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Message: <blockquote data-quote="howandwhy99" data-source="post: 5763581" data-attributes="member: 3192">The druids are a major power in my game, but I don't extrapolate reincarnation as you do. I think most people believe in reincarnation as one's spirit being reborn into the world in another body as an infant. This is a huge drawback and bonus. For one, you get to potentially live forever, but you never lose your experience. On the other hand the rest of the party keeps campaigning while you grow up. With a long-lived race this could be a century or more... well past the length of the game for most other PCs as their campaign is limited by natural death and aging.In D&D reincarnation has typically meant coming back as a living creature with all of the abilities one had, say their class abilities and mental scores, but in a different body. It could be the same race, but the body is still significantly different.  What I do is bring characters back without level loss, the same as resurrection, but the new body (minus some of the brain configuration) is not your past one. This new body is by ratio aged to the degree the last was, so the aging and death do not stop being in effect.  Retaining human-like mental abilities also means bodies like a badger are like awakened badgers. It's a huge limitation for tool use and other common PC powers, but PCs may still opt to play it. This gets into playable PC races though.By common reincarnation standards then you come back as an animal with animal intelligence and so on. That may not be desired. Also, see above about how too disparate a PC from the human norm makes engaging with the environment more or less difficult and possibly pushing the challenge of the game outside of the sweet spot.  IOW, most people aren't looking to be sea slugs.Plenty of Druids are around, but they don't have extended lifespans except by reincarnation, randomly, into a long-lived race. As it's a race-specific class they stop being druids if not reincarnated as human (or half-human if half-races like half-elf are treated as such).As normal for me, but their levels are curtailed at the high end of a standard campaign anyways given their class advancement is supernatural and works within a hierarchy.  Other power gain is definitely still possible outside of class ability, but in class druidism is curtailed similar to monks and assassins. (Also like some other classes equipment limits are assessed too, i.e. metal)Druids are probably the most powerful organization in the prime material plane, but then that's their religion's plane of control. The trick is they're true neutral, so they are really simply maintaining balance more than anything.Think of the game Risk. In a 2-player game a 3rd army is placed every turn when troops are initially placed on the board.  First me, then you, then the neutrals. In Risk the neutrals do not attack, but do hold ground. For Druids they align a portion of their force to whichever of the two other alignments (Law or Chaos) is currently weaker. They seek balance and therefore neutrality rather than too much law or too much chaos. In Risk the 3rd army never gains troops for occupying territory or for any other reason. They pretty much only decline. Druids do grow neutral elements, fill in empty spaces, and bolster themselves.Well, the Known World, Mystara, Greyhawk, and lots of D&D settings include druids. Everlasting druids of massive number and level? I don't know of any settings. You should try it and tell us what you think.EDIT:As I mentioned above, I've only taken reincarnation so far as to include some of its common elements, but not all. This is to allow a standard length campaign and to bring players back into one when they opt for reincarnation.</blockquote>

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