Magic of Incarnum was, by far, my favorite 3.5 add on book. I know that at first it seems a little confusing, but it quickly becomes clear after reading through the rules two or three times that it's a very smooth and innovative system. I was wondering, could Paizo legally use and update Incarnum content? I'm pretty sure it's not OGL, but I figured I'd ask just to be sure and to get some views from some pathfinders on the system.
I think if Paizo decides to do any alternate magic systems anytime soon (words of power are neat, but you know) doing Incarnum or, more legally feasible, an Incarnum-esque system would be awesome. It's so radically different from the classic spell system but yet it works so well. I know there's the whole backwards-compatibility thing, and I've seen some good PF conversions of the system on various forums, but it'd be awesome to see Paizo tackle the system and give it continued support. Wizards was notorious for lack of support for everything but the core rule books (and Psionics, sorts of), but I think Paizo could really do the system justice and make it fit and keep it alive.
Thoughts?
P.S.
First time poster, don't mind my name, I've used it for everything since I was 12 or so and I dig it; I am not a being of pure hubris.
Welcome to the forum, then. As I understand it, it is not OGL and thus we will not see an update. That said, you can probably use it more or less as is, even though there will likely be a slight weakness to those classes compared to the core Pathfinder classes.I loved the system too, however, it had one more or less fatal flaw. There was no way to know what melds a character COULD use, meaning that things like enemy tactics eas a tough area. IIRC. It would be very interesting to see a published adventure for the system.
I loved the system too, however, it had one more or less fatal flaw. There was no way to know what melds a character COULD use, meaning that things like enemy tactics eas a tough area. IIRC. It would be very interesting to see a published adventure for the system.
A character could use any meld that was allowed for its class. Power was based all on binds and Essentia so all melds scaled with level somewhat equally (theoretically), so there was no need to learn melds or anything. Unless I'm misinterpreting your statement.
And I currently am using it in a campaign I am DMing, with a home brew conversion that I like quite a bit. I just wish there was something official with better funds and more minds than one or two guys posting on a forum can manage.
Because everyone could use every meld, and even change relatively quickly between them, any enemy meldshaper in a scenario would be pretty sodding complex to describe. Sure, you could write up a specific setup for him, but that would defeat the strength of the system, which is its flexibility. It is a difficult problem.
As stated above, Incarnum is off-limits for Paizo (or anyone else) to touch except WotC.
That said, I also really liked the flavor and general mechanics behind the rules. The idea that a character could manufacture magical items out of thin air and decide on the fly how powerful each should be was rather unique. Unfortunately where things fell down was that the whole book was written at a very weak power level. Melds as written don't do very much. A +2 bonus to <skill> or a +1 bonus to AC is fine and exciting at 1st to 3rd level, but even with essentia things didn't scale very much.
Worse, there were almost no active melds that overtly did anything. Your class features center on gaining melds which are all defensive or minor stat boosters. This left a character swinging a sword or firing and arrow and that's about it. A lot more offensive melds would have gone a long, long way. Melds that emulate spells, for instance. Or class features.
Basically the Savant class from Kobold Quarterly would be really neat if the knacks were melds.