ones get an increasing bonus to base land speed. At higher levels, the Incarnate can share this aura with allies that share his alignment component.

The Soulborn gets to smite creatures with alignment components opposed to his alignment, and gets a defence based on alignment. LG Soulborn are immune to fear, CG Soulborn are immune to paralysis, LE Soulborn are immune to exhaustion and CE Soulborn are immune to effects that damage, drain or impose a penalty on Strength. At higher levels, a Soulborn can share this immunity with an ally an increasing number of times per day as long as he has no opposed alignment components. A Soulborn also gains a few bonus incarnum feat.

The only other significant ability that a Totemist gets is Wild Empathy.

The new races don't really have a lot of unique flavor or interesting racial abilities. The Azurins are just incarnum-infused humans, the Dusklings are extraplanar fey with a connection to incarnum, the Rilkan and Skarn are the chaotic and lawful offshoots of a progenitor race and dislike each other - kind of like Githyanki/Githzerai lite.

I've only had the book a couple of days, so I haven't had the time to pick favorites yet. I think Skarn monks can be quite cool, and I think a lot of the Totemist soulmelds are nice because they evoke the power of the iconic magical beasts. I think that the feat that allows any character to shape a selected soulmeld is great as it opens up a good deal of possibilities for characters of all classes.

 

[Crothian]

write a review!! and post it in the review section!!

You know you want to......it'll make you feel good....

 

[FireLance]

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.

Incarnum is a substance, like magic or "mana", I guess. Soulmelds are made from incarnum. The flavor I'm getting from the book is that incarnum can infuse materials, but it is not a material in itself, similar to how you can have magic items, but "magic" itself is not a material.

 

[FireLance]

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...

The text of the armguards of disruption soulmeld states that "the energy of incarnum and the soulless bodies of undead creatures are on opposite ends of a spectrum. When properly shaped, incarnum can become an anathema to undead creatures, crumbling corporeal forms and disrupting undead spirits."

However, users of incarnum generally do not draw on specific souls for power, they simply "borrow" from somewhere in the multiverse, and shaping incarnum has no ill effect on the soul energy used. Probably the sole exception is the Necrocarnate prestige class, which traps and tortures souls to gain power.

 

[FireLance]

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?

One last reply, before I have to go. The Bastion of Souls (it might not be the same as the Bastion of Unborn Souls) is described as a touchstone site. The texts also occasionally mention an evil Incarnate, Murthien the Soul-Render, who stormed the Bastion of Unborn Souls in an attempt to steal the energy of preincarnate souls.