Appendix: The Essentia Tracker

Special: You can gain this feat multiple times. Each time you select this feat, you can use it one additional time per day.

REBIND SOULMELD [EPIC]

You can change which bodily center of power your soulmeld draws upon.

Prerequisites: Meldshaper level 12th, Double Chakra, Knowledge (arcana) 15 ranks.

Benefi t: Choose a specifi c chakra, such as hands. Once per day, you can unbind one of your soulmelds currently occupying and bound to that chakra and immediately bind another soulmeld to that chakra. The soulmeld to be newly bound must already be shaped and must also be occupying that chakra. This process requires a full-round action and provokes attacks of opportunity.

Special: You can gain this feat multiple times. Each time you select this feat, you can use it one additional time per day.

Appendix: The Essentia Tracker

The essentia tracker is a vital tool for incarnum-wielding characters. It allows you to manage your essentia effi ciently and easily by providing a visual and tactile reference sheet for in-game use. Though the essentia tracker (and information below) refers to soulmelds, the tracker works for all essentia receptacles, including incarnum feats, magic items, class features, and even spells. Below you’ll fi nd some tips on using this tool to speed play.

PREPARING THE ESSENTIA TRACKER

To use the essentia tracker, you’ll need a stash of tokens, such as glass beads, dice, small coins, or the like. These tokens represent your essentia pool (one token per point of essentia). It’s easiest if the tokens are all alike (if not identical, try to make sure they’re at least the same shape and size) and that they can’t be easily confused with anything else you’re using in the game (such as the dice you use to roll attacks or damage, or tokens used to mark spell areas). If you anticipate your essentia pool temporarily changing size during the game—such as from a spell or other effect—you’ll need some extra tokens. Again, it’s easiest if these “temporary essentia” tokens are easily distinguished from your regular essentia tokens, so that you can add or remove them quickly when the effect ends. Next, photocopy the essentia tracker on page 220 of this book, or print a copy from the DUNGEONS & DRAGONS website at <www.wizards.com/dnd>. (Permission is granted to photocopy this page for personal use only). For starting characters, one copy of the sheet is enough for a session, though at higher levels, you will likely want multiple pages to track your various soulmelds, incarnum feats, and so on. Finally, write down the key details for each of your soulmelds, one per box. Soulmeld: The name of the soulmeld or other receptacle.

Chakra: The chakra occupied by the soulmeld (if any). This does not necessarily indicate an active chakra bind (see Bind, below).

Base Effect: The basic effect of the soulmeld (not including any additional benefi ts gained from essentia investment or chakra binds).

Bind Effect: The benefi t granted if the soulmeld is bound to a chakra. Check the box if the soulmeld is bound to a chakra.

Essentia Effect: The benefi t granted when essentia is invested in the soulmeld. Below the Essentia Effect line is a row of numbers from 1 to 6. These numbers indicate both the soulmeld’s essentia capacity and your current essentia investment. For now, just circle the number that represents the maximum essentia capacity of each soulmeld. The default essentia capacity for soulmelds is found on Table 2–1: Essentia Capacity, but the specific capacity might vary from one box to the next, based on your class features, feats, or other special abilities.

USING THE ESSENTIA TRACKER

Once all the information is recorded, you’re ready to start playing. When you make your initial investment in your soulmelds, place the tokens on the numbered spaces in each box according to the desired investment. For instance, if you want to invest 2 points of essentia in a soulmeld, place tokens on the 1 and 2 spaces in that soulmeld’s box. Later, when you reallocate your invested essentia, just move tokens from one box to another, covering the appropriate numbers in the new box. Your current essentia investment is always equal to the highest number covered by a token. (Of course, every number smaller than that one must also be covered—just putting a token on 3 doesn’t mean that your investment is 3 unless both 1 and 2 are also covered!) Remember that you can’t place essentia tokens on a number higher than the circled number, since that’s your maximum essentia capacity, unless some effect allows you to exceed this capacity. If you have one or more essentia receptacles that don’t allow free reallocation (such as incarnum feats), you might wish to designate the essentia in those receptacles in such a way that you don’t forget and accidentally move it to a different receptacle. Using different-colored tokens is one option, but whatever accomplishes this goal is fi ne.

PREPARING A NEW ESSENTIA TRACKER

Since your selection of shaped soulmelds likely changes from session to session (and maybe even within an individual session), the same sheet won’t necessarily be able to refl ect your current choices. Here are three options for revising your essentia tracker, from simple to complex. • Use a fresh essentia tracker each time you reshape soul melds.

This is a bit tedious, but it ensures that all information in front of you is current and correct. It’s the simplest method, particularly if you’re new to the rules.

• Erase unshaped soulmelds, replacing them with newly shaped soulmelds. This is less work than the previous option, but it’s still somewhat onerous, particularly if you frequently reshuffle your soulmeld selection. It’s also pretty straightforward to use and understand—what you see is what you have. • Add each newly shaped soulmeld to the essentia tracker in its own box (using additional sheets as needed). Use the check box in the upper left corner to indicate which soulmelds are currently shaped and available for use. This requires the least rewriting, but it can become somewhat confusing if you change your soulmeld selection dramatically from day to day, as much of the space taken up on the sheets won’t be applicable to that day’s activities. Still, this is the most complete way to track your essentia, so if you can handle that much information, consider using this method.

1 2 3 4 5 6 1 2 3 4 5 6

SOULMELD

BASE EFFECT

BIND EFFECT

ESSENTIA EFFECT CHAKRA

1 2 3 4 5 6

SOULMELD

BASE EFFECT

BIND EFFECT

ESSENTIA EFFECT CHAKRA

1 2 3 4 5 6

SOULMELD

BASE EFFECT

BIND EFFECT

ESSENTIA EFFECT CHAKRA

1 2 3 4 5 6

SOULMELD

BASE EFFECT

BIND EFFECT

ESSENTIA EFFECT CHAKRA

1 2 3 4 5 6

SOULMELD

BASE EFFECT

BIND EFFECT

ESSENTIA EFFECT CHAKRA

1 2 3 4 5 6

SOULMELD

BASE EFFECT

BIND EFFECT

ESSENTIA EFFECT CHAKRA

1 2 3 4 5 6

pqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqrs

pqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqrs

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

RICHARD BAKER is a senior designer for Wizards of the Coast, Inc. His most recent roleplaying game design credits include Complete Arcane and Monster Manual v.3.5. Richard is also the New York Times best-selling author of the novel Condemnation. Richard lives in Washington State with his wife and two daughters.

FRANK BRUNNER has been working in the game industry for four years and has written several articles for Dragon® Magazine and adventures for Dungeon® Magazine. STEPHEN SCHUBERT, the former minion of a large computer services company, has written for Dragon® Magazine, Star Wars® Gamer, and the Wizards of the Coast website. He also cowrote Heroes of Battle. He now works as a developer for roleplaying games and miniatures at Wizards of the Coast, Inc.

JAMES WYATT won an Origins award for City of the Spider Queen. He also wrote Oriental Adventures and has cowritten numerous roleplaying game products, including the EBERRON Campaign Setting, Sharn: City of Towers, Draconomicon: The Book of Dragons, and Book of Exalted Deeds. He lives in Washington State with his wife Amy and their son Carter.