Difference between revisions of "Skeleton (monster)"

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''For the item sometimes left behind by butchered or rotting corpses, see [[skeleton]].''
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''For the item left behind by rotting [[corpse]]s, see [[skeleton]].''
 
{{Flavour|A skeleton compelled to unlife by the exercise of necromancy.
 
{{Flavour|A skeleton compelled to unlife by the exercise of necromancy.
  
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-James Jeffery Roche, _The Skeleton at the Feast_. 1890.}}
 
-James Jeffery Roche, _The Skeleton at the Feast_. 1890.}}
  
'''Skeletons''' are the reanimated bones of once-living creatures. They are a type of [[derived undead]], and may be either "small skeletons" or "large skeletons". Either way, they are considerably slower, stupider, and clumsier than whatever they were when they were alive. They take damage from max HP, making them unable to recover from injuries, but on the flip side they do have undead resistances.  
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'''Skeletons''' are the reanimated bones of once-living creatures. As a type of [[derived undead]], their stats are based on what the monster had in life.
  
Skeletons may appear in the [[Dungeon]] as random monsters or be created by players (or other monsters) through [[Necromancy]] or the [[Invocations]] of certain gods. Note that hostile skeletons can serve as a "preview" of upcoming monsters: since they're weaker than the original, the skeleton version of a monster will often show up a level or two before the live version.
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==Useful Info==
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Skeletons are slower, stupider, and clumsier than their alive counterparts. Skeletons are weaker versions of [[zombie]]s.
  
As servants, skeletons are useful for characters who need meat shields (so to speak).  [[Zombie]]s may be more durable, but skeletons let you get both minion and meat from the same corpse: Using [[Animate Skeleton]] on a whole corpse will leave the chunks behind, or you can animate a skeleton left behind from butchering.  (The former is more reliable, as butchering doesn't always leave a skeleton.)
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*'''HP:''' (HD)d4 + 5*HD
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*'''AC:''' Original - 6
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*'''EV:''' Original - 7
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*'''Speed:''' Original - 2 (at least 3)
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*'''Attack flavour:''' None
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*'''Special:''' Does not regenerate, cannot traverse stairs
  
A newly-animated skeleton will sometimes wield any weapons or armor on the tile it was animated on (usually their old equipment). This is your only chance to equip them, as they won't pick anything up or wield/wear new items. If they should be destroyed later on, you can get this gear back.
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Skeletons may be created with the [[Necrotise]] spell. They can also be found in a couple [[vault]]s. A newly-animated skeleton will drop weapons and armour that they were wearing.
 
 
One shortcoming of skeletons is that they are unable to use [[stairs]], trapping them on the level they were created, but there are some tricks you can use to circumvent this limitation. There's nothing stopping you from carrying a corpse (or the lighter bones) to a different floor and animating it there, and you can always lure a monster back upstairs and into the waiting arms of your army.
 
  
 
==Identifying Skeletons==
 
==Identifying Skeletons==
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Below are all the categories of skeletons in tiles mode:
 
Below are all the categories of skeletons in tiles mode:
  
[[Image:Bat skeleton.png]] Bats
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[[Image:Bat skeleton.png]] [[Bat]]s
  
[[Image:Skeleton centaur.png]] Centaurs
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[[Image:Skeleton bird.png]] [[List of birds|Birds]]
  
[[Image:Skeleton dragon.png]] Dragons
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[[Image:Skeleton centaur.png]] [[List of centaurs|Centaurs]]
  
[[Image:Skeleton drake.png]] Drakes
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[[Image:Skeleton draconian.png]] [[List of draconians|Draconians]]
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[[Image:Skeleton dragon.png]] [[List of dragons|Dragons]]
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[[Image:Skeleton drake.png]] [[List of dragons#Drakes|Drakes]]
  
 
[[Image:Skeleton fish.png]] Fish
 
[[Image:Skeleton fish.png]] Fish
  
[[Image:Skeleton frog.png]] Frogs
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[[Image:Skeleton frog.png]] [[List of reptiles and amphibians#Amphibian Types|Frogs]]
  
 
[[Image:Skeleton small humanoid.png]] Humanoids (small)
 
[[Image:Skeleton small humanoid.png]] Humanoids (small)
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[[Image:Skeleton medium humanoid.png]] Humanoids (medium)
  
 
[[Image:Skeleton large humanoid.png]] Humanoids (large)
 
[[Image:Skeleton large humanoid.png]] Humanoids (large)
  
[[Image:Skeleton hydra 1.png]] Hydras with one head...
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[[Image:Skeleton hydra 1.png]] [[Image:Skeleton hydra 2.png]] [[Image:Skeleton hydra 3.png]] [[Image:Skeleton hydra 4.png]] [[Image:Skeleton hydra 5.png]] [[Hydra]]s
  
[[Image:Skeleton hydra 2.png]] ...two heads...
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[[Image:Skeleton lernaean 1.png]] [[Image:Skeleton lernaean 2.png]] [[Image:Skeleton lernaean 3.png]] [[Image:Skeleton lernaean 4.png]] [[Image:Skeleton lernaean 5.png]] [[Image:Skeleton lernaean 6.png]] [[Image:Skeleton lernaean 7.png]] [[Image:Skeleton lernaean 8.png]] [[Image:Skeleton lernaean 9.png]] [[Image:Skeleton lernaean 10.png]] [[The Lernaean hydra]]
  
[[Image:Skeleton hydra 3.png]] ...three heads...
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[[Image:Skeleton lizard.png]] [[List of reptiles and amphibians#Lizard types|Lizards]]
  
[[Image:Skeleton hydra 4.png]] ...four heads...
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[[Image:Skeleton naga.png]] [[List of nagas|Nagas]]
  
[[Image:Skeleton hydra 5.png]] ...or five or more heads
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[[Image:Skeleton small quadruped.png]] Quadrupeds (small)
  
[[Image:Skeleton lizard.png]] Lizard
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[[Image:Skeleton large quadruped.png]] Quadrupeds (large)
  
[[Image:Skeleton naga.png]] Nagas
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[[Image:Skeleton winged quadruped.png]] Quadrupeds (winged)
  
[[Image:Skeleton small quadruped.png]] Quadrupeds (small)
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[[Image:Skeleton snake.png]] [[List of snakes|Snakes]]
  
[[Image:Skeleton large quadruped.png]] Quadrupeds (large)
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[[Image:Skeleton troll.png]] [[List of trolls|Trolls]]
  
[[Image:Skeleton winged quadruped.png]] Quadrupeds (winged)
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[[Image:Skeleton turtle.png]] [[List of reptiles and amphibians#Turtle Types|Turtles]]
  
[[Image:Skeleton snake.png]] Snakes
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[[Image:Skeleton ugly thing.png]] [[Ugly thing]]s
  
[[Image:Skeleton turtle.png]] Turtles
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==History==
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*Prior to [[0.29]], skeletons on the ground could be re-animated using [[Animate Skeleton]] or [[Animate Dead]]. Reanimated monsters kept their weapons and armour. Skeletons were also removed from the main [[Dungeon]]'s spawn table.
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*Prior to [[0.26]], skeletons were more important. You could butcher a corpse to [[food|eat]] its [[chunk]]s, then animate it into a skeleton. You could not do this with [[zombie]]s.
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*Prior to [[0.23]], butchering a corpse did not always leave a skeleton item, though Animate Skeleton always left chunks.
  
 
[[Category:Monsters]]
 
[[Category:Monsters]]
 
[[Category:Undead holiness]]
 
[[Category:Undead holiness]]

Latest revision as of 19:09, 3 November 2023

Version 0.30: This article may not be up to date for the latest stable release of Crawl.

For the item left behind by rotting corpses, see skeleton.

A skeleton compelled to unlife by the exercise of necromancy.

"God save us from the skeleton
Who sitteth at the feast!"
-James Jeffery Roche, _The Skeleton at the Feast_. 1890.

Skeletons are the reanimated bones of once-living creatures. As a type of derived undead, their stats are based on what the monster had in life.

Useful Info

Skeletons are slower, stupider, and clumsier than their alive counterparts. Skeletons are weaker versions of zombies.

  • HP: (HD)d4 + 5*HD
  • AC: Original - 6
  • EV: Original - 7
  • Speed: Original - 2 (at least 3)
  • Attack flavour: None
  • Special: Does not regenerate, cannot traverse stairs

Skeletons may be created with the Necrotise spell. They can also be found in a couple vaults. A newly-animated skeleton will drop weapons and armour that they were wearing.

Identifying Skeletons

Different monsters will leave behind skeletons with differing stats, but Crawl tends to lump them all together, making identifying them at a glance difficult. Console mode will display skeletons as either z or Z, depending on their size. Tiles mode provides different tiles for several different kinds of skeletons, but there are still many different monsters that fall under each type. In any case, if you want to find out exactly what you'll be fighting, simply hit x and highlight the skeleton in question.

Below are all the categories of skeletons in tiles mode:

Bat skeleton.png Bats

Skeleton bird.png Birds

Skeleton centaur.png Centaurs

Skeleton draconian.png Draconians

Skeleton dragon.png Dragons

Skeleton drake.png Drakes

Skeleton fish.png Fish

Skeleton frog.png Frogs

Skeleton small humanoid.png Humanoids (small)

Skeleton medium humanoid.png Humanoids (medium)

Skeleton large humanoid.png Humanoids (large)

Skeleton hydra 1.png Skeleton hydra 2.png Skeleton hydra 3.png Skeleton hydra 4.png Skeleton hydra 5.png Hydras

Skeleton lernaean 1.png Skeleton lernaean 2.png Skeleton lernaean 3.png Skeleton lernaean 4.png Skeleton lernaean 5.png Skeleton lernaean 6.png Skeleton lernaean 7.png Skeleton lernaean 8.png Skeleton lernaean 9.png Skeleton lernaean 10.png The Lernaean hydra

Skeleton lizard.png Lizards

Skeleton naga.png Nagas

Skeleton small quadruped.png Quadrupeds (small)

Skeleton large quadruped.png Quadrupeds (large)

Skeleton winged quadruped.png Quadrupeds (winged)

Skeleton snake.png Snakes

Skeleton troll.png Trolls

Skeleton turtle.png Turtles

Skeleton ugly thing.png Ugly things

History

  • Prior to 0.29, skeletons on the ground could be re-animated using Animate Skeleton or Animate Dead. Reanimated monsters kept their weapons and armour. Skeletons were also removed from the main Dungeon's spawn table.
  • Prior to 0.26, skeletons were more important. You could butcher a corpse to eat its chunks, then animate it into a skeleton. You could not do this with zombies.
  • Prior to 0.23, butchering a corpse did not always leave a skeleton item, though Animate Skeleton always left chunks.