Skeletons

Van Gogh

Of all the monsters in D&D, skeletons are the one most often depicted in art (of the non-game related sort). They are a constant theme. Drawn, painted and sculpted throughout history. A reminder of the inevitability of our own deaths and the monster that lives inside each of us, hidden behind a mask of meat and skin. 

Disney

So of course I want to make them into a goofy cartoon monster. I want puppets and stop motion aesthetics. 

When you fight skeletons in my game, I want you to almost see the marionette strings. When you strike a mighty blow, they should burst apart with a clatter of scattering bones.

If you're going to take an easy, low-level undead fight for granted... these are the ones.

Harryhausen

And yet... we still need them to be at least a little challenging to fight. They can't just be a very small stack of hit points.

Strengths

Unlike the classic skeleton (BX/OSE and 5e), my skeletons are immune to slings and arrows (an outrageous fortune) and take half damage from piercing weapon. This makes them difficult to fight at range or if they are behind bars or a grate. This sets up lots of opportunities for adventurers to be harassed by weak monster that are difficult to get at. The challenge of the fight isn't rolling bigger numbers, it's figuring out how to get from here to there.

A complimentary feature is skeletons' ability to see in the dark and shoot further than torchlight extends. Arrows out of the darkness terrify players. This can be used to good effect to emphasize the importance of light.

Finally, skeletons have time on their side. They don't get hungry. They don't need a pee break or a nap. You can put them in a cage and hang them from the ceiling or brick them up behind an arrow slit. They can be a trap or an environmental hazard.

Weaknesses

In addition to being flimsy, skeletons are incredibly stupid. They are easily tricked. 

In case it wasn't entirely obvious, my monster descriptions are modeled after those on my favorite extant D&D blog, Arnold K's fabulous Goblin Punch. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery?

Skeleton

Armor Class: 10 (or higher if someone bothered to put a breastplate on them).

Damage Immunity / Resistance: Immune to normal missiles. Half damage from piercing weapons.  

Hit Dice: d6 (HP3) 

Attacks: 1 x weapon. +0 to hit, usually d6 damage

Move: As human 

Saves: 15+

Morale: Depends on their instructions. Usually, they'll stand and die in place.

Common Knowledge

These are the first undead that fledgling necromancers learn about. They are super dumb, not too willful, the perfect starter thrall. 

Skeletons follow the instructions of their creators (most of the time, the exceptions are a whole other story) in the most bluntly literal way possible. 

Tactics

The obvious thing to do with a skeleton is to give it a bow. Their lack of soft bits makes them immune to return fire and you can stuff them in out of the way corners. This is especially effective in dark places. With their undead blindsight, skeletons can fire on intruders from beyond the range of their torchlight. 

With their patience and immunity to hunger etc. skeletons are also effective as a sort of trap monster. Put them in the bottom of your pit trap. Add one to a treasure chest. Give one a hatchet and hang it upside down over a door. It's traditional to hide them in closets.

Encounter Design

Sometimes it's fun for players to smash a whole bunch of weak bad guys. These are perfect for that. If skeletons aren't used in a sneaky way (and are given low damage attacks), even a low-level party can beat a couple dozen of these wimps. They are amongst the weakest, dumbest opponents that I regularly use. 

On the other-hand, used craftily skeletons can be meaningful hazard/challenge for even a mid-level party. Place them somewhere hard-to-reach, give them bows and make the players deal with another challenge at the same time.

Encounters

• A portcullis blocks the passageway. Forty-feed behind it, in total darkness, six skeletons wait with bows and will shoot at anyone fussing with the portcullis. If it's opened, they'll run to tell their master that someone has gotten in. 
• Without flesh, a skeleton fits in a surprisingly small box. It waits with a knife and instructions to kill whoever opens the lid.
• A hallway lined with long, vertical loopholes on both sides. Behind these loopholes skeletons with pikes are tasked with stabbing anyone who passes through. 
• Entering a room: a skeleton stands over the body of a thief. He was instructed to kill the first person that entered and he succeeded. Now he has no further instructions. He's been standing here for years.

Psychology 

Skeletons are non-creative, literal thinkers. They are not flexible. They do as they are told and that's it. If they receive new information that doesn't fit with what they already know they easily become confused. The more complicated their initial instructions are, the more easily they will become befuddled. 

They can't easily parse lies and are likely to believe whatever they are told. They are also very bad at telling people apart.

Culture

I've written about skeleton language before.

Skeletons don't speak Common, but learning their language is fairly easy. Not that they'll be great conversationalists. If you listen in on the rare, chatty skeletons, you are likely to hear them repeating the most inane observations back and forth. 

Still, once you know how to talk to them, convincing them to abandon their current jobs and do something else should be pretty easy. 

Loot

Skeletons are usually bare, but once bones have been resurrected once, they're easier to bring back again. After a big horde of skeletons has been defeated, some necromancer, eager to make a big bone monster, is probably willing to pay for a wagonload of demolished skeletons. 

Variants & Reskins

There's too many of these. Maybe someday I'll get around to giving them their own post. 

One of my favorites: 

Skeleton Jelly