D&D 5E How does the Reincarnation spell actually work in practice?

[77IM]

From Chapter 1:

Beyond 1st Level
As your character goes on adventures and overcomes challenges, he or she gains experience, represented by experience points. A character who reaches a specified experience point total advances in capability. This advancement is called gaining a level.

When your character gains a level, his or her class often grants additional features, as detailed in the class description. Some of these features allow you to increase your ability scores, either increasing two scores by 1 each or increasing one score by 2. You can’t increase an ability score above 20.

And from Chapter 7:

Ability Scores and Modifiers
Each of a creature’s abilities has a score, a number that defines the magnitude of that ability. An ability score is not just a measure of innate capabilities, but also encompasses a creature’s training and competence in activities related to that ability.

A score of 10 or 11 is the normal human average, but adventurers and many monsters are a cut above average in most abilities. A score of 18 is the highest that a person usually reaches. Adventurers can have scores as high as 20, and monsters and divine beings can have scores as high as 30.

Well, those are really good points. The first one, though, could be taken to specifically refer to the ability score increases you gain as you level up, since that's the section it appears in, and not to apply to other ability score bonuses, such as racial modifiers. The second one can clearly be overridden by exceptions such as magic items and class special abilities, and one could argue that reincarnate is such an exception. (I'm not saying that's what the designers intended or even that it's the best interpretation of those rules, but it certainly makes reincarnate simpler while remaining logically coherent.)

 

[CapnZapp]

In practice, the players rather have their characters die permanently than being resurrected as anything else than their original forms.

Reincarnate is a NPC spell.

And that's OK

 

[UngeheuerLich]

Retaining the feat and staying at cha 20 seems perfectly fine as you could have taken the feat instead of a charisma ASI anytime after level 1. Now you lose a few stats and could not have multiclassed with them. You are level 20. Ignore that rule. Nothing in the rules says you still have to fulfil the requirements after you have multiclassed. You could make a case that you will never be able to level up anymore since no matter which class you level up you have another that does not fulfil that requirement. If you had been of a lower level I simply would allow you to level up one class that you have the ability scores and require you to spend your next ASI to fulfill the requirements once again. If I fealt mean I would force you to level up the class you originally learnt at level 1 instead.

 

[ExploderWizard]

In practice, the players rather have their characters die permanently than being resurrected as anything else than their original forms.

Reincarnate is a NPC spell.

And that's OK

Part of the spell description states that if the soul isn't willing to inhabit the new body then the spell fails, so the player has final say on coming back as whatever race or simply remaining in the afterlife. In practice I suppose the decision will depend on what rules the DM is using for replacement characters.

 

[CapnZapp]

Part of the spell description states that if the soul isn't willing to inhabit the new body then the spell fails, so the player has final say on coming back as whatever race or simply remaining in the afterlife. In practice I suppose the decision will depend on what rules the DM is using for replacement characters.

Well, that wasn't exactly what I meant.

I meant most players would rather stat up a new character.

I meant that in practice, players go to lengths to use raise dead, revivify etc in order to avoid reincarnate.

To really function as a spell PCs use, I think Reincarnate would have to be a full two levels lower than the nearest option.

In that regard, 5e is better than 3e

 

[lowkey13]

*Deleted by user*

 

[FormerlyHemlock]

I'm going to comment on the title of the post, and the nature of the question. I hope this isn't taken as criticism, so much as an observation. The post asks, "How does the reincarnation spell work in practice?" The post, however, posits a theoretical construct.

I would assume that no one rolled all 12s. I would also assume that no 20th level adventurer used reincarnation. There are multiple ways to bring back characters from the dead; by the time you reach 20th level, you almost assuredly wouldn't be using reincarnation.

Counter-objection: if a problem is illustrated by way of concrete example, it's unsound to assume that that example is the ONLY way the issue could have arisen. I happened to choose a PC with homogenous stats, partly to illustrate multiple issues at once.

Perhaps I should have avoided trying to use one example to illustrate every potential issue with Reincarnate simultaneously--I could have improved my presentation--but you could hit issues with Reincarnate as early as first level: what happens to your weapon proficiencies when an elf is reincarnated as a human?

 

[lowkey13]

*Deleted by user*

 

[Wednesday Boy]

If I ever get to play a wild magic sorcerer I'm going to see if the GM will let me have it for free for its random Deck of Many Thingsness.

 

[FormerlyHemlock]

Get a ruling. Are proficiencies, in that example, capabilities or racial traits. Boom. Done.

Some things are easy (darkvision, racial ASIs). Some things require a ruling (proficiencies). Not hard.

Reincarnate has always been around, and it's always been disfavored, not because it's impossible to adjudicate, but because PCs invariably either get new PCs (low level) or find some way to raise dead/resurrect.

When it does come up, it's kind of fun (in a Deck of Many Things sort of way), but its rarity is its charm.

That's kind of the point of the concrete example: to think through the implications of a ruling before making one.

So far, the solution I've liked the best on this thread is: adjust ONLY ASIs and physical features like darkvision/immunity to sleep/movement speed, leaving everything mental/spiritual like feats/halfling Luck/elven weapon proficiencies/etc. intact. You're accepting in advance that there will be ways to reliably "break" game balance (e.g. can get all the good features of an Elf but with a bonus feat from variant human), but that's gated by the opportunity cost of acquiring/casting Reincarnation until you get your desired race combo.

In this case that means you get a Str 12/Cha 22 Tiefling Fighter/Sorcerer with Heavy Armor Mastery and just don't worry too much it.