Tabula Rasa – Cloning Guide
Tabula Rasa has a unique game function called cloning. With cloning, you can duplicate your current character, exactly as he/she is with the exception of skill choices. In order to do this, you must acquire cloning points. This functionality allows a player to gain levels to a point and then completely change their skill selection. A common use for this feature is to use the clone point just prior to making a career choice in order to gain both career choices. In order to fully appreciate what you get when you clone, it is important to understand how skill points work as well as career choices.
First skill points, at every level, you gain two skill points and each of the skill “trees” has five levels of skill. So, at level 15 you have gained 28 skill points. However, if you clone, you would have 30 skill points to spend (you don’t get a chance to chose your level 1 skill point application normally). When you advance a skill, you spend points equal to the skill level of your choice. So, if you clone and decide to take Firearms skill, the first one costs one point, the second two points, the third three points, etc.
Next, career choices, at level 5, 15 and 30 you have to chose between two careers within Tabula Rasa. So, when you achieve level 5, you must chose whether you will become a Soldier or a Technician. Let’s say you chose Soldier. At level 15 Soldier, you must make another choice between Commando and Ranger, let’s chose Commando. At level 30, you must chose again for your final choice between Grenadier and Guardian. These are the career choices as you make them. Once you make a career choice, all clones of that character will have made that same choice.
Cloning Reasons
Skill Selection Respecification: In other games, such as the eminently popular World of Warcraft, there are opportunities to “respec” your character allowing you to completely change the way you build some of your optional abilities during the leveling process. In Tabula Rasa this is accomplished by cloning. Basically, when you clone, you copy your character, keeping the attribute and career choices of your original character with the ability to change your appearance (even to the extent of changing the sex of your character) and skill choices.
Career Expansion:
One of the most common uses of cloning is to gain both the potential careers at the point of choice. So, using the example from above, if you have a clone credit when you achieve the experience for level 5, but before you actually chose a career, you could clone and have each of your two, level 5 characters, chose a different career. It is important to note that you must clone before you chose the career in order to have both available. Commonly, most people do not clone at level 5 since it is really fast and easy to get to level 5. However, at level 15, using the example from above, if you clone before you chose Commando, you would then have a clone that would allow you to choose Ranger. At that point, you would have two level 15 characters!
Drawbacks to Cloning
It is important to realize that cloning comes with a price. When you clone a character, the clone comes with virtually no equipment, or rather, equipped as your level 1 character was equipped. Basically, this means you must either plan ahead and save equipment for your new character, or save some money with which to buy equipment at the Military Surplus (the TR Auction House). Additionally, whatever attribute changes you made on your original character are duplicated on your clone.
Clone Credits – How do I get some?
You get clone credits in two ways. First, you gain a clone credit when you achieve the requisite experience for a career choice. Second, you gain a clone credit when you finish the Targets of Opportunity for a specific area, Wilderness, Divide, etc. There may be other ways to gain a clone credit such as missions etc, but I have not found any in game at this point.
What does this mean to me?
I personally think this is an exciting new facet to the MMO genre for a couple reasons.
1.When I reach level 15 with each of my two starters, I suddenly have four level 15 characters. This means if my play style does not match my initial choice down a single career path, I don’t have to start all over at level 1.
2.When I reach level 30 with my four characters, I will have eight level 30 characters representing all the different careers up to that point. This allows me the flexibility, assuming I level all my characters up at approximately the same pace, to play a different version of each of my characters depending on the situation I want to play in. If I am going to solo, I play character one. If I want to group, I play character two. If I want to PvP, I play character three, etc.
All of this comes with price tags. I must level my characters up at approximately the same pace, balancing my playtime between multiple characters. If I chose not to do so, then I will still have two characters at level 30 when I get there and can chose between the two of them as to which I will play each time I log in.
Another added benefit is realized in meta-gaming. The first character you take through the Divide will take longer than the others as you discover as a player where stuff is for the different missions there. The second character or clone, can avoid some of the difficulty you experienced as the first character making leveling and playing easier. For some people this can be an advantage as some folks don’t spend time reading web pages to determine what to avoid and simply experience the game in the fullest the first time through. I recall trying to get to a specific logos in the Wilderness zone and not being able to find it. I wandered about for a while and encountered all kinds of baddies that my character just was not ready for while hunting it down. My second character trying to find the same logos had no such problem, because I knew where it was!
Good luck to you all and don’t forget to use your Clean Slate (Tabula Rasa). Have fun and level fast!
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