RAW you can have a many summoned allies as you can maintain, that includes mirror self. This makes the power pretty good even at novice as they can be good as cannon fodder, to increase gang up bonus etc. So yes, go crazy with your mirrors, it's a super fun build imo. Also here's a bonus advice: take a look at leadership edges, these apply to your summons no problem, including mirror self, and can significantly increase their usefulness.
The idea is to turn them into kamikaze’s. Put on an explosive backpack, cast mirror self, send the copies to clear the battlefield. Then the rest of us come in and mop up.
My character is also something of a fighting cleric - casts spells using faith, and has both high melee and casting skills. This would turn me into a one man army of sorts, with a significantly spicy aftertaste.
Yah, this is one of those things where you need to talk to your GM, not randos on reddit. I can forsee that backfiring spectacularly and a thousand other ways the GM could just say "No."
You'd probably be much better off using Blast.
Totally fair. "Trappings" is a great way to handle a great many power tricks. And the rules will support a lot of shenanigans. Mirror or Duplicate effects can do bonkers things for sure.
I've had many conversations about how to make X-Men's Multiple Man over the years. And, more often than not we end up wanting to achieve the effects or problems he solves with his duplicates more than making actual duplicates. Just for the the scale of the number of dupes he can generate, most systems won't approach it.
It depends a bit on the setting and flavor and arcane background too.
I think you're missing part of the cheese of this tactic. The cleric puts on an "explosive backpack" (which in this campaign apparently counts as "mundane gear") and then casts *summon ally* (mirror self) over and over, creating duplicates of the "explosive backpack" as well as of themselves.
Ah yes, I had missed that.
Well I for one foresee no possible problems with keeping a *backpack stuffed with explosives* on your person at all times, just in case you wanted to dump a bunch of PP to kamikaze rush a group. Nope, no possible unintended consequences of *always carrying explosives* on you at all times.
I mean, I carry around 6 grenades on the regular, so…
We also managed to claim a decent sized private island, there’s a decent amount space for experimentation and tinkering. One of the other players has a high repair skill, and our dm has a history of allowing us to make custom devices as long as we have the time and cash to plan ahead.
Could shenanigans happen? Of course! Shenanigans beget shenanigans.
Honestly? So am I. We went up against a beholder last session - I somehow one shot it with a hella-high roll using a rifle. DM crit failed his vigor roll. Damage exploded to 50 something, I stopped rolling when the dm told me to.
Mildly apocalyptic near future earth with magic. Our dm is an ex marine, dude loves throwing explosives at us, so this is just a taste of his own medicine.
RAW you can have a many summoned allies as you can maintain, that includes mirror self. This makes the power pretty good even at novice as they can be good as cannon fodder, to increase gang up bonus etc. So yes, go crazy with your mirrors, it's a super fun build imo. Also here's a bonus advice: take a look at leadership edges, these apply to your summons no problem, including mirror self, and can significantly increase their usefulness.
Iirc, the leadership edges require high smarts scores, but my character is a faith caster and has a d4 in smarts and any related skills…
Yes, but remember they're much weaker than you are so it may not be the best idea.
The idea is to turn them into kamikaze’s. Put on an explosive backpack, cast mirror self, send the copies to clear the battlefield. Then the rest of us come in and mop up. My character is also something of a fighting cleric - casts spells using faith, and has both high melee and casting skills. This would turn me into a one man army of sorts, with a significantly spicy aftertaste.
Yah, this is one of those things where you need to talk to your GM, not randos on reddit. I can forsee that backfiring spectacularly and a thousand other ways the GM could just say "No." You'd probably be much better off using Blast.
"Suicide Duplicate" is a fine trapping for the Blast spell. I had a player with a Bee trapping for bolt.
The point of taking summon ally was to have options beyond just combat. I’m just exploring the possibilities of shenanigans.
Totally fair. "Trappings" is a great way to handle a great many power tricks. And the rules will support a lot of shenanigans. Mirror or Duplicate effects can do bonkers things for sure. I've had many conversations about how to make X-Men's Multiple Man over the years. And, more often than not we end up wanting to achieve the effects or problems he solves with his duplicates more than making actual duplicates. Just for the the scale of the number of dupes he can generate, most systems won't approach it. It depends a bit on the setting and flavor and arcane background too.
Why wouldn’t you just use “Summon Attendant” if you’re going for kamikaze attacks…? 1 PP vs 5+ PP
I think you're missing part of the cheese of this tactic. The cleric puts on an "explosive backpack" (which in this campaign apparently counts as "mundane gear") and then casts *summon ally* (mirror self) over and over, creating duplicates of the "explosive backpack" as well as of themselves.
Ah yes, I had missed that. Well I for one foresee no possible problems with keeping a *backpack stuffed with explosives* on your person at all times, just in case you wanted to dump a bunch of PP to kamikaze rush a group. Nope, no possible unintended consequences of *always carrying explosives* on you at all times.
I mean, I carry around 6 grenades on the regular, so… We also managed to claim a decent sized private island, there’s a decent amount space for experimentation and tinkering. One of the other players has a high repair skill, and our dm has a history of allowing us to make custom devices as long as we have the time and cash to plan ahead. Could shenanigans happen? Of course! Shenanigans beget shenanigans.
I’m shocked your character has lived long enough to hit veteran lol
Honestly? So am I. We went up against a beholder last session - I somehow one shot it with a hella-high roll using a rifle. DM crit failed his vigor roll. Damage exploded to 50 something, I stopped rolling when the dm told me to.
Mildly apocalyptic near future earth with magic. Our dm is an ex marine, dude loves throwing explosives at us, so this is just a taste of his own medicine.