Undead Aides

When a wizard casts this spell, he imbues animated skeletons and zombies with limited Intelligence. The spell gives these undead the ability to speak, in order to answer questions, respond to certain situations, shout warnings if under attack, or make introductions. This spell affects a maximum of one skeleton or zombie for each experience level of the caster, though the exact number of undead affected depends upon the number of tasks that each servant is to perform. For example, a 30th-level wizard can affect 30 undead creatures, each able to perform one task-or one undead servant that could perform 30 different tasks.

A task can be as simple as opening a door when visitors arrive or as complex as cooking a specific dish, each task taking no more than an hour to perform. The tasks are short routines that are performed either daily, when a certain situation arises, or when the proper commands are given. The undead staff have low intelligence for determining what they know and how they will react. They retain their immunities to spells such as charm, hold, sleep, and so on.

It takes one turn for this spell to affect each creature. Once the spell is cast, the undead servants need no monitoring except for any commands required to start specific tasks.

The material components are human bone fragments and a dragon's brain.

Notes: Restricted to necromancers, rare.