Create Undead

6th Level Necromancy
Casting Time: 1 minute
Range: 10 feet
Components: V S M (a necromancer's bell that brings you into the River, and a fancy container of a Tier no less than half the desired undead's CR)
Duration: Instantaneous
Classes: Cleric, Warlock, Wizard
When you cast this spell, your body freezes over with a layer of frost and your spirit is thrust into the first district of the River of Death. Unlike resurrection spells, Create Undead does nothing to protect you from the dangers of the River. Because of this, many necromancers have an unnaturally pale complexion from the River's life draining effects (see Traveling the River of Death for details).
Once within the River, this spell allows you to subdue a spirit and bring it out of the river, creating an undead. Each type of undead requires a different type of spirit, the details of which are given below.

Upcasting

For each level by which you upcast this spell, you are drawn one District deeper in to the River of Death.

Undead by District

The most common types of Undead are listed below, sorted by which district they can be found within.

District 1

Zombie

The easiest of all undead to create, Zombies can be made by capturing newly departed souls as they travel through the first district of the River and shoving them into a deceased body. Bodies that have had burial rites performed cannot become zombies unless they are desecrated.
Usually, a zombie requires at least 3 separate souls in order to function. However, particularly strong souls may not need assistance.

Juju Zombie

When you use this method to place a soul into the corpse that used to be their body, you create a special type of zombie called a Juju Zombie, which retains all the skills it possessed in life and a shred of the personality.

Skeleton

Still technically a zombie, skeletons require only a single soul to animate. This makes them much easier to create, quicker, but far less tough.

Ghoul

Though similar to zombies, creating a ghoul requires subduing one of the dead who is crawling their way back to Life in an attempt to become undead. The River is littered with these spirits, who prowl their districts in search of living souls to devour on their way back to life.
These spirits come in all sorts of strange shapes and sizes, but are always dangerous.

Shadow

When you drag a soul from the river without a body to put it into, it usually becomes a Shadow. These can be easy to create, but are afraid of sunlight.

District 2

Ghast

These are created in the same manner as Ghouls, except that souls strong enough to be Ghasts can only be found in District 2.
District 2, being deeper into the River, is home to spirits that are more dangerous than on higher levels. That, combined with the increased danger of the river, makes them very difficult to create.

Wight

Though seemingly similar to zombies, creating a wight is far more difficult. To do so requires that you find an angry Dead that is trying to claw its way back to the surface, and help it along its way by feeding it souls.
If you feed it enough souls to fully escape the River, this spell puts the wight under your control. Be wary though. Wights are fully sentient, hateful creatures who resent being told what to do.