Minor Necromancy by

## Minor Necromancy

Standing atop his tower, the lich sends an army of skeletons against the approaching adventurers. Deep in the bowels of his university, a furtive researcher complete the forbidden ritual, raising his recently-dead colleagues as ghouls.

The ability to create and manipulate undead is a narrative staple of being a necromancer - but what is a fledgling skeleton enthusiast to do when all the re-animating spells are too high-level for him? Use these lower-level necromancy spells, of course!

#### Grasp of the Grave
*Necromancy cantrip*
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- **Casting Time:** 1 action
- **Range:** 30 feet
- **Components:** V, S M (a mummified hand)
- **Duration:**  Concentration, up to 1 minute.
- **Classes:**  Cleric, Warlock, Wizard
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Choose a large or smaller creature within range that is not in the air. Decaying hands reach up from the ground to entrap them. The creature must make a Strength or Dexterity saving throw (its choice) or be grappled by the hands. The creature can re-attempt the saving throw as an action on each of its turns, ending the effect on itself on a success.

#### Undead Puppet
*2nd level necromancy*
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- **Casting Time:** 1 action
- **Range:** 10 feet
- **Components:** V, S M (fine string and a small piece of wood)
- **Duration:**  Concentration, up to 1 minute.
- **Classes:**  Cleric, Warlock, Wizard
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This spell creates an undead puppet for you to control. Choose a pile of bones or a corpse of a Medium or Small humanoid within range. Your spell imbues the target with foul energies that you can manipulate, raising it as an undead creature. The target becomes a skeleton if you chose bones or a zombie if you chose a corpse. The creature takes its turns immediately after yours.

On each of your turns, you can use a bonus action to mentally command the creature you made with this spell if the creature is within 60 feet of you. You decide what action the creature will take and where it will move during its next turn. Issuing a general command, such as to guard a particular chamber or corridor, has no effect. If you issue no commands, the creature does nothing.

Once the spell ends, the creature goes back to being an inanimate corpse or pile of bones.

***At Higher Levels.*** You can animate an additional corpse for each spell slot level above 2nd. As a bonus action on your turn, you can issue a single command to any number of undead you have animated via this spell.

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> ##### Credits
> * Minor Necromancy by [/u/Enraric](https://www.reddit.com/user/enraric)
> * Marang River Skeleton art by Jack Wang

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> ##### Find Familiar Variant
> Instead of learning the spell *Find Familiar*, you can instead learn the spell *Raise Familiar*. It is identical to *Find Familiar* in every way, except for the following changes:
> * A corpse of whatever form you wish your familiar to take is added to the material components
> * Your familiar's type is undead, and its appearance is zombified, mummified, or skeletal depending on the state of the corpse you used to fashion it.
> * If your familiar drops to 0 HP, or if you dismiss it permanently, it returns to being an inanimate corpse instead of disappearing.
> * Crawling Claw is added to the list of available forms that your familiar can take.
>
> You can still only ever have one familiar at a time, even if you know both *Find Familiar* and *Raise Familiar*. If you cast either spell while you already have a familiar from either spell, that familiar is dismissed permanently and a new one is created, unless you are casting *Find Familiar* and your existing familiar was also created via *Find Familiar*. In that case, the familiar's form simply changes as normal.