Homebrew Samsaran Species Details

"It is curious, when dealing with reincarnation magics, to consider how the spirit comes to choose it's new form. Perhaps it is purely down to chance, a roll of the dice on the spectrum of all life's endless forms. Perhaps the spirit seeks to embody an aspect of the self, one which exemplifies certain ideals it seeks to emulate in it's new life.

And once in a blue moon, when the stars align in perfect balance, a spirit may manifest itself a physical body that is a pure reflection of the soul itself, a form which may live on through death and return to life as easily as we pass in and out of an open door"

- Floor Jansen & Marko Hietala, Endless Forms Most Beautiful

Samsarans appear as humans or other humanoid races,  but with pale blue skin, solid white eyes with no pupil or iris, and dark hair. A samsaran’s blood is crystal clear, like the water of a pure mountain spring. Any time a humanoid creature is subjected to the reincarnation spell, there is a small chance that creature may be reborn as a samsaran.

Circle of life

Mysterious humanoids with pale blue flesh and transparent blood like the waters of a trickling brook, samsarans are ancient creatures even in their youth. A samsaran’s life is not a linear progression from birth to death, but rather a circle of birth to death to rebirth. Whenever a samsaran dies, it reincarnates anew as a young samsaran to live a new life. Their past memories remain vague and indistinct—and each new incarnation is as different a creature and personality as a child is to a parent. Samsarans appear similar to other common humanoid races, with dark hair and solid white eyes with no pupils or irises. Skin tones are generally shades of light blue.

Capable of recalling the lessons and failings of their previous incarnations, the samsarans seek to live lives of balance and enlightenment in order to ensure they are reborn upon death to continue their trek through history.

Note: How you implement this rule is up to GM discretion. If using this try to discuss with your GM how they would implement this and what the implications for your character may be when being reborn as a different individual, with potentially wildly varying ideals and alignments despite the shared memories of your previous character. The following should be considered guidelines only.

Innate Reincarnation. When the samsaran's body dies, its soul often perseveres. So long as the body remains relatively intact (avoiding cremation, thorough dismemberment etc.), after 24 hours the corpse appears to fade into the ethereal and the soul reincarnates as a new adolescent samsaran on the same plane of existence, regaining all its hit points. The new samsaran is not the same character - stats must be rerolled & reallocated, alignment and ideals decided, as well as any physical features that may change, although the new character may optionally retain any class levels they acquired previously.

Any sufficiently thorough attempt at destroying the body of the samsaran will force the soul to go to the afterlife and not return. Alternatively, if the samsaran lead an exceptionally pious (Good), heinous (Evil), or harmonious (True Neutral / perfectly balanced) life, they may not reincarnate at all and instead pass on to their respective afterlives.

If a Samsaran's life is cut short by particularly evil or unjust means, the soul may become corrupted with a desire for vengeance, reincarnating as a revenant. In this case, the revenant will only be allowed to return as a samsaran once again if it inhabits the samsaran's original body, this body is not destroyed, and the revenant finishes it's task without succumbing to a great evil in the process.

Cyclical Nature

Samsarans prefer to live simple lives of reflection, scholarship, and worship. They try to live their lives free of the ambitions and greed that mortality often imposes, since they view their lives as only the latest incarnation of many to come. Any accomplishments left undone in this current life can surely be achieved in the next, or the one after that. Samsarans’ memories of their past lives are not complete - they most often feel like half-remembered dreams. Samsarans can give birth, yet they do not give birth to samsarans - instead, they birth human children. Typically, samsarans give up their children not long after birth to be raised in human society, where the children grow and live their lives normally. Upon death, such offspring sometimes reincarnate as samsaran children, if they lived their lives in keeping with harmony. While most samsarans who die also reincarnate as samsaran children, this is not always the case. When a samsaran has utterly failed at maintaining harmony in her current life, or when she has succeeded perfectly at it, their soul instead leaves the material plane to receive its final, long-delayed reward or doom.

Death is an old friend

Those few humans and other races who learn of the samsarans often misunderstand their unearthly nature. Many fear or even hate samsarans' unusual association with death, thinking them to be strangely cursed souls at best or vengeful spirits made flesh at worst. Some may seek to subvert the samsarans' eventual reincarnation or even to exploit and harness their inherent abilities in dark rituals intended to prolong ones life and youth, or in the hopes of learning the secrets of bringing their loved ones back from death.

Those samsarans who grow weary in their cycle of death and rebirth may also sometimes turn to darker forces. Incarnations afraid to pass on to their next life may seek their own means of permanent immortality and eternal youth, so as to never be forced to give up their current personality, memories and physical form. Alternatively, some may become fanatical in their veneration of death, lacking empathy with other races for whom death is so final and permanent. These individuals feel no hesitation in ending a creatures life, seeing it simply as a passing inconvenience, and make ruthless assassins, executioners & death clerics.

Samsaran names

Samsarans do not keep family names, but often retain the names of their previous one or two incarnations, regardless of gender, as a sort of replacement for a family name to honor their previous lives’ accomplishments or to remind them of their past shames. Those samsaran recently reincarnated from another race may simply choose a name from their previous race or culture.

Male Names: Agyen, Bakji, Dakash, Henar, Puran, Sonan, Thukten, Lemar, Oktu

Female Names: Chimi, Mindu, Nalita, Rema, Sonitri, Treeni, Yeshing, Conti, Luma

Samsaran Traits

Your samsaran character has a variety of natural abilities, the result of their connection to the forces of life and death over several incarnations:

Ability Score Increase

Samsarans are insightful and strong-minded, though their bodies tend to be frail. Your Wisdom score increases by 2, and your Intelligence score increases by 1.

Age

Although samsarans reach physical maturity at about the same rate as humans, all but the newly reincarnated samsaran children are reborn at the beginning of young adulthood. Samsarans retain a youthful appearance for over a century, and reach an age in excess of 120 before undergoing a rapid decline, eventually succumbing to their inevitable death and rebirth at around 150 years old.

Alignment

Samsaran can be of any alignment, but tend towards true neutrality in an aim to maintain harmony and balance in their lives, with the hopes that it will lead to them being reincarnated after death. 

Size

Samsaran range from under 5 to over 6 feet tall and have slender builds. Your size is Medium.

Variant: You may decide samsaran in your world may take other forms, resembling other races rather than their typical human appearance. For example you could have a samsaran dwarf or a samsaran lizardfolk. Furthermore it is up to you if they maintain the same racial features after they reincarnate, or whether they randomly change each time as with the reincarnate spell.

In these cases, your size and shape match that of the race you resemble. Otherwise you retain the same stats and abilities, as well as the pale blue skin, white eyes, dark hair and clear blood.

Speed

Your base walking speed is 30 feet.

Ethereal Sight

Your body and soul are one and the same, thus you exist in both the material and ethereal planes as one. You can see into the ethereal plane within 60 feet of you.

Lifebound

Your connection to life and death makes you an expert at resisting the urge to die. You have resistance to necrotic damage, and are immune to effects which cause you to instantly die when reduced to zero hitpoints, such as the death ray of a Beholder or Catoblepas (though you still receive any damage they deal).

When you fail a death saving throw, you may choose to reroll the save. If you do, you must use the second roll. You may do this once per long rest.

Samsaran Magic

You know the spare the dying cantrip. When you reach 3rd level, you can cast comprehend languages once with this trait and regain the ability to do so when you finish a long rest. If you possess 5th level spell slots, you are able to expend a spell slot to cast reincarnate regardless of if it is on your classes spell list, or whether you are able to learn spells at that level. Wisdom is your spellcasting ability for these spells.

Shards of the Past

You retain the skills you possessed in a previous life. You gain proficiency in the following:

- Any one Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma skill
- Any one artisan tool, gaming set or musical instrument
- Any weapon of your choice.

Languages

You can speak, read, and write Common and one other language.