Experience! Gold! Thieves! - Kinder Surprise Houserules/Mods.

Your kind of party, eh?
Russ Nicholson for Citadel of Chaos.

Quicker Advancement.

• If you're playing with only three classes (OD&D style), shift down the XP tables so MUs advance as Fighters, Fighters as Clerics and Clerics as Thieves (or unchanged), or:
• Use 3e/4e/5e XP tables, and subtract that amount from corresponding older school class XP requirements. So, a BECMI Cleric needs 500 (3e) or 1200 (5e), a Fighter needs 1000 (3e) or 1700 (5e) to hit 2nd level. 

(This is one way of reducing the economy-busting amounts of gold that are an issue for some, and a way of speeding up advancement for the time-poor while keeping the staggered class advancement model)

Bonus Extra: if the table agrees, every time you roll a save, you get XP equal to the amount you missed or made the save by x10. Roll exactly your save value for 100 XP.

It's more book-keeping, but rewards general adventuring behaviour/risk-taking as you get something whether you fail or succeed. As your characters rise in level, it will make much less impact and you can drop it once it gets too cheese-paring.

Less Cash in Circulation.

Related to the lower XP requirement idea above and the fairly common trope that adventurers/heroes start off each story broke, hoping to make one big score and then end up cheated and broke again.

Characters do not keep ANY treasure that goes towards XP. 

It is out of your hands by the time the next adventure comes around, through debt, carousing, alms-giving, theft, gifts, living expenses (at the appropriate level of extravagance), cheats, gambling etc. You can even call it training costs. Narrate or hand wave this as your table likes.

Any cash (or choice items) you want to keep (in hand, in the bank, buried under a particular tree, put towards buying a castle, whatever) or spend on adventuring assistance/supplies does not count towards XP.

For extra misery, allow included living expenses to exceed the amount of XP you gain, so you end up in debt.

Are healing and curse removal costs inclusive or extras? 

More Thief Mods.

Because we just can't help it! 

Under either of the following (and I don't think they can work together), keep Hear Noise as a d6 skill (if that's in the system) and Backstab is unchanged.

Skills as saves: allocate your Thief skills to your saving throws (combine as appropriate), and test them on a d20 (or convert to %). 

You can swap a pair of saves/skills every time you gain a level.

You can apply Ability Score adjustments as agreed/appropriate.

Skills as hit rolls: each skill is an attack roll vs. unarmoured AC (or convert to %).

Your skill advances as a Fighter's attack progression, and leather/chain/plate can be used to represent grades of abnormal difficulty or increasingly stressful conditions.

In a mod of 2e AD&D weapon specialisation, the Thief can spend max. one of their NWP slots to specialise in a single skill at 1st level and get a +1 bonus. They can use a single additional slot gained at higher levels to specialise in another skill, or take their bonus to max. +2. This might also work with the 'skills as saves' method too.

Bonus Extras:

• Thieves open doors, locks, chests, disarm traps etc on an Open Doors roll, but use INT and/or DEX (depending on characterisation, and Dragonwarriors would suggest an average) to generate a STR bonus equivalent.
• Keep percentile skills, but you get to add your Prime Requisite % bonus to the base value.
• Thief skills % start at equivalent of 3rd level and scale from there.

Commentary.

Quick crude mods for a basic D&D adjacent game. Not playtested but someone's probably already tried all/most/some of these already in the last 40+ years.

Realise I could have held them back to pay this Joesky Tax I've heard about, but they've been hanging around my drafts and notes for a while now so I'm putting them out rather than letting them fester.

XP for saves is a rip from T&T.

Dungeons & Dragonwarriors - Who is That?

Okay. A bit of a change of pace, so bear with me on this one.

In 1986, Out of the Shadows - the fourth in the Dragonwarriors series - hits the shelves and introduces us to the Assassin Profession.

In illustrations accompanying one of the included adventures -'The One-Eyed God'- this faceless character turns up twice. Apart from the armoured figure on the left (being the exception to prove the rule), there are no other characters illustrated in this fashion throughout the 4 books so far.

 

Because this is book 4, I think the character is an Assassin: staff and dagger/short sword are their speciality weapons, and they prefer light or no armour.

Other special abilities of the Assassin include Climbing, with added acrobatics: 

An Assassin can leap up to scale any obstacle below 3m in height, given at least 5m as a run-up. This is executed as a single jumping somersault - spectacular, though it can lead to problems if the drop on the other side is more than 6m!

Assassins can fall up to 6m without sustaining injury. 

- Out of the Shadows, p.19-20

So the boots are off for some jumping, leaping or tightrope walking.

Though we can't definitively determine gender or ethnicity from the illustrations, I think that this character is Diana the Acrobat from the Dungeons & Dragons cartoon (1983-1985).

The outfit is not 100%, but I think that could be for the same reason the face is hidden - so as not to poke the D&D litigation monster. Alternatively, Bob Harvey might just have thought that her original get-up wasn't suitable for the frosty wilds of Algandy.

Why? 

Is this an Easter egg or a coincidence? Does anyone know either way, or even think this is plausible?

A Flock of Grotesque Flying Heads.

Dave Morris wrote some of the game material that had the most impact on my impressionable young mind, and it appears that he might have a thing about flying heads, and that is maybe why I have a thing about flying heads.

So here's some flying heads, converted between systems.

Dragonwarriors to D&D: Chonchon, Death's Head, Obsidiak and Skullghast.

Image: a flock of grotesque flying heads.
Leo Hartas, I think.

See this post for an idea of how I arrive at the numbers below, and why there are choices.

Dragonwarriors doesn't give Intelligence for monsters, but the Chonchon and Death's Head are clearly intelligent on the same scale as Normal Humans, and can plan and communicate, the Skullghast is mindless and the Obsidiak is anyone's guess (at least animal intelligence, but probably alien).

Chonchon.

Ugly head with huge blue-veined ears it uses as wings; chisel-like teeth; said to be polymorphed and can't change back. 

Out of the Shadows, p. 73-74

AC bonus +4*     BAB +4     HD 2.8 (2+4/ 2+8/ 3)     att. bite d8 (or d4)

• * AC +2 for DW Armour Factor, +2 for high DEFENCE
• flies as well as a Bat
• d6 + 3 Magic User levels (can use BAB, saves, and hit points if you prefer)
• invisibility to mortals of levels 1 to 4, until they attack or cast a spell, but only normal chances of surprise (they've got noisy 'wings'
• affected by holy symbols like a Vampire (as appropriate for your setting/system)
• there is a special spell (5th level caster to learn and use) to bring a chonchon down and render it helpless
• 'sly and cowardly': Morale 6
• bite has 25% of carrying a disease
• can see in the dark; dazzled by light

Image: Horned, winged and fanged head flying on a moonlit night.
Bob Harvey.

Death's Head.

Head with bat wings and a horn - these vanish during the day; devours head from a body and reanimates it as a Zombie host to pretend to be a Normal Human.

Dragonwarriors, p. 80-81

AC bonus +7*     BAB +5     HD 1.7 (1+4/ 1+7/ 2)     att. horn d10 (or d8)

• * AC +3 for DW Armour Factor, +4 for very high DEFENCE
• flies as well as a Bat +50%
• spellbind, once per night, range 30', save vs. spells or stand in place while the Death's Head kills you (if you think this is too much, rule that a non-fatal attack ends the spell)
• Zombie host fights as appropriate for setting/system
• Zombie host 90% passable as human, but deteriorates 10% per day; 
• 10% chance/ hit rolls of 19-20 strike the Death's Head, not the Zombie host
• Death's Head cannot detach from Zombie host until night falls; horn and wings immediately appear
• the host can be Turned; the Death's Head itself cannot - it is not undead
• can see in the dark

Image: a crude human face with three tentacles.
The only pic of an Obsidiak I could find.
Don't know who it's by, and it's not how I imagine the monster.

Obsidiak.

Bizarre dungeon monster; 'a slain Obsidiak will quickly decompose into a damp and evil-smelling ash.'

Dragonwarriors, p. 105-106

AC +3     BAB +3     HD 3.1 (3/ 3+1)     att. bite d8 (or d6) or constrict

• flies half as well as a Bat (floating)
• 70% likely it bites in a combat round
• 30% it makes an attack vs. base AC & Dex mod to grasp & constrict
• target must make 3 Dex checks or arms are pinned and cannot fight back
• constrict damage die starts at d4 and advances each round (max. d20)
• constricting Obsidiak cannot do anything else, but misses against it hit the victim unless attacker makes a Dex check
• can see in the dark; dazzled by light

Image: cover of Golden Dragon gamebook 'The Temple of Flame';
a parade of flame-wreathed skulls emerge from a stepped pyramid.
Bruno Elettori.

Skullghast.

Dormant, they just look like old skulls, but burst into pale-gold flame and fly after you when activated.

Out of the Shadows, p. 132-133

AC +4*     BAB +5     HD 0.6 (d4/ 1-1/ 1/ 3hp)     att. flames d10 (or d6) + special

• *+4 for very high DEFENCE
• flies as well as a Bat +50%
• gaze attack: save vs. spells or weakened by fear (-3 STR & DEX for duration of encounter)
• damage from flames cannot be healed by magic below 3rd level
• spell-casters must save vs. spells per hit or lose one spell from memory, lowest level first
• 'fly in pursuit, even if the chase leads them out of the temple': Morale 12
• cannot be Turned (not true undead, by my reading of the text)
• can see in the dark

AD&D and D&D adjacent to Call of Cthulhu/BRP: Vargouille and Skullghast.

Image: two monstrous winged heads.
DiTerlizzi (Planescape MC 1994)

Vargouille, Shrieking Horrors.

Hideous fanged heads, maned with writhing tentacles, and carried aloft on a 3' span of bat-like wings. Otherwise voiceless, they give vent to bone-chilling shrieks as they surge up from the lightless gulfs they lair in.

Bright light, including the sun, blinds them, and they hate light, attempting to extinguish sources during an encounter. They are able to see (and track) the heat signature of living creatures in darkness, and may have an undocumented ultrasonic echo-location sense (explaining how they navigate caves and catacombs). Their eyes reflect green in low light.

Special abilities from 2nd edition AD&D also given as options, if you don't think they're Mythos enough as is.

STR 3d6 (av.10.5)     CON 3d6 (av.10.5)     SIZ 2d4 (av.5)     INT 2d6 (av.7)     POW 3d6 (av.10.5)

DEX 3d6 (av.10.5)     

Hit Points 7-8                                                Damage Bonus nil     Move 12 (flying)

Weapons:

• Bite 35%, 1-4 (d4)
• Bite damage is permanent and does not respond to natural healing, First Aid, or medical care; healing is only possible through magic or the ministrations of (say) Mi-Go, Eldritch Things, or time-travellers
• (2e) Shriek, POW vs. POW (or maybe a SAN test with no loss) or victim is paralysed with fright until the Vargouille has taken a free attack
• (2e) Kiss, POW vs. POW or begin transforming into a Vargouille:
• only on paralysed victims
• +d6 hours, all hair on head falls out
• +d6 hours, pointed ears and fangs, tentacles sprout from head and chin; lose d6 INT & 2d6 APP
• +d6 hours, body dies - the new Vargouille will unfurl its wings and detach next time it is in darkness
• very bright light halts the process, but cannot end or reverse it

Armour: 2 points of rubbery hide

Skills: Dodge DEX x4; Track by Heat 60%

Sanity Loss: 0/d6 to see a Vargouille; same again at each stage of transformation if subject to the Kiss, or to see another transformed.

Skullghast, Eerie Temple Guardians.

For when you need a rest from tentacles and something a little bit Indiana Jones to relax.

Wreathed in cold, otherworldly flames and utterly silent, these are earthly nightmares but nightmares nonetheless. Enchanted by sorcerers living or long dead, they are set as guards. They will pursue intruders to a distance designated during their creation, but will always return to their original resting places.

They render victims helpless, who are then prey to other denizens of the location (usually a tomb or temple), or to dehydration and exposure, as the Skullghasts will swoop every time a helpless victim recovers enough to try and escape.

Converted using the D&D adjacent stats above, some Mythos licence, and referencing the CoC Skeleton.

STR 2d6 (av. 7)     CON n/a     SIZ d4 (av. 2-3)     INT n/a     POW 1     DEX 2d6+6 (av. 13)

Hit Points n/a        Damage bonus nil                    Move 12 (flying)

Weapons:

• Touch, 50% (or DEX x 3 - your choice), 1 STR, 1 DEX and 1 magic point
• lost characteristic points recover at the same rate as magic points

Armour: none, but only harmed if destroyed (% chance = damage scored x4; x2 for impaling weapons, including firearms)

Skills: Dodge (DEX x 4); Relentless Pursuit 60%

Sanity loss: 0/d6 to see a Skullghast; 1/1d6+1 to spend any significant time helpless in a Skullghast lair, without apparent hope of escape or rescue, slipping in and out of unconsciousness at the unearthly touch of the pale-gold flame, as the rats and beetles crawl across your shivering body.

Monster Ratings for Tunnels & Trolls 5e, too.

• Chonchon: MR 28; on doubles casts a spell of level 1-6.
• Death's Head: MR 17; spellbind, 2nd level IQ save to resist; 2nd level DEX save to hit in flight; one or more Zombies nearby.
• Obsidiak: MR 31; on doubles constricts you for unopposed damage (armour counts for 1st round only), cumulatively more difficult STR save to escape each round and you can't do anything else.
• Skullghast: MR 6; damage comes off STR, too (or whatever wizards use in later editions); 2nd level DEX save to hit in flight; come in flocks of 2-12, even on the first dungeon level.
• Vargouille: MR 21; on doubles 1 point of your CON never comes back, except by gaining a level. 

Increase the MR the deeper into the tunnels you delve. Obviously.

3rd and 4th Flavours of Skeleton: Runequest III and Tunnels & Trolls 5e to D&D adjacent.

Image: mixed heap of armed and armoured Skeletons.
Josh Kirby for Tunnels & Trolls.

Runequest III.

The Runequest 3rd Edition (Games Workshop took out almost all the Glorantha) Skeleton is very close to the 5e Call of Cthulhu Skeleton.

It has 2d6+6 SIZ (same as a Normal Human) and no POW, but is otherwise much the same simple thing. This gives it, by my reckoning, a hit point equivalent of 13 (the average of SIZ 13 + CON 0).

They are much stronger fighters than CoC Skeletons(because of the expectations of the game?), with DEX x 5% for weapon attacks and Dodge ability (10.5 x 5 = 52.5%).

In RQIII, Skeletons are animated objects, 'magical artifacts, not true undead', and can be given much greater STR and DEX (and presumably SIZ) if the creator is willing to expend the POW to do so. There are no specified limits.

The creator can also put Magic Points into the Skeleton so it can resist spells cast against it; there is no specified limit.

If hit through their armour, that hit location is destroyed. Skull and/or ribcage hits destroy the Skeleton, and they are even more resistant to piercing weapons than in CoC.

Skeletons with a Damage Bonus (those with high combined STR and SIZ) get 1 armour point per +d6 db.

Conversion.

There will be more involved RQ specific conversion methods out there, but I'm for old school simplicity, so I'll use the same one as I did previously.

• (HP 13)/5 = 2.6 HD
• Attack/10 = 52.5/10 = 5.25 = BAB +5

Abilities.

• destroyed on a single hit, but can save vs. dragon breath to dodge a successful hit, or +1 or more AC bonus to reflect Dodge/DEX
• larger specimens might not dodge, but are intrinsically more robust
• immune to piercing weapons, unless critical hit
• immune to fatigue
• mindless
• option: immune to Turning (if you decide they are not undead)
• option: +1 or more bonus to save vs. spells

d6 Flavours of Skeleton:

1. Multi-Armed: extra pairs of arms were added at creation (max. 6); at least one extra attack and can split between two targets. Probably really good at parrying as well as dodging.
2. Skeletaur: if there are no Centaurs in your setting, this was constructed from parts; could be as strong as an Ogre/Bull. Could have a horned animal skull. Often used for heavy work as much as a guardian.
3. Bone Colossus: dozens, hundreds of corpses have been rendered down and reformed into a towering Skeleton. A necromantic siege engine. Can throw boulders and make stomp attacks. Not destroyed on a single hit, unless it's from a trebuchet or a cannon.
4. Catacomb Byte: constructions more bizarre than the Skeletaur, bursting out of the massed bones and skulls of ossuaries. Scorpion forms with biting skulls instead of stinger and pincers; lengths of vertebrae coiling like serpents (or Necrophidius); sentries that look and reach in all directions at once; finger bone tentacles etc. The animating force is not confined and infuses the whole catacomb.
5. Skeleton Kettle Drummers: they keep excellent time, march in formation and won't betray you; de rigueur for necromancer triremes and armies of darkness.
6. Prehistoric Skeleton: some colossus of the past. Mammoth, Woolly Rhinoceros, Styracosaurus and Tyrannosaurus Rex are all good choices

Tunnels & Trolls 5e.

There's no Monster Rated Skeleton in my/the UK Corgi edition, but reversing the MR to Prime Attributes conversion (assuming average rolls) in section 2.41 Personalizing Monsters you get a 10 MR monster (2 dice + 5 adds - this is pretty close to the RQ hp to Hit Dice conversion, so might work for RQ/CoC to T&T; I'll explore later).

Against the table in section 1.6 Creating Monsters, the Skeleton above would fall between Rats (MR 8; 1d +4) and Black Hobbits (MR 12; 2d +6).

Because there is no simple established threat hierarchy in T&T (other than deeper dungeon level = deadlier monsters), comparisons are not always useful. For example, the same table has (1st dungeon level) Centaurs, Ghouls, Goblins, Vampires and Werewolves all on c. 30 MR, and Ogres (MR 26) are weaker than Orcs (40), which are weaker than Half-Orcs (74).

I can't be sure that these are not typos, but I tend towards them being a quirk of T&T (by the 6th dungeon level, Ogres are almost 8 times tougher than the Orcs sharing the space, and Trolls end up tougher than Balrogs).

Conversion.

T&T, I think, defies conversion methods because things are not so set as they are in other systems (or at least, this is how I saw/see it with what is available to me). And for those who would poo-poo MR as too simplistic, I argue that mechanically tying so much to HD is an obvious old school parallel.

I'm also stymied by the lack of a 'canonical' MR for Skeletons, as I'd been thinking of using combat dice = HD or MR/10 = HD.

In sections 2.41 and 3.6 (Alternative Humanoid Characters), we do get multipliers to apply to Prime Attributes to generate monsters like you would a character.

The Living Skeleton gets x1 for everything (except in 3.6, where it gets x2 for negative Charisma, so twice as scary, I suppose): it's comparable to a Normal Human, including INT and LUCK.

d6 Flavours of Skeleton:

1. Skeleton Gambler: walks the earth with a brace of bone dice, one black, one white; test your luck against it; rumoured to have been thrown out of the Skeleton Army. Might have two pistols and a cheroot, depending on the setting.
2. Flesh Collector: at least twice as terrifying - reduced to bare bones, this ghoulish thing stalks and murders to fill its emptiness with organs, rub its dry bones with blood and fat, and drapes itself in skin; it can talk, does not think of itself as evil, just unfortunate and deserving. Persistent. Obsessive. Intermittently reasonable.
3. Winged Skeleton: (d6) feathered; bat/dragon; butterfly/moth; bee/fly/wasp; paper fans; knives (2nd d6: bronze; flint; obsidian; iron; steel; special).
4. Dragonfolk Skeletons: armed, armoured, winged skeletons of a species that does not exist and has never existed, or just dragonborn - if you like that sort of thing. Can't breath fire, but maybe an inky cloud, cold as death.
5. Danse Macabre: a host of Skeletons dancing their sinister secret dance; (d6) 1-2 invite or force you to join in, 3-4 dance on as if you aren't there, 5-6 stop and stare with empty eyes. The dance is (d6) 1-2 antic, 3-4 stately, 5-6 interpretative. There may or may not be music you can hear.
6. Nobody: polite and confused Skeleton; it has lost its body and its identity with it, and would like help getting it back, thank you. Roll d6, and on a 1, it's lying about some or all of this. This might be how Flesh Collectors start out.

2nd Flavour of Skeleton: Dragonwarriors Conversion to D&D Adjacent.

Image: two Skeletons with scimitars and snake-bracelets; one wears an inscribed torc.

Leo Hartas, from Dragonwarriors Book Two: The Way of Wizardry

Next up, Skeletons and some of their chums from Dragonwarriors - the best of the British old school.

Statistically, DW Skeletons are a bit weaker than Normal Humans (d6+1 rather than d6+3 Health Points), but have an Armour Factor of 2 vs. piercing weapons and half-damage from fire attacks. 3d6 Reflexes as normal.

The description implies they are mindless, programmable and loyal to their creator. It states that they sometimes use shields.

Conversion.

I've found nothing else to add to DW/D&D conversion since my original post, so I'm sticking with those methods.

Under the Max. HP/4.5=HD method, they are 1.5 HD monsters (1+ to 2 HD); under the Shared Hit Roll method, they have a BAB of 0 (so either 1-1 or 1 HD, depending on your preference).

Abilities.

• +2 AC bonus vs. piercing weapons (or -2 damage from them, min. 0; either works)
• half damage from fire attacks (and none if there is a save for half damage)

Chum Number 1: Barnacle Man.

As named in DW Book 3, The Elven Crystals; I'd probably go with Barnacle Folk or Barnacle Dead or Crusty Old Sea Bastards.

Statblock:

• BAB +1 (they are slightly stronger fighters than Skeletons)
• HD 1.5 (same Health Points as a Skeleton)
• AC +4 (they're completely encrusted with barnacles, as well as plundered gold and jewels)
• they wield weapons, something nautical - like a cutlass, harpoon, or belaying pin

• they're Skeletons underneath their barnacle-and-treasure crust, so you could give them an additional +2 AC vs. piercing weapons, or give them the damage reduction instead
• keep the fire resistance, too; they're wet as well as bony
• turn as Skeletons (same Rank Equivalent) or based on their HD

From the description, these appear to be self-motivated and possibly intelligent undead that cooperate to achieve their goals. During storms they attack ships from underneath, breaking them open to obtain the treasure they adorn themselves with, and even explore wrecks in case they missed something.

DW has them as ghost pirates, but you could just as easily make them hosts for necromantic hivemind barnacles.

Chum Number 2: Fungus Man.

From DW Book 4, Out of the Shadows; also known as Black Caps, you could use Folk (though these are no Myconids) or Dead instead of Men, or something else you prefer.

Statblock:

• BAB +2
• HD 3.1
• AC +1 (with additional +2 vs. piercing weapons)
• wields a weapon

• 'sickly, yellow-green phosphoresence and... sweet, musky odour' halves chance of surprise (for d6 subsystems, this could be either 1 on d12 as it is in DW or 2 on 2d6)
• constant sinister whispers will disturb the sensitive: 
• fail a WIS check/save or suffer -2 to Hit and AC -1 while fighting the Fungus Dead
• penalty of 1 to roll for being a Magic-User or a psionic (cumulative)
• each round in combat/presence, 10% chance ochre spores take root in your flesh:
• each day (until dead or cured) you must make (suited to setting/system) one of the following: CON check, STR check, poison save, petrification save
• otherwise d6, d6+1 or d8 damage (suited to setting/system)
• damage responds to magical but not natural healing
• total cure is by cure disease or heal (suited to setting/system)
• if you die, you are consumed by fungus and rise as a new Fungus Dead within a week (same happens to any other corpses in lair)
• immune to mind control, either as a fungus or as undead

Skeletal hosts of a fungus colony that has consumed and replaced the flesh, it's not specified that Hold Off The Dead will not work on them. 

And because 'the soft, unemotional voice of the dead host whispers of the torments and terrible delights of the grave', I'm more than comfortable saying that these are truly undead. 

In fact, I'd say a muttering undead monster is more appropriate to the DW milieu than an own-brand variant of something like the Yellow Musk Creeper or the Zygom.

d6 Flavours of Skeleton:

1. Skeleton of Dark and Lonely Water: reskinned Wraith; touch does no damage but drains WIS, not levels; at 0 WIS, you will let it lead you into the dark and lonely waters until they close over your head.
2. Galley Beggar: shrieking, antic, skeletal ghost; loud, terrifying and throws things.
3. Crowned Skeleton: undead aristocracy; reskin a more powerful undead. 
4. Death Angel's Shadow: implacable creeping shadow, cast by no object and no light; inescapable; in days=STR+level it will superimpose on you and reduce you to a withered husk.
5. Rawhead and Bloody Bones: in tatters of blood-soaked flesh, a Skeleton as strong as an Ogre and as stealthy as a Thief that can live in the dark nooks of your house without you realising it. Surprises like a Bugbear if you don't want to give it Thief skills.
6. General Death: solemn leader(s) of the Skeleton Army; naked bones and carries three deadly darts - one red, one black, one white (finger of death, slay living, symbol of death); often mistaken for Death Itself.

Commentary.

The d6 Flavours are less variants on the basic DW Skeleton than the monster-type within the old school British folk horror/fantasy milieu.

1st Flavour of Skeleton: Call of Cthulhu 5e & 2e Conversion to D&D Adjacent.

Skeletons seem appropriate right now, and anyway I'm a fan.

The HD conversions below are probably more useful for old school settings; the BAB conversions make for a much tougher monster in the lower bonus game.

Image: Retro Horror Top Trumps Skeleton Card
A Skeleton holding a hangman's noose.

Image pasted from Hypnogoria's Tomb of the Trumps, which is worth checking out if you either held on to your original packs (I'm glad I did, plus my sister got me a reissue for Christmas) or regret ever letting them go.

Call of Cthulhu 5e.

Skeletons are statistically close to Normal Humans in CoC, though rolling their SIZ on 3d6 not 2d6+6 and having a fixed POW of 1. They have no CON.

Strength 3d6, Size 3d6, Intelligence 3d6, Power 1, Dexterity 3d6. 

The lower possible SIZ implies non-human (animal?) Skeletons and/or animated fragments (bony crawling hands, flying/rolling skulls, inchworm vertebrae etc.).

The single point of POW is their animating force, but within the system means they are vulnerable to magical attacks (POW vs. POW). Even though SAN and Luck are not normally applied to monsters, these Skeletons are neither Sane nor Lucky.

Lacking CON, Skeletons are mechanically immune to poison, drowning and so on. As hit points are normally (CON+SIZ)/2, I'll say they have 10 hit points for conversion purposes (but see below).

Average hit probability is 31.5% (DEX x3) - better than a Deep One, Ghoul, Mi-Go, Nightgaunt or Moonbeast.

Conversion.

The simplest conversion method I found is from Cthulhu d20 - % to d20 and close enough for what I'm after: CoC hp/5= Hit Dice, and highest attack %/10=BAB.

This gives a 2 HD Skeleton, and/or a  +3 BAB, which is 1+ HD (count from lowest to hit AC 10) or 2 to 3+ HD (count from 1 HD to hit AC 10) in AD&D and 3+ to 4 in Mentzer).

Abilities.

• no hit points so take no damage, but are destroyed/shattered % chance = damage rolled x4
• impaling/weapons half as effective (or only on a crit, but at regular damage)
• immune to poison, drowning/suffocation, KO
• Clatter Ominously (45%): NPCs of equal or less HD must make a Morale check
• Rise Unexpectedly (60%): either
• surprise 1-3 on d6, or
• reform 1-3 on d6
• optionally, they could save at -4 vs. all magic (because of their v. low POW)

Intelligence & Dexterity.

You can play these Skeletons like any other mindless, clumsy undead, but they've got 10.5 INT and DEX on the statblock, and could have everything this implies:

• understanding multiple languages (whether they are physically able to talk or not)
• possessing specialist learning (sages/experts)
• casting spells from scrolls and using magic items (1 POW wouldn't convert to an actual Magic-User, but there's no reason they couldn't use pre-loaded stuff)
• fine motor skills (archers, locksmiths, pick-pockets, crafters, scribes)

d6 Flavours of Skeleton:

1. Tomb Robber: what you do, but in reverse; emerge from their sepulchres to execute planned heists/ bloody banditry.
2. Bone Imp: an undead Pixie or Sprite (CoC 2e: STR 2d4, SIZ 1d6, DEX 4d6 = D&D Strength penalty, Dexterity bonus, lower HD or hp per die). Probably lose any natural magical powers/ ability to fly, but get a whole new perspective on the ceaseless, centuried Pixie-Sprite war.
3. Dry Bones: the animating force is in every piece of the Skeleton, and it is able to discorporate and reform at will, sending bits off on sinister little errands. It can also recover from destruction several times (suggest 1 per HD + 1). Notoriously vengeful.
4. Animated Skull: (d6) rolls along; carried about; too much like a demi-lich for comfort (appearance, powers and/or behaviour); shadowy wings sprout from temples; attaches to a recently beheaded corpse; happy to just sit there and chat.
5. My Pet Skeleton: (d6) bird; cat; dog; monkey; serpent; deer/goat. Behaves much like you'd expect.
6. Revenant Adventurer: either seeking to avenge their death, or has found that doing so did not give them blessed release. Has the abilities of their class-in-life. Very likely favours concealing robes, masks, gloves, big scarves, and/or full suits of armour with closed helms.

Call of Cthulhu 2e.

The Skeleton is in A Sourcebook for the 1920s and suffers from some typos. 

(Of peripheral interest is that several statblocks include CHA instead of APP, showing the link back to D&D via the Perrin Conventions)

Specifically, the Skeleton as written has POW 3d6, but in the Zombie description later we read:

'Like skeletons, the 1 point of POW motivates the entity.'

Which I think is clear enough.

It also lacks INT; clearly intentional. From the description:

'Skeletons need triggering to be animated... Once set in motion, skeletons fight to the death.'

Unless it's also a typo, 2e Skeletons get 2d6+6 DEX (average 13), making them even more Harryhausen than 5e CoC.

Given 9 Hit Points, but they can only be harmed through the same sub-system as affects the 5e version.

They are equipped with a variety of melee weapons, have 1d6 armour points and their habitat is 'anywhere that magicians have worked.'

They're also the only monster in the sourcebook to get a 'Number Appearing' statline: 3d6.

Conversion.

• 9hp/5 = 1.8 HD (1, 1+4, 1+8 or 2 HD)
• Best attack (DEX x 4=52%)/10 = 5.2 (+5 BAB)

Abilities.

• destroyed/shattered (as above), but half-chance for impaling/piercing weapons (or also as above)
• nothing else is explicitly mentioned in the description or stats, but everything for 5e could be applied here.
• these Skeletons are armed and armoured and encountered in groups: not really abilities, but the certainty of armour puts them apart from other system basic Skeletons.

d6 Flavours of Skeleton:

1. Skeleton Army: a military unit waiting patiently for the Triumph of Death; fully kitted out and looking to recruit if you start messing around with them and their stuff. Otherwise, just still, silent, eerie and intimidating.
2. Fang Warriors: sprout from the enchanted teeth of monsters; they may have an affinity with the source creature. Animated by Ray Harryhausen, of course.
3. Exoskeletons: undead giant arthropods; think of them as spooky robots; lose many of their natural abilities (eg. venom, silk, stingers). Natural armour.
4. Flaming Skull: when activated, bursts into flame and flies at you; at least as likely to set a fire as a flaming torch, but the flames are supernatural so things could be worse. No armour.
5. Skeleton Archers: two shots per round; they're as good as, if not better than, a Normal Human with a bow.
6. Drowners: weed-draped and spongy-boned, saturated and heavy with water (fresh or salt); attack is grapple and hold under water. Only destroyed/shattered on a x3 due to being less brittle; impale/piercing weapons still x2. They can swim if unarmoured.

Commentary.

This was originally going to be a much bigger single post, converting Skeletons to D&D adjacent from the systems I have available. But because of COVID-19, I have the questionable leisure to break it up into smaller pieces and put it out more frequently.

Tom Moldvay's article 'The Ungrateful Dead' (Dragon Magazine #138) is very much worth the read, and had a significant influence on how I think about the undead.

Eileen Lucas's 'The End of the World' from the same issue is also a good read, though whether you're as keen to have a global pandemic as your campaign background as you were at the beginning of the year, I couldn't possibly say.

Old School Ghoul Race-as-Class

A quick mash of Mentzer Red Box and 2e/5e Call of Cthulhu, for old school d20 systems.

Ghoul.

Description: You are a ghoul, like the ones you want in your game. 

From my perspective, you're a necrophagous undead humanoid, but you're not necessarily a terrible person; somewhere on the continuum that takes in ravenous undead cannibals and Randolph Carter's allies in The Dreamquest of Unknown Kadath.

XP: Advance using the Elf Experience Table; same level limit applies.

Saving Throws: Save as an Elf/ Monster of your Level/HD, whichever is better.

Prime Requisite: The Ghoul class has no Prime Requisite.

Minimum Scores: No minimum scores, but your Charisma is not counted as more than 9 when dealing with the non-monstrous living (except for necromancers).

Hit Dice: d8, or whatever is the standard for monsters in your game. You have 2 HD at 1st level.

Armour: Ghouls have natural armour that improves AC by 3 places; Dexterity adjustments apply. You can wear any armour, but will not get any AC benefit unless it is better than your natural armour; you always benefit from armour magic bonus. You can use a shield.

Weapons: You can use any weapon, but prefer claw/claw/bite for 1-3 each (no Strength adjustment to damage) + paralysis.

Special Abilities:

• You are undead, and immune to sleep and charm spells. 
• You make no noise when moving about.
• You can be turned by clerics and are affected by protection from evil.
• You can communicate with nightgaunts (+2 Reaction Roll).
• From 2nd level, you can cast spells from scrolls with a 10% chance of failure.
• You only take half damage from firearms and projectiles.

'Classic Six' Initiative Order

Following on from a tweet/blog post by Half Minotaur Farmer (who covers this for d20 Initiative), and a recent DIYRPG/OSR Tweet (the author of which I cannot now recall) of using Ability Scores other than DEX for Initiative modifiers:

For reasons of simplicity, I prefer the straight DEX Initiative order of games like Call of Cthulhu to the d6 vs. d6 per round or the d20 set-up of D&D-adjacent systems, but suggest the following alternative: use all the Ability Scores to determine initiative - the specific score depends on where you're up to in the combat.

With the 'Classic Six', I'd take the following order, rounds 1 through 6:

• DEX (reflexes, reactions, speed)
• INT (planning, strategy, observation, memory)
• STR (the inexorable tide of steel, the fighter's surge)
• WIS (it's a screaming bloody mess now; in the confusion, trust your instincts and sixth sense)
• CON (after the initial adrenaline, combatants may already be starting to flag)
• CHA* (it's all down to luck and divine favour now)

Presumably, at round 7, we just start again.

However...

Maybe 6 rounds/1 minute is the soft cap for a combat encounter, and instead of 'death' being the victory condition, it can be whichever side has the upper hand at the start of round 7. 

Round 7 is when you flee, surrender, reload**, call for parley, beg for/show mercy, and is a convenient time for Morale checks (if you use them). 

If you're very strict on interrupted castings or like the dramatics of it, this could be the island of calm that allows a spell-caster to call down the flames of heaven and wipe from the map the apparent victors.

For an added layer of elaboration (and with agreement at the table), it might be possible to use different Ability Scores vs. each other; maybe by sitting out a round, DEX could be used to overcome INT, for instance.

* I don't use CHA as the go-to social stat; I'll explain if/when I discuss Ability Scores.

** For post-medieval/early-modern firearms, you could make this the rule for reloads and the pay-off for higher damage.

Old School Shoggoth Race-as-Class

For the first post, how about a basic Shoggoth character class for D & D-style games?

What you don't like or think doesn't make sense, you should change.

Shoggoth.

Description: You are more like the Shoggoths in Michael Shea's Fat Face than the ones in HPL's At the Mountains of Madness; your form and mass are not fixed, though you have spent a long time pretending to be some kind of humanoid.

If an Elder Thing tells you to do something, you have to save or obey; if a Deep One tells you to do something, you have to save or obey, but at +4 to your roll.

XP: Advance using the Halfling Experience Table; same level limit applies.

Saving Throws: Use the Halfling Saving Throw Table.

Prime Requisite: The Shoggoth class has no Prime Requisite.

Minimum Scores: No minimum as such, but you must reduce your other Ability Scores (1 for 1) to bring both Strength and Constitution to 18 (or as near as possible if you rolled low across the board). Reduced Ability Scores can only be taken down to 3, no lower.

Hit Dice: Either the highest Hit Dice used in your game (usually Fighter HD), or the next one up (so that the Shoggoth has the highest HD in your game), or d20 (because you think this Shoggoth isn't tough enough).

Armour: Shoggoths have natural armour equal to leather; their AC does not benefit or suffer from high or low Dexterity; they can wear any armour they want, but only benefit from a magic bonus or special properties; if a Shoggoth has a Dexterity of 9 or more, a shield can be used.

Weapons: Shoggoths can use any weapon, or use their natural attacks (which use a damage die the same as their HD).

Special Abilities:

• You only take half rolled damage from fire and lightning.
• You take only 1 point of damage (plus any magic bonus) from physical weapons.
• You regenerate 2 hit points at the end of every round, even at 0 hp.
• You can carry twice as much gear and treasure as other characters without becoming encumbered.