Author Topic: The Incarnum Handbook  (Read 83166 times)

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Zippy

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Re: The Incarnum Handbook
« Reply #100 on: July 02, 2009, 10:25:52 AM »
That's where Swift Mind Strike comes in. It speeds the recharge to a swift action.

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Re: The Incarnum Handbook
« Reply #101 on: July 02, 2009, 10:33:13 AM »
That's where Swift Mind Strike comes in. It speeds the recharge to a swift action.
Okay. So now you can use it every round with a full attack. The rest of my points still stands: The amount of damage sucks hairy donkey balls, it applies to all of one attack, and anything that is immune to mind-affecting points and laughs at the silly soulknife. Incidentally, Immunity to mind-affecting effects becomes very common and eventually nigh omnipresent towards the higher levels.

EDIT: Oh, looks like Swift Mind Strike works once per day. Yeah, no.
« Last Edit: July 02, 2009, 10:37:14 AM by Agita »
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Zippy

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Re: The Incarnum Handbook
« Reply #102 on: July 02, 2009, 10:41:56 AM »
EDIT: Oh, looks like Swift Mind Strike works once per day. Yeah, no.

D'ohh looks like I should have read more carefully. LOL.

Sinfire Titan

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Re: The Incarnum Handbook
« Reply #103 on: July 02, 2009, 11:27:32 AM »
That's where Swift Mind Strike comes in. It speeds the recharge to a swift action.

Don't you just love how they try to fix the Soulknife and fail miserably?


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Surreal

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Re: The Incarnum Handbook
« Reply #104 on: July 02, 2009, 12:39:56 PM »
In one game I played, the soulknife and psywar class features were flat out combined into a single class. Even then, it basically played out as a psywar with a free weapon.
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awaken DM golem

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Re: The Incarnum Handbook
« Reply #105 on: July 02, 2009, 07:02:41 PM »
Yes but you know what you are doing  ;).

syrazemyla who I think might be new Zemyla, just posted a level 1 incarnum based healer, back on gleemax.
http://forums.gleemax.com/showthread.php?t=1209393
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Ithamar

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Re: The Incarnum Handbook
« Reply #106 on: July 02, 2009, 07:14:23 PM »
I'm contemplating a gestalt Jovoc || Totemist, trying to make some kind of melee monster.  Epic fail or does it have potential?
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Sinfire Titan

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Re: The Incarnum Handbook
« Reply #107 on: July 02, 2009, 07:33:30 PM »
I'm contemplating a gestalt Jovoc || Totemist, trying to make some kind of melee monster.  Epic fail or does it have potential?

Don't know what a Jovoc is, but anything+Totemist is generally good provided it's above Tier 5.


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Ithamar

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Re: The Incarnum Handbook
« Reply #108 on: July 02, 2009, 07:39:05 PM »
Heh, sorry...  Jovoc is the nasty little demon from MMII that has a retributive aura that damages other non-tanaari, fast healing, DR, and +6 CON bonus.
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Sinfire Titan

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Re: The Incarnum Handbook
« Reply #109 on: July 04, 2009, 01:54:19 AM »
Heh, sorry...  Jovoc is the nasty little demon from MMII that has a retributive aura that damages other non-tanaari, fast healing, DR, and +6 CON bonus.

If he's dumb enough to let you apply the LA to one side and the creature isn't smaller than Medium-sized, go for it. Otherwise, don't.


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kalaskaagathas

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Re: The Incarnum Handbook
« Reply #110 on: July 16, 2009, 11:21:41 PM »
I appreciate the handbook, having recently come into possession of MoI (by accident no less) and being intrigued by it.  The trouble I'm having with it is I cannot understand how an Incarnate or Totemist is actually supposed to vary their role, with essentia (and essentia capacity) being so limited, as well as by the limit in number of melds shaped and the inability to reshape them, except at higher levels.  The Incarnate's Incarnum Radiance confounds me, too: how is that supposed to be useful except in a very limited sense?

Additionally, UMD allows you to emulate alignment...is there anything like this for Meldshapers?

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Re: The Incarnum Handbook
« Reply #111 on: July 17, 2009, 11:26:04 AM »
I appreciate the handbook, having recently come into possession of MoI (by accident no less) and being intrigued by it.  The trouble I'm having with it is I cannot understand how an Incarnate or Totemist is actually supposed to vary their role, with essentia (and essentia capacity) being so limited, as well as by the limit in number of melds shaped and the inability to reshape them, except at higher levels.  The Incarnate's Incarnum Radiance confounds me, too: how is that supposed to be useful except in a very limited sense?

Additionally, UMD allows you to emulate alignment...is there anything like this for Meldshapers?

Well... when you are picking your soulmelds you define what your char can do that day. So, if you are Lawful and pick stuff like incarnate avatar, and other Law related stuff, you will hit in melee much more often.

Alternatively, if you need to go skill-monkey, just grab those soulmelds with bonuses to skills, and so far...

Anyway, SiFir can tell you much more accurately than me, since I merely know a little about it...

Sinfire Titan

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Re: The Incarnum Handbook
« Reply #112 on: July 17, 2009, 12:03:49 PM »
I appreciate the handbook, having recently come into possession of MoI (by accident no less) and being intrigued by it.  The trouble I'm having with it is I cannot understand how an Incarnate or Totemist is actually supposed to vary their role, with essentia (and essentia capacity) being so limited, as well as by the limit in number of melds shaped and the inability to reshape them, except at higher levels.  The Incarnate's Incarnum Radiance confounds me, too: how is that supposed to be useful except in a very limited sense?

Additionally, UMD allows you to emulate alignment...is there anything like this for Meldshapers?

The Incarnate is able to cover a number of roles depending on alignment:

LN: Tank. Incarnum Radiance 4/day with a duration of 3+Con mod means you can use it once per encounter. Incarnate Avatar+Incarnate Weapon both stack with the Incarnum Radiance. Optimizing your to-hit value with those three, and you end up with attack rolls in the mid-50's early 60's. Combine this with Robilar's Gambit or Karmic Strike, and it almost manages to make up for your low BAB.

NG: Your AC can hit 70 with no trouble. However, you don't need to invest as much of your feats/items into your AC as everyone else would have to. Because your AC is that high, you can easily sink your cash into UMD-based items like Wands. NG works best with Gestalt (Artificer) because of this. Mage's Spectacles and CC ranks are your best friend here. Grab as many skill boosters as you can, and you can be a mini-caster, even better than the Rogue!

NE: One good side to this is the Teifling sub levels allow you to enter Ur-Priest without multiclassing. If your DM allows you to enter Sapphire Hierarch or makes a variant of it for NE, this can easily be the deal breaker. Otherwise, you end up being a demi-Cleric with UMD, playing a hybrid of the LN and NG (but with lower AC/Attack). Divine Power wands mean you never have to worry about missing, and your damage output will skyrocket.

CN: Skill monkey by near definition. Dissolving Spittle+Greater Psionic Shot+Throat Chakra, and you are set. Think like a Warlock.

Truth is, you don't need max Essentia in all of your soulmelds at all times, just the ones you know will eat into your actions (anything that requires a Standard action for you to use is a good place to invest essentia, as you want that thing to be worth it). Try not to shape too many offense-oriented soulmelds, and you can pretty much leave your Essentia in your Essentia Pool until its your turn. The bonuses from your Soulmelds add up fast, and allow you to exceed the normal limits on skills with a little practice. Remember that the maximum essentia capacity for a 20th level Incarnate is 8 in any Soulmeld you have the Incarnum Focus+Expanded Soulmeld Capacity feat for, so take this into account when shaping your soulmeld.

Totemist is easier to define. You end up playing like a Monk on steroids for everything but damage (I'm comparing this to Dman's Monk builds). The low essentia capacity is offset by the bonuses granted by your soulmelds. At the low levels, you are easily the most powerful non-caster in any party due to your Totem chakra (though 1st level tends to be a bitch).

Typically, you build a Totemist around one or two of his soulmelds and try to pump those two up as much as you can. Girallon Arms, Manticore Belt, Landshark Boots, and a few others make for a good choice (a notable option is Breath Weapon-based Totemists, as they tend to play like a more versatile DFA).

Rule of thumb: Trying to build any meldshaper to be able to cover more than 2 bases will usually flop unless its Gestalt. Its best to take a focus and stick with it from 1-20.

The lack of freedom with your soulmelds is a hindrance if you are focused on a single task. Even at low levels, a Totemist shouldn't have much trouble with their soulmelds/day (1st level is a bitch, again). When you get the Rebind Totem ability, the rest is pure gravy. Incarnates tend to feel the limit for the first 3 levels, but they still play pretty well for that duration. Once they get a few Chakra binds, they start to relax a bit.


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Nuntius Mortis

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Re: The Incarnum Handbook
« Reply #113 on: July 18, 2009, 09:15:05 AM »
Great handbook, Sinfire Titan :clap

You could add the following races to Race Optimization as well:

Unearthed Arcana:

Water Halfling: Identical to lightfoot halflings but with a +2 Con bonus and a +1 bonus to hit creatures that have the fire subtype (including extraplanars). They receive a penalty (-2) resisting spells and SLAs with the fire descriptor though. Still, you can make them Dragonborn and have +4 Con with no Dex ;)

Sandstorm:

Marrulurk: 3HD Small-sized Monstrous Humanoid and +1 LA but they get the following: +2 Str, +6 Dex, +4 Con, +6 Wis, +4 Cha, +2 natural armor, +2d6 racial Sneak attack, death attack and poison use, low-light vision, darkvision 60ft, resistance to fire 5, resistance to dessication and +4 bonus to Listen, Hide and Move Silently checks.

Fiend Folio:

Ferrumach Rilmani: Very difficult to play as it has LA +5 and 8 HD but in some campaigns (those that use LA point buy or don't calculate Racial Hit Dice in a PC's ECL) it could fly. Here's what you get: +14 Str , +2 Dex, +18 Con, +4 Int, +2 Wis , +10 Cha , +7 natural armor , DR 10/+1, SR 20, Fear Aura, the ability to summon others of your kind once per day, Immunity to electricity and poison, acid and sonic resistance 20 and a lot of SLAs (15 of them at will, including detect all alignments, magic and thoughts, see invisibility and sanctuary, and 5 of them 3 per day, including polymorph self and phantom steed).
« Last Edit: July 18, 2009, 12:39:34 PM by Nuntius Mortis »
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Surreal

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Re: The Incarnum Handbook
« Reply #114 on: July 18, 2009, 12:32:05 PM »
Homebrew material has no place in a handbook (and CO in general). LA point buy is also a rules subset specific to E6 and not general play.
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Lists of Stuff - listing of class features etc and how to get them, etc. sort of like above but a little more specific and sorted by category
Polymorph, Wildshape and Shapechange, oh my! (comparison charts) - side-by-side comparison of all the various form altering abilities
Alternative Class Features
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Nuntius Mortis

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Re: The Incarnum Handbook
« Reply #115 on: July 18, 2009, 12:37:11 PM »
Homebrew material has no place in a handbook (and CO in general). LA point buy is also a rules subset specific to E6 and not general play.

You're right about homebrewing material and I'll correct my post. LA point buy though may fly with some DMs (if they want to have a high-powered game for example).

PS: I'm always forgetting that handbooks use material that are available in every campaign. I'll get used to it I guess :P
« Last Edit: July 18, 2009, 12:42:22 PM by Nuntius Mortis »
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The_Mad_Linguist

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Re: The Incarnum Handbook
« Reply #116 on: December 31, 2009, 07:43:08 PM »
For races, you might want to add that a lesser mechanatrix (FF) with Lightning Gauntlet essentially is a dread necromancer with tomb-tainted soul.
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Aldgar

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Re: The Incarnum Handbook
« Reply #117 on: January 13, 2010, 04:23:29 AM »
I'm missing the soulspark familiar soulmeld in this handbook.

Right now, I'm playing a Neutral Evil Azurin Crusader 2 // Stalwart Battlesorcerer 1 / Incarnate 1 devoted to an elder evil in a solo Gestalt dungeoncrawl.

He is using share soulmeld to great effect:

At level 1(as Crusader 1//Stalwart Battlesorcerer1) he had the feats Shape soulmeld(Dissolving Spittle), Shape Soulmeld(Soulspark familiar), Share soulmeld, Stone Power and Evil's blessing(bonus vile feat).

The soulsparks are excellent off-tanks at this point, with 13 HP, 14 AC, Excellent saves(Fort +5, Ref/Will +4 and evasion), DR 1/good, and the ability to gain fast healing if essentia is invested. And they're a mobile lightsource, too.

Dissolving spittle allows the toad familiar to make many accurate, damaging attacks and offers the character a decent ranged attack.

As soon as I hit level 3 with this guy, I can bind Soulspark familiar to the crown chakra, creating two LESSER soulsparks(with 26 HP, DR 3/good, fast healing 2 per essentia invested, and amazingly accurate attacks((+8, 1d6+2) without essentia!)).

My other soulmelds(from the incarnate level) are bluesteel bracers for the bonus to initiative and mantle of flame(for retributive damage that doesn't require an action on my character's part).

The whole character is trying to break the action economy via soulsparks/acid spitting familiars since this is a SOLO dungeoncrawl.



Tl;DR: Soulspark familiar is awesome, probably better than necrocarnum circlet for free minions.

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Re: The Incarnum Handbook
« Reply #118 on: January 13, 2010, 10:42:57 AM »
Soulspark Familiar doesn't benefit from Share Soulmeld by RAW. It needs to be able to Share Spells with you in order for it to do that, and even if it could you're limited by Chapter 7 of Magic of Incarnum.


BTW, the Chakra Bind effects allow you to summon improved Soulsparks, not multiple. Soulsparks also have a very limited range with their rays.


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bearsarebrown

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Re: The Incarnum Handbook
« Reply #119 on: January 13, 2010, 11:20:52 AM »
He's not sharing the acid spit with the Soulsparks, he's sharing the Soulspark soulmeld with his familiar, granting him two soulsparks.