The caster can turn the bones or bodies of dead creatures into undead that follow his or her spoken commands. The undead can follow the caster, or they can remain in an area and attack any creature (or a specific type of creature) entering the place. The undead remain animated until they are destroyed. (A destroyed undead can't be animated again.) Intelligent undead can follow more sophisticated commands. The
animate dead seed allows a character to create 20 HD of undead. For each additional 1 HD of undead created, increase the
Spellcraft DC by +1. The undead created remain under the caster's control indefinitely. A caster can naturally control 1 HD per
caster level of undead creatures he or she has personally created, regardless of the method used. If the caster exceeds this number, newly created creatures fall under his or her control, and excess undead from previous castings become uncontrolled (the caster chooses which creatures are released). If the caster is a
cleric, any undead he or she commands through his or her ability to
command or rebuke undead do not count toward the limit. For each additional 2 HD of undead to be controlled, increase the
Spellcraft DC by +1. Only undead in excess of 20 HD created with this seed can be controlled using this DC adjustment. To both create and control more than 20 HD of undead, increase the
Spellcraft DC by +3 per additional 2 HD of undead.
Type of Undead: All types of undead can be created with the
animate dead seed, although creating more powerful undead increases the
Spellcraft DC of the epic spell, according to the table below. The GM must set the
Spellcraft DC for undead not included on the table, using similar undead as a basis for comparison.