Animate Monster

This spell creates an undead servant. Choose the corpse of one Medium or smaller creature within range. Your spell imbues the target with a foul mimicry of life, raising it as an undead creature. Once risen, the target can perform all actions as it could in life, unless grievous injury or grave dismemberment prevents it from completing an action (such as a missing arm preventing it from raising a shield, a missing jaw preventing it from speaking, or a missing head preventing it from making a charge attack), but cannot cast spells. The resurrected creature suffers a -2 penalty to its physical ability scores and a -4 penalty to its mental ability scores. 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 120 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.

At Higher Levels: When you cast this spell using certain higher-level spell slots, you animate or reassert control over a larger undead creature - a Large creature with a 5th level slot, a Huge creature with a 7th level slot, or a Gargantuan creature with a 9th level slot.