Interesting Reincarnate question > maxminis.com- D&D minis, 4th edition D&D

Subject: Interesting Reincarnate question

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MackeyJ
Underboss

1414 Posts

03/16/2007 1:27 PM
Here's the deal. One of the players characters a dwarven fighter/cleric dies and is reincarnated as a gnome. Can his favored class remain Fighter or does it have to switch to bard? After reading through the reincarnate spell several times as well as the racial traits of the dwarf vs gnome, I'm still seeing both sides of the coin on this one due to some very good arguments either way. I'm thinking we may just have to use our better judgement on this one and find a solution that is agreable to both the player and the DM. I'm thinking of a compromise on this one at a 10% penalty to experience for multiclassing with levels more than 2 levels apart if he chooses to go that route. Here is a bit of the reasoning behind it so far, but I'd still like to hear some more opinions on this one. Reincarnate says to first illiminate the subjects racial adjustments. I noticed they only list Str, dex, and con as abilities to be adjusted and this gets me to thinking that any racial traits that are purely physically dependant clearly will have to change based on the new race. Any prior knowledge that the character had is retained so that explains leaving out Int, wis, and cha from the adjustments to be made. The character does not automatically get the language of the new race, so would he...or would he not get the new favored class? In my opinion a favored class is both a physically and mentally dependant trait. The characters strength and size is now less making it more difficult to perform the tasks of a fighter, but his spirit would still favor it. A character can't have more than one favored class, but could he say which ever is the higher class level out of either fighter OR bard would be his favored class under the circumstances? Or continue with Fighter as favored class with no penalty...or force him to switch to bard as favored class and now have a penalty to xp whenever fighter and cleric are more than 2 apart (even though fighter used to be his favored) or stay with fighter as a somewhat more favorable class but not quite favored anymore at a 10% penalty when muticlassing at more than 2 levels apart? Any input would be greatly appreciated.

John

zenthrus
Commander

4836 Posts

SLC, UT

03/16/2007 2:46 PM
Reincarnate spell states explicitly "since it is no longer of his previous race." No racial characteristics (including favored class) carry over. Logic lost in the pursuit of simplicity (favoring a class seems more cultural than physical...). Now, my ruling if this happened in my games (it never will, we had a gnome reincarnate as a gnome after rolling between 27 and 38 on percentile 4 times in a row) I would allow the character to retain the original favored class. So, in your example the character would be Favored Class: Fighter. I would NOT allow the option of retaining both favored classes (Bard and Fighter). Basically, since I consider favored class to be more cultural than physical it seems logical that it would be retained (much like INT, WIS, CHA) and a new favored class would not be gained (you didn't also gain many years of living within a culture). I would also not give the character the ability to speak Gnomish (again, cultural rather than physically inherent).

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gss_000
Commander

3204 Posts

Baltimore, MD

03/16/2007 2:58 PM
I would say favored classes are as much a function of culture, upbringing, and racial philosophy as anything else. With this as a basis, favored class isn't lost (or gained) becasue you haven't changed the history of the character, just his physical build. So, I'd say whatever was your favored class before stays your favored class, in this case fighter. In your second paragraph, what you dscribe is what happens with humans because they have no favored class. A human could switch back and forth between classes like this, but not the other races.

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