Shadow Raising

8th level necromancy

Casting Time: 1 action

Components: V, S, M (the finger of an intelligent humanoid)

Range: 30 feet

Duration: Concentration, up to 20 minutes

You rip your shadow from your body and cast it into the body of a deceased creature in range that has not been dead for more than 5 minutes. The creature is animated by your shadow as a macabre puppet with the deceased being’s full set of actions, abilities, feats and spells remaining when the creature died. The animated creature has half your hit points upon casting this spell, which also are the puppet’s maximum hit points and it takes its turn directly after your turn. Unfortunately, the control isn’t perfect: The animated shadow puppet cannot use reactions. Since the animated puppet is powered in equal parts by fading life energy as well as your shadow, shadow raising only works for brief periods of time: After a total of 20 minutes, the corpse collapses and your shadow reassembles and returns to you. This reassembly takes 5 rounds, during which you have no functional shadow. If the spell is dismissed before the shadow puppet is destroyed, you suffer from no ill effects apart from this visible reassembly of your shadow. However, if the shadow puppet is destroyed, it dissipates alongside your shadow, leaving you without a shadow for a number of days equal to your level. You can only cast this spell if you have a shadow. Casting this spell is always an evil act.