Dungeon Delver’s Guide: Skeletal Hordes
Welcome to Dungeon Delver’s Guide (coming to Kickstarter very soon!) Our skeletons are smart, have extra arms, are indestructible, and are on fire.
I love designing Level Up monsters (you can check out a whole book of ‘em here), and I couldn’t resist writing lots of new subterranean beasts for Dungeon Delver’s Guide. Besides myself, monster designers Cassandra Macdonald, Peter N Martin, Sarah Madsen, and Will Gawned all contributed new horrors. All in all, DDG contains about fifty new monster, variant, and NPC stat blocks, ranging from the mostly-harmless mycelial traveler to the elite CR 24 titan Midir the Reborn.
Today I want to preview just a single monster entry—the skeleton. Lurking in catacombs and ruins, and doing the bidding of necromancers and more powerful undead, skeletons are an incredibly versatile monster, and we aim to make them even more so. We’ve got three new skeletal stat blocks: the decrepit bonespawn, which you can throw in great numbers at even low-level parties; the skeletal immortal, inspired by equal parts Ray Harryhausen movies and old Prince of Persia video games, that knits back together after it is felled; and the skeletal warlord, an intelligent lieutenant suitable for any would-be necromancer. Besides that, we’ve got new skeletal variants. You can turn any of the skeletons in this book, or any other bestiary, into a burning, four-armed, or winged skeleton.
Just in case that’s not enough bony goodness for you, have a bonus spell from our spells section - Skeletal Hands!
Skeletal Hands
1st-level (necromancy; arcane, control, divine, necrotic)
Classes: Cleric, sorcerer, warlock, wizard
Casting Time: 1 action
Range: Short (30 feet)
Target: 1 creature
Components: S, M (finger bone)
Duration: Concentration (1 minute)
Dozens of skeletal hands reach from a wall or other vertical surface to grasp a creature within 5 feet of the surface. Make a melee spell attack. On a hit, the target takes 1d8 necrotic damage and is restrained until the spell ends. A creature restrained by the hands can use a bonus action to make a Strength saving throw to escape, ending the spell early on a success. On a failure, the target takes 1d8 necrotic damage. When the spell ends, the hands withdraw into the wall.
Cast at Higher Levels. The spell’s initial damage and damage on a failed escape attempt increase by 1d8 per slot level above 1st.
Rare: Finor’s Imprisoning Skeletal Hands. If you maintain concentration on the spell for the full duration, the target remains trapped by the hands until the magic is dispelled or you dismiss the spell as an action.