D&D 5E The reincarnate table is an interesting thing

[R_J_K75]

The DM said that Bullywugs were inherently evil (remember: AD&D 2nd time period) and I ended up hopping off and becoming an NPC.

I just got a Digem Smacks flashback when I read about your Bullywug hopping away. Being inherently evil makes sense as the word "Bully" is right in the name.

 

[Greenstone.Walker]

I read an idea last year about using reincarnate as teleport magic.

 

[MarkB]

I read an idea last year about using reincarnate as teleport magic.

That feels like a crossover with Altered Carbon - the idea of getting your consciousness 're-sleeved' in a new body on a routine basis.

 

[Coroc]

I was looking at the reincarnate table and it's kind of fascinating. 21% chance to be "another bloody elf", 20% chance to be a human, 17% chance to be a Dwarf, 16% chance to be a Halfling, 10% chance to Gnome, and 4% each for Dragonborn, Half-Elf, Half-Orc, and Tiefling

d100 - Race:
01-04 Dragonborn
05-13 Dwarf, hill
14-21 Dwarf, Mountain
22-25 Elf, dark
26-34 Elf, high
35-42 Elf, wood
43-46 Gnome, Forest
47-52 Gnome, rock
53-56 Half-Elf
57-60 Half-Orc
61-68 Halfling, Lightfoot
69-76 Halfling, stout
77-96 Human
97-00 Tiefling

Obviously the table is entirely optional, and the DM can always pick, and there are alternate tables out there, and so on, but I kind of wonder at how they chose these percentages. Elf being highest works as a call back to Ye Olde Dayes when Elves couldn't be brought back by Raise Dead, but Dwarf and Halfling seem kind of high, especially the latter (not typically a numerous race), and humans seem really low given how common they are.

Also horrible thought, and obviously one could crack down on it with "wrath of the gods" and so on, but if the DM did insist on rolling every time, couldn't you just, keep getting your party to kill you if you came back as the "wrong" race until you got the "right" one, assuming you had downtime? Unlike Raise Dead, there's no penalty to being Reincarnated. I'm not asking for a solution, note, just noting this with some amusement!

Also, has anyone ever actually seen this spell be used in 5E? And did you use this table or just pick?

So you always wanted to play an elf but never dared to do so?
Blame it on the DM and his pesky NPC swamp druid / goblin shaman / witch from Hansel and Gretel.

After all it is not your fault, if he does not include True Resurrection 24 (TM) ride-in stations in his homebrew.

 

[TaranTheWanderer]

The spell gives a new body for your soul to inhabit. It doesn't impart new memories. You're still the same person you were before. It's pretty specifically stated in the spell description how it works.

In the old games, you also lost a level when you died. If you came back as a badger, that'd probably be considered character death unless you wanted to lose another level to try reincarnation again. Not to mention the cost of the spell.

For 5e, I've never seen it in play but, unless the DM hands out lots of gold and decides that 'rare oils and ungeants' aren't actually rare, but common, I don't see how you could cast this spell over and over. A permissive DM could find him or herself in a game where players are castig it multiple times to get the race they want. In which case, why not just let them choose?

If I were to run a game, I'd probably allow you to find enough components for one reincarnate but you'd definitely have to adventure to find more. Maybe the ungeant is made from a pheonix's feather or something.

 

[Coroc]

I think it's to discourage spamming it as discussed, and yeah as you point out, aside from you being a random different race, it is a better spell. A min-maxer's nightmare though.
...

Ah no, he respawned as a gnome the 3rd time now, just kill him again!

 

[TaranTheWanderer]

I read an idea last year about using reincarnate as teleport magic.

That's a very expensive teleport. See my post above.

 

[TaranTheWanderer]

Tripple posting, sorry.

I am in retrospect disappointed by the lack of animals on the chart. Maybe I can talk to the DM about that - I'm currently playing a druid in one game and whilst far short of reincarnate level (well, hmmm I guess it's only 9 so not that far), I feel like the big "Well, guys, here's the thing - I can't cast Raise Dead, only Reincarnate, so prepare for excitement!" reveal, especially if the chart had badgers and so on on it, would be fantastic. I'm almost sad they added Revivify in the UA! If all I had was reincarnate, by the end of the campaign I could be in a party of talking animals with class levels who all kind of hated me. It would be amazing.

I played a Druid in 3.5 and my DM was using character points to buy stat extra feats and do other interesting things that the game didn't provide.

He let us use these points to shift the result of a Reincarnate up or down the table a number of steps, depending on the amount of Character Points you used

It would be interesting if a DM used Inspiration to allow the Druid and the Player the option of using their inspiration to do the same.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

In the old games, you also lost a level when you died.

Which older game? I think you are either thinking of pre-AD&D or misremembering a house rule as a rule.

In 2E, the whole thing with dying is very clear, you're just dead unless you get hit with Raise Dead or Resurrection, then there's a bunch of consequences - you lose have to make a Resurrection Survival Roll to actually come back to life, and you lose 1 point of CON permanently regardless (it gets even more complicated if you're poisoned). Reincarnate does not work the same way. Reincarnate (both versions) specify that you do not have any checks (it explicitly rules out saving throws, resurrection survival rolls, and system shock checks, presumably to stop DMs from making you roll stuff you shouldn't and to avoid any questions re: poison). It's not clear on the CON loss, but it appears not - however it does appear that if you roll a PC race, you have to "create the character", which implies re-rolling stats etc.

The Wizard version also says they might be a different class, but gives no provision for determining this. It's unclear what level they start at. It doesn't say at all. So this would be pure house-rules territory.

The Priest version is a bit more detailed and has animals on the chart (Wizard only has humanoid/demihuman races). It says you can spend money, if the DM allows it, to bias the roll to a specific race (no details are given). If they come back as a demihuman and the same class as before (no rules are given to determine class - presumably this was negotiated between DM and PC), they come back at half the level, and with half their HP total. If they come back as a "non-standard" race, the DM can optionally make them playable, and it's unclear what happens to class/HP. If they come back as a different class, they start at L1, but with 50% of the HP they had previously (and "half the saving throws", which is pretty unclear in meaning - I guess as if they were half the level?). It's unclear what happens to the HP as you level up - do they stack with your current HP, or do you simply roll HP, track them separately and only apply them when they're higher than the previous total?

In short, 2E Reincarnate is a confusing, contradictory mess!

 

[MarkB]

Which older game?

Probably 3e/3.5e - in that version you either lose a level, or lose two points of CON if you're already 1st level.