Vampire Lord's Skeleton

These undead were animated by a vampire lord to guard his domain and fight for him. Unlike common skeletons they still carry scraps of leathery flesh and rags of clothing. They move quickly but jerkily, going from motionless to full speed in an instant. The only smell about them is a faint whiff of dust and fresh earth, and though they cannot make vocal sounds, their bones rattle softly as they move.

They always carry some weapon, even a table leg used as a club, but every attack deals 1d6 regardless. Their fighting skill is long gone, yet their speed grants three attacks every two rounds.

Arrows, spears, and other piercing weapons slip through their bones harmlessly, though a spear or polearm can be swung like a quarterstaff. Edged and blunt weapons deal half damage, and magical blunt weapons do full damage. They have no flesh worth mentioning, so cold cannot hurt them. Their strong magic gives them 20% magic resistance and let them notice invisible beings up to 30 feet away. Like all undead they are unaffected by charm, hold, sleep, or any other mind-affecting magic, and their master's power makes them as hard to turn as wights.

They haunt dungeons, cemeteries, and every corner of the vampire lord's castle, and he posts them anywhere in his realm where they might be useful; one squad is said to wait beneath the waters of a nearby river. Mindless, they have no society and simply obey their master, though each command has to be short and plain, one sentence of twelve words or fewer. Inside his domain they can report back to him if ordered to, taking a full turn to make contact, assuming he bothers to answer, and conveying only a simple sense of success or failure.

They have no place in nature. Only the vampire lord knows the ritual that makes them, and it requires a human skeleton with the skull and at least 90% of its bones. Any darker ingredients are known only to him.