Howdy Yall!

Welp, here we are, the final undead form, and frankly, my personal favorite (see Rattlesnake Roberts in the Actual Play). I guess it comes from how undeniably UNDEAD the skeleton is. In a lot of games, it's the underdog starter undead, the first thing a necromancer learns to raise, and it never stands a chance against the big guys.  In Death Valley, though, they do their darndest. 

You are no longer a bag of bones; you lost the bag. With this form, the worldly concerns of water and food are well behind you now. You are just brittle, clack, and rattle. While you don't have much in the way of muscles moving seems almost easier, you don't know what allows your motion, but at this point, you don't have a brain either, so you're pretty sure you don't need to think too hard about it. 

Skeletons are, among the undead, considered the bottom of the barrel. The furthest from connecting to the monad as they lack the blood and flesh of life. In religious circles, they represent the “dust” as many of the other lower undead do. Many skeletons don't even get to keep their sanity as the experience of their existence scratches against too many knowns of the person who once lived in the bones of the skeleton. This undead, more than any, are prone to losing pieces of themself and having to rebuild from the ground up. Many struggle with the philosophy of “the ship of Theseus" as they replace a femur there or a rib here.

In the realm of religion, many skeletons look disfavorably on the church of the black veil for the hand that fate “dealt” them. In skeleton culture, devout followers of the black veil are referred to as broken Basilars or broken skulls. They are seen as lost members of the family, too broken to know they are betraying their family, helping their oppressors, breaking even themselves to fit the mold the church places on them. While most skeletons feel this way, few speak out against the church lest they have their own skulls broken. Solo skeletons who are not zealots of the church are just seen as oddballs who are less traditional. 

Skeletons' communal nature and lack of rest have led to them spending a great deal of time learning how to pass the time. Skeletons make games usually involving bones or rolling implements like dice.  The spirit of the skeleton lies in its ability to keep itself looking for something to live for. The lack of things that would keep most folk going, the separation of their experience from their body, and its constant reminder that they are some strange entity make it difficult to hold one's mind together. With family, good humor(s), and a purpose, a skeleton can hold it together.

🦴Key Attribute: Agility (+1)

💀 Undead Boon — Hard Target: The space between your bones means all attacks against you that are not short range are made at -2 modifier

🌙 Starting Banes: Silver, Blunt Damage

🪇 Rattle of Bones: They can hear you coming. -2 die on sneak checks when near other beings, living or Undead

🩸 Healing — Bones of Theseus: once per dawn, you can use the bones of any dead Humanoid to repair your own and recover 1d6 life force. If the bones are from a living Humanoid, they can heal critical injuries or 2d6 life force.

⚰️Post-Mortem Questions:

Whats next? Well I figure we can talk about some mechanics and see where to go from there. The campaign is nearing its end. Im excited to see how it ends. 

Yee-haw,
Aaron