The reincarnated elf: do you keep the sleep immunity?

[Piratecat]

Assume you're an elf who has been reincarnated into... oh, I don't know, a centaur.

Which racial bonuses change when you die and get reincarnated as a different race? Some are clearly based on physiology, such as low light vision. Some are clearly societal, such as knowledge of a bow. Any opinions about those inbetween powers such as charm resistance and sleep immunity and only sleeping four hours a night? I'm not sure they're clear-cut.

Thanks!

 

[hong]

Shouldn't this sort of stuff have been caught at the playtest stage?

Things like resistances and 4 hours sleep sound a lot like physiological features to me. I could imagine the occasional human (say) being tough enough to get a +2 bonus against charms, but that would be represented via a feat like Iron Will. Similarly, the occasional human can get by on 4 hours sleep, but for an entire race to do so would be an inherent quality of that race.

 

[novyet]

I would think that those things are biological and inherent to being an elf or whatever race you were originally. So anything like that I think you would lose. The knowledge based abilities like proficiencies I would assume you keep.

 

[Ridley's Cohort]

One could write an entire game supplement on reincarnation. Somehow all that info did not show up in the few paragraphs of the spell description.

IMO game balances suggests you should assume listed racial characteristics are lost when changing races.

OTOH story/poetic consistency suggests some things, such as this, are part of the nature of the soul.

You probably know this, but I will say it case you or someone else doesn't: I am sure this quirky elf feature comes from Tolkien. It is explained in The Simarillion that Elves have spirits that are everlasting. Ilvultar (sp?) gave men souls; the restful sleep of death was his gift to Man. The difference between spirits and souls is reflected in how Elves and Men rest while both living and dead.