Valakovich's Lesser Animate Dead

Choose a corpse of a tiny or small beast of CR 1/8 or lower or a severed limb. If you target a severed limb, they become a Crawling Claw or a Stomping Foot, at the DM's discretion. If you target the corpse of a small or tiny beast they use the same stat block they used in life, with the following modifications: They becomes an undead, if they don't have Darkvision, they gain Darkvision out to a range of 60 feet, and they gain Immunity to poison damage and the Poisoned condition. If you animate at least 4 creatures of a type that can form a swarm, they do so. For example, if you animate 4 Bats, they would form a Swarm of Bats.

On each of your turns, you can take a Bonus Action to mentally command any creature you made with this spell if the creature is within 120 feet of you (if you control multiple creatures, you can command any of them at the same time, issuing the same command to each one). You decide what action the creature will take and where they will move on their next turn, or you can issue a general command, such as to guard a chamber or corridor. If you issue no commands, the creature takes the Dodge action and moves only to avoid harm. Once given an order, the creature continues to follow it until their task is complete.

The creature is under your control for 24 hours, after which they stop obeying any command you’ve given it. To maintain control of the creature for another 24 hours, you must cast this spell on the creature again 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 a new one. You can maintain control over a number of creatures equal to 4 times your proficiency bonus. If you ever animate a creature that would bring you over that cap, you lose control of another creature of your choice animated by this spell. Swarms do not count as a single creature for the purpose of this calculation. The freed creatures are under the DM's control and may attack you on sight or act indifferently towards you.

At Higher Levels. When you cast this spell using a spell slot of 2nd level or higher, you animate one additional creature or reassert control over three additional creatures for each slot level above 2nd. Each of the creatures must come from a different corpse or severed limb.