Hi. Was looking into applying the skeleton template to an ankylosaurus, and ran into a question regarding the stun ability. It's listed as follows:
Melee: tail +14 (3d6+12 plus stun)
And then described under "Special abilities". I was originally just assuming this would be a special quality, until I had that confirmed by the animal companion section. This raises my question: Would this be retained by the skeleton? It's an Ex. ability, and I would certainly classify it as improving the melee attack, so my understanding is that it would stay. However, this leads me to the imp, whose melee attack is listed as:
Melee: sting +8 (1d4 plus poison)
with poison being described identically to the stun ability of the ankylosaurus. Would an imp skeleton retain poison on it's sting attack? Or am I looking at these abilities wrong, in that they're not so much "improving" the attack as adding to it?
Thank you very much for your help.
Well, in the nutshell:
From "Skeleton template" entry:
Special Qualities: A skeleton loses most special qualities of the base creature. It retains any extraordinary special qualities that improve its melee or ranged attacks.
From "Ankylosaurus" entry:
Stun (Ex)
The ankylosaurus's tail can deliver a powerful, stunning blow. A creature struck by this attack must make a DC 23 Fortitude save or be dazed for 1 round. If the strike is a critical hit and the target fails its save, it is instead stunned for 1d4 rounds. The save DC is Strength-based.
Also, notice that Owlbear Skeleton retains its Grab special ability.
I suspect that's it for RAW - I couldn't find anything better. RAI, I'd look at it this way: Ankylosaur's stun is function of a tail slam - something skeletal forms would be capable of performing. On the other hand, Imp's poison requires a poison sac and a gland, both of which would be absent from the skeletal form, so they'd be lost.
Not sure my reply is particularly helpful, but....