Animate dead

Animate dead is a necromancy spell that allows the caster to bring a corpse or remains into an undead state, under the caster's control, as either a zombie or a skeleton. The state of the remains determines the type of undead creature; if there are bones but there isn't much flesh, the spell yields a skeleton, but if there is still a lot of flesh, the spell yields a zombie. There is a limit to the number and power of creatures that can be controlled at one time by the same person, but this limit can be doubled with the desecrate spell.

Effect
This spell turns the bones or bodies of dead creatures into undead skeletons or zombies that follow your spoken commands. The skeletons or zombies can follow you, or can remain in an area and attack any creature (or just a specific type of creature) entering the place. The undead remain animated until they are destroyed. (A destroyed skeleton or zombie can't be animated again.)

Regardless of the type of undead, you can't create more HD of undead than you have caster levels with a single casting of animate dead.

The undead you create remain under your control indefinitely. No matter how many times you use this spell, however, you can control only 2 HD worth of undead creatures per caster level. If you exceed this number, all the newly created creatures fall under your control, and any excess undead from previous castings become uncontrolled (you choose which creatures are released). If you are a cleric, any undead you might command by virtue of your power to command or rebuke undead do not count toward the limit.


 * Skeletons: A skeleton can be created only from a mostly intact corpse or skeleton. The corpse must have bones (so purple worm skeletons are not allowed). If a skeleton is made from a corpse, the flesh falls from the bones. The statistics for a skeleton depend on its size; they do not depend on what abilities the creature may have had while alive. See the Monster Manual for details.


 * Zombies: A zombie can be created only from a mostly intact corpse. The creature must have a true anatomy (so gelatinous cube zombies are not allowed). The statistics for a zombie depend on its size, not on what abilities the creature may have had while alive. See the Monster Manual for details.

Material components
You must place a black onyx gem worth at least 50 gp into the mouth or eye socket of each corpse. The magic of the spell turns these gems into worthless, burned-out shells.