Death Sphere

Death Sphere Basic Talents

Animate Specter

You can reanimate the spirit of an intact corpse that had died within 1 day per caster level, creating a specter under your control (see Specters). Unlike a normal creature you reanimate, a specter may only have a maximum number of hit dice equal to your caster level (rather than twice your caster level) and they count as twice their Hit Dice against the total amount of undead you may have reanimated at once. A specter counts as a reanimated skeleton or zombie for the purposes of determining their duration using the Lingering undead and Permanent Undead talents. An individual corpse can only produce a specter once. Should that specter die, or when this spell ends, it cannot be animated using that corpse again.

You may use this talent to qualify for the Variant Necromancy feat in place of the Expanded Necromancy talent. In addition to the feats normal effects, it also causes your specters to only count as 1.5 times your caster level in Hit Dice (rather than twice your caster level in Hit Dice).

Despite being an undead creature under your control, specters can not be affected by either the Amalgamate Horror or Corpse Forge advanced talents (or any other similar abilities that allow you to modify the Hit Dice of an undead creature under your control by combining two or more corpses or undead creatures).

Desecrated Terrain

You may spend a spell point as a standard action to desecrate the terrain as a burst within Medium range. This burst has up to a 20 ft radius, + 5 ft per 5 caster levels. Desecrated terrain lasts for 1 minute per caster level. All undead in this area gain a +3 profane bonus to their Channel Resistance, and a +1 profane bonus on attack rolls, damage rolls, and saving throws. Undead created within an area of desecrated terrain gain +1 HP per Hit Die. Multiple castings of desecrated terrain in a single area do not stack. If your caster level is 10 or higher, you can choose to spend an additional 2 spell points when casting this talent to double the bonuses provided by the desecrated terrain. These bonuses do not stack with those provided by the desecrate spell, or spells or abilities that function similarly.

Spreading Necrosis

When you reanimate a creature you can choose to spend an additional 1 or more spell point to infuse one or more of its natural weapons with necrotic power (1 spell point per infused natural weapon). Whenever the undead kills a living creature with the infused natural weapons, it is reanimated as an undead creature of the same type as the infused undead in 3d6 minutes. If the creature cannot be turned into the same type of undead, it is not reanimated (such as a plant creature being killed by an infused skeleton). This newly risen undead has the same duration as the infused undead’s remaining duration (or is created as an instantaneous effect, if the initial undead was created using the Permanent Undead advanced talent). If you are within Close range of this newly reanimated undead when it rises, you can choose to take command of it by spending 1 spell point as an immediate action. If this newly controlled undead pushes you beyond the Hit Die limit of undead you control, you must choose which creatures cease to be reanimated or are released from your control as normal. If you do not choose to take control of it, or if you are out of range when it rises, it is reanimated as an undead that is not under your control.

This talent can be selected additional times. The second time it is selected, the slain creature is reanimated after 3d6 rounds. If this talent is selected a third time, the creature is reanimated 1 round after it was slain.

Undead Graft

Using your ability to reanimate undead, you can graft undead limbs onto a living or undead creature that act under that creature’s control. These grafted limbs can be used to replace a targets missing limbs or add additional limbs to the target. The grafted limbs must be donated from a corpse of the same size as the creature you wish to graft the limb to. Grafting takes 1 hour and costs 1 spell point, and destroys the corpse in the process. The creature having the limb grafted to it must either be willing or helpless for the entire casting duration. Grafted limbs have a duration of permanent (and thus can be dispelled) and count against the number of undead you can control at any given time. If you are killed, each undead graft you have created is destroyed. If you have the Permanent Undead talent, you can choose to create grafts as instantaneous effects that are not destroyed when you die.

The number of Hit Dice each limb counts as depends on the limb grafted (see below) and the number of Hit Dice of its host. If the host gains Hit Dice after the graft has been applied, the effective Hit Dice of the graft may increase. If this pushes you beyond the number of Hit Dice of undead you control, you must release or destroy undead you can control as normal.

Whenever you choose to release or destroy undead under your control, you can choose to destroy one of these grafted limbs. There is no limit to the number of limbs you may graft to a creature, save for the total number of undead you can control. Undead limbs can be sundered as if they were worn items. They have a number of hit points equal to your casting ability modifier multiplied by the number of Hit Die of the creature they are grafted to, as well as DR appropriate to their type (DR 5/bludgeoning for a skeletal limb, DR5/slashing for a zombie limb). If damaged, the grafted limbs can be healed as if they were an undead creature. Your casting ability modifier for this ability is determined at the time the graft is created. If your casting ability modifier changes after the graft is created, the graft’s hit points do not change.

You can graft the following limbs:

• One arm: This functions as if it were a normal arm, allowing the host to use it to carry items, wield weapons or shields, etc. Once per round per grafted arm, the host may draw or stow an item as a free action. This graft counts as an undead with a number of Hit Dice equal to half the host creatures Hit Dice (rounded down, minimum 1) when determining the number of undead you can control using reanimate.
• Two legs: The host gains a +2 bonus to CMD vs trip and increases their base land speed by 10 feet. This graft counts as an undead with a number of Hit Dice equal to half the host creatures Hit Dice (rounded down, minimum 1) when determining the number of undead you can control using reanimate.
• Two wings: The host gains a fly speed of 20 feet (poor). If the host creature already has wings (including if this graft is applied multiple times), this instead increases their fly speed by 10 feet and improves their maneuverability by one step (to a maximum of perfect). This graft counts as an undead with a number of Hit Dice equal to the host creatures Hit Dice when determining the number of undead you can control using reanimate.
• One tail: The host gains a +2 bonus to Acrobatics checks made to balance and gains a secondary tail slap natural attack (1d6 medium, 1d4 small). This graft counts as an undead with a number of Hit Dice equal to half the host creatures Hit Dice (rounded down, minimum 1) when determining the number of undead you can control using reanimate.

Dominion Talents

Angry Dead (dominion)

Undead you reanimate and control lose their immunity to morale effects when they are within your dominion range. By spending 1 spell point as a standard action, you can cause an undead within this range to fly into a furious rage for one minute, granting them a +2 morale bonus to attack and damage rolls, 2 temporary hit points per Hit Die of the undead, a +2 morale bonus to Will saves, and -2 AC. If the undead has an intelligence score, it cannot use any Charisma-, Dexterity-, or Intelligence based skills (except Acrobatics, Fly, Intimidate, and Ride) or any ability that requires patience or concentration while under the effects of this rage.

If you have the Mass Death Magic talent you may pay an additional spell point when you use this talent to affect 1 addition undead creature under your control within range, plus 1 addition undead per 5 caster levels.

Programmed Undead (dominion)

By spending one minute (or more), you can give a single mindless undead under your control that can hear you within your dominion range a series of commands called a program. This program can be as complicated as you wish, but each step must be a simple command that could be completed by a mindless undead. A program can be as simple as raising one arm if it sees a specific action take place, or a particularly complex and multi- step program such as describing a specific route for the undead to travel, and having it deliver a letter to a specific creature at a location you describe. These undead are still mindless and follow your program exactly as you described. It can not improvise upon any programming given to it. Particularly complex programs can be interrupted easily, and in such a case the undead immediately stops what it was doing and waits for a new order, or performs any contingencies you may have instructed it to perform should its programming fail. Describing a particularly complex program to an undead may take more than one minute, at the GM’s discretion. Your GM has the final say on whether a program could be feasibly completed by your undead creature. An undead creature may only have one program at a time, attempting to give them another program immediately ends the first.

Reanimated Mage (dominion)

Choose a sphere of magic you possess. Undead you reanimate and control gain the base abilities and benefits of the chosen sphere when they are within your dominion range. The undead use their Charisma as their casting ability modifier and have no spell points. The undead can never gain temporary spell points. They use the lower of their Hit Dice or your caster level as their caster level with the sphere. If a mindless undead casts an ability with a duration of concentration, the mindless undead only concentrates on the spell during the turn it casts it. Whenever you rest and recover spell points, you may change the sphere chosen.

You may take this talent multiple times; each time you do, you may grant an additional base sphere of magic you possess.

Relinquish Control (dominion)

When you reanimate an undead creature, you can grant as many creatures as you wish the ability to give the undead creature orders for as long as you control it. If you have the Programmed Undead talent, those creatures can give your undead programs as well. At any point, you can change the creatures allowed to give a specific undead that is under your control orders as a standard action. If an undead you control is ordered to attack you or cause you harm, it will ignore the order. Additionally, as an immediate action, you can relinquish your control over any number of undead you have reanimated within your dominion rage, causing them to become wild, uncontrolled undead. They no longer count against the maximum undead you have reanimated and will continue to exist until the duration of reanimate expires.

Ghost Strike Talents

Disfigurement (ghost strike) [curse]

You may spend a spell point to make a ghost strike that disfigures your target, dealing 1d6 slashing damage per 2 caster levels to the target (minimum: 1d6). A struck creature gains a permanent disfigurement of your choice from the list below (Fortitude negates). Disfigurements may be removed with the Break Enchantment Life talent, upon your death, by an effect that can remove curses, or by your choice as a free action. Otherwise, this disfigurement cannot be dispelled through normal means.

A creature can be affected by multiple disfigurements, but the effects of identical disfigurements do not stack.

• -2 penalty to one of the target’s ability scores (minimum 1). This disfigurement can be applied multiple times, but each application must target a different ability score.
• -2 penalty to the target’s attack rolls.
• -2 penalty to one of the target’s saving throws (Fortitude, Reflex, or Will). This disfigurement can be applied multiple times, but each application must target a different saving throw.
• One of the target’s forms of movement speed is reduced by 5 feet plus 5 feet per 10 caster levels, to a minimum of 5 feet of movement speed. This disfigurement can be applied multiple times, but each application must target a different form of movement.
• Starting attitude towards the target by creatures of the same type as it are reduced by 1 step, (Helpful reduced to Friendly, Friendly reduced to Indifferent, Indifferent reduced to Unfriendly, Unfriendly reduced to Hostile) and the diplomacy DC to increase reputation with those creatures is increased by 5.

Frightful Strike (ghost strike) [fear]

You may make a ghost strike that causes a target to be shaken for 1 round per caster level (Will negates). On a successful save, the target is still shaken for 1 round. If a target who is shaken or frightened by this talent fails a saving throw against it again, you may spend a spell point to worsen their fear by one step (shaken to frightened to panicked) and the duration of the condition is extended to the duration of the most recently cast Frightful Strike. If a creature who is panicked from this ghost strike fails another save against it, you may spend a spell point to cause the target to immediately drop to -1 hit points and begin dying. Creatures immune to death effects cannot be affected by this final ability. Conditions inflicted by this ghost strike do not stack with other instances of shaken or frightened to make an affected creature frightened or panicked.

Grasping Phantasms (ghost strike)

You may make a ghost strike that causes phantasmal hands to grasp at the target, pulling them from place to place at your whim. Once during each of your turns for the next minute, you can force the struck target to make a Fortitude save to resist being pulled 5 feet plus 5 feet per 5 caster levels in a direction of your choice. The target receives a +5 bonus to their Fortitude check if this movement would move them into dangerous terrain, such as by moving them off a cliff, into the air if they can’t fly, into flames, or into a trap they know of. This forced movement does not provoke attacks of opportunity. If you spend a spell point when attempting to pull the target, the target does not receive a saving throw against the effect and the ghost strike ends against that target after it is pulled. A single target can only be affected by one instance of Grasping Phantasms at a time.

Healing Leech (ghost strike)

By spending 1 spell point you may make a ghost strike that causes you to leech half of any healing applied to the target for 1 round plus 1 round per two caster levels (Fortitude negates). Whenever the target benefits from any healing while you are within Medium range (whether it be magical healing, or from fast healing or regeneration) the target only receives half the healing (rounded down) and you receive the other half (rounded up).

Death Sphere Advanced Magic

Amalgamate Horror

Prerequisites: Death sphere, Corpse Manipulation, 3rd CL or higher

You can merge multiple corpses into a single horrific amalgamate by spending 1 hour and 1 spell point. Select a single corpse to act as the base of the amalgamate horror. This corpse determines the horrors initial size, base statistics, abilities, and Hit Dice. You may take racial Hit Dice from additional corpses used as part of this talent, and add them to the base creature. You cannot add more Hit Dice than the additional corpses have racial Hit Dice. The base corpse receiving the benefit of this talent does not gain any other abilities of the additional corpses beyond the increase in Hit Dice, although its own abilities are recalculated using the higher Hit Dice. These additional Hit Dice are bonus Hit Dice, not racial Hit Dice, and thus do not grant ability score increases that creatures gain for every 4 Hit Dice they possess. The corpse of the amalgamate horror can then be reanimated as if it were an intact corpse. If the horror is destroyed, or before it has been reanimated, you can return all of the corpses melded together by this talent to normal by touching them as a standard action, and spending 1 spell point.

For every 3 Hit Dice added to the base corpse using this talent, you gain 1 amalgamate point to spend on any of the following qualities or abilities to add to the base corpse. These abilities can be purchased multiple times unless they grant an ability that only has a singular benefit (such as a feat, or a special quality). 1 point amalgamate abilities:

• Add 2 claw attacks that deal damage appropriate to the base corpses size (requires 2 free arms).

• Add 2 secondary wing buffet attacks that deal damage appropriate to the base corpses size (requires a free set of wings).

• Add a bite attack that deals damage appropriate to the base corpses size (requires a free head without a bite attack).

• Add 2 additional arms.

• Add 2 additional legs, increasing the corpses base movement speed by 10 feet and granting a +2 bonus to CMD against trips.

• Add an additional head, giving the undead created from the base corpse a +4 to Perception checks.

• Grant one of the corpses natural attacks the grab universal monster ability.

2 point amalgamate abilities:

• Add a set of wings, giving it a fly speed of 20 feet with clumsy maneuverability. Selecting this ability multiple times increases its fly speed by 10 feet per additional selection and improves their maneuverability by one step (maximum perfect). Skeletal amalgamate horrors cannot use these wings to fly. If the base creature already had wings, the first selection grants a 10 foot increase to its fly speed and increases its maneuverability by one step.

• Add 2 secondary talon attacks that deal damage appropriate to the base corpses size (requires 2 free legs).

• Add a gore attack that deals damage appropriate to the base corpses size (requires a free head without a gore attack).

• Increase either the Strength, Dexterity, or Charisma scores of the base corpse by +1.

• Grant the corpse the constrict special attack, dealing damage equal to a slam attack one size category larger than the corpse.

3 point amalgamate abilities:

• Increase the size of the base corpse by 1 step (to a maximum of colossal). Each time the base corpses size is increased it gets a +8 bonus to Strength, a -2 penalty to Dexterity, and size bonuses and penalties appropriate for its new size. If the base corpse was bipedal, its natural reach increases by 5 feet.

Aura of Desecration

Prerequisites: Death sphere, Desecrated Terrain, 5th CL or higher.

You can choose to cast Desecrated Terrain as an aura centered on yourself, rather than as a burst. This aura has the same radius as the burst and lasts for the same duration.

Additionally, you can choose to double the spell point cost of the Desecrated Terrain talent, increasing its duration to 1 hour per caster level. This doubling in cost also applies to the additional costs to increase the effects of the talent at caster level 10. This can be done with both Desecrated Terrain or Aura of Desecration.

Awaken Specter

Prerequisites: Death sphere, Animate Specter, 5th CL or higher.

When you reanimate a specter you can choose to awaken it, granting it the alignment, feats, proficiencies, languages, personality, memories, mental statistics and skill ranks of the base creature it was animated from. An awakened specter always treats Fly and Stealth as class skills.

An awakened specter is still under your control, treats you as an ally, and will obey most of your commands, but does not necessarily consider you its friend. The specter will attack any target you command it to and move to any location you require, but will atiempt to ignore any other orders it would not have willingly performed in life (such as sharing any secrets or information it would not wish to tell you, or taking a suicidal action). Ordering such an action requires the specter to make a Will saving throw to resist the order. If an awakened specter successfully makes this saving throw it may ignore that order for 24 hours.

If you have the Summon Spirit advanced talent, you can choose to use a spirit as a component when creating an awakened specter instead of requiring a corpse that has died within 1 day per caster level (Will negates if unwilling; if the spirit makes its save, it immediately returns to the afterlife as if it had made its original saving throw). The awakened specter uses the spirit’s personality, memories, mental statistics, and skill ranks. The awakened specter created this way is under your control, as normal for the talent.

Devouring Prison

Prerequisites: Death sphere, Tomb of Flesh, 5th CL or higher. When you absorb a creature using Tomb of Flesh they are shunted into a pocket dimension of devouring maws. Your interior with Tomb of Flesh gains any bonuses to Natural Armor or Deflection AC you possess, and it deals an additional 3d6 piercing damage plus your Strength modifier each round. If a creature atiempts to cut its way free with a light slashing or piercing weapon, it needs to deal a total amount of damage equal to your caster level plus your casting ability modifier, or one-tenth your maximum hit points, whichever is higher. Your hit points are not reduced by damage you take to your interior. Additionally, the number of undead you can store is increased to 1 plus 1 for every 2 caster levels you have.

Improved Corpse Bomb

Prerequisites: Death sphere, Corpse Bomb.

When you use your Corpse Bomb talent, you may cause creatures within the area of effect to take 1d6 piercing damage plus 1d6 per 3 Hit Dice of the exploded corpse or undead creature. This damage is halved on a successful saving throw, and counts as magical damage for the purposes of bypassing damage reduction.

In addition, by spending 1 additional spell point when using the Corpse Bomb talent, you may delay the explosion for up to 1 hour. By spending 3 additional spell points instead, it can be delayed for up to 24 hours. This explosion is triggered in one of the following ways, chosen by you when the talent is used:

• The Corpse Bomb explodes after a set period of time, up to a maximum of its duration (1 hour or 24 hours). This explosion happens even if used on an undead who is destroyed before this time passes.

• The Corpse Bomb explodes if the corpse or undead creature is disturbed or touched (if the undead attacks, it explodes if the attack hits, after the damage of the attack is rolled).

• The Corpse Bomb explodes when the undead creature is destroyed.

• If the Corpse Bomb is an undead creature, it can explode by spending an immediate action while it is within Medium range of you at your command.

If the duration of the Corpse Bomb passes without being triggered, the magic harmlessly disperses.

Infusing Sustenance

Prerequisites: Death sphere, Sustained Necromancy.

While you are concentrating to sustain an undead with Sustained Necromancy, that undead gains an extra standard action each round. This does not stack with other abilities that grant extra actions or attacks each round, such as the haste ability of the Time sphere. If you have multiple undead reanimated by Sustained Necromancy at a time (via the Mass Sustenance advanced talent) only a single undead gains this extra action, chosen at the beginning of each of your turns.

Sever Skin (ghost strike)

Prerequisites: Death sphere, Corpse Manipulation, 7th CL or higher.

By spending 1 spell point you may make a ghost strike that severs the skin of a target, animating it under that target’s control. Against an unwilling target, this talent lasts for 1 round per caster level (Fortitude negates).

Against a willing target, this talent lasts for up to one hour per caster level.

When affected by this spell, the target’s current hit points are halved, and their skin separates and appears in an adjacent square of their choice. The target’s skin has all of the abilities and statistics of the target, except in the following ways: Its hit points are equal to the hit points the target lost when first affected by this spell, and cannot be healed above that maximum; it has the undead type, traits, and immunities; Strength 3, Con —; DR 10/piercing or slashing; and the compression universal monster ability. The skin gains the benefits of any continuous magic items or spells affecting the target when this spell was cast on them. When the target is first affected by this spell, they may have the skin take any carried or worn items of their choice (such as armor, weapons, scrolls, wands, a backpack, etc).

The target’s mind is split between the location of its body and the location of its skin, allowing it to perceive both locations at once. This spliting of perception and movements is particularly disorienting, imposing a -2 penalty to AC, CMD, and Reflex saves. The skin receives no additional actions of its own, however, the target can choose to give up any number of its actions to have the skin perform that same action.

When the target’s skin is split from its body it cannot heal the damage it took from this spell naturally, nor can spells or special abilities that cure hit point damage restore it. If the target is affected by the Regeneration advanced talent (or similar spells or abilities) or regains Hit Points from the regeneration universal monster ability, the target immediately heals an amount equal to the hit points they lost from this spell and the target’s skin immediately dies.

If the target and its skin are in adjacent squares, as a full-round action they can attempt a Fortitude saving throw to rejoin their skin to their body (a willing target does not need to make a Fortitude save). On a success, the target regains hit points equal to the skin’s remaining hit points, all items held or worn by the skin are placed back on the target, and the spell ends. If the spell ends and the target is adjacent to their skin, the skin automatically rejoins their body.

If the spell ends and the target is not adjacent to their skin, the skin dies, dropping any held or worn items in the square it was occupying, and allowing any hit points lost from this spell to be healed normally. If the target’s body is slain while this spell is active, they may continue to use their actions as their skin until the spell ends, after which the target dies regardless of how many hit points the skin has left (unless their body is returned to life before the spell ends).

If the skin is slain, it drops any held or worn items in the square it was occupying and this spell ends, allowing the target to once again heal any hit points lost from this spell normally.

Spectral Empowerment

Prerequisites: Death sphere, Animate Specter, Lingering Necromancy, 3rd CL or higher.

You may increase the spiritual energy of animated specters under your control using your powers over death. By spending one full round in meditation and by spending 1 spell point you may grant a single one of your animated specters an additional racial Hit Die. The additional Hit Dice counts against the control cap of your reanimate ability as normal for specters you control. You may use this ability multiple times on a single specter if you wish to.

You cannot grant a specter Hit Dice if it would raise their Hit Dice to higher than your Death sphere caster level or if it would cause you to go over your control cap.

Recalculate the specters statistics for its new Hit Dice (including its base atiack bonus, HP, saves, AC, ability scores, and the damage of its deadly touch). Awakened Specters do not gain any additional skill ranks or feats from Hit Dice gained through this talent. At the GM’s discretion, a Permanent Awakened Specter benefiting from this talent may eventually gain skill ranks or feats from these racial hit dice through training.

If you release a specter benefiting from this talent from your control, it loses any racial Hit Dice it gained from this talent and any benefits associated with those Hit Dice.

Mass Sustenance (dominion)

Prerequisites: Death sphere, Mass Death Magic, Sustained Necromancy, 5th CL or higher.

You can combine your Mass Death Magic and Sustained Necromancy talents, allowing you to reanimate multiple Sustained Undead at once by spending a spell point as a fullround action. The concentration required to sustain more than one undead at a time is strenuous, requiring you to spend a full-round action each round to concentrate (or a standard action if you have the Easy Focus boon). Undead sustained in this way must remain within your dominion range. If they leave the area of your dominion, they stop being animated.

Reanimated Archmage

Prerequisites: Death sphere, Reanimated Mage, 10th CL or higher.

When you grant spheres of magic to your undead you control, you can grant a single talent you possess of one of those spheres as well. This talent must have no prerequisites besides the base sphere.

You may select this advanced talent multiple times; each time you do, you grant an additional talent you possess to the undead in one of the spheres it has been granted.

Tomb of Undeath

Prerequisites: Death sphere, Tomb of Flesh.

You can command corporeal undead under your control to consume a foe, as Tomb of Flesh. On the undead’s turn, it will atiempt to consume the target as a standard action. This target must be one size category smaller than the undead you command to consume it. The undead uses its statistics to make the atiack roll, and its HP and CMD when determining if the consumed creature can break free, but you use your caster level when determining the damage the Tomb of Flesh deals and the Reflex save required. You may only have a single creature consumed by one of your undead using this talent at any given time.

This talent can be selected multiple times, allowing an additional creature to be consumed by undead you control for each time it is selected. A single one of your undead can consume multiple creatures if you command it to do so.

If you have the Devouring Prison advanced talent, use the undead’s Strength score when determining the piercing damage dealt each round, and use your caster level plus your casting ability modifier to determine the hit points of the interior space.

Undying Champion

Prerequisites: Death sphere, Greater Undead, Lingering Necromancy, Permanent Undead, 10th CL or higher.

You may spend 5 spell points and one hour of casting to animate an intact corpse as either a skeletal champion or a zombie lord. Unlike a normal skeletal champion or zombie lord, the undead created with this talent does not gain any additional racial Hit Dice normally granted by the template, nor do they gain the racial class skills associated with those Hit Dice (unless they had racial Hit Dice before becoming undead). This is an instantaneous effect, creating a permanent undead that cannot be dispelled. This process has an additional requirement of precious gems and special reagents worth 100 gp per hit die of the resulting undead creature that are expended as part of casting this talent. Unlike a normal undead creature, this undead creature retains the alignment it had in life. This created undead is not under your control and does not gain the benefits of any of your talents or abilities that would modify or improve your reanimated undead, such as the Empowered Reanimate talent. Abilities that apply to all created undead, such as desecrate apply as normal.

Zombies of the Apocalypse

Prerequisites: Death sphere, Expanded Necromancy, Inflict Disease, 10th CL or higher.

When you reanimate a creature, you may spend an additional 3 spell points to animate it as an apocalypse zombie. A created apocalypse zombie is not under your direct control but still counts against the number of total undead you may have reanimated at once. Despite not being under your control, the apocalypse zombie (and any zombies it may create) will not atack you as long as it is included among the undead you are controlling with reanimate. If you choose to release an apocalypse zombie from your control, it (and any zombies it creates or has created) may attack you as normal for a mindless undead creature. If the apocalypse zombie has a duration, when that duration expires any apocalypse zombies it has created are destroyed as well. If the apocalypse zombie is destroyed, any zombies it has created may atiack you as normal for a mindless undead creature for the remainder of their duration (if they have one).

When reanimating an apocalypse zombie, it counts as three times its Hit Dice against the total number of undead you may have reanimated at once.