Lieutenant Hausler and his clanking legionnaires gathered just beyond the altar while the druids worked their magic on Viazo’s lifeless body. The druids slathered scented oils and thick unguents on the dwarf’s cold skin and beard as they chanted in unison.

Once the ritual concluded, the waiting began. The fallen dwarf’s comrades rested, boredom and exhaustion overriding their worry. When their fallen friend emerged from the druid’s ritual an hour later, the legionnaires were stunned by what stood before them. Though he wore the clothes of Viazo the dwarf, there stood an even shorter creature with the muzzle and ears of a hedgehog and long quills poking through Viazo’s now-baggy tunic.

When Viazo spoke to his friends, they were startled to find his voice had changed as well. He sounded softer and with a slight squeak, though his humor remained as intact as ever. His first words in his new form suited Viazo’s always-prickly demeanor even more perfectly than before the transformation.

“Who wants a hug?”

The reincarnate spell allows druids to bring the dead back to life, albeit in a new, often random, form. When casting reincarnate, the GM can instead roll from the Races of Midgard table below to determine the reincarnated character’s new form.

Racial options below are sourced from Kobold Press’s catalog of publications. Use this key to find the statistics for a particular race. If you don’t have the publication for the option you roll, select the following nearest result, rounding up or down as needed.

MH: Midgard Heroes
MHH: Midgard Heroes Handbook
MPG: Margreve Player’s Guide
SH: Southlands Heroes
SPG: Southlands Player’s Guide
SRD: System Reference Document
ToH: Tome of Heroes
UH: Unlikely Heroes
UPG: Underworld Player’s Guide

Races of Midgard

d100	Race	Source	d100	Race	Source
1–3	Dragonborn	SRD	52	Lizardfolk, Murkscale	SPG
4	Dragonkin, Stone	MH	53	Lizardfolk, Velesborn	SPG
5	Dragonkin, Flame	MH	54	Subek	SPG
6	Dragonkin, Wind	MH	55	Kijani	UH
7	Dragonkin, Wave	MH	56–57	Half-elf (Elfmarked)	SRD
8	Dragonkin, Edjet (Soldier)	MH	58–59	Half-Orc	SRD
9	Erina	MPG	60	Lamia	UH
10	Dust Goblin	UH	61	Ramag	UH, SPG
11	Centaur, Midgard	MH, MHH	62	Trollkin, Night Whisper	MH, MHH
12	Alseid	MH, MPG, ToH	63	Trollkin, Stone Hide	MH, MHH
13–15	Kobold, Midgard	MH, MHH	64	Trollkin, Dark	UPG
16–17	Dwarf, Hill	SRD	65	Trollkin, Southern	SPG
18	Dwarf, Fireforge	ToH	66	Bearfolk, Grizzlehide	MHH
19	Dwarf, Spindrift	ToH	67	Bearfolk, Purifier	MHH
20	Dwarf, Southland	MHH, SPG	68	Tosculi	SH
21	Dwarf (targeted player’s choice)		69	Halfling, Lightfoot	SRD
22–23	Ravenfolk	MH, MHH, SPG	70	Halfling, Courtfolk	ToH
24	Jinnborn, Speaker	UH, SPG	71	Halfling, Hinterfolk	ToH
25	Jinnborn, Shaper	UH, SPG	72	Halfling, Riverfolk	ToH
26	Drow, Delver (Midgard)	UPG, ToH	73	Halfling, Winterfolk	MHH, ToH
27	Drow, Fever-bit (Midgard)	UPG, ToH	74–75	Halfling (targeted player’s choice)
28	Drow, Purified (Midgard)	UPG, ToH	76	Sahuagin	UH
29	Drow, (targeted character’s choice)		77	Catfolk, Basteti	SPG, ToH
30–31	Elf, High	SRD	78	Catfolk, Nkosi	SPG, ToH
32	Elf, Shadow Fey	MH, MHH	79	Minotaur	MH, MHH, SH, SPG, ToH
33	Elf, Dunewalker	ToH	80	Minotaur, Bhain Kwai	ToH
34	Elf,Frostfell	ToH	81	Minotaur, Boghaid	ToH
35–36	Elf, (targeted character’s choice)		82	Minotaur (targeted player’s choice)
37	Derro, Far-touched	UH, UPG, ToH	83	Gnoll, Civilized	SH, SPG
38	Derro, Mutated	UH, UPG, ToH	84	Gnoll, Savage	SH, SPG
39	Derro, Uncorrupted	UPG, ToH	85	Gnoll, Desert	SPG
40	Mushroomfolk, Acid Cap	UPG, ToH	86	Gnoll, Necropolis	SPG
41	Mushroomfolk, Favored	UPG, ToH	87–88	Human	SRD
42	Mushroomfolk, Morel	UPG, ToH	89–90	Human, Kariv	MHH
43	Mushroomfolk (targeted player’s choice)		91–92	Shade	UPG, ToH
44	Satarre	UPG, ToH	93	Ghoul, Darakhul*	MH, MHH, UPG, ToH
45	Ratfolk	MHH	94	Dhampir	MHH, UPG
46	Gnome, Neimheim	MHH	95	Dhampir, Feral	UPG
47	Gnome, Shoal	ToH	96	Piney	MPG
48	Gnome, Wyrd	ToH	97–98	Tiefling	SRD
49	Gnome, (targeted character’s choice)		99	Werelion	SH
50–51	Gnome, Rock	SRD	100	Aasimar	SH

*roll a second time to determine darakhul heritage, ignoring results 91–93. If a result does not have a published heritage option, the GM and player can work together to determine what benefits that new heritage might confer on the darakhul character.

Curses, Lycanthropy, and Life After Death

Some racial options are associated with afflictions and inherited burdens. For someone transformed into a darakhul, shade, werelion, kariv human, derro, or drow, consider that the nature of their racial burdens go beyond heredity. Perhaps the reincarnate went awry or was subverted by another magic source? Maybe spell components were corrupted or substituted with something inferior. Exploring the causes and ramifications of a botched reincarnation can add intrigue.

How might a newly reincarnated character reconcile these challenges? Or, did the character have cultural biases towards the race of their new form? Considering how these internal conflicts affect your characters’ journeys (and your players’ experience) are important steps to keep your game fun while developing a richer experience.

The Gearforged

The gearforged were once living beings whose souls were harnessed in soul gems before being installed in clockwork bodies. The gearforged undergo an esoteric ritual called soulforging (see the Midgard Heroes Handbook) that prepares a humanoid’s soul for clockwork binding. Because of this, gearforged are typically unaffected by the reincarnate spell.

Upcoming Articles

Next time, we will devise a new spell for druids and GMs to play around with. As we continue, we’ll look at how to use the themes of rebirth and past lives to inform narrative and gameplay, create new player options, and craft NPCs with on-theme features and motivations.

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about Sebastian Rombach

We can neither confirm nor deny that Sebastian is actually three raccoons in a trenchcoat. His freelance contributions can be found in Tome of Beasts 2, Tome of Heroes, and more. You can roll dice with him at https://startplaying.games/gm/dontbreakthedm or follow him on Twitter and Instagram @dontbreakthedm.