Monster Monday: Rustbound Skeleton

Today's Monster Monday is the rustbound skeleton, an undead creature that can reduce your fighter's armor to dust.  Bones and rusted armor fused together by necromantic energies and driven by a will to visit death and decay on the living.

Remains from the Battle of Visby, 1361

Adventurers might encounter rustbound skeletons in a crypt that has been infested with rust monsters, while investigating a shipwreck, or while traversing an old battlefield.  Check out the rustbound skeleton template below, and the example rustbound skeletal knight!

The following text in gold is available as Open Game Content under the OGL. Open Game Content is ©2016 Jonah Bomgaars.

Rustbound Skeletal Knight    CR 3

XP 800

Human rustbound skeletal champion fighter 3

NE Medium undead

Init +4; Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Perception +6

DEFENSE

AC 16, touch 10, flat-footed 16 (+4 armor, +2 natural)

hp 30 (2d8+3d10+5)

Fort +5, Ref +3, Will +4; channel resist +4

DR 5/bludgeoning; Immune cold, undead traits

OFFENSE

Speed 15 ft.

Melee broken longsword +6 (1d8+2) or two claws +7 (1d4+3)

Special Attacks rust touch +7 (DC 15)

STATISTICS

Str 17, Dex 11, Con --, Int 8, Wis 11, Cha 12

Base Atk +4; CMB +7; CMD 17

Feats Ability Focus (rust touch), Cleave, Dodge, Improved Initiative^B, Lightning Reflexes, Power Attack, Weapon Focus (longsword)

Skills Climb +1, Intimidate +6, Knowledge (dungeoneering) +3, Perception +6, Stealth -1

SPECIAL ABILITIES

Rust Touch (Su)

This is a primary touch attack made in place of a claw attack that causes any metal object touched to swiftly rust and corrode. The object touched takes half its maximum hp in damage and gains the broken condition—a second hit destroys the item. A rustbound skeleton never provokes attacks of opportunity by attempting to touch a weapon with its roust touch ability. Against creatures made of metal, a rustbound skeleton’s rust touch deals 3d6+5 points of damage. An attended object, any magic object, or a metal creature can attempt a DC 15 Reflex save to negate this effect. The save DC is Charisma-based.

ECOLOGY

Environment any

Organization solitary

Treasure none

Rustbound Skeleton (CR +1)

Rustbound skeletons are undead warriors whose rusty armor has fused to their bones over the ages.  Their very essence has been infused into the rust of the armor in which they died, and they seek to send their enemies to a rusty grave as well.  A knight who was drowned by the weight of his own armor, an adventurer slain by rust monsters, a fallen warrior who was buried in a bog, or the crewman of a sunken merchant ship with a cargo of iron ingots are all suitable candidates for being raised as a rustbound skeleton.

Becoming a Rustbound Skeleton:

Rustbound skeleton is an acquired template that can be added to any skeleton.  A rustbound skeleton retains all of the base creature’s statistics and special abilities except as noted here.  The base creature must have died or been buried in medium or heavy metal armor, or in some other way exposed to great amounts of rust.  In addition to the changes for the skeleton template, make the following adjustments to the base creature.

   CR: A rustbound skeleton’s CR is +1 higher than a normal skeleton with the same HD.

   Armor Class: In addition to the skeleton’s normal natural armor, a rustbound skeleton is girded in whatever armor it died in.  That armor is a rusted mass, fused to its bones, which provides half of the AC bonus of an intact suit of the same type of armor - thus a breastplate would provide a +3 armor bonus, and a suit of full plate would provide a +4 armor bonus.  Unlike with the broken item condition, the armor check penalty does not double.  This armor is not recoverable from the rustbound skeleton and cannot be repaired. 

   Attacks: As standard skeleton, but any metal weapon carried by a rustbound skeleton, including any new weapon it picks up, gains the broken condition. 

   Special Attacks: A rustbound skeleton gains the Rust Touch special attack:

 Rust Touch (Su): A rustbound skeleton’s rust touch is a primary touch attack made in place of a claw attack that causes any metal object touched to swiftly rust and corrode. The object touched takes half its maximum hp in damage and gains the broken condition—a second hit destroys the item. A rustbound skeleton never provokes attacks of opportunity by attempting to touch a weapon with its roust touch ability. Against creatures made of metal, a rustbound skeleton’s rust touch deals 3d6+5 points of damage. An attended object, any magic object, or a metal creature can attempt a Reflex save to negate this effect. The save DC is Charisma-based (DC 10 + 1/2 rustbound skeleton’s HD + rustbound skeleton’s Cha modifier). 

   Abilities: Str +2, Dex -2.  Apply this after applying any Ability score adjustments from the skeleton template. 

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Historical side-note: the Battle of Visby, fought in 1361 between the Gotlanders of Visby and the Danish forces of King Valdemar IV, ended up being a treasure trove for archaeologists and historians of medieval armor.  The Danes just creamed the Gotlanders, and there were so many bodies on the battlefield that they were starting to rot faster than they could be stripped of their armor.  They got dumped in a mass grave, and six hundred years later, excavations uncovered tons of rusty but identifiable examples of medieval armor (including a sort of primitive brigandine) and well-preserved skeletons.  The photo that heads this article is one of several skulls preserved in mail coifs that were recovered from the site.  

-your oxidized d20 despot