Animate Claw

This spell creates an undead servant. You cut deep into the wrists of a Medium or Small recently-deceased murderer's corpse and animate it with dark magic. Tearing free from the bone and muscle of its former host, each hand becomes a [monster[crawling claw[/monster] under your control. (The GM has game statistics for this creature.)

On each of your turns, you can use a bonus action to mentally command any creature you made with this spell if the creature is within 60 feet of you (if you control multiple creatures, you can command any or all of them at the same time, issuing the same command to each one). You decide what action the creature will take and where it will move during its next turn, or you can issue a general command, such as to guard a particular chamber or corridor. If you issue no commands, the creature only defends itself against hostile creatures. Once given an order, the creature continues to follow it until its task is complete.

The creature is under your control for 24 hours, after which it stops 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 four creatures you have animated with this spell, rather than animating a new one.

You can also choose to animate a [monster[crawling claw[/monster] from the severed hand of a still-living murderer. Performing the ritual in this fashion binds the claw to the murderer’s soul. The disembodied hand can then return to its former limb, its undead flesh knitting to the living arm from which it was severed.

Made whole again, the murderer acts as though the hand had never been severed and the ritual had never taken place. When the crawling claw separates again, the living body falls into a coma. Destroying the crawling claw while it is away from the body kills the murderer. However, killing the murderer has no effect on the crawling claw.

At Higher Levels. When you cast this spell using a spell slot of 2nd level or higher, you animate or reassert control over two additional undead creatures for each slot level above 1st. Each pair of the creatures must come from a different murderer's corpse.