Skeletons, unlike zombies, don't have fleshy bits
Their joints could be seen as being empty.
Thus, if a necromancer were to coat a skeleton's bones in a layer of metal (why was I about to write chocolate?), then he could greatly increase their durability without affecting their dexterity (well, maybe the spine would be fucked)
Conversely, one could argue that reanimation works because the body, having been home to a soul, is ready for an animating force to inhabit it without special preparation, but the metal casing around the bones would require something closer to animating a golem than animating the dead
Thoughts?
>>46220626
If you're going to go to the effort of getting molten metal in such quantities as to coat extremely irregular shapes like skeletons, you'd be better spending your time getting metal golems, metal weapons, or just getting more skeletons.
>>46220626
Just say that you want a Necromancer Wolverine.
>>46220626
I just stick a hornet's nest in a zombie. It's just as mean and a lot more cost effective.
>>46220945
That is fucking terrible! I'm stealing this!
The hot ass metal would make the bones shatter
>>46220626
The requirement for an "elite," undead is better filled by non-skeletons, or even constructs.
Still, I'd argue that coating the bones in metal would make the reanimation no different in arcane science than raising skeletons clad in armour, the spacial distance between the metal and flesh shouldn't make much of a difference in all but the most hard-science of magic settings.
>>46220963
You can also fill them with jars of alchemist's fire if you want. Or if you're that low on cash, smear them in lamp oil and have them carry a torch.
>>46220626
1: Molten metal would burn the bones, I don't know if you can reanimate coal and ashes.
2: Any time you make necromancy into anything other than making souls go back in their bodies the whole setting explodes with stupid. You start getting questions like "Why can't I just make a strawman and put someone's soul in it" or "Why can't I put a human soul in a dead bear, that would be way scarier than a normal zombie".
Basically if you let necromancy animate "things" you need to figure out why evil wizards don't have 10 foot tall wooden dummies full of spikes as guards instead of shuffling zombies, and if you let souls animate otherbodies than their old ones things get just as weird.
>>46220945
>army of skeletons
>each one has a hornet's nest in its ribcage
For extra lulz make the hornets some kind of extraplanar enchanted cazadore murderbugs or something.
The skeletons are merely a cheap vessel to deliver the cazadores to their intended target.
>>46221041
>>46220986
Can't you cast some sort of protection spell for that?
>>46221041
Because bodies were animated before and are open to animating spirits, objects need preparation
And trapping souls with a low level spell seems rife for abuse considering that soul-magic tends to be high level stuff
>>46221041
Depends on the material used desu, lead has a relatively low melting temperature and won't be hot enough to destroy bone.
PF has rules for leaded skellies and while it doesn't affect their AC it basically make their DR much higher and means bludgioning weapons less effective.
While I agree there are better means to upgrade your minions, it's still probably the best mundane way to go about it ( especially if you stack it with other templates). Personally I like my skellies wheeled, leaded, burning with 4 extra arms and explosive runes set in their skulls upon destruction (make worse with fragments of bone and metal shrapnel).
Source?
