The experience of cloning is a shocking one. Intense mental and physical therapy is required to allow the patient to become familiar with the new body. This training starts when the patient leaves the vats. New clone bodies have no neural experience with muscle use - tasks as simple as walking are impossibly difficult. Only the drugs deadening the pain allow exercise at all.
The pain is caused by the complete lack of scars, calluses and physical use of the new body. Every nerve-ending is new and in perfect order; the patient must become used to the pain until wear and familiarity stop the sensation.
Conditioning becomes more strenuous over time, working on strength and coordination recovery. The first month out of the vats has been called "basic4raining with teeth."
Mental therapy is also provided, assisting the patient to adjust to his/her new body. The adjustment becomes easier after the first cloning, but there is still a psychological barrier to be overcome; a shock coming from the lack of familiarity with the body (ranging from lack of muscle response to the sudden disappearance of scars and calluses). Consciously and unconsciously, the new body continually reminds the patient that it is new.
This newness can have serious mental effects on the patient, ranging from frustration-induced rage when the form doesn't respond as mentally predicted to identity crisis (is this really me? Everything's changed!). Practice and therapy are used to move the patient towards acceptance of the new form, with all its perfections (although many would gladly trade it for their old, less-perfect bodies during this time).
Eventually the patients become used to their new forms, confident that they will eventually gain full control of them as they practice. Some clones, endeavoring to make their new forms more familiar, contract for plastic surgery to replace some of their favorite scars and physical landmarks -- many cloning facilities also have plastic-surgery facilities.
Game Effects of Cloning
The Hospitalization article in ADQ 4/4 described some of the physical game-effects of cloning. Those effects are repeated here and new effects added.
A newly-activated clone is penalized in nearly every physical action. Reflex rolls are at -2. Gunner and Handgun skills are at -1 (except where the skill is at 0 level, in which case there is no penalty). Martial Arts and Stealth skills are at -2. (Stealth is described in ADQ 4/2; if the penalty drops the skill below base level then the skill is temporarily lost.) Running speed is reduced to 10 mph.
The penalties are temporary and go away after six months of normal routine. Physical therapy following cloning reduces the penalty period to two months following one month of therapy.
Skill bonuses earned during the recovery period take effect normally. Example: A newly-cloned duelist with Gunner +2 performs at Gunner +1 (because of the cloning penalty) for two months following therapy. During this time, the duelist earns enough Gunner experience for an additional Gunner + 1. The new bonus takes effect immediately, making the duelist Gunner +2. When the two-month recovery period is over, the duelist has his full Gunner +3 bonus.
Therapy takes one month and costs $3,000 (this includes living expenses). Therapy takes ten hours per day and cannot be interrupted for more than a day at a time. Interrupting therapy for more than four days of the month negates any benefits of therapy, unless the clone undergoes another month of therapy!
Cloning Complications
Mistakes can be made in cloning and in the process of adjusting to the new body. Roll 2d, subtracting 1 from the roll if the clone didn't undergo therapy: On a 3 to 12, the clone is in perfect shape and the person adjusts well to the situation. On a 2, there is a complication.
Complications can be physical or psychological. Roll id: 1 to 3 Physical, 4 to 6 Psychological.
Physical problems can often be corrected, although some remain dormant for a time before coming to light. Roll 1d: 1 to 2 - Minor and Easily Corrected - no problem; 3 to 5 - Major - a new clone body has to be grown. This takes a month and costs the same as any other clone body. Gold Cross contracts supply the new clone free if there are any defects. 6 - Dormant Problem - the body has some defect that shows up 1 d months later. The extent of the defect is left up to the referee. Bad vision, spastic or unreliable nerve impulses, abnormal pain responses, headaches, impotence the list is endless. Gold Cross contracts will award damages to clones flawed in this way if the damage is clone-growth-based rather than caused by wear (you can't sue them for nerve damage caused in a crash, etc.).
Psychological problems are harder to cure. Roll 1d:
- Minor Quirks - no real problem
- Fear of Being Cloned
- Paranoid
- Berserker
- Pathological Coward
- Catatonia
Definitions:
- Fear of Being Cloned
- Self-explanatory The person fears the experience of being cloned and won't allow it to happen again.
- Paranoid
- Classic fear/feeling that everyone is Out to get you.
- Berserker
- Attacks any opponent fearlessly in stress situations. If a Berserker even thinks someone is threatening, he/she will attack until the target is destroyed - survival is not an issue.
- Pathological Coward
- The person is afraid of everyone, especially if threatened. Cowards will not fight, opting to run away instead. If cornered, Cowards roll a die: 1 to 4 Surrender, 5 to 6 - Berserk.
- Catatonia
- The person retreats from the outside world and sits motionless and sightless in stress situations (such as being threatened or fired on).
Curing psychological problems can take months of expensive therapy and counseling. Psychological help takes one hour per day and costs $1,500 per month ($50 per hour-long session). At the end of each month of psychological help, roll id. On a roll of 6, the psychological problem has been overcome and the patient is cured.
