By Rasher
A playable skeleton race for any setting with at least a little supernatural element to it, the player character skeleton is animated by a magical item on their person and not by any other character's magic (though this item might have belonged to an antagonist, another party member etc) this means the skeleton is independent and sapient, and has a variety of unique traits including only healing by baithing in milk and being able to detach and re-assemble their bones.
Based off the "Skeletal Undead" Meta Trait found in GURPS Horror and GURPS Fantasy as well as the "Necromantic Skeleton" and "Wraith" meta traits found in GURPS Magic, and the "Servitor Skeleton" found in Dungeon Fantasy Volume 9. Along with a perk found in GURPS Martial Arts and an advantage found in GURPS Powers. Based on a blog post by pseudoboo's GURPS blog on blogspot.
<0> points.
Attribute Modifiers:
No changes to average base stats, but as for maximum stats; a regular skeleton has a maximum ST of whatever living race it was minus 50% of average starting ST. For example, a Human with ST 10 has a maximum of 20. A human skeleton has a maximum of 20 - (10x0.5) = 15. [0]
Secondary Characteristic Modifiers:
Basic Speed +1 [20]
Advantages:
Damage Resistance 3 [15], Doesn't Breathe [20], Doesn't Eat or Drink [10], Doesn't Sleep [20], High Pain Threshold [10], Injury Tolerance (No Blood, No Brain, No Eyes, No Vitals, Unliving) [40], Injury Tolerance (independent body parts; Detachable Head +15%. Instant Reattachment +50%) [58] (GURPS Powers page 52), Immunity to Metabolic Hazards [30]; Payload (Ribcage) [1]; Temperature Tolerance 10 [10]; Unaging [15]; Vacuum Support [5].
Perks:
Cotton Stomach [1] (GURPS Martial Arts page 50, basically in this case it means you can have attackers hands/feet/weapons get stuck in the ribcage)
Disadvantages:
Appearance (Hideous, Universal, +25%)[-20], Social Stigma (Monster) [-15], Dependency (Magic Crystal; Rare; Constantly) [-150], Fragile (Brittle) [-15], Skinny [-5], Unhealing (Partial, must bathe in milk) [-20], Vulnerability (Crushing, x2) [-30].
Features:
Affected by spells that affect the undead; Affected by Spirit Empathy; The skull does not have extra DR as normal, having only 3 total. [0]
Characters like this might have a Duty or Obsession disadvantage from their former lives, might have some sort of Innate Attack that involves throwing a detached body part with the modifiers (Takes Recharge) and (Temporary Disadvantage) for the missing body part. They might have a lower ST overall but a higher Striking ST, they could have Claws (Blunt), Double Jointed, or a Patron in the form of a powerful Necromancer. There is so much potential for customization when it comes to skeletons as characters!