Reincarnation is one of the options available at the Dark Assembly, at a base cost of 100 Mana. Since Disgaea 3, Generic units have this base cost doubled for each time they have reincarnated, though capped at 999.999 Mana; in Disgaea 7 this cost increase also applies to Unique characters. After paying the base cost, a reincarnation quality must be selected, each with its own additional Mana cost, bonuses and limitations.
When a character reincarnates they lose all their EXP and Mana, and their old level is stored permanently into a counter, gaining with the following effects:
Increased base stats, based on their old stats and the amount of reincarnation levels they have stored (details below).
Generic characters can switch to any class and tier available.
The character keeps any learned Weapon Skills, Spells and non-native Evilities. Unique skills are also kept if reincarnated into the same class.
From Disgaea 3 onwards, Unique characters get a permanent 5% increase to all their Aptitudes, stacking up to 25% bonus(changed to 30% in Disgaea 7). Since Disgaea D2 it also works with Generics, but they only gain 1% if not reincarnating into the same class and tier.
There's 6 quality tiers to reincarnation(the same that appear during character creation), determining the strength of some bonuses. Each class has its own set of Mana costs, with higher qualities costing more Mana.
Quality
Inheritance Rate
Default Bonus Points
Base Stats Increase Cap
D1
D2 to DD2
D5
Good-for-nothing
15%
45%
50%
-5
15
Incompetent
30%
55%
60%
1
20
Average
45%
65%
70%
3
25
Skilled
60%
75%
80%
6
30
Distinguished
80%
85%
90%
8
35
Genius
95%
95%
100%
10
40
Inherited Experience: When characters reincarnate they lose a part of their total Weapon Mastery experience and Skill Level experience, with higher reincarnation qualities decreasing this loss. The new amount depends on the Inheritance Rate and is equal to (CurrentEXP+50)*Rate - 50 in games up to Disgaea D2, and (CurrentEXP+160)*Rate - 160 in Disgaea 5, with level being adjusted to the new total experience. This penalty is not present in Disgaea 7.
Base Stats Increase: All base stats are increased based on what the character's stats were before reincarnating. This increase has a cap per stat, depending on the selected quality. The highest possible increase of 40 is reached by having a value of at least 2.240.000 for HP, and 280.000 for other stats. Note that this bonus is reset with each reincarnation.
Extra Bonus Points: Just like during character creation, the character gets Bonus Points that can be freely distributed to increase any base stat you want. Each quality has a default amount of points, but this number increases depending on the total amount of levels the character has stored, not counting the amount just stored during their latest reincarnation. The maximum increase is 200 extra Bonus Points, reached at 186.000 stored levels. Disgaea 5 removes this cap, making it possible keep gaining points until you can max out every base stat.
Below is a list of the specifics for each game.
Disgaea[]
In this game the process was known as Transmigration(though certain ports did update it to Reincarnation). Characters must be at least Demon Rank 3 to Transmigrate.
Bills that increase Move and Throw are lost upon Transmigrating, and will have to be passed again. Unique Skills are also lost, even when Transmigrating into the same class.
Unlike other games, Humanoid units can't Transmigrate into Monster units, and viceversa. Prinnies, however, serve as a wildcard here, where any class(Humanoid or Monster) can Transmigrate into them and they can Transmigrate into any class as well.
Disgaea 2[]
Two small variants of Reincarnation are also available for this game, both with the added effect of removing the Felonies on a character:
Generic characters have the "Reincarnate as a Prinny" option, which does exactly what the name says.
Unique characters have the "Reincarnate to Atone for Sins" option, which is the same as regular Reincarnation but costs 400 Mana.
Disgaea 3[]
The amount of times a character can visit the Class World is limited depending on their creation/reincarnation quality, recharging with each reincarnation.
The stats gained from Serums do not carry over throughout Reincarnation.
Disgaea 4[]
Similar to Disgaea 3, reincarnation quality limits a character's visits to the Chara World, and they recharge with each reincarnation.
Disgaea D2[]
Unlike older games, the stat-increasing Bills are maintained. Stats absorbed from Land of Carnage enemies also carry over with every reincarnation.
Reincarnation becomes much more useful playing with Rasetsu Mode turned on in the Cheat Shop:
The limit to stored levels is drastically increased, with Bonus Points being able to reach over 1000.
A new Growth Correction is applied to the stats gained from level up. The percentage modifier is (NumberOfReincarnations*0.4)^2, capped at 10000% at 250 reincarnations.
Disgaea 5[]
The stats gained from Revenge Shards and Magic Extracts are not lost by reincarnating.
Despite being able to be removed from the party permanently and renamed similarly to a recruited character, the DLC squad of Prinnies cannot be reincarnated into a different class.
Disgaea 6[]
This game features a variant of the system called Super Reincarnation. Instead of automatic bonuses based on the character's previous stats, Super Reincarnation grants a currency called Karma which is then used to pay for stat increases and other bonuses.
Disgaea 7[]
The stats gained from the Juice Bar are not lost by reincarnating.
