Magic of Incarnum addiction. Totemist 2 dipping

[Alexei]

I have this problem, guys...

I'm studying for finals for uni, but every time I decide to rest for a bit I end up with MoI open and reading about Totemists. I have also read every post about it I could find -Handbook included- and this summer I'll be playing a campaign while DMing Tomb of Horrors for the same group, as it's a short module...

The thing is, I had in mind a Feral Changeling Warshaper for a character, but a Totemist 2 dip is... very tempting. As the character would begin at 9th level, I had this in mind (LA bought off from the beginning because it's not a Tier 1 class. House rules...): Totemist 2/Warblade 3/Warshaper 3/Warblade 1

At Warblade 4 swap a move for WR Tactics and get IHS with the new maneuver. Use Punishing stance to buff all nat attacks,
Get 2 tentacles plus horns and bite, bind Girallon Arms to Totem and Manticore belt for spam-shooting (Double Chakra feat used)
The ruling is, if it's bound to your body, you can Warshape it up, so it's 2 Large claws. I'd get the bonus essentia feat and put everything in the belt if shooting was needed or other places if not

Before anything else, yes, I fell in love with warshaper after I found it for another of my players. No, I won't be using 500 tentacles at once.
Feral is ruled out as "HD-based abilities", not RHD, because the book is like that. At least the one we have is. So at level 9 it has pounce and fast healing 4. A bit overpowered if you ask me but to keep with ScM and Incantatrixes and Psions and whatnot...

Edit: Forgot the question. Any ideas to make this work? Any other soulmeld? I have one unused as of now
All ideas are welcome

[awaken_D_M_golem]

Yes ... stop studying for Finals !!
 

Interesting LA house rule.

Totemist 2 is the basic dip for that.
You get all the various totem and meld options.
The party needs a set of Divinations
so you can use all your variability.

[Alexei]

Yes ... stop studying for Finals !!
 

Interesting LA house rule.

Totemist 2 is the basic dip for that.
You get all the various totem and meld options.
The party needs a set of Divinations
so you can use all your variability.

I think I'll end up ditching 1 level of warblade and sticking a Half-Minotaur template on top of all the rest. Being Large trumps almost everything because of natural attacks... oh, and PsyRef Track for... INA?   
About Divinations... I'll stick to Manticore belt + Girallon arms + whatever unbound so I don't think I'll use all that versatility...

Should I "Feral Half-Minotaur Changeling" it up? Or... DMG to the face for me?

PS. As of now, 36h without sleep, forgive any rudeness or whatever I did wrong in this post...

[Soft Insanity]

don't forget there's items to boost essentia, as well as spells.  they aren't spectacular, but every little bit helps.

[linklord231]

Whether or not to add Half-Minotaur depends on the rest of the party.  Is the rest of the group Tier 1 or 2?  If so, go half-minotaur.  Is there another, less optimized damage dealer in the party?  If so, don't go half-minotaur.  Also don't add half-minotaur if your DM will throw things at you for choosing a template that gets +12 Str, -2 Dex, +6 Con, -2 Int, +2 Nat Armor, -1 to hit.  And Large size.

Basically, if the group would be OK with a Dragonwrought Loredrake Kobold with the Greater Draconic Rite of Passage, then they should be fine with this.  If they wouldn't be OK with koboldery, then don't be a minotaur.   

[Alexei]

Basically, if the group would be OK with a Dragonwrought Loredrake Kobold with the Greater Draconic Rite of Passage, then they should be fine with this.  If they wouldn't be OK with koboldery, then don't be a minotaur.   

Yes, we have one of these. He went Incantatrix after all that combo and also used Magic-blooded.
Also, one Shadowcraft Mage, one DMM Persist Cleric, one Charger mineral warrior Warblade/Barb/Fighter/whatever weird thing and another one unknown

[emaNsdrawkcaB]

When I'm large I like to tack on 6 levels of Dungeon Crasher, with Knockback. It's funny to picture a Half-Minotaur running around batting smaller people into walls.

[awaken_D_M_golem]

Yes ... stop studying for Finals !!
 

Interesting LA house rule.

Totemist 2 is the basic dip for that.
You get all the various totem and meld options.
The party needs a set of Divinations
so you can use all your variability.

I think I'll end up ditching 1 level of warblade and sticking a Half-Minotaur template on top of all the rest. Being Large trumps almost everything because of natural attacks... oh, and PsyRef Track for... INA?   
About Divinations... I'll stick to Manticore belt + Girallon arms + whatever unbound so I don't think I'll use all that versatility...

Should I "Feral Half-Minotaur Changeling" it up? Or... DMG to the face for me?

PS. As of now, 36h without sleep, forgive any rudeness or whatever I did wrong in this post...

Yes, you're still studying for finals, eh?
 

The other guys can use Divinations to tell you
what can work slightly better, given in-combat vs.
out-of-combat options, even with Totemist.
And they ought to divinate a thing or two for you ,
since you're gonna protect them from Study Zombies.

[Alexei]

@awaken: I just finished today's studies, so yes, I'm really really studying  anyways, I have all my exams this upcoming week so I think I'm going to die

I have had my crime against nature of a character tested versus a mature adult red dragon and a couple other monsters and it didn't end well for the poor thing (cough, grafted wings  ) I like the idea of face-raping everything into oblivion instead of playing chess with BFC. Doing over 600 damage on a full attack is nice. I'll tweak the sheet tomorrow and post it for advice

I am going to use the Fanged Ring to skip INA as a feat, then Otyugh Hole -> Psychic Reformation for another feat, get an amulet of natural attacks +2 (since I have too many claws/tentacles/horns for a cheap necklace of natural attacks) and:
-Belt of battle with +2 Strength included in it
-Amulet of IDK what yet with +2 CON in it
-An Initiative Adamantine Greatsword (we also houseruled the required +1 before applying various enhancements)
-Utility items (here will go like 2-3k gold in random items of annoyance and spell components from BoVD and BoED and all I can find)7
-Custom items of +5 Concentration and Boots of +4 Inititative with Jumping added at 150% -no striding-
-I accept and welcome all ideas here, I have already checked Bunko's and the Utility Belt handbooks for random gems of equipment

[zook1shoe]

Check out grafts, fiendish ones are some of the best for the price

[Alexei]

Check out grafts, fiendish ones are some of the best for the price

Ok, I checked both Fiendish codexes and couldn't find them... where are these, please? I recall there was a pair of wings which did 1d3 Wis damage each day for a mere 10k, these would be great to have

I might have to use another concept for my character, or tone down the natural weapon amount as it's too high right now.

I'm using:
2 Enlarged Claws from Feral +Warshaper size increase (the Girallon in these doesn't apply as the base is better) (this pair of claws is the main attack)
2 Claws from Girallon Arms
Enlarged horns from Half-Mino + Warshaper
Tail swipe from Warshaper (or Manticore belt bound in the Totem, as it's specifically a tail I don't think I can get two of them)
2 Tentacle attacks from Warshaper
1 Bite attack from Warshaper

Am I doing this wrong? I think I can go around with these many natural weapons (Changeling) all the time

[zook1shoe]

Back of the Fiend Folio

[littha]

I always end up looking over the maug grafts when I go there, something about a shoulder mounted cannon and tank treads throws me a little.

[zook1shoe]

The maug ones are good too