#necrocarnum

[weareincarnate]

Necrocarnum Shroud

“A deadening field of necrocarnum radiates from you, filling the air with faint, shadowy tendrils.”  Magic of Incarnum p. 79

This soulmeld literally leeches the life from those nearby.  Whenever an adjacent, living creature is wounded, the shaper gains a bonus to attack and damage, and investing essentia increases the radius of the effect dramatically.  This soulmeld can be bound to either the waist, frightening enemies within the field created, or the soul, allowing the caster to use the necrocarnum to attack their enemies, draining their will to live and their power to strengthen the necrocarnate as well.

[weareincarnate]

Necrocarnum Weapon

“Shadowy threads of nerocarnum bind to your melee weapon.  This dark energy seems to ripple beneath the surface of the weapon, pulsing irregularly from your hands to the tip of the weapon and back again.” Magic of Incarnum p. 81

This soulmeld makes the chosen weapon evil, allowing it to ignore the defenses and resistances of some opponents.  Investing essentia increases both damage with the weapon, and its ability to inflict critical hits, but only against living creatures.  When this soulmeld is bound to the hands, a critical hit with this weapon against a living creature will give the shaper temporary essentia equal to that invested in the weapon for 10 rounds.  This benefit triggers normally on coup de grace attempts and all other forms of critical hits.  This extra essentia can be invested normally until it fades.

The extra essentia granted by this soulmeld makes it dangerous, as even a couple extra points can make an incarnate or other shaper a drastically more potent threat.  The increase in damage potential is also popular among evil incarnates, and stacks with the other sources they have available.

[weareincarnate]

Necrocarnum Vestments

“Necrocarnum twists and writhes into the shape of long, flowing vestments.  These vestments cling tightly to your shoulders, but drape loosely over the rest of your body, obscuring other garments behind an ever-shifting screen of terror.  As with all necrocarnum melds, faint forms seem to swim in the depths of this shadowy vestment.  These tortured apparitions seem wracked by incomprehensible agony, their elongated faces wrenched open in eternal screams.” Magic of Incarnum p. 80

This soulmeld deadens both body and soul, inuring the shaper against the effects of cold.  Investing essentia makes the flesh of the shaper better able to ignore pain and damage, increasing hit points, but this comes at a considerable risk:  reinvesting essentia from this soulmeld can lead to unconsciousness or even death due to the change in hit points.  This soulmeld can be bound to either the waist, in which case nearby enemies take cold damage at the end of your turn based on invested essentia, or to the heart, making the necrocarnate immune to stunning and death effects.  The variety of these effects makes this soulmeld a dangerous one to both the shaper and their enemies, and this soulmeld should not be underestimated.

[weareincarnate]

Necrocarnum Touch

“Jet black shadows wreathe your hands and forearms, coiling and twisting with a life of their own.  These insubstantial coils of energy seem to hint at evil and agony, seeming to draw light and hope out of the surrounding area.”  Magic of Incarnum p. 80

The dark, shifting energy of this soulmeld gives the shaper an advantage at trickery in combat, gaining a bonus to sleight of hand and bluff attempts.  Invested essentia allows the evil energy of this soulmeld to be directed into living creatures with a touch, dealing damage to them.  When bound to the shaper’s arms, this attack can be used at a short range.

[weareincarnate]

Necrocarnum Circlet

“Necrocarnum bends itself into a matte black crown that seems to consume light.  The fractured remnants of souls broken by the power of necrocarnum float within this soulmeld.  These forms barely surface in the dark and foreboding crown, yet even the faintest glimpse is unsettling.” Magic of Incarnum p. 78

This soulmeld allows the shaper to perfectly sense the location and presence of any nearby undead, and increases the turn radius of undead sensed by essentia invested.  As alluring as the ability to sense undead may be to a good-aligned shaper, the torture of souls to get there is so abhorrent that only evil, and extremely desparate lawful or chaotic, shapers ever proceed to do so.  When bound to the crown, this soulmeld splits, forming a second crown over the head of a corpse, which is now animated by necrocarnum and under the command of the shaper of this soulmeld.

[weareincarnate]

Necrocarnum

As mentioned briefly in my Incarnates by alignment post, Necrocarnum is an evil force created by twisting incarnum and torturing the souls that compose it.   On the surface, the abilities granted by necrocarnum look very similar to those of a necromancer, but there is no gray in the use of necrocarnum.  This is, in and of itself, an evil action, the torturing of a soul for power.  The power it grants is similarly evil.

There are a number of necrocarnum soulmelds, each with a couple of effects, and the next soulmeld series will be on those.  Not something Anna would use, but very much an iconic part of the Incarnate class.