Alignment: Lawful Evil
Size: Medium
CR: 3
First Encountered: 10.2 "Ghost in the Machine"
Description: "A skeleton clad in a fine breastplate and clutching two scimitars strides fearlessly into battle, its eyes gleaming with malice. It is dressed in the old and ragged tatters of a military uniform from Karrnath."
A Karrnathi skeleton resembles an ordinary human skeleton wearing a masterwork breast plate, but retains the sentience and military training it had in life.
They speak in an airy whisper.
Information: Karrnathi skeletons are created from the remains of elite Karrnathi soldiers slain in battle, re-animated as undead creatures. Unlike normal skeletons, however, they are imbued with malign intelligence, and their bones have been treated alchemically to make them more resilient.
In the early years of the Last War, they were few in number and fought alongside Karrnath’s living soldiers, but their numbers increased as the war progressed, to the point where entire divisions composed of Karrnathi skeletons and Karrnath zombies could be mobilized.
Unlike the normally mindless skeletons, Karrnathi skeletons fight intelligently, using tactics such as flanking, aiding another, and fighting defensively. They fight fearlessly until destroyed or ordered to stand down. There are also Karrnathi skeletal archers, who carry a composite longbow (+2 Str bonus) in addition to their standard dual scimitars.