NTRUEncrypt polynomial $r$ Uniqueness
Does this polynomial have to be unique per message?


Yes, if two messages $m_0, m_1$ were encrypted with the same $r$ (resulting in ciphertexts $c_0, c_1$), we would have:

$$m_0 - m_1 = c_0 - c_1$$

This would allow the attacker to directly rederive many of the bits of $m_0, m_1$ (and it gets a lot worse if more than two messages were encrypted with the same $r$.

In addition, if the attacker recovered one of the messages, he can immediately rederive the other.

Bottom line: don't do it.