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In our game, we have used reincarnate about 5 times over 10 years, and every time it has caused headaches and confusion. The main issue is when you change race, the foundation of your character is changed, causing wierdnesses that make lots of unanswered questions and leave the character less than optimal.
This becomes worse when a reincarnated character changes from or to a race with racial hit dice or a level adjustment.
Now, that being said, reincarnate has brought a lot of fun into our game. We had a human rogue who changed to a satyr, and his character changed in concept. We had a half-orc reincarnated to a foul-mouthed elf, we had a bugbear brute with power attack who changed into a goblin (with a big guy’s attitude). A lot of these changes involved retraining of feats and class levels, or savage-species treatment of racial hit dice. What I suggest is rather than bandaging reincarnate, which is a rebuild, simply allow a rebuild from the ground up …
Reincarnate
Transmutation, Level: Druid 4, Casting time: 10 minutes, Components: V, S, M, DF (1,000 gp oils), Range: touch, Target: dead creature touched, Duration: instantaneous, Saving throw: none, see text; , Spell Resistance: yes (harmless)
With this spell, you bring back a dead creature in another body, provided that its death occurred no more than one week before the casting of the spell and the subject’s soul is free and willing to return. If the subject’s soul is not willing to return, the spell does not work; therefore, a subject that wants to return receives no saving throw.
Since the dead creature is returning in a new body, all physical ills and afflictions are repaired. The condition of the remains is not a factor. So long as some small portion of the creature’s body still exists, it can be reincarnated, but the portion receiving the spell must have been part of the creature’s body at the time of death. The magic of the spell creates an entirely new young adult body for the soul to inhabit from the natural elements at hand. This process takes 1 hour to complete. When the body is ready, the subject is reincarnated.
A reincarnated creature recalls the majority of its former life and form. It retains its alignment, Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma. The two highest ranked skills of the dead character grant the new body a new +2 racial bonus to those skills, if the new incarnation did not have those racial bonuses already. The class that the reincarnated character had the most levels in becomes an additional favored class for the new incarnation. The new body is effectively a new character, except for the preceding effects.
For a humanoid creature, the new incarnation is determined using the following table. For nonhumanoid creatures, a similar table of creatures of the same type should be created. Roll below, and if you roll an incarnation with a starting level that is equal or higher to the dead character, roll again to ensure the new incarnation is at least one level lower than the previous creature. If the dead creature is 1st level, and cannot roll an incarnation of a lower level, it suffers a -2 to its generated Constitution instead.
The new incarnation starts at its starting level, which includes any racial hit dice or at least one level in a given class, and levels up in class levels one level each day, until it reaches a level of one lower than the dead creature, at which point it can advance as normal, gaining experience points normally. It’s possible for the change in the subject’s ability scores or race to make it difficult for it to pursue its previous character class. Regardless, the character may choose any starting class or skill set as it is effectively a new character.
A creature that has been turned into an undead creature or killed by a death effect can’t be returned to life by this spell. Constructs, elementals, outsiders, and undead creatures can’t be reincarnated. The spell cannot bring back a creature that has died of old age.
D% Incarnation Starting Level
01 Bugbear 4th (3 HD, 1 LA)
02-13 Dwarf 1st (1 class)
14-25 Elf 1st (1 class)
26 Gnoll 3rd (2 HD, 1 LA)
27-38 Gnome 1st (1 class)
39-42 Goblin 1 (1 class)
43-52 Half-elf 1st (1 class)
53-62 Half-orc 1st (1 class)
63-74 Halfling 1st (1 class)
75-89 Human 1st (1 class)
90-93 Kobold 1st (1 class)
94 Lizardfolk 3rd (2 HD, 1 LA)
95-98 Orc 1st (1 class)
99 Troglodyte 4th (2 HD, 2 LA)
00 Other (GM’s choice) Varies
The reincarnated creature gains all abilities associated with its new form, as it is a new character, including forms of movement and speeds, natural armor, natural attacks, extraordinary abilities, and the like.
A wish or a miracle spell can restore a reincarnated character to his or her original unchanged form.
Personally, I think the base list should just be LA +0 races that advance by class level, such as goblins, orcs, humans, and such.
Why would skills be used to determine the Ability Scores to which the Reincarnated creature gains bonuses? If you have several skills with identical "highest" ranks, which ones take precedence? This sounds like a mechanic that's ripe for abuse via untyped Reincarnation stat stacking.
I believe that Reincarnate is broken, but I believe that it can be fixed by tweaking the existing description as follows:
A reincarnated creature recalls the majority of its former life and form. It retains any class abilities, feats, or skill ranks it formerly possessed. Its class, base attack bonus, base save bonuses, and hit points are unchanged. The subject loses all of the Racial Traits and ability score adjustments of its old race (since it is no longer part of its previous race) and gains the Racial Traits and ability score adjustments of the subject's new race. The subject’s level (or Hit Dice) is reduced by 1. If the subject was 1st level, its new Constitution score is reduced by 2. (If this reduction would put its Con at 0 or lower, it can’t be reincarnated). This level/HD loss or Constitution loss cannot be repaired by any means.
This rule change means that a Reincarnated character not only loses all of its existing racial ability score adjustments, but it loses ALL of the other Racial Traits that currently carry over in the existing rules while simultaneously gaining the Racial Traits of the character's new race. So you don't have to worry about Humans being Reincarnated as Half-Orcs running around with extra skill points and a Bonus Feat, or Dwarves being reincarnated as Humans while still retaining their Stonecunning and their Defensive Training.
Furthermore, I believe that Bugbears, Gnolls, Lizardfolk, and Troglodytes should be removed from the Incarnation Table and replaced with the following races (assuming they will be balanced or are already balanced for a +0 Level Adjustment): Aasimar, Tiefling, and Gensai. The "Other" listing should be removed entirely. Other LA +0 races that are released in future releases should be flagged in their Bestiary as such for possible addition to the Incarnation Table by GMs.
Also: I think you could probably tweak Hobgoblins down to a +0 LA race and add them to the table as well. Just a thought.
Director of Narrative
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I've always played it with a much higher threshold of GM's choice. Keep that in mind and you've got very little to no issues. Also, if you are a GM and think this spell might find its way into your campaign, write up your own list of potential results. I did and it worked out fine.
The only real question I have about reincarnate is if a creature's life span is increased from its original limits by being spit into a brand new young body. If that's the case, then there's something to be looked at.