Army of the Dead

4th-level necromancy

Casting Time: 1 action

Range: 45 feet

Components: V, S, M (a vial of blood and a handful of bone dust, which are consumed by the spell)

Duration: concentration, up to 1 minute

Classes: pale master

This spell creates 2d4 undead servant skeletons. Choose piles of humanoid bones within range. Your spell imbues the targets with a foul mimicry of life, raising them as undead skeletons (the GM has the creature’s game statistics). The skeletons act immediately after your turn on the initiative order.

On each of your turns, you can use a bonus action to mentally command any creatures you made with this spell if the creature is within 60 feet of you (issuing the same command to each one). You decide what action the creatures will take and where they will move during their next turn, or you can issue a general command, such as to guard a particular chamber or corridor. If you issue no commands, the creatures only defend themselves against hostile creatures. Once given an order, the creatures continue to follow it until their task is complete.

The creatures are under your control for 1 minute, after which point the spell ends and they collapse to the ground, lifeless.

At Higher Levels. When you cast this spell using a spell slot of 5th level or higher, you are able to add an addition 1d4 to the total number of skeletons raised by this spell for every slot higher than 4th level.