Reincarnation

Reincarnation enables players to leverage their existing progress with one of their current Player Characters, and allows players to change certain decisions made in that character's advancement, like a respec, in the case of Lesser Reincarnation or Epic Reincarnation, or to create a more powerful hero, in the case of True Reincarnation.

All reincarnated characters will retain the name and items from the previous character incarnation. Characters go through the Character Creation Menu, as when they started, and then they go on to a flying ship. There they speak to a historian, and go through a menu for their changes. If they are changing their classes (Lesser Heart +1, etc.), they have to immediately make that selection as they level up, or else they are stuck with their previous classes. Then they can level up to their current status. If the character is performing a True Reincarnation or Epic Reincarnation the will acquire a Past Life feat.

Since update 11, experience, guild experience, crafting experience, loot boost potions carry over through reincarnation.

How To Reincarnate
In order to reincarnate, you'll need to speak with Life-Shaper in the Halls of Heroes. He requires a certain type of "Heart of Wood" in order to reincarnate. The NPC Kruz the Reincarnation Trainer in House Jorasco has been discontinued as of Update 20, but his replacement will send you to the right place.

How to get a Heart of the Wood

 * All Hearts of Wood can be purchased in the DDO Store.
 * A +0 Heart of the Wood is given to every character on first login once.
 * Heroic True Hearts of Wood for Heroic True Reincarnation can be earned by trading Token of the Twelve.
 * Iconic True and Epic Hearts of Wood can be earned by trading Commendation of Valor.

Limitations for Lesser Reincarnation

 * You can only use lesser reincarnate once every 3 days.
 * You can only change as many classes as the Hearts of the Wood bonus level. So a +1 Heart of the Wood allows to remove one single class or swap it for another one.
 * You can never have more than 3 classes total combined, adding together your previous and new classes. So a Cleric/Rogue cannot become a Fighter/Wizard, because that would exceed the limit (2 previous + 2 new classes). He could however for example become a Cleric/Wizard, Cleric/Rogue/Fighter or a pure Bard, as none of these combinations exceed the 3 classes limit. This limit only applies during the actual reincarnation level-up, once you are done with that, only your current classes are relevant for further level-ups. So for example if you turn a Cleric/Rogue into a Cleric/Fighter, you can then, once the reincarnation process is completely over, earn enough XP for the next level and then select for example Wizard as a third class.
 * As a direct result of the 3 classes limit, a multi-classed character that already has 3 classes, can only select classes from his previous life during reincarnation. So a Cleric/Fighter/Wizard can select any combination of Cleric, Fighter and/or Wizard during reincarnation, but no other class.

Process of Lesser Reincarnation
Once the Life-Shaper has accepted your request for Reincarnation, that character will have a button on the login screen saying "Reincarnate". You need to log out to use it. If you click on that button, you are required to enter the character's name once again, then the standard process for creating a new character is started, except that depending on the item you have used to reincarnate, you cannot change certain features. Those will either be skipped, or you receive an error message.

Once you have re-created your character, it will appear as a standard freshly created character in rags on the login screen, but if you log in, you will appear in a special area, floating in space, with only a single NPC for you to talk to. There is no way to leave this place other than by completing the reincarnation process, and as there is no bank and no mail-box, you cannot transfer equipment until you are done reincarnating. All your previous equipment will be undressed and placed into your inventory if there is enough space, otherwise it will be placed into a special reincarnation bag-pack. It is recommended to ensure that you have enough free space beforehand.

The next steps are very similar to the process of creating a new level 4 or level 7 character, except that once you talk to the NPC your previous XP will be restored, so that you are exactly at the same value as before. During the process you can either tell the NPC that you follow your previous path (your previous class), or, if you used a +X Heart of the Wood, that you follow a different path (different class). You can select your class on each level, but you cannot exceed the limit of 3 classes. In addition you make selections for skills, feats and attributes per level as if you were leveling at the appropriate class trainer. Once you are done leveling up, you are given the option to distribute your action points on Enhancements, however this can be done later as well.

Only if you have completed the entire process, you can speak to the NPC again to leave the place. A portal will open that transports you to the Halls of Heroes.

Quick summary
1 - Wizards and Artificers will keep their spell books. They will not be able to select new/different spells leveling up, any additional spells desired will need to be learned through scrolls. All other spell casting classes will get to re-select spells. There is an exception for True Reincarnation - spell books will be fully reset if you TR.

2 - Due to Drow racial inherent stat bonuses, reincarnations into Drow will only yield 30 point builds on first reincarnation (32 on 2nd or higher). Note: The 28→32 point upgrade will only happen if you have unlocked 32 point builds through favor or the DDO store.

Developer quote

 * Recent update notes: This now applies to all forms of reincarnation. +4 tomes will apply at level 15 and +5 tomes will apply at level 19. See Tomes for more information.