D&D General How often do you complete a campaign as a player?

[Maxperson]

Alternately, the idea of talking animals might be too ludicrous for one's serious fantasy TTRPG.

You didn't retain the ability to speak. It changed with the form and badgers can't talk. They don't have character classes, either. Basically, you were a badger who remembered his former life, but not the abilities of class."

"The person reincarnated will recall the majority of his or her former life and form, but the class they have, if any, in their new incarnation might be different indeed. Abilities and speech are likewise often changed."

Basically, you had to hope that the new form could be the class you were, demi-humans sometimes could not be, and pray that the new form was even humanoid of some sort, because it sucked to just be an animal with your old memories.

 

[Maxperson]

I think people sometimes forget that Lanefan doesn't play 5e where raise dead is cheaper than reincarnate so having the more expensive option be less reliable seems like a strange choice.

I did not forget. @Lanefan said in his game badgers would not retain old memories, but the 1e spell says that they do. I'm just curious why he changed that spell to make it even harder to swallow being a badger than it already was.

The 1e version of the spell basically made any animal reincarnated PC into a familiar. The PC is just a smart animal, though depending on stat rolls, the familiar might be smarter.

 

[Lanefan]

I do actually want to clarify my position here, because I think people are reading things in that I'm not intending and taking implications away that are not meant.

I do consider myself a good player. I've been gaming a long time. When I sit down at a DM's table, I will create a character that fits with the campaign and is embedded, to the best of my ability, into the DM's setting. I will read the setting background material that the DM provides and even might go beyond that and do some research on my own, depending on the setting. My characters will be part of the setting - they will have families and ties to the setting and the group. I make an effort to learn the goals of the other PC's (both in character and out) in order to better work with them so that we can all have a good time. I don't power game (well, not much anyway ). I make characters that I hope will give the DM lots and lots of hooks to hang stuff from to make the game more interesting. I'll go out and buy books for the character - maybe rule books, or commission a character portrait, maybe buy a custom mini. Things like that. I put a lot of effort into someone's campaign.

I do that because I want to be the kind of player that I would want to have when I DM.

And that's excellent. Truly.

If all players were that dedicated we'd be much better for it; and I freely admit I could stand to learn from you.

Having done all that, though, it only makes sense that each player will then want to bring their character's families, ties to the setting, goals, etc. into play somehow, be it as specific plot points or simple role-play fodder or whatever; and that too is great. More, please.

The unfortunate irony is that the players, by introducing and roleplaying these things, are in fact slowing down the game's pace.

 

[Lanefan]

I did not forget. @Lanefan said in his game badgers would not retain old memories, but the 1e spell says that they do. I'm just curious why he changed that spell to make it even harder to swallow being a badger than it already was.

My specific intent here is that if you're reincarnated as a badger it's vaguely equivalent to failing a resurrection survival roll: yes the character's now alive as a badger but its adventuring days are done: give the badger a nice home or set it loose in the forest and roll up a new character.

The main reason for whacking the memories of past lives is to avoid some very messy game-mechanic headaches if someone is reincarnated as a new PC species with a new class but also retains memories of their former species and class(es); and would thus in effect be functioning as a dual-species* multi-classed mess.

* - example: an Elf reincarnated as a Dwarf that remembers all its Elvishness would thus retain the built-in powers and abilities of an Elf while at the same time acquiring the powers and abilities (and body) of a Dwarf. No thanks.

The 1e version of the spell basically made any animal reincarnated PC into a familiar. The PC is just a smart animal, though depending on stat rolls, the familiar might be smarter.

For some time now I've been very close to ditching familiars as a thing; to the point where it's pretty much guaranteed that if-when I ever start a new campaign they'll be gone.

 

[James Gasik]

Does it? Doctor Who doesn't lack any drama and he's explicitly immortal.

I don't think so, but many people do, so I was simply trying to guess at the reasoning.

 

[Maxperson]

My specific intent here is that if you're reincarnated as a badger it's vaguely equivalent to failing a resurrection survival roll: yes the character's now alive as a badger but its adventuring days are done: give the badger a nice home or set it loose in the forest and roll up a new character.

The main reason for whacking the memories of past lives is to avoid some very messy game-mechanic headaches if someone is reincarnated as a new PC species with a new class but also retains memories of their former species and class(es); and would thus in effect be functioning as a dual-species* multi-classed mess.

* - example: an Elf reincarnated as a Dwarf that remembers all its Elvishness would thus retain the built-in powers and abilities of an Elf while at the same time acquiring the powers and abilities (and body) of a Dwarf. No thanks.

That doesn't happen. The 1e spell explicitly says that abilities change. Your former elf would remember having elven abilities and using them, but would no longer have them at all. He would need 8 hours of sleep and have dwarven abilities.

The only headache is trying to find a wizard to polymorph you permanently back into an elf from a badger or dwarf. Reincarnation is a speed bump, which is why it also explicitly has no survival roll and specifies retained memories.

For some time now I've been very close to ditching familiars as a thing; to the point where it's pretty much guaranteed that if-when I ever start a new campaign they'll be gone.

Yeah. They don't add all that much to the game.

 

[James Gasik]

You didn't retain the ability to speak. It changed with the form and badgers can't talk. They don't have character classes, either. Basically, you were a badger who remembered his former life, but not the abilities of class."

"The person reincarnated will recall the majority of his or her former life and form, but the class they have, if any, in their new incarnation might be different indeed. Abilities and speech are likewise often changed."

Basically, you had to hope that the new form could be the class you were, demi-humans sometimes could not be, and pray that the new form was even humanoid of some sort, because it sucked to just be an animal with your old memories.

Oh ok, the last time anyone used reincarnate in a game I was in was 3.0 where you became a magical beast and could talk.

 

[Maxperson]

Oh ok, the last time anyone used reincarnate in a game I was in was 3.0 where you became a magical beast and could talk.

Okay, that makes more sense. The last time I saw the spell used in a game I played in was...........................never. I've never seen the spell used. Not one single time. Nobody ever wanted to risk coming back as an animal and preferred to just make a new character if a raise dead or resurrection weren't available.

Having never even read the 3e version, I had no idea the animal forms could speak. I also note, having never read the 3.5 version before tonight, that they removed animals from the list.

 

[James Gasik]

Okay, that makes more sense. The last time I saw the spell used in a game I played in was...........................never. I've never seen the spell used. Not one single time. Nobody ever wanted to risk coming back as an animal and preferred to just make a new character if a raise dead or resurrection weren't available.

Having never even read the 3e version, I had no idea the animal forms could speak. I also note, having never read the 3.5 version before tonight, that they removed animals from the list.

Yeah even with the animals removed from the 3.5 version, when I played a Druid last, I was thrilled to get reincarnate at level 7. But very quickly I found nobody wanted to take me up on the offer. Even NPC's who died would rather stay dead apparently then risk coming back as something weird!

Like there was this town we saved from a goblin attack, but in the fight, the beloved town priest died. Out of pocket I reincarnated him, he came back as a half-orc, and suddenly he was upset and the townsfolk treated him like a pariah- a little girl even cried seeing him!

When we later came upon an elven merchant who had died, I had the party Cleric use speak with dead to see if she'd like to come back to life- I was thinking, hey, we could get a cool contact out of this or something! Nope, hard pass.

I decided to pretend the spell was not on my list and never bring it up again.

 

[Hussar]

I've had a number of cases of Terminal Campaign Failure, but I can only think of one where it was because of excess planned campaign length, and that was because of systemic failures in the Dragon Age RPG that progressively kicked in at and above level six. I've absolutely had ones from me rushing things, however.

Again, just to be perfectly clear - campaign length and pacing is the solution, not the problem.