Editing Reincarnation (section)

===Purposeful species change===
{{topquote|1=[[Sir Bearington|HEY, THAT GUY'S NOT GUY, HE'S JUST A BEAR!]]... In Full Plate +1... With Two-Handed Sword +1... Standing on his hind legs... What the hell?!<br>'''''You silly boy!''''' I'm one of those "kill monsters" guys, but '''superior'''. What's your problem?|2=Possible exchange after PC changes his species}}
Another possible use is to use Reincarnation to chance species of PC or friendly NPC to desired one. Kill PC, cast Reincarnation on him — repeat, until he is exactly of a needed species. However, not only this borders on amoral, this is very tedious, long, and most things Reincarnation can turn you into are either [seemingly]-unplayable (e.g. non-sapient) or can be taken at chargen (in which case if you want that species, you could just choose to play it without resorting to Reincarnation). However, it allows to reverse the "mess up" use of Reincarnation - unless you happen to be of species not in Reincarnation's list, in which case you need other methods to get your body back.

'''On the second thought'''... Generally, character's mind and memories/experiences/skills/etc stays the same, while racial template gets changed; even in worst-case scenario, Int and Wis levels don't get decreased by more than 4, so you stay sapient. Therefore, you keep your mind even if you get turned into animal or magic creature - like [[Sir Bearington]], but no disguise checks are required. There's 3 problems there: 1) most animals/beasts don't have articulated hands (e.g. claws instead of hands), and therefore can't manipulate objects like weapons (unless they're primates, humanoids, kangaroo, or something like that), 2) most animals/beasts can't walk on 2 legs, and therefore have no spare limbs to hold things (but some can - like bears and primates), 3) most animals/beasts aren't capable of speaking normal language, due to shape of their vocal cords; these problems can be fixed by magic and surgeries (e.g. implanting bear-sized articulated hands instead of default bear claws; or some sort of translator device). But if these problems are fixed (or new body has correct hands and vocal cords), you're now in plus - for now you're big and strong as a bear, with no drawbacks. Magic armor does re-size to whoever is trying to wear it, changing it's size and shape as needed (to the point, what it can change from Tiny Humanoid to Colossal Nonhumanoid and back).

So, after getting repeatedly killed and reincarnated, and then doing things to fix tiny unfortunate side effects (adding fine manipulators, correcting voice box, etc) - you're in '''overall superior body'''. For example: bear, or "dire something". That's before going to magical variants, like dragons and giants. If +15 Str, +2 Dex and +8 Con without changing [[Level Adjustment]] aren't worth dying a few times - than we don't know what is. Then, you get special abilities of a creature you turn into - such as flying, grappling, senses, swimming, altered type/size, speed, natural AC, attack methods, extra HP, and other parameters; so for example, if you turn into bear, you gain Natural Armor, increased HP, boost to senses, good swimming, 2 claw + bite attacks, fast speed, better reach, better grab, scent, are Large Animal (mind stays the same), and some other titbits.

All that boils down to tremendous buff, if you got correct body and can fix side effects. [[Level Adjustment]] stays same, you get lots of pluses and new abilities, drawbacks are non-existent, side effects are either negligible or can be fixed. Probably, this is the reason why "reincarnation into non-humanoid" was removed in later editions. Just do this at home, not in the field

[[TL;DR]]: Raise Dead is for actual reliable resurrection. Reincarnation is when you want to change someone's species - such as yours, or someone else's.

==== Lifespan Increase ====
''Reincarnate'' can also be used to increase lifespan - as the new body is young, and those who died of old age can be Reincarnated. [https://rpg.stackexchange.com/questions/153906/what-magic-extends-life-or-grants-immortality ''Clone'' may be preferable on higher levels], as it doesn't mess up your race.

==== No Fun Allowed ====
# In some editions, it's flat-out impossible to Reincarnate into something other than normal humanoid. Therefore, it's both not useful to you ''and'' not harmful to BBEG - basically useless.
## In 5e, it works only on humanoid, and can turn only into basic humanoid you start the game as.
## In Pathfinder and 3.5e, it only turns creature into same type. Humanoid into humanoid, beast into beast, dragon into dragon, etc. There are lizardfolk/troglodyte, but they aren't that good; all actually considerable variants (e.g. were-creatures) are in the "Other", what is only on roll of 100 and is up to GM's choice (aka he can choose to not give any kind of robust species to you).
# In Pathfinder, 3e and 3.5e being resurrected with Reincarnation gives 1 negative level, as per being resurrected. Due to randomness of ''Reincarnate'', you need to use it multiple times to get what you want; cue dying multiple times, and loosing levels multiple times. It's simply not worth it.
# "The reincarnated character does gain any powers or abilities associated with his new form. A humanoid reincarnated into an animal body can speak the languages it formerly knew and is a magical beast.". There's no explanation for what powers and abilities mean - ergo, how many useful traits of bear you would have (other than altered Str, Dex and Con), if you got turned into bear. Cue that being up to GM.

[[TL;DR]]: If we had spell what changes creature's species without dying ''into what caster chooses'', it would be funny. Druid spell ''what properly resurrects someone'', it would be useful. But they tried to mix those ideas, and that resulted in useless pile of kludge.