I have a level 5 cleric and i recently gained access to the undead spells. I talked about casting them in my group but my dm says I lose control of them at 24 hours. And I can only command 1 undead per bonus action in battle and that would be my only move. Can someone please explain to me in Layman’s terms what exactly I can do with undead creatures. And how to use them in battle. I also have a bag of tricks where I pull a fluffy thing out and I roll to see what animal I get the dm said I can only control 1 at a time with a one word command and the rest will wander off and just be animals during a fight is this also true ? Thank you for your input.
You lose control after 24 hours, UNLESS you recast the spell before that duration ends (if you do so, you can keep control of 4 undead with the single casting), which extends it for another 24 hours. You can have unlimited amount of undead creatures under your control as long as you have the spellslots to control them.
It only takes a BONUS action to command your undead to do something and if you control multiple undead, you can command any or all of them - deciding what they will do or where they'll move or you can give more general commands like "Sit here and kill anything that comes close"
And for what to do with them? Skeletons are best when used as ranged attackers with their bows, but spread them out to prevent them all from being taken out by a single Fireball. Zombies are dumb and slow, but they're tougher and can work as a roadblock to put between the enemy and you (and they can sometimes survive killing blows, which is pretty nice). Also, if you find that they sort of fail to hit the enemy due to their high AC, you can always use them to take the 'Help' action to give the rest of your team advantage on their targets or maybe even grapple or shove the enemies to prevent them from moving.
And by bag of critters, do you mean Bag of Tricks?
By RAW (rules as written) you use your BONUS action to command it, just like with the undead, however it does not say how it works with multiple animals (unlike the Animate Dead Spell) so i guess it'd be left to the DM.
However, it does say that if you do not command the animal, it acts based on its nature and depending on what kind of animal it is, it might still help you fight (since it considers you and your companions as friends)
For all of this, it is Rules As Written (RAW). It sounds like your DM is trying to Nerf the spells and items. I would have a private conversation with them about it. They may have a specific reason for it (to speed up combat for instance) Just remember, RAW is more guidelines. Your DM always has Rule 0 (The DM is right) on their side.
Thank you for your response. Yes bag of tricks! She lets me use one word commands for the animals and I can only command one as a bonus action does this seem correct?
Thank you for the response. I think that is part of the problem is i just don’t understand the rules I’m reading and my interpretation is usually wrong like I messed up and understanding of opening a door I thought I could pick the lock but I missed the word unlocked.
Commanding an animal you pulled from a bag of tricks is a bonus action, yes. There’s no rule that says the command can only be one word, but that’s not an unreasonable ruling (in my opinion) by your DM given it’s a bonus action, and the animal isn’t very intelligent. You can give a general order, like attack my enemies, though that would violate her one-word rule. Though it says the animal is friendly toward you, so it seems like you could just say attack, and it would not go after allies. Though it might be nice if you could say something like, “attack that one” to better direct it tactically. You might ask about that.
As far as how many, rules say you can only use three per day. In theory, you could have all three out at once, (that’s RAW, your DM ruling overrides that) but since you only get 1 bonus action per turn, you could only control one at a time effectively. Really, the little creatures aren’t going to be too useful, except to throw next to the rogue so they can get sneak attack. Or throw them out to run around a room and set off any traps
Commanding an undead would work the same way. Use your bonus action, tell it to do something.
In general, having pets like these isn’t really that effective a use of your bonus action, you are almost always better off using spiritual weapon, or healing word if someone is down. And plus, most good-aligned gods and people do not like necromancy and will not want to associate with the dude who has a zombie.
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I have a level 5 cleric and i recently gained access to the undead spells. I talked about casting them in my group but my dm says I lose control of them at 24 hours. And I can only command 1 undead per bonus action in battle and that would be my only move. Can someone please explain to me in Layman’s terms what exactly I can do with undead creatures. And how to use them in battle. I also have a bag of tricks where I pull a fluffy thing out and I roll to see what animal I get the dm said I can only control 1 at a time with a one word command and the rest will wander off and just be animals during a fight is this also true ? Thank you for your input.
Animate dead?
You lose control after 24 hours, UNLESS you recast the spell before that duration ends (if you do so, you can keep control of 4 undead with the single casting), which extends it for another 24 hours. You can have unlimited amount of undead creatures under your control as long as you have the spellslots to control them.
It only takes a BONUS action to command your undead to do something and if you control multiple undead, you can command any or all of them - deciding what they will do or where they'll move or you can give more general commands like "Sit here and kill anything that comes close"
And for what to do with them? Skeletons are best when used as ranged attackers with their bows, but spread them out to prevent them all from being taken out by a single Fireball. Zombies are dumb and slow, but they're tougher and can work as a roadblock to put between the enemy and you (and they can sometimes survive killing blows, which is pretty nice). Also, if you find that they sort of fail to hit the enemy due to their high AC, you can always use them to take the 'Help' action to give the rest of your team advantage on their targets or maybe even grapple or shove the enemies to prevent them from moving.
And by bag of critters, do you mean Bag of Tricks?
By RAW (rules as written) you use your BONUS action to command it, just like with the undead, however it does not say how it works with multiple animals (unlike the Animate Dead Spell) so i guess it'd be left to the DM.
However, it does say that if you do not command the animal, it acts based on its nature and depending on what kind of animal it is, it might still help you fight (since it considers you and your companions as friends)
For all of this, it is Rules As Written (RAW). It sounds like your DM is trying to Nerf the spells and items. I would have a private conversation with them about it. They may have a specific reason for it (to speed up combat for instance) Just remember, RAW is more guidelines. Your DM always has Rule 0 (The DM is right) on their side.
Thank you for your response. Yes bag of tricks! She lets me use one word commands for the animals and I can only command one as a bonus action does this seem correct?
Thank you for the response. I think that is part of the problem is i just don’t understand the rules I’m reading and my interpretation is usually wrong like I messed up and understanding of opening a door I thought I could pick the lock but I missed the word unlocked.
Commanding an animal you pulled from a bag of tricks is a bonus action, yes.
There’s no rule that says the command can only be one word, but that’s not an unreasonable ruling (in my opinion) by your DM given it’s a bonus action, and the animal isn’t very intelligent. You can give a general order, like attack my enemies, though that would violate her one-word rule. Though it says the animal is friendly toward you, so it seems like you could just say attack, and it would not go after allies. Though it might be nice if you could say something like, “attack that one” to better direct it tactically. You might ask about that.
As far as how many, rules say you can only use three per day. In theory, you could have all three out at once, (that’s RAW, your DM ruling overrides that) but since you only get 1 bonus action per turn, you could only control one at a time effectively. Really, the little creatures aren’t going to be too useful, except to throw next to the rogue so they can get sneak attack. Or throw them out to run around a room and set off any traps
Commanding an undead would work the same way. Use your bonus action, tell it to do something.
In general, having pets like these isn’t really that effective a use of your bonus action, you are almost always better off using spiritual weapon, or healing word if someone is down. And plus, most good-aligned gods and people do not like necromancy and will not want to associate with the dude who has a zombie.