Clone: Don’t Forget to Backup Your Files

Usable By: Wizard

Spell Level: 8

School: Necromancy

Casting Time: 1 hour

Range: Touch

Duration: Instantaneous

Components: V, S, M (a diamond worth at least 1,000 gp and at least 1 cubic inch of flesh of the creature that is to be cloned, which the spell consumes, and a vessel worth at least 2,000 gp that has a sealable lid and is large enough to old a Medium creature, such as a huge urn, coffin, mud-filled cyst in the ground, or crystal container filled with salt water)

This spell grows an inert duplicate of a living creature as a safeguard against death. This clone forms inside a sealed vessel and grows to full size and maturity after 120 days; you can also choose to have the clone be a younger version of the same creature. It remains inert and endures indefinitely, as long as its vessel remains undisturbed.

At any time after the clone matures, if the original creature dies, its soul transfers to the clone, provided that the soul is free and willing to return. The clone is physically identical to the original and has the same personality, memories, and abilities, but none of the original’s equipment. The original creature’s physical remains, if they still exist, become inert and can’t thereafter be restored to life, since the creature’s soul is elsewhere.

Review by Samuel West, Twitter: @CrierKobold

For 3,000 gold, an hour of casting, and four months of waiting, you can build your own backup self ready for resurrection. In short, clone is an overpriced 1-Up Mushroom, a bank-breaking backup save, an extra life to go in debt over.

The worst part is, clone probably isn't worth it for nearly any player character to take. An easy problem to note here is for less gold, time, and for a lower spell slot level, resurrection magic is readily available.

Clone exists for players who lack access to life granting magic from their allies and lack a means of acquiring it from another source. Players who want to be extra sure that if all their friends die before them they'll live to tell the tale might take it, but even then there are better spells to fulfill that role.

In addition, in order for a player to actually get use out of the clone they pay for, the pace of the game needs to shift from a series of back to back interconnected adventures to larger scope, longer term plannings with adventures becoming the final act in downtime activities spanning months or years.

If you're planning on taking down a big bad in less than a third of the year, you can't get any benefit in that endeavor from your clones. This leaves clone, like many high level spells, feeling like it exists for villains. In this respect, the spell is an excellent option for DMs to work with. You can't just expect to kill a high level wizard once; if they have access to 8th level spells, expect not just one, but multiple hidden clone labs waiting for the worst case scenario.

This creates a Harry Potter like quest to hunt down all the backups and secretly destroy them before the final confrontation. You have to worry about the time frame, avoid detection, and manage to locate and access locations precious to a powerful spellcaster who probably wants you dead, then do it over and over until they’re bankrupt!

While clone feels far too impractical for most players to use, the world building it presents opens up an easy go to quest DMs can lean on to give the players more ways to fight a mustache twirling caster.

I love that it exists; I think it promises a fantasy that can rarely be delivered on to high level wizards makes taking it in the epic tier feel pretty bad. It to me highlights potential value in creating a clear split between spells designed for the players and spells built for antagonists.

If you’re a player, stick with your cleric. If your a DM, torment your players with five back to back villainous monologues, each from a different clone of the same necromancer!

5e Spells

Clone: Don’t Forget to Backup Your Files