Talk:Skeleton warrior

The Skeleton Warrior as well as a Skeleton Lord variant now exist within Minsc and Boo's Journal of Villainy page 148-149. – Special:Contributions/193.150.196.191


 * Thanks, but we consider that book to be non-canonical. ~ BadCatMan (talk) 09:55, 21 April 2023 (UTC)

I posted about the Minsc and Boo book above. I am doing some extra work on all Eye of the Beholder monsters throughout its trilogy doing my best tracing each of the monsters throughout every edition.

The concept of the Skeleton Warrior have transformed throughout the ages and was primarily introduced into Forgotten Realms through novels and videogames. That said, its also linked throughout the Dragonlance setting where they have a continuation.

The name of the monster flips between Skeleton and Skeletal. The Eye of the Beholder Clue Book refer to these as "Skeletal Lords" but the sourcecode describe them as "skelwar". The Eye of the Beholder 2 manual call them "Skeleton Warrior".

The second Edition Skeleton Warrior was published in the Monstrous Compendium DragonLance Appendix page 85 before it later appeared in the Monstrous Manual. The third Edition Skeleton Warrior is covered in the 3rd edition DragonLance Campaign Setting page 229. The concept of the Golden Circlets remain here as the control device but the concept is greatly expanded on, including non-humans as skeletons. Here their master specifically reference Death Knights as masters. The fourth Edition "Dread Warrior" is covered in the 4th edition Monster Manual page 74. Here they are controlled by a master but the item for the bond can be anything. Meanwhile Death Knights are in their lore section described as "skeletal warriors who retain the intelligence and combat skills they had in life". The fifth Edition "Skeletal Knight" is covered in the 5th edition Dragonlance: Shadow of the Dragon Queen book page 178. While there is no mention of the Golden Circlets or the lich-like qualities, they are bonded to a Death Knight as servants.