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Message: <blockquote data-quote="azmodean" data-source="post: 1968879" data-attributes="member: 26590">This actually came up just a few days ago in my game.  The party knew they would be fighting an adult blue dragon.  I allowed the cleric to research based on what they had observed of the dragon and determine that the dragon was just barely small enough to animate as a skeleton.  (the dragon as written had 21 HD, which is too large, but I'm not going to let a single HD get in the way.  Of course, the skeleton created is 20HD as per the rules.)  The party decided that they needed some extra muscle for the fight, so they ask around and discover that there are some giant monsterous scorpions within travelling distance, so they go hunting and nab themselves a gargantuan scorpion skeleton to help kill the dragon.  (I think it's debatable wether the rules intend to let an extoskeleton count as a skeleton, but I decided to go with it.)Both of the skeletons are pretty nasty characters, the dragon more so of course, as they both keep all of their natural attacks.Here's how a skeleton generally compares to the original creature.worse:Fewer HP (no con bonus) (though creating it in the effect of a desecrated altar helps, add in the bonus from corpse crafter and it might have HP similar to the living creature)Lower AC (large creatures generally get most of their AC from a very large natural armor bonus, which is replaced by a much lower skeletal natural armor bonus)  Generally, anything worth fighting can hit your skeleton.lower bab (skeletons use 1/2HD for BAB progression, so the dragon lost half its BAB)Lower saves (skeletons get all bad saves)Lose all special attacks and defenses except when granted from an elemental subtype(defense only)Mindless, The primary problem with this is I have yet to find anything indicating that a skeleton can be ordered to grapple a target.GOOD:Undead immunities, which makes the terrible fort and will saves just fine, unless someone has disentegrate.As you can see, it doesn't even compare to the original creature, but if you can take a creature your party can barely take out and then animate it, it's a pretty potent ability.Especially as the cleric now has both a gargantuan skeletal scorpion and a huge skeletal dragon.</blockquote>

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