Reincarnation ... things

[Baumfluch]

Hi,

since im expecting that there is no "raw" answer to my question i put it here already.

My Question is: When reincarnation is cast on a dead PC, would he have to decide whether his soul is willing to return before or after the race is randomly selected?

How do/would you run it? is there perhaps any hint or conclusion you could take from similar spells or mechanics in pathfinder?

My major problem is: depending on the race you get, it could easily screw the players char up big time, or make him go berserc pretty hard. E.g. barbarian getting -4 STR would be pretty much screwed, but a barbarian with +4 STR or sth like 2d8 hit dice would just be a monster.

Also fluff wise, there might be situation that the PC would easily take his live if the race is "bad". E.g. a green-skin hating dwarf being reincarnated into a goblin would probably be willing to commit suicide. however it would be not cool to take the roll, and then if its bad, commit suicide.

All in all hard to handle, looking forward to your opinions.

best regards

[Ciaran Barnes]

My characters have been reincarnated twice, and each time ended up as a dwarf. One was a goblin, the other a half-elf. It will change a character when an important ability score drops, but thats just too bad. Reincarnation is one spell level lower than raise dead. There's a risk, and thats what the player is stuck with. It seems to me that the PC killing itself because of the race it ended up is likely to be the player having a little tantrum, and bad role playing too. Because you lost a point of attack bonus, or a bonus spell, your character decides that life is not worth living? Bad things happen to people and almost all of them move on.

[Wheldrake]

One doesn't need to resort to suicide. Any character can "retire" at any time. Just talk with your DM and find out whether you can create a new PC at the same level, at party level -1 or whatever he thinks is fair. I suspect there are very few DMs left who would make you start over at 1st level... like we used to do in the 70s.

[Dox of the ParaDox twins]

There is a RAW answer actually. You decide whether or not you wanna live again and then your soul is shoved into the new form you roll after you decide whether or not you're willing to live again

[Foeclan]

I let my players spend hero points for additional rolls when they're reincarnated, then they can pick from those options. The party's half-orc has come back as 2 different Tengu so far.

[Sir Jerden]

You don't get to choose after the form is allocated - that's why it's a (fun, in my opinion) risk. Remember that even -4 to a stat is manageable. You might need to be creative or multiclass to make the most of it, but if you're not willing to accept the result of reincarnation you shouldn't choose it in the first place.

That's all from the players perspective. From the character's perspective, rage is a perfectly reasonable response. I wouldn't recommend suicide, but perhaps the character gradually realises that their previous prejudices were wrong and learns to live with it? Perhaps they become a little more reckless, trying to "earn" another reincarnation. Perhaps they even decide to embrace their new body, playing up all the sterotypes? It's up to the player.

My dwarven monk decided to accept his reincarnation into a female gnome with a surly resignation. We had runelords to fight, it made no sense to dwell on it too much.

[Cyrad]

Dox is correct. You won't know your new form until you already been reincarnated.

It sucks to get a bad race, but that's the nature of reincarnate. Reincarnate is significantly cheaper than raise dead, has a lower spell level, and is one of the few ways to defeat death by old age. Removing the risk and consequences defeats the entire point of the spell.

As a GM, I might increase the chances of getting certain raises or alter the table as needed if I felt it was thematically correct. For example, if you worship a deity that's patron to a race, I'd increase the chances of reincarnating as that race since deities do have the power to influence resurrection and reincarnation. If you're a native outsider, I'd say you automatically reincarnate as a member of that race, BUT you'd look totally different, since being a planetouched race is a characteristic of your soul, not just your body.

[David knott 242]

The Salve of the Second Chance has slightly less than a 25% chance of improving your odds on the reincarnation table. It costs only slightly more than the material components of the Reincarnation spell (1600 GP vs. 1000 GP). If you use that Salve to reincarnate somebody on the night of the new moon, they get to roll twice on the reincarnation table and pick the result that they prefer.

Also, you might want to roll on the table in Inner Sea Races rather than the one in the Core Rulebook. The table in Inner Sea Races comprises only 0-HD races and is heavily tilted in favor of the seven core races.