Not sure where this question should be, but:
Generally how do Druids (in the Pathfinder world) feel about Resurrection over Reincarnation? I would think that a Druid might have some reservations about breaking the natural cycle. On the other hand I could see a Cleric of a Nature god/goddess having ressurecting people.
Any opinions/experiences?
Druids are given quite a bit of latitude these days compared to the old must be neutral at all times version from V2 D&D. So its pretty much up to the player and GM on that measure.
Pre-3.0, Druid could only be Neutral, not Neutral Good, not Neutral Evil, not Lawful Neutral, not Chaotic Neutral. . Of course, they could only be Human & had ability minimums as well. Some pretty steep ability minimums if I remember correctly, the only class that had higher/more ability minimums was the Paladin. Which also could only be human.
Well, druids don't have resurrection on their spell lists. Reincarnate is the only means a druid would have to bring back the dead.
As for how a druid would feel about a cleric bringing back the dead via raise dead, resurrection or true resurrection... that's probably going to have a lot more to do with the druid's faith, the god they* serve, and their personal outlook. It's pretty much campaign-specific, so I'd check with the GM of your game.
--Hal
(*Note to grammar pedants: I'm deliberately using "they/their" as gender-neutral singular pronouns. It's not wrong.)
I played a 3.5 druid several years ago and he was quite happy to be resurrected by the party cleric after he died. *grin*
Speaking of the topic more broadly (sorry to threadjack), how do clerics of Pharasma feel about a) casting resurrection on others and b) being resurrected? Just curious. I haven't looked too deeply into the tenets of the faith. Thanks!
I'm playing a bear shaman druid. My group likes to use alternate reincarnation tables (too many fun times from older editions, when people could come back as owls). My animal companion (bear) died a few sessions ago. Since he had lasted from level 1 to 14, I decided I wanted to bring him back, not get a new one. Now he's a lion.
I would think that a stereotypical druid would encourage people to choose reincarnation, but would largely be okay with whatever choice other people choose for themselves. The advantage that druids have in slightly higher level games, being a 4th level spell, it isn't an absurd thing to give up the spell slot to have one ready at all times.
"Hey, we could wait until tomorrow, so the cleric could do it... or I can take care of it right now... eh?... eh?..." accompanied with a friendly grin.
(To be horribly off topic...
(*Note to grammar pedants: I'm deliberately using "they/their" as gender-neutral singular pronouns. It's not wrong.)
English does have a perfectly functional neuter singular pronoun already. It. We just have a convention going back hundreds of years of not attaching it to people.
It is as bad as how we merged the singular and plural 2nd person pronouns, for reasons of being stupid and listening to the French.Language would be much tidier if we had never felt the need to be polite.)
But, to the actual topic at hand. I think it would come down to which gods were involved, and the individual outlook of the Druid involved. Putting life back in to someone killed by accident or violence is no more outside the natural order than magicking them up a shiny new young adult body.
Especially as reincarnate works on those who have died of old age, making it more unnatural than the clerics options.
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Reincarnation and You!
Chapter One: Getting Used to Your New Body
First, let me say "welcome back!" You are one of the lucky few people to be reincarnated. You will find a host of new experiences await you in your new body. However, before you begin (or return) to your adventuring career, there are a few things you need to take care of.
You may feel uncomfortable in your new body. Don't worry, that's a natural response and will fade after a few days. During that time you should take it upon yourself to examine your new body. You may be surprised at what you find!
Let's begin with your organs. While most bodies available to the newly reincarnated share a basic similarity to each other, you may notice several of your internal organs are not where you expect other to be. In more extreme circumstances some organs may be missing altogether. Do not worry. Your new body will work fine without them.
Since you're reading this, we will assume your eyes, or their functional equivalents, are working fine. Next ...
(This just popped into my head when I read the thread title. I couldn't resist sharing.)
Post reincarnate, looking forward to meeting up with a hot owl.
There's no reason druids would have any more issues with Resurrection than Reincarnation. They just cannot cast Resurrection. However, I'm sure that for every god that druids revere (including nature itself) there is a cleric, adept, or oracle with a similar philsophical bent. While less common among PCs, it is entirely possible to have cleric/druids, sorcerer/druids, and so forth.
If anything, druids would probably view it as yet another natural part of the world. Any way you slice it, magic in general is completely natural in most D&D worlds (I believe even in Darksun there's ways of using arcane magic without the planetary destruction). A cleric casting resurrection is just employing that natural magic in a different fashion.
An interesting thing to note is that while resurrection is arguably more powerful, reincarnate gives druids and their friends a path to immortality. Most spellcasters will need to become undead to acquire immortality (and we all know what a good PR program the undead have), so a human living thousands of years and still having a pulse is probably a point in their favor.
In Golarion, there's that one ruler in the River Kingdoms who's been getting reincarnated for something like 2,000 years by the local druids to make sure that his kingdom never falls into "the wrong hands" (menaing any set other than his, presumably). So some druids don't have a problem with it.
If anything, druids would probably view it as yet another natural part of the world.
I don't see that. I think the spell list of a Druid is a clear window to what they accept and don't accept on a general basis. Others could do what they wish, but Druids are still strongly tied to not siding with the whims of man, and believing in the balance of nature. Resurrection and Raise Dead tamper with this 'natural' balance just as much as raising the dead. Reincarnate is acceptable because you are given a new life as a new creature, not continuing your old life from where it left off.
If you have a domain spell that allows the others, that would shift your belief from the standard Druid towards that acceptance, and would be reflected inherently in your belief of that domain. Otherwise, I think we can safely use access as an understanding of what a Druid's general basis of acceptance is, as cleric spells are sifted through with reason and intent. The list could have easily included Raise/Resurrection. I do not believe their absence from the list is accidental but purposeful based on their outlook.
Though PF/3E has advanced in liberation over 2E, the view through nature is more or less the same.