D&D 5E reincarnate

[pukunui]

Hi all,

In both of my most recent D&D sessions, I've had a PC die only to be reincarnated. In my homebrew campaign, the dwarf fighter got reincarnated as a half-orc, while in my Tyranny of Dragons campaign, the high elf rogue got reincarnated as a half-elf.

In both instances, I was not entirely happy with the wholesale replacement of one set of traits for another. I think this is mainly because 5e races come with a mix of innate and learned traits. The description of reincarnate states that the creature "recalls its former life and experiences ... [but] changes its racial traits accordingly."

So when the dwarf became a half-orc, it made sense that his ability scores would change and that he'd lose things like Stonecunning and Dwarven Resilience and gain things like Menacing and Relentless Endurance instead, since those traits are fairly innate. However, it didn't make sense to me that he'd lose his proficiency with smith's tools and become fluent in Orcish (while simultaneously losing the ability to speak Dwarvish), since those traits seem more like things he'd have gained from experience (he learned to use smith's tools and speak Dwarvish because he was raised by dwarves in a dwarf clan, not merely because he *is* a dwarf). In this case, I ruled that the PC retained his proficiency with smith's tools and the Dwarvish language but did not automatically gain the ability to speak Orcish. (Ordinarily, the loss of his weapon and armor training traits would've irked me too, but since the PC is a fighter, he technically didn't lose anything at all.)


In the case of the elf, I did go with the wholesale swap, mainly because my Tyranny of Dragons players are still fairly new to the game, and I don't want to overcomplicate things for them. Plus, the decent amount of overlap between the high elf and the half-elf meant that his stats were only minimally affected. He ended up losing Trance, 1 point from his Dex score, and his free cantrip, while gaining another skill and a +2 to Charisma. I think it's a bit weird that he'd lose the cantrip and suddenly gain another skill - for the same reasons as stated above - but this time I just rolled with it, even though it didn't sit all that well with me.


How do you guys feel about the wholesale swapping of racial traits via reincarnate? Are you cool with it? Do you think the spell should be changed to only swap innate racial traits and not ones that are learned? Do you think it's more an issue with the way the game handles race than the way the spell itself is worded?

Lemme know what you think!

Cheers,
Jonathan

 

[Roger]

It's not really a big enough issue for me to get too excited either way. If a dwarf-into-half-orc wants to swap languages, or not, that's fine.

It's not like the good old days when your wizard came back as a badger.



Cheers,
Roger

 

[discosoc]

At least you can use the spell. My players get upset, throw fits, or even start packing up dice and books mid-fight, if they die or if the fight looks like it might be tough. Kind of annoying.

 

[pukunui]

Yeesh. How immature.

 

[Eltab]

This sounds like a side-effect of Racial traits including things that are really Cultural traits. Things you have to learn (cantrip, language, tool and skill proficiency) logically would not change.

It could be fun if the new-half-elf tries to stay up late some night (because Trance) and falls asleep despite himself (because no more Trance).
Likewise the half-orc carefully checking a dungeon wall "It ought to be here SOMEWHERE - why can't I feel it ?" but surprises himself by toughing out a mighty blow that should have knocked his former self flat.

 

[AaronOfBarbaria]

I've never had anyone at my table feel that the whole-sale replacement of racial features (both innate and learned) was anything but a "fair enough" trade with getting an adult body, rather than a more standard reincarnation where their soul inhabits some nearby child as it forms within the womb.

I personally take a stance of "this works better for game-play, so that's what I'm sticking with", but if I had players that wanted a more representative method of trait adjustment, I'd not be opposed to breaking down each racial feature into innate and learned and having the character keep anything learned from their original race while trading out anything innate of the old for that of the new.

 

[pukunui]

My players didn't have any issues with it. It's just me. And I'm the DM.

 

[possessedbyfiredemon]

This came up recently in my last campaign, the player in question had a very tropey character as a lothario satyr bard but he was very interesting and the only potential resurrection was a druid on this island they were on so it had to be reincarnation. Yet he only really wanted to come back as a satyr or else he felt the character's soul would reject it.

In my head reincarnation meant something different but I thought about it and came up with a whole ritualistic wake where depending on how much of the deceased there was left and how well the other characters were able to describe the character of the fallen the better the chance he would come back as a satyr or something similar. This ended up being a d100 roll with benefits based on how well they did, over a 100 was returning to a satyr body and 120+ was perfect restoration. This gave the players a sort of control that he previously didn't like about reincarnation and although his eventual roll sucked and he came out as an elf he was happy enough in the end to continue with the character.

In terms of actual mechanics being affected I readjust physical attributes but not mental ones and they keep the languages but not physical traits and vice versa for gaining traits. Hope this adds to peoples idea's on reincarnation

 

[bid]

Likewise the half-orc carefully checking a dungeon wall "It ought to be here SOMEWHERE - why can't I feel it ?"

That's because you're taller, try getting on your knees.

 

[Sword of Spirit]

I'd just stick with the spell as written, and go with the "it's magic" explanation. The spell says you don't remember everything from your former life (proficiencies, I'm looking at you). It also says the spell magically whips up an adult body for you. It makes perfect D&D sense that that body is infused with the essence of elvishness or dwarvishness or whatever.

Remember, it isn't a rebirth, and it isn't a re-body. It's a new hybrid you.