Create Undead

Necromancy; Ten Minutes
This spell only works on a corpse that has neither previously been animated nor is permanently dead. It will pull the character’s spirit back to reanimate its former body. The resulting zombie will then follow the caster’s commands as if a Control Undead spell had been cast upon it.

Note that this spell must be cast within the five-minute period between a character’s death and the point where the spirit heads to the Earth Circle for resurrection.

This spell will not affect a living target, although it will remove a living person’s Spell Shield or Reflect Spell.

The zombie uses none of the skills that the character has. It inflicts base damage with its weapons. It cannot cast spells nor converse (although it may be commanded to parrot a particular phrase given it by the caster).

If the newly created zombie has no weapon, then it will be able to attack with “claws” (short sword-sized weapons covered in red duct tape) doing two points of damage each. The caster must provide the physical representations for the claws.

The zombie created will have half the Body Points the victim had in life (including enhancements such as the Hardy skill), as well as any armor that is left on the corpse. Any missing or withered limbs will also be temporarily regenerated for the duration of this spell.

The zombie is considered undead in every way, and has the standard immunities and vulnerabilities of undead (see the Alliance Players Guide for details). The zombie will have no metabolism and will be affected by undead-specific spells such as Turn Undead and Sanctuary.

The creature’s visual appearance does not change immediately, but the victim will move slowly, shambling along, as a zombie should. A zombie fights with normal speed but cannot move fast enough to chase anyone who runs away.

If the creature is struck by a Life spell, the Create Undead effect ends immediately and the target is returned to life at one Body Point with no further effects. If they are reduced to zero Body Points, or the spell duration expires, then the creature falls dead and begins a new 5 minute Death Countdown. In either case or after resurrection, if returned to Life, the creature will have no knowledge of their time spent as Undead.

Example: Poor Terin falls fighting against a necromancer and his undead abominations. He is at -1 Body Points. He lies there for a minute but no one comes to him with First Aid (Terin is keeping track of the time.) At the end of the minute, he is now dead and all of his Spell Protectives gone. The necromancer sees Terin and then casts a Create Undead spell on him. Terin rises as a zombie. He attacks his party, the ensuing battle lasting about seven minutes. Finally, they knock him back down to zero Body Points. He is no longer a zombie and is merely a dead body. He starts his five minute Death Countdown anew; during this time a Life spell will still save him, but because he is dead (not bleeding out), he can no longer be saved by First Aid or a curing spell.

The ten-minute spell duration cannot be extended by any means, even by Formal Magic.
“With Necromancy I Create Undead”