SkeletonCR 1/4 · Medium Undead · Stat Block & Encounter Builder

Thirteen hit points, obeys literally, and folds the moment someone brings a mace.

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Armour Class

Hit Points

Speed

30 ft.

Challenge

1/4 · 50 XP

Alignment

Lawful Evil

The card

Stat Block

Medium Undead · Lawful Evil

Skeleton

1/4

2d8 + 4 · 30 ft. · AC from armor scraps

Darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 9

Languages: understands all languages it spoke in life but can't speak

STR	DEX	CON	INT	WIS	CHA
10 (+0)	14 (+2)	15 (+2)	6 (-2)	8 (-1)	5 (-3)

Traits

Damage VulnerabilitiesBludgeoning

Damage ImmunitiesPoison

Condition ImmunitiesPoisoned, Exhaustion

Actions

ShortswordMelee Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 5 (1d6 + 2) piercing damage.

ShortbowRanged Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, range 80/320 ft., one target. Hit: 5 (1d6 + 2) piercing damage.

How to actually run it

Tactics

The stat block tells you what it can do. This tells you what to do with it.

1Bludgeoning vulnerability is the story: the cleric’s mace doubles up, the rogue’s rapier does not. It rewards the party for switching weapons.

2They obey literally and cannot improvise — a skeleton ordered to guard a door will guard it while the room burns.

3Immune to poison and exhaustion, so attrition tactics do nothing. You have to actually break them.

4Cheap, stackable, and thematically free for any necromancer, crypt or Oathbreaker paladin.

Pitch the fight

Encounter Difficulty

Encounter Builder

How bad is this fight?

Real DMG maths — XP thresholds by level, and the group multiplier that makes crowds so much worse than the raw total suggests.

Skeletons4Party size4Party level3

They will win without spending much. Good for pacing between real fights.

Difficulty

Easy

400 adj. XP · ×2

deadly at 1,600

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What beats it

Counters

Spells that shut it down, and classes built to take it.

SpellsFireball · Bless

ClassesCleric · Paladin

Counsel

Skeleton, Answered

What CR is a skeleton?

Challenge 1/4, worth 50 XP — the same as a goblin, but tougher (13 hit points) and less clever. Skeletons are the default low-level undead for crypts and necromancers.

What are skeletons vulnerable to?

Bludgeoning damage — maces, warhammers and quarterstaffs deal double. They are immune to poison damage, the poisoned condition, and exhaustion.

How do you use skeletons well?

In numbers, with archers at the back, and against a party without a bludgeoning weapon. They cannot improvise, so give them simple standing orders and let the players exploit that.

Who can create skeletons?

Animate Dead (3rd level, wizard and cleric) raises them, and the Oathbreaker paladin and Death Domain cleric command them. They are the default minion for any necromancer NPC.

Put It On The Table

Set your party, read the difficulty, and build the encounter around it. Your first is free.

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