D&D 5E Level 1 Animate Dead

[Mistwell]

Once the duration is over, you may concentrate to maintain the effect for up to 24 hours. Once the spell ends, the undead breaks down into dust.

It's good, but I'd make in non-concentration. You cannot concentrate on a spell for 24 hours anyway really.

 

[Stormonu]

I'm thinking of going with these spells ... let me know what you think.

#### Summon Crawling Claw
Necromancy Cantrip
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• Casting Time: 1 bonus action
• Range: 120 ft.
• Components: V, S, M (a severed humanoid hand)
• Duration: 1 minute

Upon casting this spell, you summon into being a crawling claw, which obeys your mental commands. The crawling claw gains a bonus to hit points equal to your character level. On your initiative, you can use a bonus action to give the crawling claw a command, as long as it is within 120 feet of you. The crawling claw can be used to deliver touch spells you cast as long as it is in range.

At Higher Levels. At 5th level, you summon two crawling claws. At 11th, you summon three crawling claws and at 16th level you summon four. When multiple crawling claws are summoned, only one can deliver your touch spell in a turn.

#### Summon Skeleton
1st Level Necromancy (ritual)
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• Casting Time: 1 minute
• Range: 120 feet
• Components: V, S, M (intact humanoid skeleton and an onyx worth 25 gp; the latter is consumed)
• Duration: 1 hour

Upon casting this spell, you animate an intact humanoid skeleton to do your bidding. The skeleton acts on your initiative, requiring a bonus action to give it a mental command. The skeleton remains active until the spell ends or is destroyed. If the spell ends, you can choose to reanimate the skeleton with another casting, so long as the skeleton has not been destroyed.

At Higher Levels: For each spell level above 1st, you can animate one additional skeleton per spell level above 1st.

#### Summon Zombie
1st level Necromancy (ritual)
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• Casting Time: 1 minute
• Range: 120 feet
• Components: V, S, M (intact humanoid corpse and a jade worth 25 gp; the latter is consumed)
• Duration: 1 hour

Upon casting this spell, you animate an intact humanoid body as a zombie to do your bidding. The zombie acts on your iniative, requiring a bonus action to give it a mental command. The zombie remains active until the spell ends or is destroyed. If the spell ends, you can choose to reanimate the zombie with another casting, as long as the body has not been destroyed.

 

[jgsugden]

I'd start to give the Necromancer his 'feels' by reskinning unseen servant, mage hand, and find familiar to add the obvious 'undeadness' option.

Then, rather than make up a new spell, I'd give him a magic item: perhaps a ring and collar combination. You'd place the collar on a medium or smaller beast corpse and then attune to the ring. While wearing the ring, the corpse animates as an undead with half the normal hps of a skeleton or zombie (based upon the condition of the corpse). Giving it a command requires a bonus action, and can only be done within 30 feet. Have it deal d4 based damage.

That would not break the game, but it would give them their 'starting' undead.

 

[Mannahnin]

I'm thinking of going with these spells ... let me know what you think.

#### Summon Crawling Claw
Necromancy Cantrip


#### Summon Skeleton
1st Level Necromancy (ritual)


At Higher Levels: For each spell level above 1st, you can animate one additional skeleton per spell level above 1st.

#### Summon Zombie
1st level Necromancy (ritual)

I like the cantrip, but I'm concerned about the Ritual tag on the summon spells making them not take up spell slots for a wizard. That seems a little over the top. Am I missing something?

 

[Hawk Diesel]

Yes, I agree it's frustrating, but it's a similar situation for conjuration wizards as well.

Personally I agree with reskinning Find Familiar and Unseen Servant as kinds of undead creatures.

I also created the following spell to support early necromancers.

Animate Undead Beast​

2nd-level necromancy
Casting Time: 1 minute
Range: 10 feet
Components: V, S, M (a bit and saddle)
Duration: Instantaneous

This spell creates an undead beast of burden. Choose a pile of bones or a corpse of a Large or Medium creature within range. Your spell imbues the target with a foul mimicry of life, rearranging its anatomy if necessary and raising it as an Undead Mount (statistics provided below).

The caster or a creature they designate can ride the Undead Mount as if it was a trained mount, or the Undead Mount can be used as a pack animal. If used as a pack animal, the caster can mentally command the Undead Mount to determine where it moves. If given a command, it will continue to follow that command until a new command is given.

The Undead Mount is under your control for 24 hours, after which it stops obeying any command you’ve given it. To maintain control of the Undead Mount for another 24 hours, you must cast this spell on the Undead Mount again before the current 24-hour period ends. This use of the spell reasserts your control over up to four Undead Mounts you have animated with this spell, rather than animating a new one.

At Higher Levels. When you cast this spell using a spell slot of 3rd level or higher, you animate or reassert control over two additional Undead Mounts for each slot level above 2nd. Each of the Undead Mount must come from a different corpse or pile of bones.

Undead Mount
Large or Medium Undead, Unaligned

Armor Class 10
Hit Points 19 (3d10 + 3)
Speed 50 ft.

STR	DEX	CON	INT	WIS	CHA
16 (+3)	10 (+0)	12 (+1)	2 (-4)	11 (+0)	7 (-2)

Vulnerabilities radiant
Damage Immunities necrotic, poison
Condition Immunities exhaustion, poisoned
Senses Darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 10
Languages Understands any language spoken by its creator

Beast of Burden. The Undead Mount is always considered to be a Large animal for the purpose of determining its carrying capacity.

 

[Stormonu]

I like the cantrip, but I'm concerned about the Ritual tag on the summon spells making them not take up spell slots for a wizard. That seems a little over the top. Am I missing something?

25 gp per use (for an hour's worth of spell), and you have to have a corpse to work with. Should keep it from being abused, though my son and I have been doing some additional work to it, making it concentration (and removing the price) so you can't have multiple versions up.

 

[Mannahnin]

25 gp per use (for an hour's worth of spell), and you have to have a corpse to work with. Should keep it from being abused, though my son and I have been doing some additional work to it, making it concentration (and removing the price) so you can't have multiple versions up.

I think somehow I was overlooking the component. There we go.

 

[grimslade]

I like the reskinning of existing spells to help a budding necromancer. Undead Servant, Skeletal Hand, Find Familiar with more necro-friendly options would be cool. I like a crawling claw, undead animal, or a floating skull.
I am not sure a necromancer would have a full-bodied fighting minion at first level. 5th level is the multi attack level so I guess waiting until you get animate dead is in line with the rest of the rules.

 

[Steampunkette]

Treat it like Charm Person for Undead as a way to balance it for level 1 characters.

Animates a Skeleton that lasts 1 hour, the skeleton has it's full functions and treats you as a friend, but has limits on what it can do. And if your people attack it, it becomes a free, and hostile, animate Skeleton. While it's your friend it'll probably mostly follow orders, but may fulfill those orders in a different manner than intended.

After 1 hour, it collapses into bones, regardless of whether it is under your control or not.

That way it shows that while you're a Necromancer you're still -learning-. You're working on the duration, the amount of direct control you have over the things, and have to be careful of who and what you set it to battle, against.

Find Familiar is also a great option for it, yeah. The "Helper Skeleton". Maybe give it the Beastmaster attack action option for a more violent angle.

But there's a lot of other 1st level spells you can reflavor for necromantic characters. Like having Comprehend Languages animate a small skull in your hand that translates what is being said for you. Or Earth Tremor as a bunch of skeletal hands bursting up out of the ground to claw at people in the area. Unseen Servant? How about Undead Servant. How about making Tasha's Hideous Uncontrollable Laughter into Shrieking and Shaking in fear of ghostly spirits manifesting around your target?

Maintains similar levels of power to other 1st level characters and makes your character much more of a Necromancer than giving them -just- a 1st level "Animate Skeleton" spell.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

I mean not much at level 1 and 2 beats sleep. But the skeleton might make your fighters feel a little pointless as you will firebolt + skeleton attack which would leave them in the dust in damage.

Would it though? If you had it say, doing 1d4 or 1d6 damage (no bonus), with like +2 to hit (proficiency and nothing else), AC10 or 12, and like 8 HP or something I suspect your average DPR over say, even 3-4 encounters in a day would be a lot lower than a Fighter with a Longsword and +3 STR or something. Let alone someone more optimized for DPR, like a Fighter with Archery style or Duelist style or Two-Weapon Fighting. In fact TWF would leave you in the dust, mechanically. Especially as most days your skele-friend would get total'd by one attack early in the day and that's a 1st-level spell-slot gone.