D&D 5E The reincarnate table is an interesting thing

[Lanefan]

See, I would disagree with the semantics here:

When my dragonborn paladin died and was reincarnated as a dwarf, he was still Firtina Da'Karsirga. He wasn't suddenly a totally new person with a different story to be told. He was just shorter and beard-ier. He had the same class, memories, goals, flaws, personality, background and friends.

Except he now has completely different stats (or should; Dwarves and D-born don't racial-adjust the same, do they?) and suddenly has to accept not being able to reach anything higher than a coffee table.

Also, I see Reincarnation as also imparting a lot more than just a new body. In effect, you're trading your memories for either a) someone else's or b) none at all; in your case you'd have come back 100% as a Dwarf, either amnesiac (but with a new name and maybe new random class) or with the memories (and class, and name, etc.) of someone else.

The only time this doesn't happen is if you happen to luck out and roll the same race you were before, in which case you just come back as you.

 

[Parmandur]

Obviously the table is entirely optional, and the DM can always pick, and there are alternate tables out there, and so on, but I kind of wonder at how they chose these percentages. Elf being highest works as a call back to Ye Olde Dayes when Elves couldn't be brought back by Raise Dead, but Dwarf and Halfling seem kind of high, especially the latter (not typically a numerous race), and humans seem really low given how common they are.

Dwarves, Elves, Halflings, and Humans form the "Common" Races per the PHB, hence the Tiering of options there.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

Dwarves, Elves, Halflings, and Humans form the "Common" Races per the PHB, hence the Tiering of options there.

Yeah, I'm aware, it just seems a little odd to have Halflings trailing so close behind the rest, when in so many settings they're relatively rare. Especially with humans already less common than elves (!!!).

 

[bedir than]

Yeah, I'm aware, it just seems a little odd to have Halflings trailing so close behind the rest, when in so many settings they're relatively rare. Especially with humans already less common than elves (!!!).

It's not that halflings are rare, it's that halfling adventurers are rare. Why abandon your stove, and pipe, and books, and hearth, and that other pipe, those one pair of shoes that you wear on the solstice...

 

[Ruin Explorer]

It's not that halflings are rare, it's that halfling adventurers are rare. Why abandon your stove, and pipe, and books, and hearth, and that other pipe, those one pair of shoes that you were on the solstice...

I get what you're saying but in most settings Halflings are relatively rare on top of that. They have relatively low population compared to the other three "common" races.

 

[R_J_K75]

I find it more interesting that now you can't come back as a beast.

FWIW here is the AD&D Druid Table:
View attachment 121549
And the AD&D Magic-User table:
View attachment 121550
View attachment 121551
Of course, back then it was a 7th level Druid spell, but only a 6th level Magic-User spell. No a big deal though when you realize both classes got the spell at 12th class level...

Pretty strange design choices here considering many weren't the recommended playable races out of the PHB and got me wondering why they were even included. Only thing I coulf think of was that it was the 70s, but I'm guessing that they were included to keep the option of bringing a character back from the dead a rare occasion. So when someone rolled Faun on the table that was just another way to say time to make another character.

 

[CleverNickName]

I re-write that table in every campaign I run. It doesn't have any kenku, tabaxi, or goliaths on it, after all.

 

[WayOfTheFourElements]

Pretty strange design choices here considering many weren't the recommended playable races out of the PHB and got me wondering why they were even included. Only thing I coulf think of was that it was the 70s, but I'm guessing that they were included to keep the option of bringing a character back from the dead a rare occasion. So when someone rolled Faun on the table that was just another way to say time to make another character.

Because it's fun to have your pretty come back as an ugly goblin.

 

[jmartkdr2]

Except he now has completely different stats (or should; Dwarves and D-born don't racial-adjust the same, do they?) and suddenly has to accept not being able to reach anything higher than a coffee table.

Also, I see Reincarnation as also imparting a lot more than just a new body. In effect, you're trading your memories for either a) someone else's or b) none at all; in your case you'd have come back 100% as a Dwarf, either amnesiac (but with a new name and maybe new random class) or with the memories (and class, and name, etc.) of someone else.

The only time this doesn't happen is if you happen to luck out and roll the same race you were before, in which case you just come back as you.

"Completely different" seems like a strong word choice for up to +/- 2 in up to 2 stats; you'd be pretty dang close in most cases, with potentially no changes in actual modifiers.

Also: you're changing the spell a lot if it imparts new memories etc - which is, of course, fine, but homebrew shouldn't be used to argue a general case. A dm isn't being particularly generous when they don't dramatically nerf or alter spells.

 

[Blue]

Last time I remember using this was AD&D 2nd. We were playing an all-monster party for a change. My centaur druid died, and was reincarnated as a Bullywug. The DM said that Bullywugs were inherently evil (remember: AD&D 2nd time period) and I ended up hopping off and becoming an NPC.