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 assumed it was canon but respect if it's not. 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 evolved throughout the ages. While the sourcebooks often had them as a cross-setting or DragonLance monster they were introduced in Forgotten Realms through novels and videogames, playing a particular key role in the Eye of the Beholder series. That said, they are primarily described in DragonLance books where they had their 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 this seems to be an error as the sourcecode describe them as "skelwar". And the same monster in the Eye of the Beholder 2 manual is called a "Skeleton Warrior". The flavor text used in many of the editions do describe them as "Lords" in the first paragraph.


 * The second Edition "Skeleton Warrior" was first 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 and described in more depth as their control device but the concept of the monster is greatly expanded on, including a template option and non-humans as skeletons. Importantly for the 5th edition here is that the Death Knights are now referenced as their primary masters.
 * The fourth Edition "Dread Warrior" is covered in the 4th edition Monster Manual page 74. While the monster is hidden under a lot of 4e flare its the same concept. Skeletal warriors controlled by a master. But the item used for the master<>servant bond can be anything. In the same book; the "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 the short flavor text does not mention the Golden Circlets or the lich-like qualities, their minor description describe them as (magically?) bonded to Death Knights as servants, while their artwork matches the concept.