Clone

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• Level: 8
• School: Necromancy
• Class: Wizard
• Casting Time: 1 hour
• Range: Touch
• Components: V, S, M (a diamond worth 1,000+ GP, which the spell consumes, and a sealable vessel worth 2,000+ GP that is large enough to hold the creature being cloned)
• Duration: Instantaneous

You touch a creature or at least 1 cubic inch of its flesh. An inert duplicate of that creature forms inside the vessel used in the spell's casting and finishes growing after 120 days; you choose whether the finished clone is the same age as the creature or younger. The clone remains inert and endures indefinitely while its vessel remains undisturbed.

If the original creature dies, the creature's soul enters the clone if the soul is free and willing to return. The clone physically matures to the chosen age over the course of the next 2d4 hours, and then the soul enters it. If the target's soul isn't free or doesn't want to return, the spell fails. If the spell fails, the clone dies.

Once a creature's soul enters a clone, the original body becomes inert matter and cannot thereafter be restored to life, since the creature's soul is elsewhere.

Tactical Usage

Ultimate Contingency: Clone provides the ultimate safety net against character death, creating a backup body that ensures continuity even after total destruction. This 8th-level necromancy spell excels at long-term character preservation and campaign continuity.

Optimal Timing: Best cast during safe downtime periods when you have secure facilities and the substantial resources required. Plan 120 days ahead for clone maturation.

Resource Management: Uses an 8th-level spell slot - available from character level 15+. Requires expensive components (3,000+ GP total) making this a significant investment.

Target Selection: Typically cast on yourself or essential party members whose loss would severely impact the campaign or party effectiveness.

Spell Combinations

Synergistic Spells:

• Demiplane: Secure storage location for clone vessels away from potential threats
• Guards and Wards: Protect clone storage facilities from intrusion or sabotage
• Nondetection: Hide clone locations from divination magic

Class Feature Interactions:

• Simulacrum: Combine with clone for multiple backup options (though simulacrum has limitations)
• Contingency: Set up automatic protections for clone storage areas
• Spell Storing Items: Create multiple clones over time with item-based casting

Multi-Caster Coordination: Party wizards can create mutual clones, ensuring no single character loss ends critical party capabilities.

Material Component Details

Component Acquisition: Diamond worth 1,000+ GP (consumed) plus vessel worth 2,000+ GP. Requires wealthy contacts or major treasure acquisition.

Component Handling: Vessel must remain undisturbed for 120+ days. Consider multiple secure locations and protective measures.

Roleplay Opportunities: Acquiring expensive components connects to wealthy patrons, major heists, or campaign rewards for significant achievements.

Economic Considerations: 3,000+ GP investment represents major financial commitment. Plan resource allocation carefully for this ultimate insurance policy.

Creator Notes

Encounter Balancing: Essentially provides character resurrection insurance. Consider how this affects death consequences and dramatic tension in your campaign.

NPC Usage: Major villains or important NPCs might have clones, creating recurring threats or surprising returns after apparent death.

Environmental Considerations: Clone storage requires secure, stable locations. Political upheaval, natural disasters, or magical interference can threaten vessels.

Campaign Integration: Clone facilities can become adventure locations, targets for enemies, or sources of ethical dilemmas about identity and consciousness.

Environmental Interactions

Terrain Effects: Underground vaults, pocket dimensions, or extraplanar storage provide optimal security for clone vessels.

Weather Influence: Climate-controlled environments prevent vessel degradation. Extreme temperatures or magical weather could threaten clone stability.

Structural Interactions: Requires permanent, secure facilities with protection against earthquakes, floods, or magical disasters.

Elemental Interactions: Antimagic fields could disrupt clone development. Planar travel might separate souls from clone vessels across dimensions.

Common Rulings & Clarifications

Timing Questions: 120-day maturation period requires long-term planning. Clone ages to chosen maturity level over 2d4 hours after soul transfer.

Target Limitations: Requires fresh flesh (within reason). Soul must be free and willing - no forcing unwilling souls into clone bodies.

Duration Interactions: Clone remains indefinitely until soul transfer occurs. Original body becomes inert matter after successful soul transfer.

Mechanical Interactions: Only one active clone per creature. New clone casting destroys previous inert clone. Soul transfer requires willing participation.

Alternative Applications

Non-Combat Uses: Preserve important historical figures, create backup bodies for dangerous magical experiments, or ensure continuity of crucial bloodlines.

Social Encounters: Ethical debates about identity, consciousness, and the nature of the soul. Legal questions about clone inheritance or responsibility.

Exploration Applications: Create "base camp" bodies for extraplanar exploration where return might be impossible or extremely dangerous.

Utility Functions: Research applications for studying aging, disease progression, or magical effects on living tissue.

Related Spells

Same School: Other necromancy spells like resurrection (7th level immediate restoration), true resurrection (9th level ultimate restoration), revivify (3rd level quick revival).

Similar Effects: Wish (9th level alternative resurrection), reincarnate (5th level druid resurrection with body change).

Progression Options: Gentle repose (2nd level corpse preservation), raise dead (5th level standard resurrection), resurrection (7th level advanced restoration).

Complementary Magic: Demiplane (secure storage), contingency (automatic protections), guards and wards (facility security).

Scaling Analysis

Level Progression: Available only at highest character levels (15+). Represents ultimate magical achievement in life preservation.

Upcast Benefits: No improvement from higher spell slots. The 8th-level version provides the complete effect.

Campaign Phases: End-game spell for epic-level campaigns where character death consequences need mitigation for story continuity.

Comparative Value: Extremely valuable for character preservation but competes with other 8th-level slots for world-changing magic.

Narrative Flavor

Casting Description: Arcane energies infuse the vessel with life essence while diamond dust dissolves into pure creative force, beginning the miraculous growth process.

Effect Manifestation: The clone develops slowly within its vessel, beginning as organic matter and gradually taking recognizable form over the maturation period.

Personal Style: Different casters might create clones with subtle variations reflecting their magical traditions or philosophical approaches to life and death.

World Integration: Represents the pinnacle of life magic, available only to the most powerful wizards and associated with questions of identity, mortality, and the nature of consciousness.

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