The Reincarnated

The forest looked different through her new eyes. The edges were softer, fuzzier, but the shadows were non-existent. The smells had changed as well; the familiar scents brought into such clarity that they were nearly overwhelming. Her hands were thicker, her feet heavier, and her former grace had deserted her. It had taken some getting used to, but she was adjusting, and working the old skills back into her new muscles.

 

A twig snapped, and in a fluid motion she turned and raised her bow, twin arrows nocked. Three of the border wardens stood in the branches, their own bows in hand, staring down at her with the blank expressions of executioners.

 

"Avoril, Shentar," she said, nodding at them. "It is good to see you."

 

The forest wardens' eyes twitched, but they betrayed no other surprise.

 

"How do you know our names, grayskin?" Avoril demanded.

 

"When last our paths crossed, you told me I had the most beautiful eyes in the forest," she said, baring her now much-larger teeth. "You clasped my hand, and told me to be safe. And I told you I would return, one way or another."

 

"Isandra?" Avoril said, her name a whisper. His aim shook, and he lowered the yew, staring at her.

 

"Though I may not look it," she said, slowly letting the tension off her own bowstring. "There is much to tell. I would prefer to do it without another death staring at me, if you would oblige?"

 

It is quite a tale.

Shedding Your Skin

Death is not the end in most of our fantasy games, but when most of us think of characters who have died and been brought back, we tend to think of a resurrection spell. Characters who have been brought back that way fall into The Returned... but the Reincarnated come with their own unique challenges and benefits.

For those who've never had a character subjected to the spell, reincarnation creates a fresh, young adult body for the subject. However, what race that body is will often vary quite widely, which can lead to some... interesting new perspectives.

Please be an elf... please be an elf...

The difficulty with using reincarnation as a way to resurrect a character is that if you wind up with a vastly different race, it might screw up what your character was built to do. A dexterous archer might find themselves trapped in a clumsy body that can no longer use the delicate weapons they once did. A potent sorcerer might find the creature they rise as no longer possesses the same force of personality they did in their old self. And so on, and so forth.

As a storytelling mechanic, however, a reincarnation spell can be a godsend. Particularly if you're looking to play out a particularly unusual tale in an unfamiliar skin.

For example, how would an elf who'd fought orcs for nearly a century react to suddenly finding themselves encased in their gray skin? What lessons would they learn seeing their "enemy" with their guard down, or experiencing the sort of treatment they once participated in from the other side of the coin? How would a goblin, who was held as suspicious and dangerous, react to people suddenly ignoring them because they were resurrected as a halfling? How would they react to losing their darkvision, or no longer being able to eat many of the things they once enjoyed? Would their sense of smell be different? Their sense of hearing? The list goes on and on.

The other useful thing you can do with a character who's been reincarnated is that it allows you to play certain races without the baggage that may normally come with someone raised in particular parts of the world, or who has been part of a certain community. For example, if you wanted to play a goblin, a bugbear, a gnoll, a lizardfolk, a kobold, or even a troglodyte (and that's just off the basic list of potential races), you could have begun life as someone else before dying heroically and being reincarnated as thanks for their service. Maybe someone who was born sickly made a bargain with a spellcaster, asking only for a new chance at a fresh life, and they got what they asked for in a way they didn't expect when the 90-pound human arose as a 300-pound bugbear. There's all sorts of possible story arcs you can play with, here!

And for those who want to have a Dr. Who-ish aspect to their characters, the Reincarnated Druid out of Ultimate Magic allows you to reincarnate over and over again as a class feature, making it particularly difficult to keep you dead for any real length of time.

On that note, you may want to check out my 5 Tips For Playing Better Druids before you take that archetype for a spin. And, as always, if you haven't signed up for my newsletter yet, please take a few moments to do that today!

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That's all for this installment of Unusual Character Concepts. Hopefully this one gave you something to chew over, whether you're a player, or a game master.

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