Reincarnation – How do you handle it?

[GakToid]

Reincarnation – How do you handle it?

Reincarnation – How do you handle it?

I’ve allowed a player in my campaign to get reincarnated as a badger. I’m not sure if it was a good choice, but it’s been taken care of by natural selection (a pair of hill giants). However, the character plans on getting reincarnated again.

How do people handle ECL races?

In this specific instance, he’s wound up with satyr. I’ve looked at Savage Species, but I don’t believe the information is entirely useful to me (no mental ability adjustments, no racial hit die, etc).

How do people handle starting as a race with mental ability adjustments?

I assume that the statement…
“First eliminate the character’s racial adjustments (since the character is no longer of his or her previous race) and then apply the adjustments found below.”
…only applies to physical abilities. He started out as a Hengeyokai (from OA) that had –2 wisdom. I assume this penalty never goes away.

I’m seriously considering the “or by DM choice” clause and turning him back into Hengeyokai. Of course, this brings us back to the fist question. How do people handle ECL races?

Thanks for your input.

-Gak Toid

 

[Ave Rage]

would like to see the answer to this

Our casters might die soon and I can't wait to tell them that 1. they're a badger and 2. they cant use thier spells XD Need to make sure everything is BTB on it though.

 

[dren]

Reincarnation

I've created my own substitute table, leaving out the obviously difficult to role play creatures like badgers. It also gave me a chance to insert of my own home made races/monsters.

 

[Darklone]

I have my own table as well with kobolds and sooo...

But the players don't use the spell. In the other group, where I play a druidic shaman, the player actually refused to come back as I finally got to try my reincarnate WIMPS!

 

[Ave Rage]

I have my own table as well with kobolds and sooo...

But the players don't use the spell. In the other group, where I play a druidic shaman, the player actually refused to come back as I finally got to try my reincarnate WIMPS!

What a buzz kill. I feel real bad about wanting my team mates to die so I can find out what they'll be brought back as. Reminds me of Zorg from the Fifth Element.

"Life, which you so nobly serve, comes from destruction, disorder, and chaos. Father, by creating a little destruction, I am, in fact, encouraging life! So, in reality, you and I are in the same business!"

Augh, looks like my druid is going to be heading down the nuetral evil route ... .... ....

 

[GakToid]

Reincarnation

Any other thoughts?

I'd like to repeat and expand my initial question:
How do people handle races with a level adjustment? (satyr, pixie, centaur, etc)
How do people handle races that are unusual, but more powerful than the standard PH races? (badger, bear, etc)

Thanks for your input and help. After reading more in Savage Species I think I'm going to allow the player to come back as a satyr, have them loose a level worth of experience, and gain a level adjustment (+2?). I’m not sure about the Pipes(Su) ability, I think I’m not going to allow the player to use it. The only down side is that the character won't level for a LONG LONG time.

Former: 6th level Hengeyokai monk (ECL 7, exp 26500)
Reincarnation: 6th level badger monk (ECL 6, exp 20000)

Former: 7th level Badger monk (ECL 7, exp 25000)
Reincarnation: 6th level Satyr monk (ECL 8, exp 19000, needs exp 36000 for monk level 7)

[NOTE: exp numbers are approximate totals]

Fair?
Unfair?
Somewhat close to the actual rules?
(Yes, we use the house rule that you lose 1 level worth of experience, not back to the beginning of the previous level.)

-Gak Toid

 

[Darklone]

What a buzz kill. I feel real bad about wanting my team mates to die so I can find out what they'll be brought back as. Reminds me of Zorg from the Fifth Element.

This character is... Well. This campaign is a little bit crazy and if there's one thing we can rely on...
It's the death of that particular char at least once per session.

 

[der_kluge]

My house rule for reincarnation:

 Reincarnation is a 5th level spell. In addition, the chart has been modified. Reincarnation does not reduce the PCs level by 1. Nor is the constitution affected. Furthermore, miracle (as well as wish) can restore the PC to their original race.
d% Incarnation........Str.......Dex......Con
01-15 Forest animal......?...........?..........?
16–20 Centaur..............+8........+4.......+4
21–26 Bird.....................0..........+4.......+2
27–33 Elf.......................0..........+2.......–2
34–40 Gnome...............–2..........0........+2
41–47 Dwarf.................0............0........+2
48–54 Halfling..............–2.........+2.........0
55–66 Human...............0............0..........0
67-77 Other humanoid..?............?..........?
78–95 Any Fey..............?.............?..........?
96-100 DM’s Choice.......?.............?..........?

 

[Intrope]

Re: Reincarnation

(Yes, we use the house rule that you lose 1 level worth of experience, not back to the beginning of the previous level.)

-Gak Toid

Actually, the 3.0 rule for level loss is that you end up at the halfway point in your new level, not the beginning of it.

 

[woodelf]

Re: Reincarnation

Any other thoughts?

I'd like to repeat and expand my initial question:
How do people handle races with a level adjustment? (satyr, pixie, centaur, etc)
How do people handle races that are unusual, but more powerful than the standard PH races? (badger, bear, etc)

Thanks for your input and help. After reading more in Savage Species I think I'm going to allow the player to come back as a satyr, have them loose a level worth of experience, and gain a level adjustment (+2?). I’m not sure about the Pipes(Su) ability, I think I’m not going to allow the player to use it. The only down side is that the character won't level for a LONG LONG time.

Fair?
Unfair?
Somewhat close to the actual rules?

-Gak Toid

OK, i can see two good ways to go about this. Discuss which one it will be with your group, or pick one. But i would think the characters wolud know, in general terms, which one is true in their world, so the players should know what's going to happen before they cast the spell (and can thus choose to use Raise Dead, or something).

Option 1:
lose a class level and attendant XP
figure new character level based on ECL
make them spend the XP to go up as normal (that is, if they are ECL 8 and have 20000 XP, it'll cost them 16000 XP to get their next level)
This method works particularly well if there are some entries on the reincarnation table that are clearly inferior to the standard PC races, as well as the superior ones. You get "free" levels if you roll lucky, but the tradeoff is the risk of coming back as, say, a fox--no speaking, no thumbs, etc. BTW, enforce this: if someone is playing a badger, don't let the player tell the other players anything that would require the character to talk.

Option 2:
lose a character level and attendant XP
figure new class level by subtracting off for any ECL adjustment
XP and character level are now in line, so advancement is normal.
This is probably the better method if all of the races you can be reincarnated as are as good as or better than the standard PC races. People choosing reincarnation therefore aren't taking much of a chance, and might end up with significant benefits. The tradeoff for this should be that they don't end up overall more powerful--they lose class abilities to compensate for race abilities.

There's also a "bad" way to do this, IMHO: take the race result off the chart, but then strip out enough advantages from the race to get it down to an ECL 0 race. I think this is the worst of both worlds--you still get the intangible disadvantages of being an unusual race, but not the advantages. Or, not much of either. The character may as well just be their original race.

Whatever you do, don't take away one of the Satyr's cool powers because it's too powerful, and then charge the full ECL for it--if it's a minor power, let him have it, and if it's a major power, it should change the ECL if you remove it.

BTW, are you sure that things like badger are "more powerful"? i'd say giving up talking and thumbs is a pretty huge penalty, even for a monk. And don't forget the lesser unarmed damage for S monks, and the limits on jumping distance until the monk gets to a certain level. And the ability to rage--but not to end the rage until you or your opponent is dead, seems more like a hindrance than a benefit to me.