I'm intrigued by the new Magic of Incarnum book out from WoTC. Has anyone flipped through it, or better yet, bought it? (My FLGS dosen't have it yet) What are your opinions on it? Is it worth the money? How original and/or revolutionary is it?
Also, if anyone just wants to discuss new stuff from that book, this is the place.
WaterdhavianFlapjack
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Yes, I'm very curious as well. I've flipped through it while waiting for the better half as she got her latest "fix" of MtG. It seems very similar to my old 1E homebrewed world's concept of orgones that are altered and manipulated by somatic, verbal and material components to create magical effects. I like what I saw strictly from a sense of one less thing I'd have to convert for my homebrewed world that has been dormant with the arrival of 3E.
Not exactly related but something I noticed: does the Magic of Incarnum book feel "cheaper" in terms of materials? It feel lighter to me than older 3E books of similar page counts. I was reminded of the quality of materials that Mongoose's books had. This really has nothing to do with the book's metagaming materials but seems to be a symptom of something potentially bigger with WotC still charging $35/book yet the materials are of cheaper quality. I was having flashbacks of the issues the old 1E Unearthed Arcana had...
I've looked it over. Its very unbalanced. Basically, if you don't use Incarnum now, you are underpowered.
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I've looked it over. Its very unbalanced. Basically, if you don't use Incarnum now, you are underpowered.
Meaning, if you introduce the concepts of Incarnum to your campaign it will become much more powerful than the standard magic mechanics of 3.x D&D? Does Incarnum place magic wielding PCs at a strict advantage to the non-magic-using PCs?
I've looked it over. Its very unbalanced. Basically, if you don't use Incarnum now, you are underpowered.
That sounds like bad juju to me. "Balance Danielson, balance." One of the things that really pissed me off about 2E was all of the suppliment books whose content stated "if you do not have this book your character/s will be left in the dust..." If Magic of Incarnum is another book of this type I will be sorely dissapointed, and it will be the first book from the 3.5E that I tell my players they cannot use...
I don't have the book and have no intention of buying it, though I did flip through it. My opinion of it is that it appeals to a select audience (of which I am not one). Since D&D first sprang from the brain of Gygax and others there have been those dedicated few who seem obsessed with understanding and having game mechanics that reflect a logical explanation of what "magic" is and how it works (for spells, magic items, magical beasts, etc). I consider myself fairly intelligent and definitely logic-based but for whatever reason this part of the game never particularly distracted me. I am content to be simple-minded and just accept "magic" as a power that exists and can be channeled for spells or into magical items or naturally occurring in certain creatures as part of their biology. I personally don't want or need any further explanation or complicated game mechanics. I intend no insult toward those who DO care about such things (which is clearly the intended audience for the book); it just doesn't appeal to me.
I've been through everything on the Wizards.com website, and they were going for a new concept that filled a simiar niche to Psionics. It's hard to say though, as I haven't flipped through the book yet, and I don't completly understand how it all works.
I've never used psionics in my games (laziness mostly), but I was always open if anyone had a jones to try out a psionic character. We'd go over his specific abilities, and I would make sure I understood them well enough so what he did was never a surprise.
When I encounter the rules of Incarnium, I'm sure it will happen in the similar way. If the character seems very unbalanced, we can talk about it then and either make the necessary changes or have him role up a new character.
I never bought 3.0/3.5 Psionics, but if I start hearing good things from others who have purchased and used Incarnium, then I'm sure I'll pick it up and read through it.
There was a preview of it in Game Trade Magazine, which I read. It does feel like the potential to be very overpowering, unless you use it in small doses. The concept of incarnum and essentia sounds intriguing, but it looks like something I would use in a artifact, not as an integral part of the setting.
The moral implications of using "soul power" are intriguing, though.
i don;t really like it all that much, but i'll look at it.
Strangly, I find myself wanting it more as time goes on. I'll check at my FLGS.
WaterdhavianFlapjack
I'll probably get it myself as well, eventually. But I have a stack of Malhavoc Press stuff that I special ordered that comes first (When the Sky Falls and Iron Heroes, specifically).
I'll probably get it myself as well, eventually. But I have a stack of Malhavoc Press stuff that I special ordered that comes first (When the Sky Falls and Iron Heroes, specifically).
A good plan -- I've got it, and it's cool... but... but not all that great.
They succeeded, I think, at their goal of presenting something different. In my opinion, it's something you could use to throw in a little "spice"... or you could completely throw out standard magic and use this in its place. But anything in between? Not so much.
It's hard for me to qualify my "eh... so what?" reaction much more than that, because I'm not really sure what I was expecting... I only know that I didn't *get* what I was expecting.
Plus I've got an irrational bias against any gaming work that uses real-world foreign words/concepts ("chakras", variations of Latin when it comes to the color blue, and even the term "incarnum" itself) when they just as easily could have made up their own words -- if it's being pushed as an extremely new concept, why not wow us with creative new terminology?
But that is a very minor pet peeve on my part.
I'm still skimming it and assessing, but I may end up taking it back to my FLGS for an exchange. It's cool, but my initial reaction is that it's not all that transformative nor will it add any more significant "wow" factor that a creative DM is already capable of doing on their own without spending another $30-plus or so.
The key here is that I wanted to be "wow'ed" and it didn't "wow" me.
I'll probably get it myself as well, eventually. But I have a stack of Malhavoc Press stuff that I special ordered that comes first (When the Sky Falls and Iron Heroes, specifically).A good plan -- I've got it, and it's cool... but... but not all that great.
They succeeded, I think, at their goal of presenting something different. In my opinion, it's something you could use to throw in a little "spice"... or you could completely throw out standard magic and use this in its place. But anything in between? Not so much.
It's hard for me to qualify my "eh... so what?" reaction much more than that, because I'm not really sure what I was expecting... I only know that I didn't *get* what I was expecting.
Plus I've got an irrational bias against any gaming work that uses real-world foreign words/concepts ("chakras", variations of Latin when it comes to the color blue, and even the term "incarnum" itself) when they just as easily could have made up their own words -- if it's being pushed as an extremely new concept, why not wow us with creative new terminology?
But that is a very minor pet peeve on my part.
I'm still skimming it and assessing, but I may end up taking it back to my FLGS for an exchange. It's cool, but my initial reaction is that it's not all that transformative nor will it add any more significant "wow" factor that a creative DM is already capable of doing on their own without spending another $30-plus or so.
The key here is that I wanted to be "wow'ed" and it didn't "wow" me.
I looked it over for a few mintues at my FLGS, and have a few questions; mainly, What is the whole system or chakras etc..?
Are they spells? I know that they are like magic items, but wheres the usefulness?If you have the Expanded Psionics Handbook, how would you rate it with that as a guide?
WaterdhavianFlapjack
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Honestly, I found Expanded Psionics alot more interesting, despite the fact that psions are essentially sorcerers, but I digress. The way I understand the whole Incarnum system, there are three major things that come into play: Soulmelds, essentia, and chakra bindings. Soulmelds are the closest thing resembling powers or spells. Like clerics, warmages, etc. who know all of their spells and have to work to learn anything new, you know all of the soulmelds for your class. You then pick only a small handful of these to be active for the day. As far as I can tell, you get the baseline effect for those soulmelds constantly. You can choose to allocate your essentia in any combination for your soulmelds, but this energy never runs out, unlike just about every other class who have limitations on the duration of their powers. Lastly, you have your chakra binds, which make a particular soulmeld more powerful if you have the capability to bind to the right chakra, but prevents you from using magic items attached to the corresponding body slot.
Don't have the book but from what i have picked up you have Soulmelds, Essentia, Chakras and a Totem.
Soulmeld: It's a cross between a spell, an item and a template. It's like a Warlock's invocation in that you arn't limitied by how many times you can use it, but you have to assign them in the beggining of the day (It's like a Cleric preparing spells almost). So you choose from the whole list of the power level you can use and you choose about 2 or 3 at low levels and about 10 by high levels.
Essentia: This is what powers your Soulmelds. More essentia in a Soulmeld means it has a grater effect. Switching essentia around is a standard action i think and it allows you to have say +3 to hit and +2 to AC and then with a standard action get +1 to hit and +4 to AC. It's like a Psions PP i guess except when you 'un-manifest' something you get the points back again.
Chackra: These realte to each of the 12 magic item slots. If you 'bind' a Soulmeld to a Chackra in the morning while you are preparing you get an additional benefit or effect but you can't wear a magic item on the slot you bind it to. Like say you bind some strength sort of Soulmeld. It normally gives you a +2 to strength but when you bind it to your Hand Chakra you might get the use of the feat Cleave or Power Attack.
Totem: This is like your super-duper Chakra. You only have one but when you bind something to it you get the best effect from it.
I don't have MoI yet though obviously so the Soulmelds would be alot more interesting than my examples ;) And there is a feat i think that allows you to bind a soulmeld to a chakra and also wear a magic item in the same slot, but you need to choose one and stick with it (like you do with Weapon Focus).
Hope that helped!
EDIT: Yar, i was bested!
Malkari Durant and FlameLover; If both of you have looked over the warlock class(which I hate!), could you use that as a guide? And, what are the differences between the classes in MoI?
Thanks again
WaterdhavianFlapjack