Congregation of Hands

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Congregation of Hands

1st-level necromancy


  • Classes: Sorcerer, Warlock, Wizard
  • Casting Time: 1 minute
  • Range: 10ft
  • Components: V, S, M (a severed hand for each summon)
  • Duration: Instantaneous

For those necromancers who just need to get a grip on life.


This spell creates an undead servant. Choose a severed hand of a Medium or Small creature within range that has at least 3 fingers. Your spell imbues the target with a foul mimicry of life, raising it as a Crawling Claw (the GM has the creature's game statistics).

On each of your turns, you can use a bonus action to mentally command any creature you made with this spell if the creature is within 60 feet of you (if you control multiple creatures, you can command any or all of them at the same time, issuing the same command to each one). You decide what action the creature will take and where it will move during its next turn, or you can issue a general command, such as to guard a particular chamber or corridor. If you issue no commands, the creature only defends itself against hostile creatures. Once given an order, the creature continues to follow it until its task is complete.

The creature is under your control for 24 hours, after which it stops obeying any command you've given it. To maintain control of the creature for another 24 hours, you must cast this spell on the creature again before the current 24-hour period ends. This use of the spell can reassert control over the creatures 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 2nd level or higher, you animate or reassert control over two additional reanimated hands for each slot level above 1st. Each of the creatures must come from a different severed hand. Additionally, you can animate or reassert control over the hands of creatures larger than medium, but must subtract (3 * number of sizes above medium) from the total number of hands you can reanimate/reassert control over. The hand of a large creature would be equivalent to 3 hands, huge is 6, and gargantuan is 9.


Art Credit

Crawling Claw, by Official WotC Monsters

 

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