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

[Voadam]

I have vague memories of a fantasy story that had a wizard summon up a demon to bring someone back from the dead and they came back in a new body (a monstrous one? demonic?). I thought it might have been one of the early Gardner Fox fantasy stories in Dragon but going back into my CD archive it does not seem to be the case.

Anybody aware of any instant recincarnate magic in a story that might have inspired the spell?

 

[billd91]

ngl I am fine with reincarnate no longer turning you into things like beasts.

That's just having to go make a new character with extra steps, as the old one is now int 3, unable to use equipment, and the size of a cat.

As evocative of the different approaches to reincarnation having different lists was between wizards and druids, I too am not sad to see beasts removed from the list of reincarnation outcomes. It is much simpler to just stick to creatures that could reasonably be adventurers.

I do like that the spell can create ghouls, wraiths, spectres and mummies, that ought to be the standard.

And I'm definitely happy that undead were ditched from the tables long ago. Seems kind of contrary to the point of reincarnation to come back as undead.

 

[Tonguez]

And I'm definitely happy that undead were ditched from the tables long ago. Seems kind of contrary to the point of reincarnation to come back as undead.

Or an awesome failure option that reinforces that magical reincarnation isnt a convinient reliable crutch that makes death trivial.

Plus some players might consider being undead an upgrade

 

[Frozen_Heart]

That brings up the bigger question - if you reincarnate as a Time Lord, how many incarnations do you have left?

11 after that maybe? As that's technically their first incarnation?

Edit: Oh god it would be mean to a player if you did the time lord thing where they get up seemingly well again in their own body. Give them a day or so to say goodbye before the reincarnation happens.

 

[Voadam]

Edit: Oh god it would be mean to a player if you did the time lord thing where they get up seemingly well again in their own body. Give them a day or so to say goodbye before the reincarnation happens.

Oh, I think that could be fun, have them feel it build inside of them and ask them if they go with it or fight it to extend things just a little longer.

Without a TARDIS or higher level teleporting it is mostly just going to be saying good bye to their immediate companions and getting in a good final word.

 

[Frozen_Heart]

Another random reincarnation thought: If some species in your setting 'think' differently, does this shift the personality of the character who came back? I know a lot of settings have done away with the different sapient species thinking differently, but it did seem to be quite a major part of a certain character's story in Critical Role.

 

[MarkB]

If it truly is a random body, is it also random chance whether you end up the same physical gender as you started?

Just thinking of a plot-twist mystery NPC, you could have someone famous or high-class turn out to be an impersonator who's been using a Hat of Disguise to imitate them. The twist is that they really are who they were pretending to be, but they'd died and been reincarnated, and were using the hat to regain their former appearance.

 

[James Gasik]

If it truly is a random body, is it also random chance whether you end up the same physical gender as you started?

Just thinking of a plot-twist mystery NPC, you could have someone famous or high-class turn out to be an impersonator who's been using a Hat of Disguise to imitate them. The twist is that they really are who they were pretending to be, but they'd died and been reincarnated, and were using the hat to regain their former appearance.

I've encountered DM's who would make gender variable, and other factors like handedness or exceptional hearing/sight (AD&D) mutable as well.

 

[Frozen_Heart]

If it truly is a random body, is it also random chance whether you end up the same physical gender as you started?

Just thinking of a plot-twist mystery NPC, you could have someone famous or high-class turn out to be an impersonator who's been using a Hat of Disguise to imitate them. The twist is that they really are who they were pretending to be, but they'd died and been reincarnated, and were using the hat to regain their former appearance.

oooh that's a really good point actually. Though I feel you'd need a more mature table to handle topics like that.

 

[MarkB]

oooh that's a really good point actually. Though I feel you'd need a more mature table to handle topics like that.

Yeah, if it ever came up I'd leave it up to the player whether they'd even want to consider rolling the dice on something like that.