You animate a corpse or a pile of bones within range to follow your biding, creating a stal creature or another other form of undead. From the remains you create one type of undead from the following table, depending on the level from which you cast this spell and the kind of creature to which the remains belong.

To animate one of these undead, you must cast this spell at a level that meets or exceeds the level required for the given creature. If the target creature's remains do not match any "Remains Required" appropriate to your spell level, the spell fails.

You can cast this spell multiple times to assert control over animated undead. Even in these cases, the sum "spell levels" of undead you can affect by this spell can never exceed double your Max Spell Level. For example, if your Max Spell Level is 4th, you could use this spell to control eight stalchildren, or two stalchildren and two big stalfos, among many other possibilities.

Any undead creatures you create from casting this spell are loyal to you. 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.

Any creature animated by this spell 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, without expending material components, before the current 24-hour period ends. This use of the spell reasserts your control over a number of creatures appropriate to the spell level. Casting animate stal as a 3rd-level spell, for instance, would allow you to reassert control over three stalchildren. Creatures animated by this spell can not yield a poe soul when destroyed.