Segev
2020-01-13, 02:10 PM
Clone creates a duplicate body of a creature from a cubic inch of flesh (can't be hair, nails, or other natural cast-offs, so ow), which immediately rises as that creature if the creature died of non-natural causes and doesn't have its soul tied up somewhere. If the creature is still alive, or the soul is bound someplace, it's inert, but not dead until it starts to rot (which can be prevented with gentle repose and similar effects), and will rise as soon as the creature dies.
A major difference between 3.5 (https://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/clone.htm) and PF (https://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic/all-spells/c/clone/) is that 3.5's version inflicts only one lost level, while PF's version inflicts 2 permanent negative levels. I don't believe there's any means of recovering lost levels, save XP (or possibly a Thought Bottle), but aren't there spells and other effects which remove negative levels? I can't recall off the top of my head what they are, though, if any. In PF, is there a difference between "a (permanent) negative level" and "a lost level?"
Thought bottles are the most obvious exploit, as you can just store your current levle every time you level up in order to recover it if you have to be cloned.
Clone also has advantages over raise dead and resurrection in that it doesn't matter the condition of your original body, and it is like a Contingent Resurrection in that it just waits for you to need it, if you cast it ahead of time. If you didn't cast it ahead of time, of course, you're waiting 2d4 months...and you had better have taken precautions for it ahead of time anyway, because the 1 cubic inch of flesh (ow!) must be taken from the subject's living body.
Interestingly, no damage is listed for taking this sample, so mechanically, you can just say you take one and have no ill effects. I'm hard-pressed to think of an area of the body (maybe the buttocks?) where a cubic inch of flesh could be removed without some serious damage to muscles or even organs, and in any event, it'd hurt and keep hurting until healed. Would a cure spell even work, or are we looking at regeneration to restore that much flesh?
I don't know if clone shares the quality of raise dead, resurrection, true resurrection, and even reincarnation which specifies that the subject knows the alignment of the person calling him back and can use that to decide if he's willing. It does say the spirit must be willing, though; does the spirit know who created the clone? Or if that person still has the clone?
A spirit that starts unwilling might at any time choose to become willing, if the clone body remains a viable choice, too, so there could be delay for some reason. Not sure if that's exploitable or not.
Particularly weirdly, either the piece of flesh is part of the 1,000 gp cost of lab supplies (making one wonder just how much a cubic inch of flesh costs), or it's not a valued (in gp) material component and thus can be argued to be freely in a spell component pouch (haha, as if a DM would let you get away with that) or potentially a valid target for Eschew Materials. That latter is something you may actually have a chance of convincing a DM to allow: it's a metamagic feat that allows the exclusion of material components, after all. Counterarguments would be not entirely RAW-based, but sensible, in terms of asking how you tell the spell what creature to clone if you don't have the sample. It's not like you have the original around to do it with. Additionally, for 3 points of Str, blood money (https://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic/all-spells/b/blood-money) should be able to provide all the material components for clone, which works out okay if you're cloning yourself, but what, again, about anybody else?
(Again, interestingly, blood money gives an actual damage measure for its cost, while a cube of flesh taken from the subject...doesn't.)
Last thoughts, very few metamagics actually work well with clone. Rapid Spell will reduce its casting time to 1 minute, but as an instantaneous spell that deals no damage and has an effect without an area rather than a target, pretty much no others have meaningful application to it. Can't even Chain it, because it doesn't target anything. (Chain Clone creating 16+ clones at a go for the cost of one would be pretty hillarious.) As a necromancy spell, it's not like it being 8th level is even a real show-stopper to applying metamagic; Slaymates' Pale Auras can help there. But there just isn't much that's any good for it that I can think of.
Any fun or funny exploits or uses for clone you guys can think of?
A major difference between 3.5 (https://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/clone.htm) and PF (https://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic/all-spells/c/clone/) is that 3.5's version inflicts only one lost level, while PF's version inflicts 2 permanent negative levels. I don't believe there's any means of recovering lost levels, save XP (or possibly a Thought Bottle), but aren't there spells and other effects which remove negative levels? I can't recall off the top of my head what they are, though, if any. In PF, is there a difference between "a (permanent) negative level" and "a lost level?"
Thought bottles are the most obvious exploit, as you can just store your current levle every time you level up in order to recover it if you have to be cloned.
Clone also has advantages over raise dead and resurrection in that it doesn't matter the condition of your original body, and it is like a Contingent Resurrection in that it just waits for you to need it, if you cast it ahead of time. If you didn't cast it ahead of time, of course, you're waiting 2d4 months...and you had better have taken precautions for it ahead of time anyway, because the 1 cubic inch of flesh (ow!) must be taken from the subject's living body.
Interestingly, no damage is listed for taking this sample, so mechanically, you can just say you take one and have no ill effects. I'm hard-pressed to think of an area of the body (maybe the buttocks?) where a cubic inch of flesh could be removed without some serious damage to muscles or even organs, and in any event, it'd hurt and keep hurting until healed. Would a cure spell even work, or are we looking at regeneration to restore that much flesh?
I don't know if clone shares the quality of raise dead, resurrection, true resurrection, and even reincarnation which specifies that the subject knows the alignment of the person calling him back and can use that to decide if he's willing. It does say the spirit must be willing, though; does the spirit know who created the clone? Or if that person still has the clone?
A spirit that starts unwilling might at any time choose to become willing, if the clone body remains a viable choice, too, so there could be delay for some reason. Not sure if that's exploitable or not.
Particularly weirdly, either the piece of flesh is part of the 1,000 gp cost of lab supplies (making one wonder just how much a cubic inch of flesh costs), or it's not a valued (in gp) material component and thus can be argued to be freely in a spell component pouch (haha, as if a DM would let you get away with that) or potentially a valid target for Eschew Materials. That latter is something you may actually have a chance of convincing a DM to allow: it's a metamagic feat that allows the exclusion of material components, after all. Counterarguments would be not entirely RAW-based, but sensible, in terms of asking how you tell the spell what creature to clone if you don't have the sample. It's not like you have the original around to do it with. Additionally, for 3 points of Str, blood money (https://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic/all-spells/b/blood-money) should be able to provide all the material components for clone, which works out okay if you're cloning yourself, but what, again, about anybody else?
(Again, interestingly, blood money gives an actual damage measure for its cost, while a cube of flesh taken from the subject...doesn't.)
Last thoughts, very few metamagics actually work well with clone. Rapid Spell will reduce its casting time to 1 minute, but as an instantaneous spell that deals no damage and has an effect without an area rather than a target, pretty much no others have meaningful application to it. Can't even Chain it, because it doesn't target anything. (Chain Clone creating 16+ clones at a go for the cost of one would be pretty hillarious.) As a necromancy spell, it's not like it being 8th level is even a real show-stopper to applying metamagic; Slaymates' Pale Auras can help there. But there just isn't much that's any good for it that I can think of.
Any fun or funny exploits or uses for clone you guys can think of?