Chakra Binding

The ways of magic are mysterious and difficult to control. While artifacts that contain magical power do exist in the world, the majority of magic must be directly controlled by an intelligent will. Thus most adventurers do not own magical items; rather, they develop their chakras (mystically significant areas on their body) with intense training to enhance themselves beyond normal limits.

A character gains a number of Glory Points (gp) as given by the Expected Wealth by Character Level chart on page 135 of the DMG. He may use these glory points to enhance his own abilities in certain ways. A character with mastery over the eldritch arts, or one with the help of such a mage, can expend his gp to enhance himself with magic as well. These effects are always bound to chakra, mystically significant areas of the body and spirit. As well, they may learn to project their power directly for offense or defense.

A character may choose to enhance himself in the following ways:

• enhancement bonus to attributes
• enhancement bonus to natural armor
• resistance bonus to saves
• enhancement bonus to attacks/damage or AC (only on offense/defense chakras, or the heart chakra)

A character with a Chakra Binding feat may give himself or an ally almost any ability, including abilities that are overtly magical. For examples of abilities that may be granted, simply look through the Magic Item section of the DMG.

One does not gain these bonuses in a vacuum; rather, they enhance their chakras to gain suitable benefits. The following table lists the chakras that a characters has, along with typical affinities (though this is not an exhaustive list of possible affinities):

As well, a character has an unlimited number of offense and defense chakras, though he may only use one or two of each at a time. These chakras function slightly differently than the other chakras - without special Chakra Binding feats, they are almost the only chakras that can give an enhancement bonus to your attacks/damage or AC. The only exception is the heart chakra, which can give an enhancement bonus to AC.

Developing your chakra

Once you have determined the effect you wish to grant and the chakra that it will be given to, you must determine the cost. This is very simple for the standard effects:

• +2 to an attribute = 4,000gp (+4=16k, +6=36k)
• +1 to natural armor = 2,000gp (+2=8k, +3=18k, +4=32k, +5=50k)
• +1 to saves = 1,000 gp (+2=4k, +3=9k, +4=16k, +5=25k)
• +1 to AC = 1,000 gp (+2=4k, +3=9k, +4=16k, +5=25k)
• +1 to attacks and damage = 2,000gp (+2=8k, +3=18k, +4=32k, +5=50k)

Developing a chakra takes time, during which you train or meditate. If you train for 8 full hours in a day, you make 1,000gp of progress towards developing the chakra. You may train for less than a full day, but each hour then contributes only 100gp toward your progress. If a character with Chakra Binding feats is helping you, they must train with you for the entire time. When you have finished developing your chakra, it takes effect.

Changing your chakra ability

You may directly upgrade your chakra simply by paying the difference between the cost of your current chakra ability and the cost of the desired chakra ability. For example, if your Crown chakra is currently granting you a +2 to Int, you may upgrade its effect to a +4 bonus by spending 12k glory points and spending at least 12 days training.

If you wish to completely change your chakra ability, you must first dissolve the current chakra. Doing so takes 1 hour, and you gain a number of glory points equal to half the cost of the chakra. You may spend these glory points on any new chakra improvements. Once a chakra has been dissolved, you may enhance it as normal.

Using Chakra Binding feats

A character with chakra binding feats is no longer limited to the small list of chakra enhancements given above. Instead, he can give himself nearly any ability. A chakra binding feat can grant the abilities of any magic item that one could craft with the equivalent Item Crafting feat. With Chakra Binding feats one may even develop artificial chakras that do not exist on the list of chakras given above, though developing such chakras costs double the standard number of glory points (this is already figured into the cost of slotless items).

In addition to developing chakra abilities that duplicate the effects of worn wondrous items and magical weapons and armor, a Chakra Binder may also create standing magical effects that can be expended with a thought. These function exactly like Wands, Scrolls, Potions, and the like, existing in offense chakras. Like ordinary offense chakras, they must be hooked into a physical item and wielded to be used, though it does not have to be a weapon or shield - crystals and wands are commonly used for this purpose.

As a special note, the Bind Combat Chakras feat allows you to add armor abilities to your heart chakra, as well as add abilities to your offense and defense chakras.

Using a Chakra Binding feat gives a 30% discount to the cost of developing your own chakra. While others without the feat can benefit from your help when developing unusual chakra powers, they do not receive this discount.

Using Offense and Defense chakras

Normal chakras have constant effects, or are otherwise available at all times. Offense and defense chakras, though, must be hooked into a physical item to take effect. Offensive chakras are hooked into weapons, and defensive chakras are hooked into shields. These chakras only become active when the weapon or shield is actually wielded. You can maintain as many of these chakras at one time as you wish, and hook them all into separate items, though you can only use as many at once as you have hands.

To hook a chakra into an item takes 10 continuous minutes of concentration. Unhooking uses a similar process, but takes only 1 minute. If an item is destroyed, the chakra is unharmed, but it becomes unhooked and must be hooked into another item (taking 10 minutes) before it can be used again.

These rules were originally created by Peyngin of the MonteCook.com message boards, and subsequently altered by me.