Let's say I want to reanimate an NPC, but the message "character too powerful to reanimate" appears, what can I do? I'm level 25, trying to reanimate a character who should be level 25 too, with Raise Zombie, the novice spell.

From http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Conjuration#Spells:

http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Reanimate_Corpse

Spell ID: 00065bd7 Tome ID: 000a26eb 25

Apprentice 99 144 434 Reanimate a more powerful dead body to fight for you for 60 seconds:

• http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Reanimate, 13 pts for 60 secs

http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Reanimate_Corpse

Spell ID: 00065bd7 Tome ID: 000a26eb 25

Apprentice 99 144 434 Reanimate a more powerful dead body to fight for you for 60 seconds:

• http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Reanimate, 13 pts for 60 secs

http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Dead_Thrall

Spell ID: 0007e8df Tome ID: 000a26f9 100

Master 1270 1000 1000 Reanimate a dead body permanently to fight for you. Only works on people:

• http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Reanimate, 40 pts for 86313600 secs (999 days)

It seems that 'pts' = level; that can be raised by perks such as Necromage!

Reanimate Zombie works up to lvl 6, Reanimate Corpse up to lvl 13, Revenant up to lvl 21, Dread Zombie up to lvl 30, and Dead Thrall up to lvl 40. Necromage increases each by 25% to 7, 16, 26, 37, and 50 respectively.

Fortify conjuration potions


Well maybe not sorry I was thinking of Fortify Illusion