Skeleton Berserker and healing

[Particle_Man]

Got this idea for a skeleton berserker (I got tired of waiting for an official version so will use the npc stats in the dmg).

Upsides: Can frenzy whenever I rage and am immune to poison. Can keep watch all night.

Downsides: Low charisma hurts one of my later berserker abilities. Vulnerable to bludgeoning damage. And most of all, it is very, very hard to magically heal damage.

So do I just suck it up and rely on short and long rests or are there other ways to heal the undead skeleton?

[Man_Over_Game]

Your best bet is to find a Wizard who's willing to take Life Transference to heal you. Due to the damage absorption capabilities of the School of Abjuration, an abjurer is your best bet.

Other options include Regenerate, Negative Energy Flood, and abilities that provide self-healing, like Vampiric Touch.

JC has said that Undead benefit from short rests, but hasn't made any direct response to long rests, but we can assume that any creature who gets short rests gets long rest benefits too. So you could just sleep it off.

[Ganymede]

Downsides: You can't talk. Talking is pretty freaking important in a roleplaying game. How will you interact with NPCs? You list keeping watch all night as an advantage, but how will you even warn your companions if a monster approaches? Most importantly, how will you communicate with your fellow PCs? Won't bony hand gestures get really old after a while?

[Particle_Man]

New goal: learn drow sign language. :smallcool:

But my way of waking people up when on watch could include kicking them awake.

[MaxWilson]

Got this idea for a skeleton berserker (I got tired of waiting for an official version so will use the npc stats in the dmg).

Upsides: Can frenzy whenever I rage and am immune to poison. Can keep watch all night.

Downsides: Low charisma hurts one of my later berserker abilities. Vulnerable to bludgeoning damage. And most of all, it is very, very hard to magically heal damage.

So do I just suck it up and rely on short and long rests or are there other ways to heal the undead skeleton?

Aura of Vitality can heal undead creatures. So you want to buddy up with a bard or paladin.

Plus, as others have said, healing on a rest is not restricted to any particular type of creature, so you should be able to do that just fine.

If you wanted to, you could also invest in Necromancer levels (seems appropriate) and heal via Grim Harvest. Grim Harvest gives you 9 HP every time you kill a 2 cp chicken with Vampiric Touch, for example.

[Blood of Gaea]

Have you considered just reskinning a Warforged PC? The abilities should mostly carry over without problem.

[Particle_Man]

While warforged don’t suffer exhaustion due to lack of rest, I think they still suffer exhaustion from other sources, such as frenzy. The skeleton is immune to exhaustion regardless of the source.

[Ganymede]

Is that really it? Is being able to frenzy more often really worth the trade off of playing as a near-mindless undead monster? Are you really going to enjoy sitting around doing little-to-nothing while the rest of the party interacts with NPCs and has character growth?

[Particle_Man]

Depends how combat heavy the game is. It is not for a courtly intrigue game.

[Particle_Man]

I remember a Lost Worlds booklet game that featured a skeleton. That might be part of it too.

[Misterwhisper]

Got this idea for a skeleton berserker (I got tired of waiting for an official version so will use the npc stats in the dmg).

Upsides: Can frenzy whenever I rage and am immune to poison. Can keep watch all night.

Downsides: Low charisma hurts one of my later berserker abilities. Vulnerable to bludgeoning damage. And most of all, it is very, very hard to magically heal damage.

So do I just suck it up and rely on short and long rests or are there other ways to heal the undead skeleton?

I am a little confused by this:

Are you using the stats of a "Skeleton" from the Monster Manual?

If so you would be a pretty horrible Barbarian with only a 10 str 14 dex and 15 con. The rest of their stats are horrible too.

That is the equivalent of an 18 point buy with multiple stats lower than is normally possible.

If you mean rolling/buying your own stats and using the traits of a skeleton, then you might could make something work... until you come across the first necromancer who tries to puppet you, a religious NPC of many different possible backgrounds who will kill the undead on site, or the more important issue, why the hell would the PCs have you in the group?

[MaxWilson]

I am a little confused by this:

Are you using the stats of a "Skeleton" from the Monster Manual?

I'm guessing that he's using the DMG racial template for skeletons, in the table near the back of the book.

[Misterwhisper]

I'm guessing that he's using the DMG racial template for skeletons, in the table near the back of the book.

Ah, ok then, that is much better.

Sounds like it would make a much better dex based character but I guess it would work ok.

[Particle_Man]

Yes dmg. I guess technically I would use the mm undead trait of not needing to eat, drink, breathe or rest.

And hey, I could be the one good skeleton in a party with the one good drow, the one good half-orc, the one good tiefling and the one good chromatic Dragonborn. :smallbiggrin: