good creatures to animate as skeletons
- Thread starter evilbob
- Start date
SteelDraco
First Post
Hydras are generally going to be the best skeletons. Anything with multiple attacks and no dependence on supernatural or unusual physical abilities is going to go well. Honestly, a lot is going to depend on what monsters your GM throws against you.
evilbob
Adventurer
True; I was wondering if there were any typically accepted "best" creatures for this sort of thing. Hydras, I can see. 
I would imagine you're generally going to want anything big that's got a huge Str bonus but doesn't necessarily rely on its Con, a decent number of natural attacks, little to no special attacks or abilities, and little to no dependence on feats, mental abilities, or natural armor. Reach, strength, and natural attacks are really the only major benefits that are kept.
So far the only creature that's a bit more common than hydra that jumps out at me is the dire bear. It's a 12 HD creature with lots of strength and very little else. Any other suggestions?
Also, as a side question, I'm assuming a creature wearing armor (that was still functional) would continue wearing the armor? If they keep using weapons I don't know why they'd drop their armor - although none of the MM1 examples are using any.
I would imagine you're generally going to want anything big that's got a huge Str bonus but doesn't necessarily rely on its Con, a decent number of natural attacks, little to no special attacks or abilities, and little to no dependence on feats, mental abilities, or natural armor. Reach, strength, and natural attacks are really the only major benefits that are kept.
So far the only creature that's a bit more common than hydra that jumps out at me is the dire bear. It's a 12 HD creature with lots of strength and very little else. Any other suggestions?
Also, as a side question, I'm assuming a creature wearing armor (that was still functional) would continue wearing the armor? If they keep using weapons I don't know why they'd drop their armor - although none of the MM1 examples are using any.
You've pretty much said it all. Multiple attacks and/or huge Str creatures are always going to be good bets, particularly hydras, giants, and ogres.
Skeletons lose all their feats, except for weapon proficiencies with manufactured weapons. So they can attack with the weapons they carried, but not the armor they wore since they are no longer proficient.
Pinotage
Skeletons lose all their feats, except for weapon proficiencies with manufactured weapons. So they can attack with the weapons they carried, but not the armor they wore since they are no longer proficient.
Pinotage
Mistwell said:
Yes. For some armors that can be 0, so it's probably worth looking at the original armor the creature wore. Even if they're not proficient, doesn't mean it can't be used. Same goes for shields, of course, where a masterwork light shield or buckler doesn't require a proficiency since the armor check penalty is 0.
Pinotage
Outsiders often have better stats than one would expect for their HD, but Hydrae are definitely the coolest.
If using the Draconomicon rules, dragon corpses retain certain qualities, even when animated as skeletons and zombies, which could be a selling point. The Book of Vile Darknesses Corpse Creature and Bone Creature templates, used to create 'greater skeletons' via Create Undead, also work better than the standard Animate Dead versions.
Quite a few adventures make mention of necromancer-types modifying corpses, by using armor plates, or splicing weapons onto the ends of limbs, or selecting larger and stronger bones to 'strengthen' or 'toughen' the undead-to-be. Check with your DM if he'll allow the use of Skills like Craft: Weaponsmithing, Craft: Armorer, Craft: Leatherworking, Profession: Embalmer, etc. to stitch together superior skeletons. You might have to use three or four bodies to find the 'perfect' bones to do it, but if it results in a Skeleton with extra hit points (I stuffed him with padding, and laquered the bones so that they wouldn't dry out and become brittle), increased strength (I selected only the finest bones from work horses, so even though the Skeleton appears humanoid, it's made of much sturdier stuff, no, it's not a minotaur, that's an actual cow skull...), increased armor class (oh, I used all of the leftover bones I had to make a set of 'bone armor' to help protect the important parts) or more damaging attacks (I strapped six-inch iron razors to the edges of it's bony fingers!), it could be worth it.
If using the Draconomicon rules, dragon corpses retain certain qualities, even when animated as skeletons and zombies, which could be a selling point. The Book of Vile Darknesses Corpse Creature and Bone Creature templates, used to create 'greater skeletons' via Create Undead, also work better than the standard Animate Dead versions.
Quite a few adventures make mention of necromancer-types modifying corpses, by using armor plates, or splicing weapons onto the ends of limbs, or selecting larger and stronger bones to 'strengthen' or 'toughen' the undead-to-be. Check with your DM if he'll allow the use of Skills like Craft: Weaponsmithing, Craft: Armorer, Craft: Leatherworking, Profession: Embalmer, etc. to stitch together superior skeletons. You might have to use three or four bodies to find the 'perfect' bones to do it, but if it results in a Skeleton with extra hit points (I stuffed him with padding, and laquered the bones so that they wouldn't dry out and become brittle), increased strength (I selected only the finest bones from work horses, so even though the Skeleton appears humanoid, it's made of much sturdier stuff, no, it's not a minotaur, that's an actual cow skull...), increased armor class (oh, I used all of the leftover bones I had to make a set of 'bone armor' to help protect the important parts) or more damaging attacks (I strapped six-inch iron razors to the edges of it's bony fingers!), it could be worth it.
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Asmor said:
The description of the skeleton template specifically indicates that skeletons lose all their feats, which I assume to mean even those normally indicative through the Undead type.
Although, looking at the human skeleton warrior, it is wielding a heavy shield. Perhaps it gains the feats of the Undead type as well when applying the template. It's a bit of a catch 22, really. The Undead type says it's proficient with armor it's described as wearing, but can the skeleton itself wear armor if it's not proficient. Which aspect of Undead or skeleton comes first? The skeleton creature that's not proficient, or the Undead type that is?
Pinotage
