D&D General Reincarnate is and has always been, weird.

[Voadam]

Reincarnate is just weird.

Come back to life but with a random different body. Remake your character but it is sort of still them at heart. Cosmologically weird and kind of has some social ramifications (really, I'm the dead king back, just in a new different species body, trust me).

It started out in OD&D as a 6th-level magic-user only spell.

Reincarnation: A spell to bring a dead character back to life in some other form. The form in which the character is Reincarnated is dependent upon his former alignment (Law, Neutrality or Chaos). Use a random determination on the Character Alignment table, and whatever the result is, the reincarnated character is that creature and must play as it. If he comes back as a man, determine which class, and roll a six-sided die to determine which level in that class, and similarly check level for reincarnation as an elf or dwarf.

So I guess you can come back as a player race or an inhuman monster or even an undead.

Then three supplements into OD&D in Eldritch Wizardry it gets added as a seventh-level druid spell once druids got added as a PC class.

Reincarnation: Similar to the spell of that name used by magic-users but with a bias towards animals.

Which is a bit weird since the closest thing to an animal in the Oe alignment table I see is a unicorn.

This pattern kept up with 6th level MU and 7th-level druid reincarnate spell throughout 1e and 2e, just with some different charts and the circumstance that raising dead spells in AD&D did not work on elves and raising required system shock rolls (in Oe they worked on elves explicitly, though not halflings).

1e MU with specifically humanoid type options
Reincarnation (Necromantic)
Level: 6 Components: V, S, M
Range: Touch Casting Time: 1 turn
Duration: Permanent Saving Throw: None
Area of Effect: Person touched
Explanation/Description: This spell is similar to the seventh level druid spell of the same name (q.v.). It does not require any saving throw for system shock or resurrection survival. The corpse is touched, and a new incarnation of the person will appear in the area in 1 to 6 turns, providing the person has not been dead for longer than 1 day per level of experience of the magic-user. The new incarnation will be:
Die Roll Incarnation
01-05 bugbear
06-11 dwarf
12-18 elf
19-23 gnoll
24-28 gnome
29-33 goblin
34-40 half-elf
41-47 halfling
48-54 haIf-orc
55-59 hobgoblin
60-73 human
74-79 kobold
80-85 orc
86-90 ogre
91-95 ogre mage
96-00 troll
Note: Very good or very evil persons will not be reincarnated as creatures whose general alignment is the opposite. The material components of the spell are a small drum and a drop of blood.

1e druid with a bunch of animals
Reincarnate (Necromantic)
Level: 7 Components: V, S, M
Range: Touch Casting Time: 1 turn
Duration: Permanent Saving Throw: None
Area of Effect: Person touched
Explanation/Description: Druids have the capability of bringing back the dead in another body if death occurred no more than a week before the casting of the spell. The person reincarnated will recall the majority of his or her former life and form, but the class they have, if any, in their new incarnation might be different indeed. Abilities and speech are likewise often changed. The table below gives the reincarnation possibilities of this spell
Die Roll Incarnation
01-03 badger
04-08 bear, black
09-12 bear, brown
13-16 boar, wild
17-19 centaur
20-23 dryad
24-28 eagle
29-31 elf
32-34 faun
35-36 fox
37-40 gnome
41-44 hawk
45-58 human
59-61 lynx
62-64 owl
65-68 pixie
69-70 raccoon
71-75 stag
76-80 wolf
81-85 wolverine
86-00 use magic-user reincarnation table
Any sort of player character can be reincarnated. If an elf, gnome or human is indicated, the character must be created. When the corpse is touched, the new incarnation will appear in the area within 1 to 6 turns. (Cf. sixth level magic-user spell reincarnation.)

For 3e and 5e it became a druid only thing, though dropping to a lower level and switching to humanoid only with the wild card of DM choice.

In 3.5 here is the chart for the 4th level druid spell:

d% Incarnation Str Dex Con
01 Bugbear +4 +2 +2
02–13 Dwarf +0 +0 +2
14–25 Elf +0 +2 –2
26 Gnoll +4 +0 +2
27–38 Gnome –2 +0 +2
39–42 Goblin –2 +2 +0
43–52 Half-elf +0 +0 +0
53–62 Half-orc +2 +0 +0
63–74 Halfling –2 +2 +0
75–89 Human +0 +0 +0
90–93 Kobold –4 +2 –2
94 Lizardfolk +2 +0 +2
95–98 Orc +4 +0 +0
99 Troglodyte +0 –2 +4
100 Other ? ? ? (DM’s choice)

In 5e 24:

Reincarnate
Level 5 Necromancy (Druid)
Casting Time: 1 hour
Range: Touch
Components: V, S, M (rare oils worth 1,000+ GP, which the spell consumes)
Duration: Instantaneous
You touch a dead Humanoid or a piece of one. If the creature has been dead no longer than 10 days, the spell forms a new body for it and calls the soul to enter that body. Roll 1d10 and consult the table below to determine the body’s species, or the GM chooses another playable species.
1d10 Species 1d10 Species
1 Roll again. 6 Goliath
2 Dragonborn 7 Halfling
3 Dwarf 8 Human
4 Elf 9 Orc
5 Gnome 10 Tiefling
The reincarnated creature makes any choices that a species’ description offers, and the creature recalls its former life. It retains the capabilities it had in its original form, except it loses the traits of its previous species and gains the traits of its new one.

 

[saviirkad]

It's a really fun spell to use as a PC on NPCs, especially when you have NPCs that you're not really hostile against but things escalate to a fight to the death in that way D&D is known for. Well we'll bring them back just like, different.

A fun example was when I was sending the PCs into this fey competition, where mortals compete to become the Winter Queen's knight. One of the rivals was a powerful centaur who could shoot arrows the size of spears from extreme ranges very accurately. I set it up by showing this real big bruiser barbarian type earlier on, and then the party finds this guy literally speared to a tree, dead.

They cast reincarnate on him instead of speaking with the dead, and this hulking figure got brought back as a halfling. Needless to say, he was very upset . Very upset, but no outlet to express it on. He can't take it out on the people who literally brought him back to life, after all. He has some honor. So he very frustratedly answered the party's questions and took off with a huff, removing himself from the competition so he could work out the quite literal existential identity crisis he was in.

 

[Stormonu]

If I recall correctly, either the 1E or 2E Deities & Demigods had a "Karma" section in the Indian Mythos section that could affect the results you got for reincarnate.

Mostly, I think the randomness and chance you'd come back in an "unplayable" form was a counterpoint that it didn't need an expensive diamond to cast, so it was a "cheap" downtime spell. As I also recall, in 1E/2E you could only be resurrected so many times (equal to Con?), and had to make system shock/res rolls. Elves also couldn't be resurrected - maybe gnomes too? Reincarnate as far as I remember didn't require that roll and reset your Resurrections back to 0. And if you were an elf, Reincarnate was the only way to get you back.

I do miss the chance to end up coming back in 5E as an animal, though I'd heard many tales in older versions that groups would just slay the PC if they came back as something undesirable until the got the right combination to keep playing.

 

[Voadam]

If I recall correctly, either the 1E or 2E Deities & Demigods had a "Karma" section in the Indian Mythos section that could affect the results you got for reincarnate.

2e Legends & Lore

Optional Rule: Dharma, Karma, and
Reincarnation
Indian society is founded upon the concepts of dharma,
karma, and reincarnation. If you wish to incorporate
these concepts into your campaign, you may want to use
the following optional rules.
A PC's dharma is a combination of character class and
alignment. In order to follow his dharma, a character
must behave according to the alignment guidelines given
in the Player's Handbook. These tenets must be followed
strictly, or the character will suffer a karma penalty (see
below). For example, a Lawful Good character who participated
in the theft of a magic sword would be violating
his dharma, for he would be breaching his duty to respect
the laws of the land.
In addition to alignment, each class carries with it certain
dharmic duties. The duties for the standard AD&D®
character classes are summarized below, but if your campaign
incorporates non-standard or highly specialized
character types, you may have to define your own dharmic
duties:
* * *
Each time a character goes up a level, he receives a point
of karma. In addition, a character who does a truly outstanding
job of role-playing his character according to the
dharma requirements, such as finding a clever way to
meet the conflicting demands of alignment and class
dharma, may receive an additional point of karma (never
more than one per session). If a character significantly violates
his dharma (such as a lawful good character engaging
in theft), he loses a point of karma (there is no limit to the
number of points that may be lost in this way).
After a character's death, the player does not roll up a
new character. Instead, he consults the row matching his
number of karma points on the reincarnation table below,
then rolls 2d6 to see what he comes back as (ascetics modify
their roll by + 2):
karma
points 2d6 roll
2 3-5 6-8 9-11 12
0 slug kobold goblin orc gnoll
3-5 kobold goblin orc gnoll human
6-10 goblin orc gnoll human human
11-15 orc gnoll human human human
16-20 gnoll human human human human
20+ human human human human nirvana
Slug: The character is removed from play and the
player must roll up a new one.
Kobold, goblin, orc, gnoll: The character is reincarnated
as a monster of the type listed. See rules for creating
new PC races in the Dungeon Master's* Guide. The Intelligence,
Wisdom, and Charisma of the old character are
transferred to new one (making any necessary adjustments
for race) and all other scores are rerolled.
Human: The player transfers his old character's Intelligence,
Wisdom, and Charisma to his new character. All
other attribute scores are rerolled. Character begins at
level one in the same class(es) as the previous character.
Human: The player transfers his old Intelligence,
Wisdom, and Charisma to the new character and rerolls
all other attributes. The new character retains the old one's
class(es), but begins at Id4 levels lower than the previous
character.
Human : The player transfers all old ability scores to
the new character, and begins one level lower in the previous
character's class(es).
Human : The player may add 1d4 points to any single
ability score of his old character (to maximum 18), and
then transfer all of the old character's scores to new character.
The new character begins at the same level as the old
one and retains the previous character's class(es).
Nirvana: The character achieves unity with the Brahman
and is retired from play. A completely new character
is generated to replace the old one, but the new character
receives +2 modifier on all of its saving throws.
The reincarnation appears within a day's time, having
only vague memories of his previous life. All karma points
from the previous character are lost, and the new character
starts over at 0 karma. If a raise dead or similar spell is
used on the previous character's body, both the reincarnation
and the old character die and are removed from play.

 

[Voadam]

A lot of D&D cosmologically has you be born, live, die, then go to an afterlife. Sometimes you are turned into an outsider in the afterlife.

Then boom, instant adult reincarnation spell. Are you taking over an existing body with your soul? Are you creating a new random body on the spot?

And it does not really fit Celtic or Hindu reincarnation, it is its own thing and now tied heavily into D&D druidism.

 

[Clint_L]

Reincarnate is just weird.

Yes, that's what I love about it. I just wish the latest version was MORE wierd. I understand why they only want you to be able to come back as a currently playable species (DnDBeyond), but how much cooler would it be if you could come back as a pixie or a medusa or a ghoul, etc.?

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Yes, that's what I love about it. I just wish the latest version was MORE wierd. I understand why they only want you to be able to come back as a currently playable species (DnDBeyond), but how much cooler would it be if you could come back as a pixie or a medusa or a ghoul, etc.?

We had lots of rerolls in the 1E era until we could come back as an ogre mage, which is a grotesquely overpowered "player character race," with the ability to pose as a perfectly normal PHB character.

 

[bedir than]

Yes, that's what I love about it. I just wish the latest version was MORE wierd. I understand why they only want you to be able to come back as a currently playable species (DnDBeyond), but how much cooler would it be if you could come back as a pixie or a medusa or a ghoul, etc.?

I might suggest the roll of 1 rather than be by choice be whatever PC species options the player and/or DM own.
I'm definitely going to replace the non-present species in my world as opening that same door. That would mean any reincarnated PC would be a 1-of-1

 

[sevenbastard]

81-85 wolverine

Yes

and yes

And ok not bad