Publication:Dread Codex 2/New Spells/Akeltor's Bolt of Animation

''The creator of this evil spell was a powerful necromancer named Akeltor. He lived in Fordrusil forest before he took up the arcane arts of the dead, and was renowed as a strong hunter. As a necromancer, he perfected this art. Among the goodfolk of Elderbridge, this necromancer was named Hunter of the Dead, and feared beyond measure.''

The caster launches a deadly bolt at the target, made from bone with strange etchings on the sides, and surrounded by a strong aura of negative energy. Any humanoid creatures slain by this bolt are immediately animated as skeletons, no matter who they were in life or what level, as long as they were alive and humanoid.

The caster must succeed at a ranged touch attach, and if successful, the bolt delivers 1d6 points of negative energy damage per caster level (maximum 15d6). If and only if the creature is actually slain by one of these bolts, the corpse animated. This means that the victim must go below -10 hit points; if he doesn’t then the victim isn’t completely dead. Upon death, the target makes a Fortitude save, and if successful, the body resists the urge to become animated.

This skeleton is the creation of the caster and under his control, as if he had animated it with an animate dead spell.