[3.5] Reincarnate and Lucky 100: Opinions on Standard Reincarnation Table

[Echoes]

The spell description of Reincarnate includes a list of fairly standard humanoid races, and simple enough instructions for how to apply the new race to the creature being resurrected. Then out of nowhere, at the bottom of the table there is this little entry labelled "100 - Other (DMs Choice)", with question marks for stats and absolutely no guidelines for what exactly this improbable outcome means.

I was just wondering... has anyone had experience with rolling a 100 on the standard reincarnation table? What do you feel is the DMs range of available options - is he still limited by humanoid races above and is it supposed to be an unusually powerful or weak race, or just whatever seems most convenient at the time?

[WarKitty]

While I've never done it, I tend to rule that a 100 means the player gets to choose (within reason) what race they want, with the limit that races with LA>+2 are off limits.

[Fhaolan]

100 is my friend. It *luvs* me. :smallsmile:

For some reason, in the various incarnations of D&D I've played in the past 30 years, 'DM's choice' has come up far more often than reasonable. I actually had a player in one game many years ago use a homebrewed 'fate point' system to *force* the DM's choice to be rolled. The players I attract as GM seem to prefer the chaos of the reincarnate spell, and will go out of their way to use it instead of the various resurrect spells.

What I do is try to come up with a couple of appropriate options. Things not currently on the list, but are an expressions of the character's spirit. Which is actually quite tricky as some versions of the spell have quite a range when compared to the 3.5 version.

Then the player and I discuss it briefly to make sure that they're okay with the idea, are up for the challenge, and which of the options I've come up with they'll be able to work with. (Sometimes my impression of the character's spirit means options that might be cool, but the player doesn't want to deal with the side effects.)

Here's the five I remember:

1) Lizardfolk
2) Mongrelfolk
3) Faerie Dragon
4) Squirrel
5) We rolled again, but reversed the character's sex.

[Thiyr]

While I lack experience using reincarnate or getting 100, I do know that I want to use a maximized reincarnate. Because forcing that 100 would be kinda awesome.

[John Campbell]

If anyone in a game I'm running rolls the 100 on the reincarnate table, I'm busting out one of the reincarnate tables from the good editions, where you've got a pretty decent chance of coming back as a badger or something.

[ScionoftheVoid]

Can't remember what he turned into (may have been a Bugbear) but I remember one player wanting to be something in particular and rolling one hundred on the Reincarnate table. Personally I like the DM's choice option, always a nice thing to adjust balance slightly if necessary or create plot points and/or hilarious roleplay if not. We should try to compile one hundred tables of one hundred entries each, for DMs who can't decide on something.

{table=head]Creature|Result
Badger|1-8
Ascomoid|9-10
Dire Badger|11-22
Shrieker|23-24
Snake, Tiny Viper|25-28[/table] The numbers may be off, I haven't watched the animation in some time.

[Urpriest]

Not a situation of rolling 100, but I remember fondly a 3.0 game in which the barbarian had paid a local druid to reincarnate him should he die. The guy was one of the most optimized characters in the group (though we were all very newbish back then so that doesn't mean much), and when he did die we all waited with bated breath to see what he would come back as, whether an amusingly useless small animal or an OP bear or something. Well, I picked up the dice, rolled...and got Human. Yep, he stayed the same race. Whoop de doo.

We still got some interesting RP out of it: apparently his clan has ritual scars to show their success in battle, and his scars were wiped clean by the reincarnation. He immediately went into town and began challenging people to duels to regain his honor.

[nedz]

In a long running 2Ed game I ran, Reincarnate was very common so I've had to do the 00 thing quite a few times.

I look for inspiration, consider:
I Roll twice more on the table for guidance. I am not bound by these rolls, this is just for a hint, though a half elf/dwarf might be fun.:smallbiggrin:
Whats common in their current locale ?
Is there a local deity, what do they like ?

I once had someone come back as a Kenku because the party were visiting a settlement of them at the time.
I gave someone else a winged humanoid form of some description (I can't even remember what that was).
If in doubt a badger or a donkey or whatever takes your fancy.:smallbiggrin:

[Yahzi]

I take it to mean the player gets to choose off the list.

[Deth Muncher]

I take it to mean the player gets to choose off the list.

Pfft, as if. :smalltongue: Think of who WROTE this: the master of sadism, Gary Gygax. He TOTALLY intended the DM to pick, and he TOTALLY intended the DM to pick something terrible and funny for the character.

E. Gary Gygax - Gimping characters for the lulz until the day he died.

Plus, don't believe me? Go look at how many of the old spells and traps were worded with the "You didn't save? You die horribly." or even "Oh, you triggered the trap? YOU DIE HORRIBLY."

[bokodasu]

I wouldn't say the DM is limited at all in his choice; it doesn't say "DM's *reasonable* choice," after all. But I personally wouldn't make it anything weaker than the listed options, and I'd try to pick something related to how the player RP'd his character.

My druid's will specifies that, in the event of her death, she must be reincarnated rather than resurrected, and my DM has already said that his random table includes any animal she's ever used for wildshape. (And maybe just all animals. It hasn't come up yet.) Reincarnation is fun.

[Leon]

My way of ruling it is that the standard tables apples as per normal unless the 100 is rolled, then the dice is rerolled on the 3.0 one where your more likely to end up as a small animal.

This method resulted in a Paladin becoming a badger.

In the game i play in currently my PC almost ended up as a Wolf until i pointed out the DM was looking at the 3.0 table (became a Half Elf - but shortly thereafter became a Werewolf so it was inevitable that wolf was going to come into it somewhere)

[dsmiles]

My way of ruling it is that the standard tables apples as per normal unless the 100 is rolled, then the dice is rerolled on the 3.0 one where your more likely to end up as a small animal.

Similar to that, only I use the 1e table on a 00.