How cool is reincarnation?

[STARP_Social_Officer]

Having never played a druid, I have only a limited experience of the reincarnation spell. Specifically, it's been used just once in our group, and that was to bring back an elf NPC (who was actually a demon in an elf's body - long story) as a halfling. But yesterday I read the spell description idly while thumbing through my PHB looking for something else, and it struck me that the reincarnation spell is seven different shades of cool. There is so much fun players and DMs alike can have with this spell! I imagine a situation where the BBEG has his own druid (unknown to the PCs) who just keeps bringing him back to life as something else every time they kill him - and they'll never know who he is until he comes to get them. I see all kinds of psychological challenges to a PC who is returned to life via the spell - what if an elf or a dwarf came back as an orc? Paging Druid Freud! And what about the legal wranglings? I can imagine an entire adventure about a reincarnated character attempting to prove that he is who he claims to be, since a reincarnation spell is totally undetectable (unlike a polymorph, which shows up under scan) because you really are an elf brought back as a hobgoblin or whatever. How would family react? The role-playing possibilities inherent in this spell are a storyteller's wet dream! This is an ultra-cool spell, and I think now it ranks as one of my favourites, though, as I say, I've never played a druid and have never actually used it. Since I seem to be DM most of the time these days, I'm going to have to come up with some "fun with reincarnation" scenarios. The only thing that's sucky is that they replaced the 3.0 table with the 3.5 one, which precludes the prospect of coming back as some kind of animal. That would be even more fun, but I guess there's nothing stopping you rolling on the old table anyway. Does anybody have some wacky stories about this spell? I'd love to hear what karma-riffic shenanigans people have got up to?

 

[C.W.Richeson]

I agree, it's a very cool spell. I like your idea of a villain who uses it to switch forms after being defeated, I'll have to swipe that one for a later game

 

[Impeesa]

We had a human monk reincarnated as a halfling once... he complained about his reduced effectiveness, we maintained he'd simply shrunk in the wash.

--Impeesa--

 

[Brother MacLaren]

My druid (19th level) has used it three times.
Once he brought a human back as... a human. DM said that the PC's new body looked much like the old one.
Once he brought a human back as a half-orc. The lycanthropy remained, which was odd.
And once he brought a drow sorceress back as a dwarf. Now THAT was funny.

It's also good for achieving immortality. Normally, there is no way to cheat age (no more Potions of Longevity), but Reincarnate brings you back in a young adult body -- regardless of the age you had attained before.

 

[Nifft]

Yeah, the age thing is super-cool.

My one experience is playing an Elf Cleric (archer) who was brought back as a Bugbear. The DM kinda lost his cool -- wanted to impose tons of penalties on the now broken Cleric. So my experience is rather negative, but because of the DM's reaction rather than the spell itself.

Cheers, -- N

 

[C.W.Richeson]

It's also good for achieving immortality. Normally, there is no way to cheat age (no more Potions of Longevity), but Reincarnate brings you back in a young adult body -- regardless of the age you had attained before.

That's a really interesting point, I hadn't realized that. Thanks!

 

[armac]

With the 3.0 rules, I had a Dwarf Fighter reincarnated as a bear.

The DM went on a big kick of trying to say that as an animal I had no property rights (actually, pretty much no rights period) in the city where I was...

In campaign, we almost got into a big long legal debate as to whether I was a person or not. (Shades of Star Trek vs Data among other stories...)

It was fun to a point, then it just got tiring.

My character, of course, kept grumbling over and over that he was a Dwarf and should have been restored that way.

 

[Alzrius]

Paizo had an online supplement for Dungeon #100 that had the spell dire reincarnation. That particular supplement seems to have been removed, however.

 

[rgard]

Having never played a druid, I have only a limited experience of the reincarnation spell. Specifically, it's been used just once in our group, and that was to bring back an elf NPC (who was actually a demon in an elf's body - long story) as a halfling. But yesterday I read the spell description idly while thumbing through my PHB looking for something else, and it struck me that the reincarnation spell is seven different shades of cool. There is so much fun players and DMs alike can have with this spell! I imagine a situation where the BBEG has his own druid (unknown to the PCs) who just keeps bringing him back to life as something else every time they kill him - and they'll never know who he is until he comes to get them. I see all kinds of psychological challenges to a PC who is returned to life via the spell - what if an elf or a dwarf came back as an orc? Paging Druid Freud! And what about the legal wranglings? I can imagine an entire adventure about a reincarnated character attempting to prove that he is who he claims to be, since a reincarnation spell is totally undetectable (unlike a polymorph, which shows up under scan) because you really are an elf brought back as a hobgoblin or whatever. How would family react? The role-playing possibilities inherent in this spell are a storyteller's wet dream! This is an ultra-cool spell, and I think now it ranks as one of my favourites, though, as I say, I've never played a druid and have never actually used it. Since I seem to be DM most of the time these days, I'm going to have to come up with some "fun with reincarnation" scenarios. The only thing that's sucky is that they replaced the 3.0 table with the 3.5 one, which precludes the prospect of coming back as some kind of animal. That would be even more fun, but I guess there's nothing stopping you rolling on the old table anyway. Does anybody have some wacky stories about this spell? I'd love to hear what karma-riffic shenanigans people have got up to?

The 1E Magic User version of the spell was the best. The best one on the chart was the Troll.

After any battle that any of the PCs died, it was always a race between my MU and the friend's Cleric to see who would 'help' the fallen party members. Being the jerk that I am, my MU never listened to anybody who said the 'Raised Dead' was preferrable.

Thanks,
Rich

 

[Aeric]

In 2nd edition, we had a gnome come back as a satyr. That was obnoxious squared.

Also in 2nd edition, we reincarnated an NPC assassin, either from human to half-elf or from half-elf to human (I forget). She was part of a group trying to kill us, and my paladin had her reincarnated in the hopes of putting her on the path to righteousness (she agreed to it through a Speak With Dead spell). For some reason, she came back as a little girl with only the memories of her life up to that point--to her, it was as if she was teleported from her childhood home to where the party was. I don't remember all of the details, but it made for a very interesting character that I eventually ended up playing as a PC in a later campaign.