Karma
Fighter’s got derp face. Also possibly poo brain.
I always thought reincarnate was a slam dunk of spell. For me, it’s the embodiment of the idea that death shouldn’t be permanent, but should have consequences. For the uninitiated, it’s the lowest level come-back-from-the-dead option in 3.X D&D. That means that, if you’re a low level adventurer, every time one of your party gets pounced by a dire lion you’re all tromping out into the woods and finding the closest druid. There, crouched in his big hollowed out tree full of granola and patchouli, you’ll lay your gold on the table, roll on the big chart o’ reincarnations, and pray to whatever deity you hold most dear that you come back as something socially acceptable. (Note that some alternate charts are sillier than others. ‘Anthropomorphic weasel’ indeed. Hmph.)
And can we talk for a second about this gut-punch of a caveate? “It’s possible for the change in the subject’s ability scores to make it difficult for it to pursue its previous character class. If this is the case, the subject is advised to become a multiclass character.” That’s cold, man. Stone cold. The spell itself is telling you to put on your big boy pants (of giant strength) and deal with it.
But I was talking about being a fan of this spell, right? Well here’s why. The very last line of the spell text says, “A wish or a miracle spell can restore a reincarnated character to his or her original form.” Love it. LOVE IT! And I love it because for me, any time a spell description, a bit of monster ecology text, or a throwaway line in a magic item provides a quest hook, I’m rubbing my GM mitts together in glee. This kind of spell gives you a new direction to steer your narrative, a new option for your players to pursue. Your story line veers suddenly into uncharted territory, and that’s good fun…no matter how thoroughly your new body needs a shave.
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I notice a stab-like break in Fighters armor there and a conspicuous lack of Mr Stabby. I sense a tale involving confusion, “kill your friends”, and fighter declaring himself his own best friend that wound up in tragedy.
I wonder if we’ll see more of Druid. Particularly I’ll wonder how Druid and Cleric get along. Of if Druid is consider ditching her current party of Squirrel, Chipmunk, and Bluebird and taking Fighter’s place.
Never fear. There is exactly one of each class in HoH world, and I doubt this is the last druid gag we’ll come up with.
As for Cleric’s relationship to other divine casters, we’ve already got something in the works. All in good time though….
Both of those responses are exactly what I wanted to hear. =D
I feel sorry for Commoner.
me too: https://www.handbookofheroes.com/archives/comic/watch-the-horses
We house rule that you choose +2 mental, +2 physical, -2 any on race mods.
This is to account for the possibility that there may be a much stockier than normal elf in existence, and also that goblin isn’t going to min max in dex as easily…
For Reincarnate, we decided that you reincarnate into a new species with the same “build” as the old one.
The twist we do add is that even if you roll the same race you had before, you still get a new body. Full on Dr. Who regeneration treatment.
It makes for an interesting RP moment when they look in the mirror.
My buddy’s human bard recently reincarnated as a half-elf bard. He says he feels much the same, just prettier. And he takes offense at racial slurs.
“Hey! Not cool, man. ‘Knife-ear’ is our word!”
The version I preferred most was one where your chances of coming back as something were based on what percentage of the whole population of creatures of that type where. In other words, if 50% of the HUMANOIDS in your setting are human, then there’s a 50% chance any humanoid who reincarnates will do so as a human. That’s good if you’re a human hoping to come back to the same body you left, not so great for anyone else.
However, one aspect that rarely gets explored in that this sort of thing can happen to ANYONE. Ever story I see is along the lines of “oh no I’ll need to attend the governor’s dilettante ball as a bugbear!”. What happens, though, if an Orcish shaman accidentally brings the tribe’s warleader back as…and elf! Or a gnome! etc etc etc. I think that’s a real missed opportunity for a story that doesn’t take itself quite as seriously.
Well that’s friggin awesome. I wonder if I can make a reincarnation themed dungeon work…
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/base-classes/witch/hexes-3rd-party-publishers/hexes/grand-hexes/hex-grand-forced-reincarnation-su/
Now your Fighter looks like our Fighter.
So fuzzy. So cute. So murderhobo.
I can almost picture our Fighter giving yours grooming tips. Of course, then he’ll smirk and turn into his human form just to tick yours off. Ours is a bearkin.
I believe from the depths of my heart, that the players should never get their hands on wish spell. You’ll think they’ll wish for their humanity, and they’ll wish for A Deck Of Many Things.
I am a fan of reincarnate, too.
Rare it is for one of my players to risk it. But that time when the fire genasi reincarnated as a (shock, horror, disgust!) human, it was wonderful to see her pour her energies into trying to reattain her glorious demi-elemental state…
If a mechanic is able to translate into a story beat, I’m a happy gamer.
I was looking through the Reincarnate after reading this and now it’s bothering me that beyond the racial bonuses mentioned in the table, Paizo didn’t do much of anything to actually build up bugbears as a player race. Sure, there’s some stuff on their listing in the bestiary that hint at what they SHOULD have, but not much that’s concrete.