Clone (4e Ritual)
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Clone[edit]
A new body for an old mind.
| Level: | 16 | Component Cost: | 500/5,000/50,000 gp, plus a 5,000 gp focus, plus a piece of the target |
|---|---|---|---|
| Category: | Creation | Market Price: | 9,000 gp |
| Time: | 10 minutes | Key Skill: | Heal |
| Duration: | Instantaneous |
This spell creates an inert duplicate of a creature that, if kept safe within an magical laboratory equipped with at least 5,000 gp worth of equipment, will rapidly grow to full size within eight months (see chart below).
| Heal Check | Time until grown |
|---|---|
| 24 or lower | Ritual fails, and half the material components are lost |
| 25-34 | 8 months |
| 35-44 | 4 months |
| 45-54 | 2 months |
| 55 or higher | instant |
Once it has finished growing, if the original individual has been slain, or if the original individual is slain at any point in the future, the individual's soul may transfer to the clone immediately, provided that the soul is free1 and willing2 to return. This effectively creates a perfect replacement with exactly the same capabilities and memories of the original, and can simply be treated as if the original had been raised from the dead, including the death penalty: –1 to all attack rolls, skill checks, saving throws, and ability checks. This penalty fades after the subject reaches three milestones.
The original's physical remains are now considered entirely unaffiliated with the soul in question, and its history is retroactively erased. Rituals and magical effects should treat the remains as if they were uninteresting bits of flesh that came into existence at the moment the soul transferred to the clone. In particular, this will render the "Speak With Dead", and "Raise Dead" rituals useless with regards to these remains.
If the original individual is still alive when the clone is complete, or if the soul is unable or unwilling to return to this body, the clone will slowly rot as if a corpse. After 3 days of rotting, the clone can no longer receive a soul until the "Cure Disease" ritual is successfully cast on the clone with a skill check of 30 or higher, which will fully repair the clone. Either the "Gentle Repose" ritual or freezing temperatures can be used to prevent the clone from rotting.
If the original creature has reached the end of its natural life span (that is, it has died of old age), any cloning attempt fails. Note that this does not prevent cloning creatures that were slain in their youth a very long time ago (assuming the corpse was kept fresh).
To create the duplicate, you must have a piece of flesh and/or blood (not hair, nails, scales, or the like) with a volume of at least 1 cubic inch that was taken from the original creature’s body. The piece of flesh need not be taken from a living creature, but it must have been kept from rotting. The additional material components required to make the clone depend on the tier of the target. Heroic Tier creatures require 500 gp, Paragon Tier creatures require 5,000 gp, and Epic Tier creatures require 50,000 gp worth of materials to create the clone.
Footnotes:
1: Some magical effects trap the soul and thus prevent the clone from working, and the gods can intervene to prevent a soul from journeying back to the realm of the living.
2: Souls are aware of the name, alignment, and patron deity of the person who created the clone, and may choose not to return to life on this basis. The soul is not necessarily aware of the current circumstances the clone is in before entering the clone.
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