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Animate Dead is a level 3 necromancy spell. This spell allows spellcasters to animate a corpse to create an undead servant.
Description
Animate a corpse to create an undead servant while not in combat.
The target must be a Medium or Small corpse.
Properties
- Cost
Action + 
Level 3 Spell Slot- Details
Range: 3 m / 10 ft
At higher levels
- When the spell is cast at 4th Level, raise up to 3 Skeletons or Zombies instead of 1.
- When the spell is cast at 5th Level, raise a Ghoul or Flying Ghoul.
- When the spell is cast at 6th Level, raise up to 3 Ghouls or Flying Ghouls instead of 1.
Variants
How to learn
Classes:
- Class Level 5: Cleric, Wizard, Circle of the Spores (Circle Spell), Bard (via Magical Secrets), and Warlock (via Pact of the Tome once per long rest)
- Class Level 9: Oathbreaker (Oath Spell)
Notes
- Wizards with the Necromancy School subclass can raise an additional undead for each level and version of the spell.
- None of these summoned Undead have melee weapons, so they are not affected by Aura of Hate from Oathbreaker Paladin.
- Earlier issues with the spell that have since been resolved:
- Patch 3 introduced a bug where skeletons summoned by this spell do not have weapons.
- In earlier versions of the game, it was important to note that most friendly and neutral NPCs will respond to undead minions with horror, causing them to express alarm and flee from proximity of the thralls, in some cases to their death. To avoid this, selecting the chain icon next to the summoner player and leaving the thrall at some distance before interacting with certain vendors or achievement related NPCs is advised.
