Undead Skeletons: Unliving or Homogenous

Tallor · 07-31-2016, 04:34 AM

Something always bothered me about skeletons being Homogenous, and now I can finally put to paper why that is.

Let's start with physics. Human skeletons--dry ones anyway--are only around 20-30 lbs. As far as I know, the femurs (upper leg bones) are the only bones to stay in place without ligaments, due to being ball-and-socket joints. Without the support of magic and/or some bindings, a skeleton simply won't stand on its own, and it certainly won't be swinging any maces around! My conclusion is that skeletons are bound to the material plane by their physical shape, and they take damage more like a machine than a totally homogenous object.

Even though skeletons are physically rather homogenous, being bones and marrow and whatnot, they're supported with necromantic magic, which (in my opinion) relies heavily on the physical intact-ness of the original body. As such, they need all their bones in some decent-enough condition. As they take damage, they begin to less resemble their necessary form, and if they hit -HP or fail a HT save, they fall apart!

The main reason I wanted to change skeletons was the steep difference between living, unliving, and homogenous creatures. Rules for limb damage and impaling attacks really made things confusing for me. I decided to slim the whole thing down by allowing undead to be Unliving, with extra HP (over their living selves) depending on the strength of their enchantments rather than a x2 to HP.

What do you think? Am I just doing the math wrong?

07-31-2016, 04:34 AM	#1
Tallor Join Date: May 2016	Undead Skeletons: Unliving or Homogenous Something always bothered me about skeletons being Homogenous, and now I can finally put to paper why that is. Let's start with physics. Human skeletons--dry ones anyway--are only around 20-30 lbs. As far as I know, the femurs (upper leg bones) are the only bones to stay in place without ligaments, due to being ball-and-socket joints. Without the support of magic and/or some bindings, a skeleton simply won't stand on its own, and it certainly won't be swinging any maces around! My conclusion is that skeletons are bound to the material plane by their physical shape, and they take damage more like a machine than a totally homogenous object. Even though skeletons are physically rather homogenous, being bones and marrow and whatnot, they're supported with necromantic magic, which (in my opinion) relies heavily on the physical intact-ness of the original body. As such, they need all their bones in some decent-enough condition. As they take damage, they begin to less resemble their necessary form, and if they hit -HP or fail a HT save, they fall apart! The main reason I wanted to change skeletons was the steep difference between living, unliving, and homogenous creatures. Rules for limb damage and impaling attacks really made things confusing for me. I decided to slim the whole thing down by allowing undead to be Unliving, with extra HP (over their living selves) depending on the strength of their enchantments rather than a x2 to HP. What do you think? Am I just doing the math wrong?