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Message: <blockquote data-quote="kigmatzomat" data-source="post: 1620336" data-attributes="member: 9254">I dunno if a skeleton can handle any unskilled laborer's job.  Some, yes.  All, no.  Take a fairly typical ditch digger.  "Dig a ditch waist deep and 6' wide.  Use the wheelbarrow to move the spoil to that spot 150' away.  The ditch should be from there to there.  Come and get me when you're done."  Too complicated for undead.  Same goes for things like carrying messages; they won't deal well with anything unforeseen.  The undead generally only work well in very large tasks, with dozens of workers performing simple, repetitive tasks or where there's a taskmaster that would also be a cleric.  Where I've used skeletons is to power mills.  A dozen zombies working a windlass provide quite a bit of power.  No need for a millpond, stream, or wind.  Doesn't even need a cleric around if you can build a transmission; just let the buggers keep going in circles.  The invention of the steam engine made a lot of things possible.  Powered looms, industrial water pumps, cranes, even the locomotive.      Not entirely true.  You have a large number of unskilled laborers who need to become semi-skilled laborers.  There are plenty of tasks that require more independent brainpower than a zombie can muster but don't require copious amounts of training.  Basically, anything that requires any amount of judgement beyond "yes/no" requires the living, along with communication of complex information.  The industrial revolution created a sizeable quantity of jobs, though they weren't jobs the populace was used to.  To a point.  The problem is that wizards are the equivalent of college graduates.  They will wish to be paid at their level, so a casting of wall of stone or fabricate would expect payment of 450gp.  If you can hire mundanes to build a wall of stone for less than 450gp you will.  Since  Fabricate requires a caster with skill, which likely adds an additional price.  Which means 90% of the time, mundane craftsmen will be sufficient.  The times mages would be more useful would be areas where stone is difficult to transport or if someone needs it in a hurry, making it a specialty service.</blockquote>

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