Reincarnate and stats

[Asmo]

Our 4 lvl half orc ranger died last session and was Reincarnated as a gnome.
At creation the player put the " + 2 to One Ability Score" in strength, raising it to 18.
The line "First remove the subject's racial adjustments" is somewhat confusing; is the + 2 str (from when the char was created) removed along with the -2 from the Reincarnate chart, dropping Str to 14?


Asmo

 

[Salthorae]

That is correct!

First you remove their initial Racial Ability Bonus, in this case his Half-Orc +2 to Str so his Str would be 16, then you would find the new race on the table below and apply those modifiers so the Str would drop to 14.

As it says in the spell, based on ability score changes the character may want to multiclass into a new class better suited to the new physical stats.

 

[Ramaster]

Reincarnate is a very tricky spell. It puts players on a hit-or-miss situation... At level 4 your character is severely neutered by the random roll... I would suggest letting him reroll

 

[N'raac]

First off, I'm unclear why he was reincarnated (if that power is available, why was Raise Dead off the table).

However, the alternative may well have been "dead character", so make a new one. One option would be to allow the player to choose to have the newly gnomish character withdraw from the adventuring group as he seeks to come to terms with this major change, and replace him with a new character (just as he presumably would have replaced the character had he simply been killed and remained dead).

 

[Ramaster]

Reincarnate is a level 4 spell, so a Druid 7 can use it. Plus, it is much less expensive (3.000 Gp for the spell and the restorations to remove the negative levels vs 7.000 Gp por raise dead and the restorations)... In some ways, it can be said that Reincarnate is one of the more dangerous spells in the game, since it has a high chance of making a player not interested in the game anymore. It's a mixed blessing

 

[StreamOfTheSky]

Reincarante is also significantly slanted towards being better for a caster. It does not affect mental scores one bit, and assuming you chose race based on boosting your casting stat primarily, reincarnate leaves you with a fair chance of walking away slightly better off than you were before. For a non-caster, however, best case scenario it's likely doing nothing, far more likely worst case scenario...you end up much worse for wear. If Reincarnate were the only raising option for my noncaster...I'd opt to just make a whole new PC.

(I realize rangers get some spells; by caster I mean someone who gets a full CL and a lot of spells; it's their primary role, etc...)

 

[Wycen]

Some people like the randomness of Reincarnate. Others have no choice because their DM either doesn't like the idea of raising dead characters or has restrictions. I'm currently playing a game where the only sanctioned time to raise the dead is during a holiday festival. But because druids populate the land, there is no restriction on Reincarnate. I've also played in games where if you died you brought in a character at 1st level and I'd rather be a gnome than 1st level among-st a group of 7th level PCs. And I never play gnomes.

 

[Asmo]

First off, I'm unclear why he was reincarnated (if that power is available, why was Raise Dead off the table).

I´m running a group through the "Price of Immortality" trilogy (Crypt of the Everflame - Masks of the Living God - City of Golden Death). Before starting City of Golden Death I´m running "Looking Glass Deep" by Mike Mearls, a 4 lvl adventure to push the party to lvl 5.
I´ve placed Looking Glass Deep a couple of days away from Crystalhurst, a small settlement in the woods of Nirmathas. Crystalhurst is ruled by a circle of druids that worries about Razmiran cultist showing interest for Looking Glass Deep. The party is tasked with a mission to investigate what the cult wants with the Deep.
The Ranger was built as a Switch Hitter ( Treantmonk's Guide to Rangers - Pathfinder_OGC ), so the loss of Str is a huge blow. I´ll compensate with drop Cha and add Dex, but I´m unsure if it will be enough. Dex will now be 16.
The player seems happy with roleplaying a gnome, but I´m not sure he understands how radical the changes will be until next session.
Thanks for all the feedback!

Asmo

 

[Asmo]

A question about the magical gear that the gnome ranger has: I guess that his +1 chain shirt, + 1 cloak of resistance will refit with the new form, but what about weapons? I never though of this before: will his +1 composite longbow become a small longbow that deals 1 d6 damage? I´m really not sure about the rules for this.

Asmo

 

[Salthorae]

Hmm, that could be a DM call.

Normally weapons don't resize themselves, but if the player wants to stick with the character you could possibly give him a quest that will shrink the items he wants to keep.

"Bathe the weapons in the waters that flow by a tree inhabited by a Dryad on the 3rd full moon after freeing a pixie from captivity" or something like that.

Or be nice and let the PC find a small +1 longbow for sale in the next town and give him favorable return for his old one.