Reincarnate = Immortality?

[Moon-Lancer]

thats more of a balance issue. This is shown in EVERY pc thats an elf. They must be the fastest leveling eves on the planet!!!!!! Does anyone explain how these super elves level so fast and are as smart and quick learning as the other party memebers? No, that fact seems to be glossed over and never comes up. no its really not that, its just balance. the flavor is still the same where a elf 200 years older then a human is really 200 years wiser, its just the balance just gets it clogged up but keeps the game fair.

 

[Falling Icicle]

As far as balance issues, I don't see why this should be of any concern. How many times have one of your player's characters actually died of old age?

Also, reincarnation has some serious drawbacks. Not only do you lose a level, but you can't control what you come back as. Quite a few people would rather die than live on as a Bugbear. You keep much of your past knowledge, but lose much of your identity. You're no longer really the same person you were. That is a higher price for immortality than many would be willing to pay.

 

[Drowbane]

Monks and Druids never stop aging. Their age never gets reset. They just don't look old. They become the Dick Clarks of D&D.

Freshly reincarnated characters get new bodies. Physical age penalties go away. Mental age bonuses stay. You have the wisdom of the ages, and a brand new body to abuse them with.

It's either, "Wow grandpa, you look 20 even though you're 100 and have one foot in the grave," or "Wow grandpa, you don't just look 20, you really are 20.

You had me up until "Dick Clark"... he is clearly a Lich and we're considering Necromantic effects here.

 

[Falling Icicle]

Via Timeless Body, you can die of old age when your body is still that of a young adult. Reincarnate doesn't make your spirit young again - you retain your memories, etc. If you'd gained increases to mental abilities through aging before being reincarnated, you would retain those increases in your new body.

So why should Reincarnate's 'old creature in a young body' behave differently to Timeless Body's 'old creature in a young body'?

-Hyp.

So according to you, a creature's life span is based not on its physical body, but on its soul? So Elves live so much longer than Humans because they have stronger souls?

Sorry, I'm just not buying it. It's not the spirit that grows old and dies, it's the body.

 

[lukelightning]

I have no problem with PC immortality. It's not like PCs die from old age. They die from old dragons.

 

[Wolfwood2]

I don't like the idea of Reincarnation as a path to immortality, therefore I am going to stubbornly interpret the rules as not allowing it and discount any evidence it is allowed up to, "WotC has issued an explicit statement saying it's allowed" and even then I'll immediately go, "stupid idea needs a House Rule!"



But coming back as a homoculus would rock. I don't know what prissy-mcFighter is whining about. (Well, other than the lack of genitalia.)

But actually, I think the simplest fix is to change the 'young adult body' portion of the spell and have somebody come back as the same age category as they were when they died.

 

[The Forsaken One]

Getting reincarnated in my games gives you a young and healthy body which "resets" your timer again =].

So yeah, kinda immortal but not for everyone concerning how I run druids and I have some things going with limited wish.

 

[moritheil]

Lukelightning sums it up rather well. The focus of the game is simply not on sitting around and seeing in what order each character keels over due to old age.

 

[Hypersmurf]

So according to you, a creature's life span is based not on its physical body, but on its soul?

According to my understanding of what Timeless Body tells us.

It's not the spirit that grows old and dies, it's the body.

... unless you're a druid or monk?

-Hyp.

 

[lukelightning]

I also have no problem house-ruling that timeless body, etc. do in fact grant immortality.