Monsterpedia

Skeleton

Monster Level - I (Zero)

Soul Type - None

Intelligence - Low Humanoid

Strength - Below Average

Magic - Weak

Rarity - Ubiquitous

The humble skeleton is one of the most common and weakest forms of undead. While much faster than zombies they lack the lingering skills and the resistant nature of the other creature. While the skeletons individual bones are tough, the magic allowing them to stick together and attack is very weak, so a strong blow will reduce them to simple remains. They're slightly more annoying to mages, as elemental attacks without physical backing are less effective.

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Most skeletons aren't from actual bones, instead being made of a bone substance. The real important part is the magic, which pulls death energy into a framework that allows the creature to move despite lacking any nerves or muscles. While skeletons can pick up random soul energy, it doesn't stick to them well, so there's not much of a personality. Any actions to the contrary are due to the magic, or because it's not a real skeleton.

Despite being level I, skeletons are found almost everywhere there's undead. Which leads to the real threat skeletons pose; getting confused with more dangerous monsters. There's far too many undead creatures covered by 'animated bones with a weapon.' Death knights, skeletal warriors, bone lords, liches, momento mori, and corpse mimics to name just a few. And all of them bring a passel of skeletons along. This turns the fight into a deadly game of 'guess the threat.' Common practice is to throw some powerful magic at the start to clear out the trash.

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Skeletons frequently scream or laugh as they attack, possibly to instill fear. However some skeletons are very quiet. The rattling of bones is not a consistent feature, so it can't be relied on. Delvers should be careful when in undead rich areas in case of skeleton ambush.

Merge

As undead, skeletons have no merge potential. There's not much of a soul there even if the bones were from a living creature.