As two actions, threads of dark power leap from your fingers to pierce a pile of bones or a corpse of two Medium or Small creatures you can see within 10 meters. Your spell imbues the targets with a foul mimicry of life, raising them as undead creatures. Choose one or more of the following options:

Skeleton. A pile of bones can become a skeleton.

Zombie. A corpse can become a zombie. It gains +1 damage on its slam attack.

Gnoll Witherling. A corpse of a gnoll can become a gnoll witherling.

Ghoul. If you cast this spell at night, a corpse becomes a ghoul.

Ghast. If you cast this spell at night, you can only target one corpse which becomes a ghast.

The creature has no mana or stamina dice, but you can infuse it with mana, ki, or stamina dice by expending mana up to your mana limit or ki up to double your mana limit. For each mana or 2 ki you expend, the elemental gains 1 mana or 2 stamina dice.

When you cast the spell—and once on on each of your turns thereafter as an action—you can mentally command any creature you raised with this spell if the creature is within 50 meters meters of you (if you control multiple creatures, you can command any or all of them at the same time, issuing the same command to each one). You decide what actions the creature will take and where it will move during its next turn, or you can issue a general command, such as to guard a particular chamber or corridor. If you issue no commands, the creature only defends itself against hostile creatures. Once given an order, the creature continues to follow it until its task is complete.

The creature is under your control for 24 hours, after which it stops obeying any command you’ve given it. To maintain control of the creature for another 24 hours, you must cast this spell on the creature before the current 24-hour period ends. This use of the spell reasserts your control on the creature you have animated with this spell, rather than animating new ones.

Augment

• You animate or reassert control over an additional skeleton or zombie for each additional mana expended. You animate or reassert control over one additional gnoll witherling, ghoul, or ghast for every two additional mana expended.

• Minotaur Skeleton. You can expend 1 additional mana to animate or reassert control over a minotaur skeleton from a pile of bones of a minotaur or existing minotaur skeleton. You animate or reassert control over one additional minotaur skeleton for every two additional mana expended.

• Ogre Zombie. You can expend 1 additional mana to animate or reassert control over an ogre zombie from a corpse of an ogre or existing ogre zombie. You animate or reassert control over one additional ogre zombie for every two additional mana expended.

• Wight or Deathlock Wight. You can cast this spell at night and expend 2 additional mana to animate or reassert control over a wight or deathlock wight from a corpse or existing wight or deathlock wight. You animate or reassert control over one additional wight or deathlock wight for every two additional mana expended.

• Deathlock. You can cast this spell at night and expend 2 additional mana to animate or reassert control over a deathlock from a corpse or existing deathlock. You animate or reassert control over one additional deathlock for every two additional mana expended.

• Mummy. You can cast this spell at night and expend 2 additional mana to animate or reassert control over a mummy from a corpse or existing mummy. You animate or reassert control over one additional wight for every two additional mana expended.

• Flameskull. You can expend 2 additional mana to animate or reassert control over a flameskull from a humanoid skull or existing flameskull. You animate or reassert control over one additional flameskull for every two additional mana expended.

• Bone Naga. You can expend 3 additional mana to animate or reassert control over a bone naga from a pile of bones of a naga or existing bone naga. You animate or reassert control over one additional bone naga for every two additional mana expended.