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View Full Version : Reincarnation and Level Adjustment



acclue_lockheart
2009-06-18, 11:53 PM
at the end of a session of 3.5 D&D today, I was dead, and the only available form of resurrection was our druid's reincarnation. Now, my character is undead, so we have to wait to get back to a town to raise me or something, but it made me think...

I have a level adjustment on my character, and it's possible to be reincarnated into many creatures with no LA. So if a creature with, say, LA +4, what would happen to that level adjustment when they're suddenly brought back as a dwarf or something? Do they just have to deal with being severely underpowered and use the rest of the team as a crutch until they can get a wish or miracle to return them to normal, or do the missing levels fill in so they can be on the same page as the rest of the party?

Nohwl
2009-06-19, 12:02 AM
my understanding is that undead are not able to be reincarnated/resurrected.

edit--found it.



Not affected by raise dead and reincarnate spells or abilities. Resurrection and true resurrection can affect undead creatures. These spells turn undead creatures back into the living creatures they were before becoming undead.

Coidzor
2009-06-19, 12:02 AM
Hmm, they lose the LA and the level, most likely.

So yeah... ECL - 5... yorps.... Well, at least you're not a cohort.

Though... that's if Reincarnation works on you and that'll have to be houseruled in. And once that happens, all bets are off about what the DM'll do about your ECL.


With this spell, you bring back a dead creature in another body, provided that its death occurred no more than one week before the casting of the spell and the subject’s soul is free and willing to return. If the subject’s soul is not willing to return, the spell does not work; therefore, a subject that wants to return receives no saving throw.
...
A creature that has been turned into an undead creature or killed by a death effect can’t be returned to life by this spell. Constructs, elementals, outsiders, and undead creatures can’t be reincarnated. The spell cannot bring back a creature who has died of old age.

tyckspoon
2009-06-19, 12:05 AM
I believe the rules would have you be underpowered for probably a session or two, but then the fact that you're four levels under the party would mean you'd be getting much more XP and should catch up to within a level or at most two fairly rapidly.

You should note, however, that Reincarnate is supposed to bring you back as the same Type, and if you have a +4 LA chances are you're not a standard Humanoid. Ideally the DM would take the time to construct a new Reincarnate table for whatever Type the character is, which if done carefully can smooth out the problems of having your LA suddenly changed.

Coidzor
2009-06-19, 12:07 AM
I believe the rules would have you be underpowered for probably a session or two, but then the fact that you're four levels under the party would mean you'd be getting much more XP and should catch up to within a level or at most two fairly rapidly.

You should note, however, that Reincarnate is supposed to bring you back as the same Type, and if you have a +4 LA chances are you're not a standard Humanoid. Ideally the DM would take the time to construct a new Reincarnate table for whatever Type the character is, which if done carefully can smooth out the problems of having your LA suddenly changed.

So, basically, if your DM is allowing this, an alternate table should probably be used...

Sstoopidtallkid
2009-06-19, 12:08 AM
my understanding is that undead are not able to be reincarnated/resurrected.

edit--found it.Yeah, though there's a spell in the SpC that will bring him back as an Undead(which is really wierd).

Tsotha-lanti
2009-06-19, 12:10 AM
Do they just have to deal with being severely underpowered and use the rest of the team as a crutch until they can get a wish or miracle to return them to normal, or do the missing levels fill in so they can be on the same page as the rest of the party?

The beautiful thing about the 3.5 experience rules - often overlooked, although tyckspoon mentioned it already - is that characters gain experience based on their own level. That means that a 6th-level party member gets four times the XP that a 10th-level party member would get for an opponent of CR X.

This means that characters who are behind in levels catch up pretty fast - they require fewer XP to level up, and gain much more. It'll take a while to catch up four levels, but it will happen.

acclue_lockheart
2009-06-19, 12:16 AM
I know that undead can't be rezed with reincarnate, but I was just wondering hypothetically. I hadn't even considered the higher XP gain for being a lower level though. I guess that doesn't make it quite as much of a problem as I percieved, and I guess a new reincarnate table makes more sense as well.

Devils_Advocate
2009-06-19, 11:57 AM
Reincarnate is the metaconcert of spells. It just doesn't contain all of the information necessary to use it. What exactly counts as "associated with the new form"? How are level adjustments and racial hit dice handled? These questions need answers, but the spell description does not provide them.

It also randomly screws with game balance, a la the Deck of Many Things (though not as severely).

I strongly recommend just not using the RAW version. One could try to homebrew a clear, balanced version if one wanted to, I suppose, but that's hardly necessary. Makes more sense to say that druids don't bring back the dead, which goes against the natural order yadda yadda etc.

woodenbandman
2009-06-19, 12:03 PM
Somewhere on my hard drive is a more balanced reincarnation table I compiled. It's almost all LA +0 things, with a few LA monsters thrown in (I believe there are thri-kreen, doppleganger, and lizardfolk on there at least).