Encounters: An encounter with an NPC incarnate, friend or foe, could be an adventuring party’s first brush with the magic of incarnum. If this is the case, the DM should be sure to play up the strange and mysterious nature of the power this character wields. Describe the character’s soulmelds carefully, choosing evocative adjectives based on the tone you want to set for the encounter—they might seem “ghostly,” “radiant,” or “ethereal,” for example, depending on whether you want the incarnate to seem sinister, exalted, or mysterious.
MAKING A SOULBORN As a soulborn, you serve an adventuring party as a strong melee combatant. Your soulmelds and related abilities serve to enhance your performance in battle without distracting you from striking at an opponent just about every round of combat. Abilities: Soulborns rely heavily on Strength and Constitution because of their usefulness in combat. Constitution is also crucial for the soulborn’s meldshaping ability. Charisma contributes to the soulborn’s smite opposition class feature.
CLASSES
As a soulborn, you use incarnum to enhance your natural combat ability. You can also share the power of incarnum with your allies, making you a valuable member of any adventuring group. You have the ability to shape soulmelds, though you have less meldshaping power than an incarnate or totemist.
CHAPTER 2
SOULBORN
“I am strong. Incarnum makes me stronger.” —Thiera Donassik, azurin soulborn
Races: Any race that traditionally emphasizes combat and physical prowess could include soulborns, including dwarves, half-orcs, and especially humans. Of the new races presented in this book, azurins are drawn most strongly to the life of the soulborn, and some rilkans also fi nd themselves suited for the class. Among savage humanoids that have any knowledge of incarnum, soulborns are far more common than other soulmeld classes. Such groups are known to include tribes of lizardfolk, gnolls, and hobgoblins. Alignment: Soulborns are polarized in their alignments, hewing to strong convictions of morality and ethics. As such, they can only be lawful good, chaotic good, lawful evil, or chaotic evil. Starting Gold: 6d4×10 (150 gp). Starting Age: As paladin.
CLASS FEATURES The soulborn combines strong combat abilities with a limited ability to manipulate incarnum. She can also enhance her allies’ prowess, making her a good battlefield leader. Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Soulborns are proficient with all simple and martial weapons, with light, medium, and heavy armor, and with shields (except tower shields). Aura (Ex): As a soulborn, you have a particularly powerful aura corresponding to your alignment (see the detect evil spell for details). Smite Opposition (Su): Once per day you can channel the power of your incarnum-fueled convictions to attempt to smite a foe with a melee attack. You add your Charisma bonus (if any) to your attack roll and deal 1 extra point of damage per soulborn level. These bonuses apply only against creatures whose alignment opposes at least one component
Table 2–3: The Soulborn Hit Die: d10 Base Attack Fort Ref Will ——–— Meldshaping ——–— Level Bonus Save Save Save Special Soulmelds Essentia Chakra Binds 1st +1 +2 +0 +0 Aura, smite opposition 1/day 0 0 0 2nd +2 +3 +0 +0 Incarnum defense 0 0 0 3rd +3 +3 +1 +1 Bonus feat 0 0 0 4th +4 +4 +1 +1 1 0 0 5th +5 +4 +1 +1 Smite opposition 2/day 1 0 0 6th +6/+1 +5 +2 +2 1 1 0 7th +7/+2 +5 +2 +2 Bonus feat 1 1 0 8th +8/+3 +6 +2 +2 Chakra binds (crown, feet, hands) 2 2 1 9th +9/+4 +6 +3 +3 Share incarnum defense 1/day 2 2 1 10th +10/+5 +7 +3 +3 Smite opposition 3/day 2 3 1 11th +11/+6/+1 +7 +3 +3 Bonus feat 2 3 1 12th +12/+7/+2 +8 +4 +4 3 4 1 13th +13/+8/+3 +8 +4 +4 Share incarnum defense 2/day 3 4 1 14th +14/+9/+4 +9 +4 +4 Chakra binds (arms, brow, shoulders) 3 5 2 15th +15/+10/+5 +9 +5 +5 Smite opposition 4/day 3 5 2 16th +16/+11/+6/+1 +10 +5 +5 4 6 2 17th +17/+12/+7/+2 +10 +5 +5 Share incarnum defense 3/day 4 7 2 18th +18/+13/+8/+3 +11 +6 +6 Chakra binds (throat, waist) 4 8 3 19th +19/+14/+9/+4 +11 +6 +6 Timeless body 4 9 3 20th +20/+15/+10/+5 +12 +6 +6 Smite opposition 5/day 5 10 3 Class Skills (2 + Int modifier per level, ×4 at 1st level): Climb, Concentration, Craft, Handle Animal, Heal, Jump, Knowledge (arcana), Knowledge (the planes), Profession, Ride, Spellcraft, Swim. A lawful good soulborn adds Diplomacy to the soulborn class skills listed above. A chaotic good soulborn adds Gather Information to the list. A lawful evil soulborn adds Bluff to the list, and a chaotic evil soulborn adds Intimidate to the list.
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