By means of this spell, a wizard can animate a dead horse or similar creature or assemble a magical mount from the bones of such creatures. The mount created by this spell is under the control of the caster. It can carry up to 300 lbs. of riders and equipment. Exceeding the 300 lb. limit destroys the spell and reduces the mount to its original (dead) form.
An undead mount is usually a horse (dead horses are easy to come by), but also can be a griffon, camel, hippogriff, or other beast of burden. Flying creatures that are turned into undead mounts cannot fly, but they can move along the ground. Creatures that had some special ability while alive do not retain that ability in their undead state.
The undead mount is unintelligent and cannot fight. It responds only to simple verbal commands. It cannot be affected by enchantment/charm magic. The undead mount has a movement rate of 18 and moves silently. It has 1d4 hit points plus one additional hit point per level of the caster. Undead mounts can be turned as skeletons if they are primarily bones, or as zombies otherwise. Undead mounts ridden by more powerful undead cannot be turned separately, but if the rider is turned, so is the mount.
The caster can choose when creating the undead mount to make it glow very faintly with a yellow, green, or red hue.
The material components of this spell are a drop of water, a human hair, and a pinch of powdered hoof. The bones or body of the animal that will serve as the mount also are needed.
Notes: Uncommon for necromancers; otherwise, very rare. Known to be in Tidings of Conflict and Woe.