Flesh Puppet Horde
Flesh Puppet Horde
Necromancy [evil]Level: Antipaladin* 3, Artificer* 4, Cleric*/Oracle * 4, Shaman* 4, Sorcerer*/Wizard * 5, Warlock* 5
Components: V, S, M (an onyx worth 50 gp for each zombie and a silken string)
Casting Time: 10 minutes
Range: touch
Target: one or more corpses touched
Duration: permanent (D)
Saving Throw: None
Spell Resistance: no
You animate one or more corpses that have been Dead no more than 48 hours. They rise as Zombies that are magically tethered to you and obey your commands.
You can't control more than 4 Hit Dice per Caster Level worth of Undead in total, nor can a single casting create more than 2 Hit Dice per Caster Level.
This spell disguises each zombie's appearance and allows you to control it. Each zombie's outward appearance, movement, and voice appear the same as if it were still alive. A zombie's normal Staggered condition doesn't apply (though it can still be Staggered by other means). Successfully detecting a flesh puppet as a zombie without magic requires an opposed Perception check against your Disguise check, and you add your Caster Level as a bonus on this Disguise check.
An ephemeral string connects you to each zombie. Through this string, you have a mental link to the zombies and can command one as a Swift Action. You can issue commands to only one zombie per round, though zombies you previously commanded continue to follow their orders. A zombie uses its own actions to complete your commands. A zombie can speak up to 25 words in 1 round, but you must mentally impart what you intend it to say as a Swift Action (and can thus make only one zombie speak per round). It is incapable of articulating speech on its own.
A zombie can be ordered to perform very simple tasks it knew in life but can't cast spells or perform complex or difficult tasks requiring constant concentration. If a zombie is ordered to attack, all your zombies immediately gain the Staggered quality and no longer appear to be alive.
The strings connecting you and the zombie is nearly Invisible. A DC 30 Perception check is required to detect it. It has Hardness 0 and 1 hp. The length of string you can create is 100 feet + 10 feet per Caster Level you have. The string snaps if you and the zombie move farther apart than this length, though the zombie won't move out of range unless forced to do so or unless you command it to do so. If the string to a zombie is severed, the spell immediately ends for that zombie, but it remains in effect for the rest of them. The ephemeral string can pass through physical barriers, but not barriers of magical force, and it can be damaged as though it were a physical object.
When this spell ends, the zombie immediately reverts back to a normal corpse. The spell ends automatically if you cast Flesh Puppet or flesh puppet horde on a new corpse.