Create Plague Zombie

4th-level necromancy

Casting Time: 1 minute

Range: 10 feet

Components: V, S, M (a drop of rat blood and a piece of flesh from a plague victim)

Duration: Instantaneous

This spell creates an undead servant infected with disease. Choose up to two corpses of Medium or Small Humanoids within range. Your spell imbues each target with a foul mimicry of life, raising it as a plague zombie.

The plague zombie uses the game statistics of a zombie, except each time the plague zombie hits with a Slam attack, the target must succeed on a Constitution saving throw against your spell save DC or take poison damage equal to your spellcasting ability modifier and contract the cackle fever or sewer plague disease (your choice).

As a bonus action on each of your turns, you can mentally command any plague zombie you animated with this spell if the creature is within 60 feet of you (if you control multiple plague zombies, you can command any or all of them at the same time, issuing the same command to each one). You decide what action the plague zombie 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 plague zombie is under your control for 24 hours, after which it stops obeying any command you have 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 over up to four plague zombies you have animated with this spell, rather than animating new ones.

At Higher Levels. When you cast this spell using a spell slot of 5th level or higher, you animate or reassert control over two additional plague zombies for each slot level above 5th. Each of the plague zombies must come from a different corpse. When you cast this spell using a spell slot of 7th level or higher, the disease the plague zombie inflicts with its Slam attack can now be cackle fever, sewer plague, or one of the diseases detailed in the contagion spell.