Incarnate Help...again

[Efrate]

K so I am thinking of playing a totemist 2/LN incarnate 18 in an upcoming game, and was wondering, can chakras opened with incarnate be bound with totemist melds? I know the essentia capacity and such is only for the totemist class not the incarnate, but was wondering if I open say my hands and feet as an incarnte can I bind a totemist meld there? I think so, but I do not know so I figured I would ask. Thanks.

Edit: Also I assume essentia gains stacks and can be used independently between classes?

[Venger]

K so I am thinking of playing a totemist 2/LN incarnate 18 in an upcoming game, and was wondering, can chakras opened with incarnate be bound with totemist melds? I know the essentia capacity and such is only for the totemist class not the incarnate, but was wondering if I open say my hands and feet as an incarnte can I bind a totemist meld there? I think so, but I do not know so I figured I would ask. Thanks.

Edit: Also I assume essentia gains stacks and can be used independently between classes?

No. if you unlock the hand chakra for incarnate melds, you cannot bind totemist binds there.

yes, essentia is a single pool and you can spread it as you like

[Grod_The_Giant]

Venger is correct-- as per the rules on "Multiclass Meldshapers" on page 20,

• You have one essentia pool, combining all the essentia you gain from all sources.
• Otherwise, meldshaping abilities remain "completely separate." You have separate pools of melds shaped and bound.
• Class abilities that boost soulmelds (such as the Incarnate's Expanded Soulmeld Capacity) only affect melds from that class' list
• Chakra binds are limited by class

However! The Open Chakra feats, as near as I can tell, would work for melds from any class. (Insofar as they work at all; there's apparently a Customer Service ruling that says they don't actually grant more binds, which is... insane, and makes them utterly dysfunctional). And I'm... actually, I'm not sure how it works for prestige classes. I think a bind opened by a PrC would let you bind melds from either class? In which case something like Incarnate 5/Totemist 2/Ironsoul Forgemaster or Necrocarnate 10 would be a pretty good choice.

[Efrate]

Thanks for that. Also does the totem shape + bind for totemists count as one soulmeld shaped or two (since you need to shape it elsewhere as well as the totem?)

[Grod_The_Giant]

Thanks for that. Also does the totem shape + bind for totemists count as one soulmeld shaped or two (since you need to shape it elsewhere as well as the totem?)

I don't think so. You shape the meld to whatever chakra, then bind it to your Totem chakra as well. So it counts as one shape and one bind.

[Venger]

Venger is correct-- as per the rules on "Multiclass Meldshapers" on page 20,

• You have one essentia pool, combining all the essentia you gain from all sources.
• Otherwise, meldshaping abilities remain "completely separate." You have separate pools of melds shaped and bound.
• Class abilities that boost soulmelds (such as the Incarnate's Expanded Soulmeld Capacity) only affect melds from that class' list
• Chakra binds are limited by class

However! The Open Chakra feats, as near as I can tell, would work for melds from any class. (Insofar as they work at all; there's apparently a Customer Service ruling that says they don't actually grant more binds, which is... insane, and makes them utterly dysfunctional). And I'm... actually, I'm not sure how it works for prestige classes. I think a bind opened by a PrC would let you bind melds from either class? In which case something like Incarnate 5/Totemist 2/Ironsoul Forgemaster or Necrocarnate 10 would be a pretty good choice.

Yes, all of that is correct. I'm unaware of any such customer service ruling, but even if it is out there it is incorrect, and if not that then as you said, wholly dysfunctional.

If you get binds from a prestige class, you can indeed put melds from any of your prior classes on them.

If you multiclass at all (for example, totemist 2/ incarnate 5 into necrocarnate) then remember to track your earlier binds separately. I highly advise keeping a chart or list on your sheet to help keep track of everything.

I don't think so. You shape the meld to whatever chakra, then bind it to your Totem chakra as well. So it counts as one shape and one bind.

Yes.

To clarify: you can't shape anything to your totem chakra. It's not a part of your body like the hand or foot chakra.

Let's say you want to shape the kruthik claws to your hand. That occupies one shaped slot on the hand.

If you bind it to the totem, that takes up one totem bind. In total, you've consumed 1 shape and 1 bind.

[Particle_Man]

To be fair to customer service, I could see the "open chakra feat that doesn't give you binds" interpretation as not wholly disfunctional, just narrowly focused in application. For example, a cleric/incarnate/sapphire hierarch mind find themselves with only one (or even zero) open chakras, yet legally able to bind some sould melds. The open chakra feats (and spells) could thus open the chakras to help this character use the binds they have, even if they don't grant extra binds.

[Venger]

To be fair to customer service, I could see the "open chakra feat that doesn't give you binds" interpretation as not wholly disfunctional, just narrowly focused in application. For example, a cleric/incarnate/sapphire hierarch mind find themselves with only one (or even zero) open chakras, yet legally able to bind some sould melds. The open chakra feats (and spells) could thus open the chakras to help this character use the binds they have, even if they don't grant extra binds.

I mean I guess so. But the point is you aren't advocating for that as the correct interpretation, so it looks like we're in agreement.

[Troacctid]

The sample Sapphire Hierarch does in fact have an Open Chakra feat that does not grant her an additional chakra bind. But on the other hand, Open Chakra is cited in the intro as an example of a feat for non-meldshapers. And then there are the Open Chakra spells, which explicitly spell out that you get an extra bind, which on the one hand could indicate that that's the intent of such abilities, but on the other hand could indicate that the difference in wording was intentional.

Anyway, in context, it's ambiguous enough that you should not be surprised by table variation. I would rule it the more powerful way, though, because the gameplay just seems better.

[weckar]

Thus far this thread has accurately established that chakra binds are separate for each class. Opening chakras, however, is a separate ability from how many binds you get...