Casting Time: 1 minute
Range: 10 feet
Components: V, S, M (one clay pot filled with grave
dirt, one clay pot filled with brackish water, and one 150 gp black onyx
stone for each corpse)
Duration: Instantaneous
You can cast this spell only at night. Choose up to three corpses of
Medium or Small humanoids within range. Each corpse becomes a ghoul
under your control. (The GM has game statistics for these creatures.)
As a bonus action on each of your turns, you can mentally command any
creature you animated with this spell if the creature is within 120 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 have given it. To maintain control of the
creature for another 24 hours, you must cast this spell on the creature
before the current 24-hour period ends. This use of the spell reasserts
your control over up to three creatures you have animated with this
spell, rather than animating new ones.
At Higher Levels. When you cast this spell using a 7th-level spell slot, you can animate or reassert control over four ghouls. When you cast this spell using an 8th-level spell slot, you can animate or reassert control over five ghouls or two ghasts or wights. When you cast this spell using a 9th-level spell slot, you can animate or reassert control over six ghouls, three ghasts or wights, or two mummies.