D&D 5E Skeleton behavior

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Rya.Reisender

Explorer

• Oct 17, 2015

• #1

Skeletons are animated with the command to "attack anyone who comes within 10ft of them". How does that work as long as nobody comes near 10ft of them? Are they just a pile of bones? Are they skeletons that don't move at all? What happens if someone attacks them from farther away? They just let themselves being killed?

 

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pukunui

Legend

• Oct 17, 2015

• #2

Where are you getting that from? I don't see anything about skeletons only attacking things within 10 feet of them in the 5e MM (pg 272). Instead, it says things like skeletons can "move and think in a rudimentary fashion" and can "accomplish a variety of relatively complex tasks", such as manning a siege weapon, forming a shield wall, and dumping boiling oil on people. They're smart enough to try a door handle before bashing the door down. And when left to their own devices, they sometimes "pantomime actions from their past lives, their bones echoing the rote behaviors of their former living selves."

 

Last edited: Oct 17, 2015

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Rya.Reisender

Explorer

• Oct 17, 2015

• #3

It's part of the adventure module that they got the command to attack anything that comes within 10ft of them. So I wonder if I should describe it as a pile of bones that suddenly rises when they come near or skeletons that don't move. And what I should do shall the players attack the skeletons that don't move.

 

pukunui

Legend

• Oct 17, 2015

• #4

Which adventure module is that?

If the skeletons have been commanded not to attack anything unless it comes within 10 feet, then yes, they just lie there looking like an inanimate skeleton until a living creature comes within 10 feet, at which point they stand up and attack. If the PCs attack the skeletons from a distance before they've had a chance to animate, then you could see if the damage is enough to kill the skeletons. If not, then you could have them rise up and attack anyway. Or they could just continue to "play dead" until someone moves closer. It depends on whether or not you want to reward your players for being extremely paranoid.

 

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Rya.Reisender

Explorer

• Oct 17, 2015

• #5

Can the inanimate bones even take damage?

 

pukunui

Legend

• Oct 17, 2015

• #6

Rya.Reisender said:

Can the inanimate bones even take damage?

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Well, technically they're *not* inanimate bones. They're undead creatures that just happen to be lying very still so as to appear to be just piles of inanimate bones. Even if they were - yes, objects can take damage. There are rules for that in the DMG.

 

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Rya.Reisender

Explorer

• Oct 17, 2015

• #7

Yeah but the question would be... how do you even kill skeletons? Crushing all the bones to dust? Or damaging the "soul"?

 

pukunui

Legend

• Oct 17, 2015

• #8

Rya.Reisender said:

Yeah but the question would be... how do you even kill skeletons? Crushing all the bones to dust? Or damaging the "soul"?

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Does it matter? I try not to overthink these things. In game terms, you kill them by reducing their hit points to 0 by any means possible, short of using poison. A bludgeoning weapon seems to work best. Whether they die through being pulverized to dust or by having the necromantic energy animating them dispersed or whatever seems too esoteric a question to me.

 

P

PnPgamer

Explorer

• Oct 17, 2015

• #9

 

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Gnarl45

First Post

• Oct 17, 2015

• #10

Rya.Reisender said:

Skeletons are animated with the command to "attack anyone who comes within 10ft of them". How does that work as long as nobody comes near 10ft of them? Are they just a pile of bones? Are they skeletons that don't move at all? What happens if someone attacks them from farther away? They just let themselves being killed?

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D&D is an open-ended game with unlimited ways to solve each problem. That's what makes the game fun. A published module can't describe every possible outcome. They explain the overall context, the main elements of the story, the most likely way to solve the problems, and for everything else, the DM is on his own.

Feel free to adapt the module however you like. If you want your skeletons to fight back, have them fight back. I know I would.