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xxxxxDexter is a necromancer, but not in the traditional 'zombie' terms. He has the power to manipulate, repair, and resurrect recently dead corpses back to life. He can only access them while he's in a necromantic trance. More on that below. The only 'ability' he has when he's not in the trance is to sense if creatures within about 10 yards are alive or not, and (in a general way) what its injuries are.
Necromantic Trance:
Dex's awareness does not require his body to be alive. While Dex's body is deceased, he is considered to be in a Nercomantic Trance. This doesn't need concentration or triggering: it always happens, immediately, upon death. His identity, perception, or 'soul' is in a psionic form that remains inside his body: specifically, the chest. Unalike most psions, Dex's mutancy requires the chest to be relatively intact in mass, not the head. This psionic presence cannot actually leave his body, but it can send out small tendrils to affect other recently deceased material in his vicinity. He cannot use any of his powers unless he is in this trance: which requires him to be dead. Dex's trance does not activate if his chest takes very severe damage, such as being blown open, disemboweled, cut in half, or such; being riddled with bullets would not necessarily do it, because it doesn't destroy the mass. The mass is the cage that keeps his psionic energy in; without it, he's dead-dead. Technically, he doesn't require his head to be in this trance.
Dex is restricted to sight and sound. He can't physically feel anything at all, and his emotional process is also stunted: usually he is very apathetic, just a general numbing sense to everything. He also has poor mental processing power, and is easily tricked and manipulated. This is because nearly all of his awareness is tied up in fueling his Trance.
Technically, Dex may learn to enter his Trance while he is still alive, but at this time, it is outside of his ability: he must be dead to be in the Trance.
Necromantic Repair:
While within the necromantic Trance (see above), Dex is able to repair deceased tissue, within some limits, and it isn't particularly speedy. He automatically repairs himself, but must concentrate for other creatures. He is able to repair minor physical damage (say, clean knife wounds, general burns, a collapsed throat from strangulation) in about an hour. More severe problems, such as re-attaching a severed limb, can take several hours. Regeneration is the poor area, so it is far easier to simply heal over a missing limb (assuming the limb is nowhere to be found) than to regrow a new one. Frankenstein on a limb (as in, attaching an incorrect one from somebody else) can work, but usually doesn't have good functionality, if at all. Dex must be able to physically touch the injured area (and may require having to crack open a chest to get to the heart after a heart attack) to heal it. Clearing poison is not difficult, nor is removing disease, viruses, or even cancers. However, the tissue has to be dead first. None of this works on living subjects. Dex also requires reasonably familiar anatomy (humans, small birds, cats and dogs are good examples). Extremely mutant anatomy is outside his range (like skin made of steel: nope). Rigor mortis is easy to clear, and is the only thing he can do without having to get in physical contact.
Necromantic Kinetic:
Dex can move and manipulate recently dead creatures within their natural limits. Please note that this is NOT making zombies; more closely related to puppetry. During his Trance (see above) he can either force his own body to move, or he can force dead tissue around him to act. This is specific mostly to being able to move his own dead body, but it can extend to a handful of other nearby (3 yards) creatures as well. This is not particularly easy, and takes concentration. Due to this, anything animated (including his own body) moves more slowly, and can often appear to be jerky or uneven in motion. As Dex develops his skill, this may be reduced, but as it is, getting much beyond general walking (or a speedy shuffle) is very hard. When animating his own body, he can do simple tasks like opening doors, speech, or picking up objects without too much concentration, but he shouldn't be behind the wheel of a car or expected to use both hands and feet in some activity all at the same time. If Dex is animating several dead creatures in addition to himself, usually they all must do a similar task (such as walking in the same direction) or all saying the same sentence. He can't make any other creature fully appear to be 'normal'; it's usually very obvious there is something really wrong, although some may believe the target is simply extremely drunk. He can't make anything fly or do things it couldn't have done in life (although things it wouldn't have done, like jumping in front of a car, he can do).
For dead things that still have some will (such as Zombies), Dex can partially manipulate them. Often, these creatures just go along with his suggestions, but he can't make them do things opposite to their nature. For example, he can't make a zombie gently pet a child if it wants to eat her, but he could repeatedly twist the zombie around to where it had a really hard time chasing the child, or could send it towards an alternate but equally tasty target instead. If a creature has a very strong will, it may be aware of the kinetic signals Dex sends, but may fight against them.
For dead things without motor ability (like a skeleton), it is outside of Dex's reach. He's primarily a flesh-controller, and needs some muscle to make things go. If the creature has no legs, he can't make it walk. He can make it stumble on broken legs, though, but it will probably fall over.
Pure Necromancy (Resurrection)
Last but not least, the topic of resurrection. Again, this power requires that Dex be in a Trance (see Trance, at top). Dex's ability to do this with any percentage of success is restricted to his own body. After repairing whatever caused his death, he can force the organs to start working again, to return a himself to life. It's extremely painful and physically weakening, to literally force his consciousness back into the physical shell. Crawling, throwing up, and whimpering is usually the only physical activity for several hours afterwards, although simply passing out or being comatose afterwards isn't uncommon either, when all of the pain suddenly hits him all at once.
Trying to do this with someone else is directly related to how long they've been dead. (It's important to note he doesn't make zombies, this is more akin to an electric jolt that triggers the system to start working again). If they've been dead over an hour, the attempt is entirely pointless: and since it usually takes about that long (or longer) to heal a deadly injury, most people are outside of his ability from the outset. They just kind of twitch and die again. However, there are some very slim edge cases where Dex might be able to do it, if the injury that caused the death is not extremely serious, and he had immediate medical care to keep the person from dying again. For example, he might be able to repair damage from a stab wound quickly, but the person probably needs a blood transfusion right away, which Dex can't provide. Technically, he can try to resurrect someone without repairing the damage, but the person is likely to just die immediately. The best case for Dex is when someone is on the brink of being saved in an intensive care unit, but dies. He may be able to do just enough to change that fate.xxxxxBeing resurrected is very hard on a body, and will weaken a target immensely for days, which are often spent in a coma on the verge of death. However, this is no different from being returned from the brink of death via shock paddles, or similar, in experience for the target otherwise.
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