Skeletal Undead

RPG Skeletal Undead

alignment: lawful evil

size: mid

bulk: light

type: humanoid. treasure: variable

IDEALS. Revenge, Obsessed                                                   Whether they are playing it solitary, banding together in packs or moving in a massed horde, they attack relentlessly. Without a threat of damnation present before them, they lose all fear of dying again and become maniacal once their blood lust comes out.

A skeleton’s movements are often stilted or clumsy but that isn’t always the case. When it is, the loss is accounted for. Additional senses are not uncommon. The ability to see through darkness and to sense evil, purity and above all, to sense pure fear at the range of a long bows shot are common.

The nature of skeletal undead is often gleefully vicious and their goal is the destruction of the humanity that they lost when they were consumed by undeath. Usually this manifests in deadly violence.

The trappings of the damned are either just filth, tagged and dirty like their own corpse or the wilted finery of an era gone passed. Their gear is often old and damaged when it isn’t reclaimed from a recent slaying or perhaps some rare lost heirloom still with a slain ancestor.

They may carry a long lost message or just some old family news but mostly they just want to tear the flesh from your bones. Undeath offers a taste of immortality at the cost of your eternal soul.

The emotional, psychotic, almost drug addled mind is more of a bug than a feature but it’s always there. Undeath invariably cultivates madness.

Skeletons Vs Zombies                              Skeletons regularly retain the skills they had in life, including skill proficiencies. They may also have become stronger or more powerful when filled with entropic force.

Zombies are slower, dumber, clumsier and much fresher. Skeletons have shed the bulk of their bodily flesh and see with a seventh sense. Both stink to high hell when wet.

Zombies have a bite attack as their only damaging resource. This blood curdling bite is rarely used by armed skeletons. It hits only on attack rolls that end as a roll of one (after adjustment) and it has a range of zero with a recoil speed of r7. It causes 1d6 piercing damage and attacks on the second turn of every second round.

The limitation that skeletons suffer that makes them a door monster is that most types of skeleton are typically a haunting undead. In campaign, they tend to stay in place seemingly guarding a passage, treasure or door.

Skeletons arise to slay those who’ve crossed their path. They fall again where they died or they wander about a home territory eternally. Zombies tend to wander.

The few times skeletons are found without a locale to haunt are when they are controlled by magic beyond their own evil or when their haunt is a ghost ship. Any ship whose crew is slain by skeletons can become a new haunt but it’s a rare thing for a skeletal crew to inhabit more than one haunted vessel at a time. The discarded ship either becomes a ghost ship, a haunted wreck or both. The rare ship to possess a skeleton horde may have been a party boat or a slaver ship. The inhabitants here are many but real skeleton warriors are the few who stood as trained guards..

Skeleton Horde                                             Undead hordes are mostly found as unarmed and unarmored masses of dead people who in life never trained for combat or violence. This does not mean they are defenseless though. They can still attack using harass, grapple, and pull actions as ways to assist each other in dragging the living to the ground with them.

Their bite basically only hits on a crit and has a range of zero, an average damage of just six hp and recoil speed of 7. They’d need to stall their attack each round until a reasonable opportunity to connect appears. They’d basically need to hold their attacker to get the hit.

Since up to six enemies can attack an equally sized, upright and standing foe, they can use this tactic to quickly build to +6 and higher on grapple rolls by harassing together first. It only takes three foes successfully grappling to hold a character prone. They’d need to break at least two of those grapples to move or resist assault.

Characters captured by even one grappling skeleton suffer penalties from being grappled and the remaining aggressors can now grapple, pull and harass more easily. The effect can snowball until virtually every roll the horde makes will end up being adjusted down to a hit..

Additional Notes                                                                Things that specifically affect the living do not affect skeletal undead but effects that focus on the dead do. They tend to either fear or focus on any use of Divine energy and detest sunlight. Most undead do not have the typical senses of the living but a mockery of sensation granted by the dark powers that animate them. This also grants them glowing eyes and acts to intimidate any living creature they approach.

Types of Undeath present themselves differently.                                 Did you return to your body? Was this rejuvenation your own will or the will of a patron, are you here by magic or through the power of divinity? These are The Risen

Did you take another body besides your own? Weather alive, dead or constructed you are The  Returned

Are you without a body? Are you still of the unborn, is your “self” an astral body, or are you wholly incorporeal? The Roaming call you kin.

Are you from among the things that lived long before time, before life as a concept was defined? These are The Remaining

With so many forms of eternal undeath, the common idea of turning away the damned doesn’t always fit the foe. Some are susceptible to divine magic, others cannot be stopped without use of more common dispel magics. Cleric, know your enemy. To do any less is to court folly.

The BESTIARY                                                      Monster Stat Blocks

Skeleton Archer                                             Skeleton archers are ranged attacking monsters built for skirmishes. They tend to be generally frail but powerful tactically. Skeleton archers often Retain their archery skill or combat proficiency from life. Alternate to that, undead skeletons take inspiration from the dark powers of entropy. They gain the ability to do anything a regular person could do with their own skeletal body. If a skeleton archer possesses a bow or javelin, expect  that they can use it. The skeleton archer prefers ranged or restrained targets, often ignoring those on the ground for available standing targets. They also prioritize unarmored combatants and anyone not already bleeding from a fresh wound. Whenever possible the skeleton archer attacks from a position of safety or advantage to account for their dreadful endurance and rate of movement.

Hp/-Hp 18/0 accuracy 9, resistance 3                 stat spread 8       1/3yd move. Longbow 3d6 30yd r4                                    Dagger 1d6 1yd r2.

A more dangerous VARIANT skeletal archer retains all of the professional accuracy, damage and recoil bonuses as well as defensive and evasive skills, all of his hit points, martial proficiencies and other common skills useful to him. No longer is getting a fighter close to their archers  enough to stop them, you’re going to have to fight. In addition, Giving them 30% resistance and 1 point of damage die absorbtion to slashing and piercing weapons makes a skeleton as sturdy as a guardsmen with armor or a shield. Giving them armor can make them dangerously enduring.

Dark energy can be quite the utility tool. Consider it an epic focus inherent to a skeletal existence.

Epic focus - “Rattlin’ Bones”  Skeletal creature gives up all actions movements and reactions that require movements and instead gain 100% cover to attacks by slashing damage, piercing damage, area effect damage and energy projection. Collapsing into a pile of bones is not an escape from every weapon. In this state, susceptible to concussive damage, a wooden mallet becomes a feared enemy.

LongBow bonuses of accuracy+2 dmg+2d6 r-1. LearnedSkills in blindsenses stealth concealment blindshot trueshot countershot give you an armor piercing sniper. Terrainhiking swim climb run and leaping get them to and from the shot,

Hp/-Hp 36/12 acc16+2  res6      Makes for a hardier fighter                         A stat spread of 15 makes them formidable up close. 1yd move, leap 1d3+1yd                                               Longbow 5d6 30yd r3. Shortsword 2d6 1yd r2. Javelin 4d6 10yd r4. “DarkSoul” filled with dark magic. cover/exposure 30%/30% dark/light.

Skeleton Soldier

Skeleton soldiers are close combat skirmish monsters  armed and geared up for the tactics they intend to use. They fight  as a crew with formation tactics, as a party with support skills or as a single skirmisher set for violent engagement.

Their task may be to slay, block, capture or any other mission but typically they wait for decades on end in place waiting to exact a false revenge on whatever unfortunate who crosses their path.

Hp/-Hp 18/0 accuracy 13, resistance 3+2                stat spread 11         1yd move. Sword 3d6 2yd r3                                                      Shield +2 deflect, 10%cover

A more powerful VARIANT skeleton soldier retains the skills earned in a life of violent contests.

Skeletal soldiers are set to fit every niche of a fighting battalion. Which warriors showed up today is more the question. Arms, armor and formation tactics- cover, concealment, terrain and obstacles- are all to be heavily assessed when deploying advanced variant forces.

If the standard deployed  forces were enough to keep your party’s interest then we wouldn’t be dipping into the variant bucket! The point is not to simply kill off the party, but to bring them to the fear you might.

For skill sets, use the skill sets listed with the fighter archetype and you should have skeletal warriors with ample technique to bear.

Hp/-Hp 36/12 acc16  res6                                      stat spread 15          1yd move, leap 1d3+1yd                                               GreatSword 5d6 2yd r4                                     Shortsword 3d6 1yd r2                                   Javelin 4d6 10yd r3                                   “DarkSoul” filled with dark magic. cover/exposure 30%/30% dark/light.

Wandering bones    Wandering bones are more of a Skulking monster but nowhere near as dangerous as the typical stalking predator. They are the leftover broken frames of defeated undead.

They travel alone still following some lost clue, a dusty old life goal or some eternal failing. Woe to the living who cross this damned wanderer. If he comes for you then he comes for no other.

Fueled by loss or regret, or perhaps even warning, never the less he wanders into time eternal in a body both immortal and vacant of peace. Exposit, discuss, who is this wandering pile of bones and what does he bring to the living world.

A dangerous VARIANT form comes in the shape of the restless stalker. A serial killer in a broken body who hunts the living even long after his own death. Ranger and rogue archetypes fit better than a common villager or guards skill set for this stalking murderer. Any archetype that would fit a loner fits this woeful traveler.

Skeletal knight   The skeletal knight is a skirmish monster, dangerous even in solo engagement. They are armed, armored, angry and undead,

Skeletal knights are melee specialists revived solely for battle. They retain all of the benefits of the shield, armor and weapons they trained and died with.

Their hp and resistance are higher than other skeleton soldiers as well but they do not charge in where it is unwarranted.

Consider VARIANT  skeletons such as a fallen prince, or perhaps  the royal guard of an ancient kingdom.

These powerful death knights often wear masterful or magical armor and possess dark and ancient powers.

They are equipped with relics or even magical weapons when slain and were trained along with the sons of generals and kings in life. Even a powerful party could engage a single such death knight- joining his cadre of the dead and standing.

Hp/-Hp56/0 Mp18 acc15  res6                                     stat spread 15          1yd move, leap 1d3+1yd                                               GreatSword 5d6 2yd r4                                     PlateMail +3def -2eva +30%cover 2penetration -10% move, fully encumbered                                  Javelin 4d6 10yd r3                                   “DarkSoul” filled with dark magic. cover/exposure 30%/30% dark/light.

Undead Spells                                                           “Draining Grasp” 20bp: 5yd range, 5d6 damage, restorative, 5d6hp, caster targeted, elemental Dark, somatic simple “grasp”, -2HP(permanent) 10mp. “Draining Grasp” drains the essence from a victim touched with this dark spell. It restores that energy to the caster in hp at the sacrifice of the casters Hp maximum.

“Extinguish Light” 12bp: -3dispel, 15yd, 1min, interrupt. Elemental darkness somatic simple point. -2Hp(permanent) 11mp. “Extinguish Light” is targeted at a magical item effect or caster. Any magic used must cost greater than 3mp or it is cancelled. The death knight will target the most visibly problematic magic.

Epic Focus. “DarkMagicRod” epic focus +15Mp for undead spell casting

The Bone Chamber                                      Skeletal Hordes are typical of a Door monster and can act as a Battle Trap. The efficacy of a battle trap is not the damage of the crossbow bolt or the poison on the tip but the fighters unleashed on the players after triggering their release.

This can work to terrifying and deadly effect against lone and weak targets especially when sprung as a trap and not poised as a battle from the outset.

Perhaps the bones fall from a closet or from the ceiling. maybe they are inside a sarcophagus or just covered in soil. When players fail the trap challenge, they notice the interlopers and rise to strike.

The trap challenge can be overcome by passing a stealth check. Otherwise roll a skill contest with a necessary two out of three success rate. One fail and you step on a crunchy bone or kick over a loud pebble. Another loss for the same character and you trigger the trap. The bones arise from the ground in the room all around the characters.

Three skeletal villagers for each player character should be enough to scare a group. Without proper AOE damage capability, six skeletal villagers per hero could end up with the entire party being slain outright!

Synergy and teamwork along with a little bit of armor can turn an ‘ambush horde attack’ into a pile of dusty bones quickly, so don’t hesitate when undead are the monster du jour,  make them fight their way through if you know they’re equipped for it.

To add a dangerous VARIANT, instead of adding more foes to bump up the threat, include a stronger type of skeleton. Armed with skills or gear from their past or that are taken from a fallen soldier, it makes an unwashed mass into a jury of hands.

Two or three skeletons harassing and pulling a character makes them easy targets for an undead archer across the room to take a shot at. A pair of shooters could prove deadly.

Now the archer is the biggest threat and there are two or three “harass” or “grapple” actions coming to stifle each character every round. They should be keeping the heroes from returning ranged fire worth anything as well. Concentration should be near impossible. Area-effect attacks harm and  affect a grappled ally as much as they do the foe here. They cannot simply dive away.

They’re gonna be slowing the heroes movement into melee range if it’s fighters that they’re holding. Wanna get more serious without switching to a stronger monster? The horde might try to tear away shields or weapons with disarm techniques. They may try to ruin or remove gear and anything else fingers can try to take.

Make that skeleton archer into a skeleton warrior and you’ve got an undead executioner! “The bone hammerer” comes to mind as a name.

Mounted Skeleton. The Undead charging horseman. A mounted skeleton with monster zones. A high mobility skirmisher, harder to hit and faster moving in and out of attack range, mobile mounted units fight differently than standard infantry.

Monster zones allow you to choose different parts of a single typically gargantuan opponent. Different buffs are removed when a zone is defeated. Often the monster will fight differently or have access to alternate attacks when a zone is attacked damaged or defeated. They are “unified” and share their hp pool evenly. Neither falls until all their collective hp are expended. Instead when one zone has received enough damage, all of its added benefits are lost.

An expended steed loses its velocity and an expended rider cannot give attack commands. Both still move and act normally without their added benefits.

Zone A- Steed: +5 intimidate highground 1hp absorption per damage die to the rider velocity chargeattack

Zone B- Rider: commands movement rate cover from unified armor use

Defeating the steed ends his high speed rush but defeating the rider first causes him to use only high velocity charge and rush attacks whenever possible.

The beasts strides seem draped in gossamer or perhaps it’s moving underwater. Their movements are graceful and slow despite the speed of the charging mount.

The deadly Dark Paladin VARIANT rides  on a great ghastly war horse or some other dark beast.

It may swim through thick mud or climb sheer cliffs or even fly. His mount’s movements make it as dangerous as him alone.

An undead knight and steed together. They are ready for battle and charged up with evil energy. Eldridge blast and draining spells along with riding a mount that gives maneuverability and speed should up the threat level.

Just as well, magical mount attacks are commanded with the riders instant action. Gaze attacks, breath weapons, summoning minions, the dark paladin comes atop no normal mounted steed.

Skeletal Beast                                               Monster mount: Undead horse or other draft animal, wild beast of despoiled lands or a walking monstrosity  made of the fallen. If dismounted it can fight on its own but it’s bulk or mobility make its potential riders more dangerous than the beast fighting alone. A VARIANT, enforcer monster, may have a fly, climb or swim speed and likely uses some magical breath, gaze or summoning abilities on the field.

A great skeletal bull with necrotizing breath, the bones of an undead ogre or giant still in heavy armor with laser eyes blazing, the wyvern mount of the barbarian lord flying above and striking with its stinging tail...

On a battlefield full of active foes, the enforcer monster is the obvious threat.

. “DarkSoul” filled with dark magic. cover/exposure 30%/30% dark/light. “DarkMagicRod” epic focus +15Mp for undead spell casting

Hp/-Hp56/0 Mp18 acc15  res6                                                                               stat spread 15          1yd move, leap 1d3+1yd    Lance 5d6 4yd r6. PlateMail +3def -2eva +30%cover 2penetration -10% move, fully encumbered                                  Javelin 4d6 10yd r3                                   “DarkSoul” filled with dark magic. cover/exposure 30%/30% dark/light. Charge, trample, MZ high ground, “unified”

undead mountable beast with gaze or breath weapon, monster zoned “DarkSoul” filled with dark magic. cover/exposure 30%/30% dark/light. stat spread 15          3yd move, leap 1d3+5yd

Offers: charge trample high ground unified absorbtion 1hp per damage die and breath or gaze attacks

Deathly Gaze 5yd req.intimidate ReactionResist (embolden/intimidate/terrify/petrify), area 2m diameter enchantment permanency

Evil Air area 28ftsq/2yd area  elemental fire 5d6 reactionresist roll (00/30/60/100%) damage

Skeletal Mage. Magical artillery at its finest, the skeleton magic user is your classic wizard, so consumed with his studies that at death he finds himself refusing to sit in the cold sleep of eternity but would prefer a damning insomnia. You know the deal, arcane magic- forbidden secrets. That route.

As a Boss monster VARIANT,  the Litch is a great skeletal mage. A powerful wizard who stepped from life into powerful undeath in the quest for immortality. The best part about a lich is the spells. It’s not just that he spent his life in arcane studies. It isn’t even the days nights and decades he’s had to study in solitude since his earthly demise. It’s his familiarity with his own home.

His lair can be an epic focus that offers spells specific to the place, making drawing him out a way to weaken him. A crown or robe can offer additional magic or recovery. Knocking away his precious treasures should openly weaken him. The blind spite of undeath should cause him to come from protection to avenge his ego. His vanity and his ego are his true weakness.

“DarkSoul” filled with dark magic. cover/exposure 30%/30% dark/light. “DarkMagicRod” epic focus +15Mp for undead spell casting. TreasureNote: 5d6 elemental dark damage 2yd range r5 speed. Any character with magecraft or a genius level skill proficiency can convert one of these dark magic rods into 10bp to spend in crafting unique and custom items and abilities.

Familiar Arisen or                                                The undead ally: variant RP monster. The most horrible undead are those that take the body and soul of a loved one to manipulate and confuse the surviving friends and family. Are they being controlled? Are they telling the truth? What have they come for? Many undead conflict their curse on those they slay. Bringing that character back from the dead and using them in combat can be devastating for a party not quite prepared to face their own champions. Making that character an npc could emotionally devastate characters who remember their friend before he was evil.

Skeletal Villager                                          ambiance monster                                             hp/-hp 9/0  stat spread 9. Common folk are easy prey to rare and powerful necromantic magics. Masses of undead are not difficult creations, they are horrible creations.

Only dangerous to the inexperienced or in large numbers, they cower in the presence of strength. Their fear trumps their blood lust. Rarely are they clear headed enough to speak coherently. They carry nothing more than they would have in life unless they are magically controlled by someone else.

Anything that could be learned by examining the dried corpse of a villager can be equally taken from an encounter with an undead skeletal villager. As a variant form, they can band together as a skeletal horde but the individuals are still fragile single individuals. If unarmed, skeletal villagers suffer a three point penalty when deflecting attacks as usual when attacking or defending against an armed foe.