Skeletons. Promptober: Day 1.

When most of us think of the undead, one of the first things to come to mind is skeletons.

I can’t think of a fantasy RPG where I haven’t absolutely delighted in stocking dungeons and ruins with these monsters. Typically, they’re cannon fodder for Necromancers and more powerful undead such as Liches, Wights, and Vampires. Powerful Demons and malignant Dragons might also use them as servants and guardians.

Over the many years of fantasy roleplaying games we’ve also seen skeletal beasts and monsters of every way, kind, and origin. Skeletal Ogres, Dragons, Giants, and even Trolls among dozens of others have popped up over the years. Some players tend to dismiss a skeletal creature when they see it thinking it’s just another bag of bony hit points for them to knock down. Much like their humanoid counterparts, characters may suddenly find out that the skeleton dragon is actually a Dragon Lich. Now it’s a fight.

One of my favorite dungeon tactics with these guys is to leave them scattered about a room or corridor appearing as regular, non-magical, boring skeletons. Maybe the group has already walked past several and these skeletons on the floor just look like dead remnants of some forgotten battle and because there are so many they are probably all mundane skeletons. Or at least they were until something or someone castes an animation spell on them and now the whole room, hallway, or battlefield is full of animated skeletons in all their bony goodness.

I’m a Skeleton obsessed Game Master.

I wish I could pretend that Skeletons aren’t in my Top 5 favorite monsters of all time. I have entire skeleton armies for three different wargames. It’s usually hard to admit when I have an addiction, but all of my players will tell you it’s true. I’ve been this way since I first saw Jason and the Argonauts as well as Army of Darkness. (My family will vouch for my obsession with Army of Darkness, too.) They’re super easy to paint, fun to play and relatively cheap as long as you’re not doing Warhammer official tournament rules.

It doesn’t stop at the wargaming table or TV screen, either. I try to sneak at least one Skeleton or skeletal-adjacent monster into every dungeon. (Bone Demon for the win!) Skeletons are right up there with constructs in my opinion. They don’t eat, sleep, or question orders. The magic used to animate them might not ever wear off, so they can stand guard for decades, maybe centuries. They’re faster, nimbler, and can wield weapons effectively unlike zombies.

Aside from all that, I just think they’re neat.

Skeletons can also be armored up and given polearms like very obedient shock troops. Wights can sometimes hide among their number to add a surprise punch to the regiment. Skeletons might not be the most tactically adept individual troops, but the do follow orders very well.

Skeletons have also been armed with bows and crossbows in various fantasy settings, including Minecraft of all things. They are harder to hit with arrows making return fire tenuous for opposing archers. Unfortunately, most skeletons in various wargames shoot like Stormtroopers from Star Wars, so it might take a lot of them to get the job done.

Here are two Skeleton NPC types for the Dragonbane RPG.

For sake of argument we’re going to assume the Necromancer either had a lot of gold or armor and polearms were on sale somewhere.

Heavy Armor Skeleton

Movement: 8                           Damage Bonus: —

Typical Armor: Plate Armor and Great Helm (8)    HP: 8

Skills:  Awareness 8, Evade 6 With a Bane.

Typical Weapon: Halberd (Skill 12) Damage: 2d8.

Skeletal Archer

Movement: 8                           Damage Bonus: —

Typical Armor: Chainmail (4)      HP: 8

Skills:  Awareness 8, Evade (with Bane) 6.

Typical Weapon: Light Crossbow (Skill 12, Damage 2d6) with Quiver, or Wooden Club (Skill 10, Damage 1d8.)