Class Articles: Incarnum 101

 Alright everyone, before we start exploring the Totemist class I think I should explain what the heck Incarnum is about. The Dragonfire Adept mostly used mechanics that more or less were already existing in the other books, but Incarnum mechanics are pretty unique and will need a little explanation before we can fully discuss the Totemist.

What is Incarnum?

Magic of Incarnum is a D&D 3.5 book published somewhat later in 3.5's life cycle. Long story short, the system is largely based on giving yourself various 24-hour buffs and abilities that take up item slots. It also introduces 3 new classes: the Incarnate, the Totemist, and the Soulborn. These three classes are referred to as the meldshaper classes.

There are 3 major elements to Incarnum mechanics: Soulmelds, Essentia, and Chakra.

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Soulmelds

Soulmelds are supposed to be physical objects created out of soul energy, aka Incarnum. The operative verb for Soulmelds is shape. You cast spells, you initiate maneuvers, and you manifest psionic powers; likewise, you shape Soulmelds. You gain the effect of the Soulmeld when you shape it to your body, and you have to shape a Soulmeld to an item slot in your body to gain the effect (so you can shape a certain Soulmeld to, say, your hands and gain its effect). Soulmelds typically give you piddly bonuses to things; the Worg Pelt Soulmeld, for example, grants you a +2 Competence bonus to Hide and Move Silently.

The maximum number of Soulmelds you can have shaped on your body is either your Constitution score minus 10, or a specific number set by your class, whichever is lower. A level 5 Totemist, for example, can't shape more than 4 Soulmelds at a time. If his Constitution score is also 13, that max number of Soulmelds decreases to 3 (13-10 = 3).

The way you shape Soulmelds is very similar to the way Wizards prepare spells every day. To shape Soulmelds, you need 8 hours of rest followed by 1 hour of meditation, during which you shape all of your Soulmelds at once. You can unshape Soulmelds any time, but to shape a Soulmeld again you need to rest again for 8 hours.

The nice thing about Soulmelds is that, if you take even a single level in a meldshaping class, you automatically know every single Soulmeld that's on that class's list. So if you take 1 level of Totemist, you know all the Totemist Soulmelds, and can start shaping them right away.

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Essentia

Essentia is supposed to be a creature's personal store of Incarnum that in can use to boost the effects of Soulmelds. The operative verb for Essentia is invest, and your Essentia resource as a whole is referred to as your Essentia Pool. Certain races start off with one or more points of Essentia in their Essentia Pool. Investing Essentia into a Soulmeld buffs the effects of the Soulmeld in some way; for example, each point of Essentia that you invest into the Worg Pelt Soulmeld increases the Hide/Move Silently bonuses by 2. So, a character with Worg Pelt shaped on him and has 1 point of Essentia invested into it has a total of +4 competence bonus to his Hide and Move Silently checks.

As a caveat, the amount of Essentia you can invest into given thing (usually Soulmelds, but there are certain feats and spells you can invest Essentia into) is limited by your class levels. From levels 1 to 5, the maximum amount of Essentia you can put into a Soulmeld or whatever is 1; from 6 to 11 the max is 2, from 12 to 17 the max is 3, and from 18 to 20 the max is 4.

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Chakra

Chakra are specific locations on the body that happen to correspond to a character's item slots. Here is a list of the item slots in the game, and the chakra that corresponds to it:

Head slot; Crown chakra (helms, hats, phylacteries, headbands, etc.)

Feet slot; Feet chakra (boots)

Hands slot; Hand chakra (gloves, gauntlets, but NOT rings)

Arms slot; Arm chakra (bracers, bracelets)

Eyes slot; Brow chakra (goggles, glasses)

Shoulders slot; Shoulders chakra (cloaks, mantles)

Neck slot; Throat chakra (necklaces, amulets, periapts)

Wait slot; Waist chakra (belts)

Torso slot 1; Heart chakra (vests, shirts)

Torso slot 2; Soul chakra (robes, armor)

Whenever you shape a Soulmeld, you MUST shape it to a chakra. You can't have more than one Soulmeld shaped on a given chakra.

The operative verb for chakra is bind. When you shape a Soulmeld to a chakra, you can also bind it to that Chakra if you're at high enough of a level. Once you bind a Soulmeld to a chakra, you can't wear magic items on that chakra/body slot unless you take a certain feat. As an example, if you shape Worg Pelt to your feet, and also bind it to your feet chakra, you can't wear magic boots until you unbind the Soulmeld.

Binding Soulmelds to chakras typically gives you some kind of ability comparable to one a magic item might give you. Binding Worg Pelt to your feet, for example, increases your base land speed by 5 feet. When you invest Essentia into a Soulmeld that's bound to a chakra, you boost both the basic effects of the Soulmeld and the extra effect you get from binding the Soulmeld to the chakra. Using the Worg Pelt example again, if you invest one point of Essentia into a Worg Pelt bound to your feet chakra, you get...

+4 Competence bonus to your Hide and Move Silently checks (+2 from the Soulmeld, +2 from the Essentia)

+10 feet to your base land speed (+5 from binding it to your feet, +5 from the Essentia)

For a taste of what is to come, here are some of the cooler abilities that binding Soulmelds to chakras will give you as a Totemist:

Free, unlimited Dimension Door-style teleports

Lots and lots of claws and bites

Breath weapons

Flight

Shoot manticore spikes at enemies

Become Ethereal

Telepathy

Putting it all together

So, to reiterate...

You shape Soulmelds to an item slot to gain an effect

You bind Soulmelds to a chakra to gain additional effects

You invest Essentia into a Soulmeld to boost all of the above effects

There is a maximum number of Soulmelds you can shape, which is dictated by how many levels you have in a particular meldshaper class.

There is a maximum amount of Essentia you can invest into a single Soulmeld or Feat, which is dictated by your character level.

More chakras become available for binding as you go higher up in levels in a meldshaper class.

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Now we're ready to start looking at the Totemist!