School: Necromancy [Evil]
Level: cleric 0, sorcerer/wizard 0
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Components: V, S
Range: touch
Target: one animal corpse of Tiny size or smaller
Duration: 1 hour
Saving Throw: none Spell Resistance: no
This spell turns the corpse of a normal animal (no larger than a common housecat) into a zombie that obeys your spoken commands. It remains animated until it is destroyed or the spell expires. No individual animal may be animated more than once by this spell. Undead created by animate animal do not count against your total HD of controlled undead. The corpse to be animated must be mostly intact, or the spell will not work.
You can only have one animate animal spell active at any one time. If you cast this spell while another casting is in effect, the previous casting is dispelled. If you make this spell permanent (through permanency or a similar effect), it does not count against this limit.
Pages 131-133 of the Pathfinder Bestiary contain examples of animals that can be animated by this spell. An animated animal has the following statistics:
Defense AC 13, touch 13, flat-footed 12
HD 1d8+3 (7 hp)
Fort +0, Ref +1, Will +2.
DR 5/slashing.
Offense Speed 20 ft. if Tiny (10 ft. for birds), 5 ft. if Diminutive; bats and birds can fly at a speed of 60 ft. (clumsy)
Melee natural weapon -2 (1 point of damage) using whatever natural attack is appropriate to the animal
CMB -2 CMD 9
Special Qualities: staggered
If the GM prefers, full rules for converting a creature into a zombie can be found on pages 288-289 of the Bestiary.
[end spell description]
I was picturing this as a cantrip used in wizard academies to teach students the basic principles of necromancy. I was thinking of it as something viewed by the students with a certain amount of trepidation, like having to dissect a frog in biology class.
I had this vision of something like that scene in the first Harry Potter movie, where the students are trying to get a feather to levitate. Only this time, they're waving their wands over a bunch of dead animals (squirrels, pigeons, snakes, etc.), trying to get them to come back to some mockery of life. The gifted kid gets it right away, a few others get some promising twitches, others can't seem to get any movement at all and get frustrated. One kid faints when he finally gets his animal to move.
I had some "quick conversion" rules in my first draft, but I dropped them in favor of a standard stat array for the sake of game balance and ease of use. The deleted rules look like this:
Spoiler:
Defense
AC: reduce by 1
HP: 1d8+3
Saving throws: Fort +0, Will +2. Reflex saves are 3 less than the base animal.
Give the zombie animal DR 5/slashing.
Offense
Speed: if the animal has a fly speed, reduce maneuverability to clumsy
Melee: change to 1 + the creature's Strength modifier
Damage: same as base creature +1
Special Qualities: staggered
Remove all skills and feats.
I figured perfectly applying the zombie template each time the spell is cast is more trouble than it's worth for such a simple cantrip. Also, a standard stat array means the spell's power level is static, not dependent on the type of animal chosen (using the zombie template, birds of prey become optimal choices for animate animal).
I like this a lot, it seems fairly balanced. My only concern is that the duration may be too long, maybe only ten minutes.
I'm actually thinking the same thing, just a flat 10 minutes. I went with 1 hour, because prestidigitation, but I agree that is perhaps too long. 1 minute is too short, 10 minutes seems just right. Now if I can just figure out how to edit my post...
RedDogMT wrote:
I don't think it is balanced at all for a 0 level spell. Cantrips are not supposed to be able to do much.
Remove the DR. A dead rat is not going to be any tougher than a live rat to a medium size creature.
Also, 1d8+3 hit points is too high for a creature that may have 2 or 3 hit points when it is alive. Maybe 4 or 5 (if you remove the DR).
Lastly, make the duration 1 round per level at most.
Sure it's balanced. It's not any more powerful than being able to spam 1d3 acid damage per round, or to detect magic as often as you want, or to do 5lb. telekinesis at will. You're right when you say cantrips aren't supposed to be able to do much. Causing a dead squirrel to shamble about for a little while isn't much.
If anything it's a weak choice for an attack spell; in addition to having a miserable attack modifier and negligible damage, it has to enter the target's square to attack, provoking an attack of opportunity in doing so, (this may take several rounds to accomplish, due to being staggered). Also, they are no help to rogues looking for a flank.
The DR is because it's a zombie, and zombies have DR. Stabbing with a spear isn't going to do too much to a cat without functioning organs, but chopping it with an axe will work fine.
Also, 1d8+3 hp is the exact right number for a creature that had a d8 hit die when it was alive, and gained toughness when it got animated.
The suggested CR for a 1HD zombie is 1/4. In this case, even that's a little too high, considering the live versions of the animals are more formidable opponents than their zombified counterparts (even before you factor in the staggered special quality), and most of them have a CR of 1/4 or better. The only thing that gets better for a zombie animal is its durability. Everything else gets worse, since just about all the good stuff the zombie template grants (bonus HD, natural armor) doesn't apply, and all the bad stuff (loss of Weapon Finesse feat, staggered condition) does. My point? Certainly not overpowered. In a combat, your zombie pet can be safely ignored in most cases.
