Reincarnate and ECL

[kreynolds]

In one game I play in we ran into a similar problem.

Character was lvl 4 and had a custom template added. ECL+3. Now the Character is ECL 7 but has the EP of a lvl 4 character. So Does he get the Character lvl 6 feat? Will he at his next lvl get his attribute bonus for lvl 8?

Does he have to wait the 40k+ exp till he can lvl?

How was this resolved? Did the DM enforce his ECL or let it slide?

 

[melkoriii]

How was this resolved? Did the DM enforce his ECL or let it slide?

It was enforced but then latter it was a problem and so the template was removed by a high lvl wizard.

 

[Artoomis]

I have to say, once again, that the easiest way to handle this is to simply not allow ECL races in reincarnation.

After all:

...The new incarnation is determined on the following table or by DM choice...

Use the DM's Choice option to choose a non-ECL race - problem solved before it even starts.

If you allow ECL characters, then choose a new race that uses the same ECL. Once again, problem averted.

 

[nharwell]

Although Savage Species is a good book, it is not useful for this situation -- it does not address reincarnation at all. I asked about this on the WOTC boards and Rich Redman (one of the authors) answered:

As explained in Chapter 2, Savage Species deals with monsters that meet certain qualifications (see Choosing a Base Creature, p9; and Difficult Monsters, pp22-23). Animals usually lack communication abilities, and most lack the ability to manipulate humanoid items. Savage Species and the PH both cover a number of ways such animals can become humanoid again (rituals, wish spells, and so forth).

Of course, this really avoids the question as reincarnated PC can speak, etc., ....

 

[Vexed]

I ran into this situation last week. I had a character (also a dwarf) die and get reincarnated and rolled a 00. I decided to do something different by making him a deep gnome. I gave him the option up front however that he would have to make up the ECL levels and I would be treating this as an "experience loan". He was a 14th level fighter. Now by the text of the spell he comes back with all feats, skills, etc. So i couldn't drop him levels as that would be essentially an entirely different character (you still retain some memories, personality, etc.) It is not fair to everyone else to hand him three levels for dying. It is fair that he gets to begin playing an ecl level character at 14th level and make up the exps he would need to catch up to where he would be currently, and after that would begin to advance normally. It would be no different from if he wanted to start out at 1st level as the ecl character. He would still have been behind everyone else in the party all along in that scenario. So its only fair. He chose not to make up the points and decided to go with something on the list. He finally admited as well that it would be unreasonalbe to take a stance that he felt like he was being "screwed" becasue he would have the ecl level, because he would have been cheesing the system by getting the benifits from the ecl class without paying for the xps to get to where he was at.

Everyone in the party agreed (not because they were irritated he was going to be given free experience) but with the idea in general and stated they would have taken the xp loan. I think that is the best way to do it in that scenario.

 

[Pielorinho]

I know it's terrible form to bump one's own posts in a thread, but since we're likely to run up against exactly this situation in tonight's game, I wonder if anyone has any feedback on my idea earlier in this thread? That is, if possible, divide the limits of a +ECL race into several different levels, and a reincarnated creature can choose whether or not to "learn" the benefits of their new form, whether to grow into the new form, by taking one or more species levels in it? Does this seem like a balanced way to handle reincarnation into a +ECL form?

Obviously, it'll work better with some forms than with others: I'm not sure how you'd handle it with something like a brown bear, where the form itself is what provides the benefits. Maybe in the case of a primarily fighting form, you could house-rule a -1 penalty to attacks, AC, and reflex saves for every +1 ECL, which a person can work off by taking levels in the species class?

Daniel