Talk: Animate Dead

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Controlling it

Is there any way to control a reanimated dead directly? Like you do when the player? --Rolan Zevran 03:13, January 27, 2010 (UTC)

Left click on the portrait or skeleton itself, if it's a double skeleton left click directly on the second skeleton. Mictlantecuhtli 11:46, January 28, 2010 (UTC)

Is there any way on the xbox? Thats what I play.--Rolan Zevran 22:47, January 28, 2010 (UTC)

I've only got manuals for the PS3 (though I don't have a PS3), and PC versions. If the 360 version is similar to the ps3 game there should be a button that cycles through available party members, but I guess if you're asking you've tried that already. What little I played of the 360 version you could move to objects and highlight them, I guess try getting within talking distance of the skeleton and trying to click on it also. I only played the 360 game very briefly before returning it, I had already been exposed to the pc version and couldnt bring myself to play the console version. Mictlantecuhtli 11:17, January 29, 2010 (UTC)

Yeah I tried all those things. If anyone reading this knows, please tell. --Rolan Zevran 01:59, January 30, 2010 (UTC)

I know this is a old topic but just to clarify it is actually not possible to control the animated dead in the 360 and PS3 (Not actually tested on PS3 version myself) versions of the game, which I think is kind of dumb but to bad :{, maybe Bioware will patch it.78.86.241.5 17:15, March 7, 2010 (UTC)

Does the caster gain experience points that the summoned being has cause?

Will the caster actually gain the experience points that the being they summoned caused or are they just lost points?

You gain experience from enemies killed by summoned creatures, or party members alike. Mictlantecuhtli 22:23, May 6, 2010 (UTC)

Has this been confirmed pre-patch 1.04? Ranger pets only started yielding xp as of patch 1.04 and enemies killed by charmed enemies still don't yield xp. Ripstrawberry (talk) 07:20, September 7, 2010 (UTC)

Duration?

Is there a Duration for this spell, or is it just until the skeleton dies?

Never mind. I somehow missed the fact that it's a Sustained Ability. I feel stupid now. Swk3000 (talk) 23:04, June 10, 2010 (UTC)

Yeah it's permanent unless you change areas, or it dies. Mictlantecuhtli (talk) 07:36, June 12, 2010 (UTC)

Number of skeletons?

If you have two mages with this ability can each summon a skeleton or will the first mages skeleton die the same as what happens with ranger summons if you have two rangers? Elite~Anarchist (talk) 05:54, August 5, 2010 (UTC)

Casting success criteria?

(On PC, v1.04) I keep trying to cast this in various battle situations, but it usually fails: no skeleton appears, and there is no cooldown. One time it worked. What are the conditions for success? I assume I have to be near a dead enemy. How close? What level and type of enemy? Can I have looted it already? What if it had no loot and its body has disappeared already? 98.210.187.219 (talk) 08:45, August 16, 2010 (UTC)

the body must look human for it too work in other words it has to have its flesh intacked.--(Jesse Brown (talk) 21:11, August 30, 2010 (UTC))

how?

i know this is a question no one could probably answer but how do you summon a skelington (sorry i cant spell) i meen if you look them up in dragon age their are corpses that have been possesed by demons so does that meen you summoned a demon and put it into a body but isnt that against chantry laws im just wondering how you make a corpse come alive without a demon.--(Jesse Brown (talk) 14:44, September 29, 2010 (UTC))

Don't know if I'm replying to your post correctly, but hopefully this will get to you somehow. The schools of spirit and entropy are rarely practiced by mages for exactly what you're talking about. One of the codex entries states that most people in Thedas think of the Primal school, or maybe Creation, when they think of magic. The esoteric spells from the Entropy and Spirit schools are often not overtly impressive or destructive and thus viewed with suspicion, especially if the spell does something morally grey, such as the Spirit school's Animate Dead spell. To answer your question more directly though, the Chantry allows the practice of re-animation, seeing as how mages that learn in the tower are not restricted to the Primal and Creation schools. However, being a rather gruesome spell, it is likely looked down upon, and unknowing commoners would probably mistake it for blood magic. As for how? The spell ends when the caster wills it, and the corpse does not take specific action unless told to. Most demons would not allow themselves to be bound on such strict terms, so I I'm guessing it's more of a "willing it into being" kind of thing.

not useful for me

I really thought this spell would be a lot cooler but when I finally got it it was not that great especially since I play on hard

not recommended for some one new to the game

It generates quite a bit of threat, so even if it's lifespan is short lived the act of summoning it can be just as effective as a warrior using Taunt on the enemy. Mictlantecuhtli (talk) 16:27, October 13, 2010 (UTC)

still didn't like it that much and what's annoying is that I already saved the game so I couldn't change. I was hoping that it would be better than the ranger skill the rouge get, but my skeleton didn't do much, it was always last to fight and sometimes it didn't fight at all Merall (talk) 19:13, October 15, 2010 (UTC)

On the PC you can directly control it like any other party member, though on the consoles I could see it being less useful. Mictlantecuhtli (talk) 21:20, October 15, 2010 (UTC)

Advanced Reanimation Codex Entry

Does the Spell Might+AD combo have Codex entry like the other spells? I casted at least two of these combinations on darkspawn in Siege of Denerim, but I didnt get any codex entry. I know it was success, because my skeletons had advanced ablities... --AriesCZ (talk) 10:22, November 20, 2010 (UTC)

Double skellies (without the listed exploit)

Just got two skeletons - but not sure how. One of them does not have a character portrait, and keeps reviving at the end of battles (with an additional injury) as if it is a regular party member. It has no abilities or weapon/gear, but lots of hit points. It appeared after going from the first to the second area of the temple ruins (Urn of Sacred Ashes quest), after my previous (non-mage) summon/raised skeleton had disappeared from zoning. I clicked the spell twice in succession as an enemy died not realizing that would cancel it...but something about the timing may have triggered the glitch. The skeleton stayed with me (despite dying repeatedly and racking up injuries) until I zoned out to Mountain Top. It was nice fodder while it lasted, but I'm curious if anyone else has encountered this... Mel --68.112.202.234 (talk) 03:44, March 31, 2014 (UTC)

Death Syphon & Animate Dead

It appears that if you have AD active, DS doesn't drain. I don't know if this applies to Death Magic as well. I found another discussion of this from a thread back in 2009! This has happened to me in Awakenings. https://fextralife.com/forums/t76425/death-syphon-doesnt-work-while-animate-dead-is-active/

If this isn't a bug, I don't know why this hasn't been mentioned by anybody else in all this time, or why it's not listed on the main page of this spell. Given that these spells are in the same tree the odds are high that people have used them at the same time. I don't want to add this to the main page as "fact", based only my experience and an ancient post, but if anybody else confirms this it SHOULD be mentioned as a bug warning, on potentially all three spell pages (animate dead, death syphon, death magic). 32.209.135.223 (talk) 01:30, 2 March 2022 (UTC)