So, the complexity inherent in being able to switch bodies and campaigns each and every time you die, in any order, was, besides wanting some validation and a motivation boost after working my ass off on this for a year, the primary pressure that lead me to pushing this into Public Alpha. The sheer NUMBER of possible permutations and variables (what you do in each campaign as each character and in what order) is IMMENSE and in spite of a herculean effort to be thorough, I don't think it's physically possible for me as a single, solo human playtester to encounter everything that can go wrong. And of course, if and when I resume active development and start finishing Investigation B, that will exacerbate the "too many combinations of deaths/checkpoints/reincarnations to playtest" problem considerably.
The Reincarnation behavior is VERY idiosyncratic, so I should spell out how it's supposed to behave. I'm going to focus on
HOW CHECKPOINTS ARE SUPPOSED TO WORK:
Once you've been to CHECKPOINT A1 (EXEUNT THRESHOLD to PARLOR in the Dining Hall of Asylum 1F), when you reincarnate as the Vessel who reached that checkpoint (whether it's the Academic or the Occultist) you will start at that Checkpoint. If you've reached the Checkpoint as the Academic but not the Occultist, for instance, and reincarnate as the Occultist, you will still start at the beginning (Weatherleigh Hotel South aka the start/tutorial area). When returning to this checkpoint, as a rule, anything you accomplished in Investigation A after the first time it was possible to enter this checkpoint will be undone. For instance, when reincarnating to this checkpoint as the Occultist, you will not have the Academic (Prof. Edward Farnsworth) in your party even if you rescued him from the 2nd Floor: you'll need to go add him to your party again.
CHECKPOINT A2 is right at the beginning of Chapter 3, in the side passage going right from the connecting corridor to the Maximum Security ward: this is where you meet Vassago for the first time as the Academic, and is the EXEUNT point to the Blue Velvet Lounge. Again, once a Vessel (Academic or Occultist) has been to this checkpoint, they will start here when you reincarnate into them. And once again, any tasks completed/progress made will be reset to the state they were when you first could have reached this checkpoint (the start of Chapter 3).
SPECIAL NOTE: you don't actually need to enter this checkpoint through the door to activate it, if you have the CREATE GATE spell! If you cast CREATE GATE after reaching Chapter 3, it will zap you to this Checkpoint and unlock it if it hasn't already been unlocked.
CHECKPOINT A3 is the entrance to the Parlor through the Weatherleigh Hotel Bar in Weatherleigh Hotel East (accessible through the Blue Velvet Lounge after disabling the Magnetic Field Generator in the secret area behind the Maximum Security wing on Asylum 2F in Chapter 3) and follows the same rules/logic as the above. CHECKPOINT A4, the final checkpoint in Investigation A, is accessible towards the back of Ward J in Chapter 4.
HOW STAT/SKILL/EQUIPMENT PRESERVATION IS SUPPOSED TO WORK (For The Immortal Shadow)
When you die , you lose 1 level and most of your skills. When you Reincarnate, you gain +50 jp to spend for each level beyond your first. Your AP allotments should persist. HALF of any RESOLVE loss/INTELLECT gain from learning spells should persist (a last minute balance change was made to change this from all to half, because I got tired of Reincarnating in a new Vessel with a starting Resolve score of like 3 because I had stupidly learned like every spell possible as the last Vessel, and thought players would too). Skills learned from the Egyptian Pantheon should not be lost when you die and Reincarnate (if you bought Blessing of Bast through the Learn Skills menu, it will be lost, but if you received it from Bast herself in Egypt, you'll still have it).
When you die, you lose all of your equipment and items. When you reincarnate into a different Vessel, you receive bonus starting cash based on your Reincarnation Count. For Checkpoint A1, for instance, this is Reincarnation Count x $250. If you reincarnate into the SAME Vessel, you receive that bonus cash, plus ADDITIONAL bonus cash based on your level. For Checkpoint A1, for instance, you receive ADD'L bonus cash equal to your Level x $250. So reincarnating into the same Vessel (say a Level 10 Academic) at Checkpoint A1 with say 2 Reincarnations under your belt, you should have bonus cash of $3000 ($250 x 2 Reincarnations + $250 x 10 Levels). This money can be spent at the Bazaar to get you closer to the power level you were at before you died, but also lets you experiment with new items and equipment.
HOW LOOT POINTS AND REINCARNATION ARE SUPPOSED TO INTERACT
Any loot you collect from an area in the same Investigation will NOT respawn when returning to that Investigation (irrespective of Vessel). This is by design. Instead, depending on your Reincarnation Count and some other hidden factors, new, weirder, and better loot may spawn in the previous areas. This is meant to enhance replay value, a concept I think comes into play in EREWHON well before you actually clear the game.