Skeleton (monster)

Skeletons are corporeal undead created through necromantic magic.DFRPG: Monsters 1, p.47 They are often the foot soldiers of a necromancer's army, although some skeletons wander freely in areas of dark magic or unholy mettling.Fanon Zombies tend to become skeletons over time if not deliberately preserved, so any large force of the former will have a smaller contingent of the latter.
== Common Skeleton ==
Ordinary skeletons are a combination of spooky and silly. Their perpetual grimace and lanky frame make them unnerving, but not terrifying, and slaying a skeleton often feels like a favor to whatever poor spirit was bound to it.Fanon commentary by Cherrio01 As such, regular animated skeletons are among the lowliest of necromantic servitors. They can't do much, but they're loyal and incorruptible, and can provide some necessary muscle (pun accidental) to a necromancer's forces.
===Tactics===
Skeletons use relatively simple tactics, using bow and blade to strike the living until they stop moving.With their poor IQ and Perception, skeletons can be fooled by playing dead! When commanded by a summoner, they work most effectively as skirmishers, attacking and retreating while their back lines pepper enemies with arrows.
Skeletons are not particularly dangerous, although they tend to be summoned in groups, and are quite dangerous if encountered in an unfriendly biome: Skeletons have no weakness in the heat of the desert nor the cold of the mountains, and sometimes the horror of their approach is not from their strength, but their tenacity.
=== Weapons ===
Skeletons--especially ones raised in a pinch--seldom have standardized weaponry! Here's some more weapons they can be armed with:
* Axe (1d+3 cutting)
* Shortsword (1d+1 cutting or 1d impaling)Shortswords tend to be carried by skeletons from old empires, when swords were produced en masse. Skeletons with shortswords will likely have other bits of kit with them, like caligae sandal-boots, and should have their helmets.
* Spear (1d+1 impaling), etc. Reach 1.
=== Traits ===
As undead, skeletons have a lot of traits!
Appearance (Monstrous); Automaton; Brittle; Cannot Float; Cannot Learn; Dependency (Loses 1 HP per minute in no-mana areas); Doesn’t Breathe; Doesn’t Eat or Drink; Doesn’t Sleep; High Pain Threshold; Immunity to Disease; Immunity to Mind Control; Immunity to Poison; Indomitable; Mute; No Blood; No Brain; No Eyes; No Sense of Smell/Taste; No Vitals; Reprogrammable; Single-Minded; Skinny; Temperature Tolerance 5 (Cold); Temperature Tolerance 5 (Heat); Unfazeable; Unhealing (Total); Unliving; Unnatural; Vulnerability (Crushing x2).
===Notes===
A skeleton's DR is from their bones--skull DR is still only 2. They are unaffected by Death Vision or Sense Life, but susceptible to Pentagram, Sense Spirit, and Turn Zombie.
This skeleton is made from a bandit, castle guard, militiaman, or other low-end warrior, and equipped as a skirmisher and archer: one-handed melee weapon, small shield (DB 1), longbow, and 10-20 arrows. More impressive fighters can have better combat stats and gear – maybe even armor fit for a skeleton! Though not truly evil, the magic animating it usually is. No undead servitor will negotiate or reveal useful information.
== Variants ==
* More to be added and refined
* Hidewrapped Skeleton -- They collect skin from foes. Nasty. They have higher DR, and more ST (and HP). They're more driven than wandering skeletons, and easily make good Worthy-level foes.
== Upgrades ==
=== Sandals and Moccasins ===
According to rumor, the most common shoes for skeletons are sandals, often re-laced tightly to fit their bony feet.$25, 0.5 lb, DR 1 on the bottom, if relevant. These are practical and common enough 
Skeletons travel on their bony feet, and while they don't feel pain, they do take wear from travel. Skeleton warriors can wear shoes, boots and sabatons they may have had in life, but they'll need a bit of padding. Some necromancers have adapted to this by making skeleton moccasins—they're unfashionable and lumpy like a scarecrow's clothes, but they prevent HP drain over long distances. Furthermore, they can improve Stealth!
=== Leather Ligaments ===
Skeletons are held together mainly through magic, but they can be improved through engineering. Leather ligaments can add to their HT for avoiding collapse before -1xHP, and gives the skeleton *slightly* more resistance to damage, justifying a few more HP and an extra DR 1 to all locations. 
* There are tales of other eccentric variations of this design, such as those wrapped in "muscles" of manila rope, vines, silk, hair, or even webs.
=== Powdered Skeletons ===
Is it rumored that zombies decay slower than inanimate corpses due to their necromantic auras, which kill or discourage most living things that try to break down the body. Skeletons are the same, but in regions with more opportunistic wildlife, they need more than spears to keep the karkadanns and trigers off their necks. Sterile Skeletons have a strong alkaline smell, like lye, and will cause toxic damage when bitten, and a major wound causes a gout of white powder that can cause sneezing and/or blindness within C (or 1?) range.
== Dead Monster Bits ==
=== Throw Me A Bone Here ===
Dogs and strong-jawed scavengers love bones. While not necessarily fresh (or safe), a skeleton should have at least one good bone, giving an animal companion some FP during downtime.
=== The Rest of the Bits? ===
Skeletons are often come from old bones (any corpse about a year or so after death),Don't quote me on this! or are the result of a zombie who's managed to un-live long enough to wither into a skeleton. However... 
Some necromancers will make skeletons using an otherwise-intact cadaver--perhaps they dislike the stink of zombies, and lack the preservatives (or huge barrels of salt) to make a mummified servitor.Fanon speculation It is rumored that some more inventive necromancers use "every part of the buffalo" when animating a body, and will use the muscles, skin and other bits for other monsters.
== See Also ==
* Undead (class)
** Zombie (Dungeon Fantasy)
*** They can be preserved as mummified zombies
* Bone Golem
* Reskinned
* Not to be confused with the much more powerful, more wizardly Lich
* Also not to be confused with the divine servitor creature, Ciuaclá,
== Notes ==
== References ==