Skeleton

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For the monster, see skeleton (monster)

A decaying skeleton.

A skeleton is one of the items that can be produced by butchering a corpse. While any corpse will produce chunks, only monsters with a skeletal structure can produce skeletons, and not every corpse will produce a usable skeleton when butchered. Skeletons may also be produced when corpses rot away, which will occasionally leave the skeleton behind; skeletons themselves will rot away some time afterward.

For the most part skeletons serve no purpose, but players with various necromantic abilities or spells can turn them into undead pets. Skeleton pets are weaker than zombies, but the Animate Skeleton spell can be used on an intact corpse to produce both an undead minion and chunks (even necromancers need to eat).

Unlike corpses, skeletons cannot be offered as blood sacrifices to most gods; only Nemelex Xobeh will accept skeletons as sacrifices.