Skeleton

Skeletons are magically animated undead monsters, created as guardians or warriors by powerful evil wizards and priests. Skeletons appear to have no ligaments or musculature which would allow movement. Instead, the bones are magically joined together during the casting of an animate dead spell. Skeletons have no eyes or internal organs. Skeletons can be made from the bones of humans and demihumans, animals of human size or smaller, or giant humanoids like bugbears and giants.

Skeletons have almost no minds whatsoever, and can obey only the simplest one- or two-phrase orders from their creators. Skeletons fight in unorganized masses and tend to botch complex orders disastrously. It is not unheard of to find more than one type of skeleton (monsters with animals, animals with humans) working together to protect their master's dungeon or tower.

Unless the skeleton's remains are destroyed or scattered far apart, the skeleton can be created anew with the application of another animate dead spell. Rumors of high-level animate dead spells which create skeletons capable of reforming themselves to continue fighting after being destroyed have not been reliably confirmed.

Note: Skeletons originally appeared in this form in the 2nd Edition Monstrous Manual for the AD&D game from TSR. Their use here is for the purposes of providing context for the campaign only.