Skeleton, Pitch
- Armor Class
- 5 [14]
- Hit Dice
- 6
- Attacks
- Strike or Weapon (1d6)
- Special
- burning pitch (1d6, then 1d6-1, then 1d2, then 1), undead, immune to sleep/charm/hold
- Move
- 12
- HDE/XP
- 7/600
Description
A Pitch Skeleton is a skeletal undead that is covered in a black oily or tarry substance, giving it a slick and blackened appearance. Unlike other skeletons, a pitch skeleton has a low level of intelligence and evil intent; they will use basic strategies in combat, such as charging opponents after a successful strike so as to ignite as many of their enemies as possible.
When a pitch skeleton strikes in combat, a thick black substance is left behind which promptly ignites, causing 1d6 points of fire damage on the round following the successful attack. On the next round the fire does 1d6-1 points of damage, then 1d2 points, and finally 1 point on the fifth round. Additional successful strikes from the pitch skeleton restarts this process at 1d6 points of damage on the next round.
Like other skeletons, a pitch skeleton takes only half damage from edged weapons, and only a single point from arrows, bolts, and sling stones (plus any magical bonus). A pitch skeleton is completely immune to fire- based attacks. As with all undead, it can be Turned by a Cleric (as a wraith), and is immune to Sleep, charm, and hold magic.
See Also
Other creatures grouped under Skeleton: Skeleton, Crimson Bones, Skeleton, Diseased, Skeleton, Gellybone, Skeleton, Haunted Bones, Skeleton, Lake, Skeleton, Lava Lake.
Source note: This creature is converted from The Basic Fantasy Field Guide of Creatures Malevolent and Benign – Omnibus Edition, 1st Edition Release 4, © 2010–2025 Chris Gonnerman, R. Kevin Smoot, James Lemon, Matt Sluis, and Contributors. The Basic Fantasy Field Guide textual material is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International; this page adapts that creature to White Box.