Reincarnate = immortality?

[0-hr]

the magic of the (Reincarnate) spell creates an entirely new young adult body for the soul to inhabit

Does this reset the aging clock?

 

[jaelis]

As written, yes. But I would guess that reincarnate has a lot more variation in how it is played than most spells. (In other words, ask your DM.)

(Do also note that you can't reincarnate a creature that died of old age.)

 

[Corsair]

Which means if you are about to die of old age, find a trustworthy druid friend (or someone with high UMD and a scroll) to off you and reincarnate you before you die of old age.

 

[blargney the second]

House Rule: anyone that dies voluntarily can't be brought back from death.

 

[Corsair]

Well you're certainly no fun at all. What is wrong with someone dreaming up schemes of immortality? Perhaps they hire the PCs to procure fifty scrolls of reincarnate (in a world where druids are rare). Or maybe the bad guy tries to blackmail the local 7th level druid, and Mr. Druid calls the PCs for help. Maybe there is a Marut stomping around town trying to kill the local super nice town elder (who has been abusing this magic for generations) and now the town hires the PCs to stop the creature.

This smells like plot hooks galore!

 

[StreamOfTheSky]

They're also still taking the level loss each time they die, unless they use that spell from Spell Compendium (Last Breath?).

 

[Hypersmurf]

It doesn't appear to be the age of the body that's the determining factor in when a creature dies of old age, though.

With Reincarnate, if you're Venerable when you die and then get reincarnated into a young adult body, you retain your Int, Wis, and Cha scores... which include bonuses for being Venerable. Your body may be young, but your mind and soul are not.

The Timeless Body class feature stop you from incurring penalties to physical scores; your body stops aging, while your mind and soul do not. And when your 'time is up', you die, despite being in a body that isn't aging.

I'd apply the same logic to Reincarnate. If someone is 'scheduled' to die of old age at 100, and they get Reincarnated into a 21 year old body when they're 98, then two years later they die of old age in a 23 year old body - their soul has worn out.

-Hyp.

 

[Corsair]

Because you too are unfun, and playing in a wrongbad way.

 

[Jack Simth]

It doesn't appear to be the age of the body that's the determining factor in when a creature dies of old age, though.

With Reincarnate, if you're Venerable when you die and then get reincarnated into a young adult body, you retain your Int, Wis, and Cha scores... which include bonuses for being Venerable. Your body may be young, but your mind and soul are not.

The Timeless Body class feature stop you from incurring penalties to physical scores; your body stops aging, while your mind and soul do not. And when your 'time is up', you die, despite being in a body that isn't aging.

I'd apply the same logic to Reincarnate. If someone is 'scheduled' to die of old age at 100, and they get Reincarnated into a 21 year old body when they're 98, then two years later they die of old age in a 23 year old body - their soul has worn out.

-Hyp.

Understandable logic, but that says bad things about an elven soul vs. a human soul....

 

[jaelis]

I'd apply the same logic to Reincarnate.

I'd have said that, strictly, reincarnate would take away the age mods to your mental scores, on account of you being a young adult now. There's no provision in the rules for separate ages of your body and soul.

If you read it as you suggest, would that mean that if you are ever hit by a magical aging effect, it wouldn't affect when you die? (IE, if you are 30 now, and were going to die at age 90, but get aged by 10 years due to some effect, your age of death advances to 100?) Would the age at which your mental score bonus apply similarly change?