Skeleton Template

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Skeletons are the animated bones of the dead, mindless automatons that obey the orders of their masters. A skeleton is seldom garbed in anything more than the rotting remnants of any clothing or armor it was wearing when slain. A skeleton does only what it is ordered to do. It can draw no conclusions of its own and takes no initiative. Because of this limitation, its instructions must always be simple. A skeleton attacks until destroyed.

"Skeleton" is an acquired template that can be added to any corporeal creature (other than an undead) that has a skeletal system (referred to hereafter as the base creature).

Stats

Skeletons use all the base creature's statistics except as noted here.

• Creature Type: changed to undead
• Hit Dice: Disregard any hit dice gained from class levels of the base creature. Any HD from non-class levels become d8s (min 1d8). If the creature has more than 20 Hit Dice, it can't be made into a skeleton by the animate dead spell
• Speed: Winged skeletons can't use their wings to fly. If the base creature flew magically, the skeleton can too.
• Ability Scores: Str stays the same as base creature. Dex increases by 2. Wisdom becomes 10. Charisma becomes 1. Skeletons have no Con or Int scores.
• Saves: Str, Wis, and Cha stays the same as base creature. Dex saves increase by 1. Skeletons are immune to any effect that requires a Con or Int save.
• Senses: Skeletons gain darkvision 60

Armor Class

The skeleton's natural armor bonus is based on the skeleton's size:

Skeleton Size	Natural Armor Bonus
Tiny or smaller	+0
Small	+1
Medium or Large	+2
Huge	+3
Gargantuan	+6
Colossal	+10

Immunities and Resistances

A skeleton gains the following:

• Immunity to Cold (Ex)
• Resistance 5 to Slashing and Piercing (Ex)
• Vulnerability 1 to good-aligned weapons
• Immunity to Bleed, Con/Int Save Effects, Death Effects, Disease, Fatigue, Life Drain, Mental Effects, Paralysis, Poison, Ability Damage, Sleep, Stunning, Suffocation, Starvation, Necrotic Damage, Necromancy Effects, Psychic Damage

Attacks

A skeleton's combat proficiency bonus is equal to half its hit dice. It retains all the natural weapons, weapon proficiencies, and armor proficiencies of the base creature, except for attacks that can't work without flesh. A skeleton retains none of the base creature's special attacks.

A creature with hands gains one claw attack per hand; the skeleton can strike with each of its claw attacks at its full attack bonus. Claws deal 1d6 slashing damage for small, medium, and large creatures. Smaller creatures deal 1d2 damage; larger creatures deal 2d6.

Qualities

A skeleton loses most qualities of the base creature. It retains any extraordinary abilities that improve its melee or ranged attacks. They gain Improved Initiative (+4 to initiative).

Challenge Rating

Hit Dice	Challenge Rating
1	0
2-3	1
4-5	2
6-7	3
8-9	4
10-11	5
12-14	6
15-17	7
18-20	8