D&D 3.5 spell question(simple I think)

[Thugorp]

O.k. here is the question: Why is the spell Cocoon an 8th. level Druid spell, but Reincarnate is only a 4th. level Druid spell?

[Thugorp]

Just to be clear I don't need a rock-hard(tee-hee) writen in stone, sort of answer here, but like educated guesses or even well reasoned opinions would be welcomed. Thanks :-)

[ericgrau]

For the same reason that true resurrection is a 9th level spell: no level loss. Cocoon + raise dead or resurrection = true resurrection. A spell that's almost as good as true resurrection is fair for an 8th level spell. Or you could use it as a "true reincarnate", also almost as good and fair for an 8th level spell.

In fact resurrection only costs 10,000 gp in diamonds while true resurrection is 25,000 gp in diamonds. Cocoon only costs 250 xp, which isn't nearly enough to make up the difference. The "must have died within 1 round per caster level clause" and making it druid-only are likewise inconveniences that PCs can work with. So I would in fact say cocoon is overpowered. Not because of the spell level but because the xp component is so cheap.

[Thugorp]

but is that really how it works? unless you actually have another spell to cast on the player when they are in the cocoon(in which case you would have to pay for both the dimons and the 250 in g.p), it only acts as a reincarnate a hole week later... right? or am I misreading something?

[stainboy]

Better question is why does Reincarnate still exist. I've always assumed that spell was like the Deck of Many Things. It was a gimmick from a fun (but short) game in the 70's, and it's still in the books for old times sake.

We don't even really know what the spell does. If you come back as a creature with LA, do you get the LA? Do you automatically gain racial HD? Where does the new body appear? What actually happens if you roll '00' on the table? What happens if the target isn't humanoid?

Reincarnate relies almost entirely on Rule 0. I think you're supposed to ignore it unless making up funny random spell effects fits your DMing style.

[Thugorp]

Those are all answered, yes to all of them, if you role 00 then the DM chooses.(thats what the table says)

Reincarnate is there to allow low level parties to bring people back to life, at the risk that from then on they will level much slower due to having a lot of LA and/or racial HD.

Now that that is out of the way... could we get back to my question? or at least try to answer it at the same time as we talk about reincarnate(it does seem like it would be an interesting conversation).

[stainboy]

Simple. Bypassing level loss from resurrection is reserved for very high level spells. Ericgrau already covered it.

I don't mean to sound like I have some grudge against Reincarnate or anything. It's a weird relic from AD&D that never got fully updated to 3e. There's nothing wrong with it, it's just... oddly written.

(And it never does say what happens on a double-aught. I went back and checked.)

[Gnoman]

The SRD omits two words from that table. It should be Other (DM's Choice.) PHB page 270.