"After days at sea with nothing but the horizon to stare at, your party comes across a drifting naval ship; the sails torn and tattered with no signs of a crew. As if entirely abandoned. After some deliberation, your party agrees to search the ship for supplies. The dust-coated Captain's Quarters have already been ransacked. The empty tattered hammocks in the cabins sway lazily as the ship rocks against the waves. Both above deck and below, the ship appears as though it has long been raided and forgotten.

Finally, the party uncovers the cargo hold: Barrel after barrel appears hastily stacked and shut. The party opens a few: some hold stale water, others spiced wines, and a few are filled to the brim with glittering gunpowder. The rogue pulls out his empty flask and submerges it into the wine. as he pulls it back out, a maroon skeletal claw comes with it, wrapped tightly around his wrist. From another barrel bursts a water-logged skeleton. From two more, glittering grey skeletons, coated in a dusty cloud of gunpowder. You appear to have awoken the crew. Roll for initiative."

Introducing Barrel Skeletons

These skeletons below began as a last-minute improvisation when my players snuck into a storage cave in the pirate city of the Barulian Break. They stumbled upon various barrels; and wanting to add some tension to the scene, I threw in some flavorful skeletons just to create a quick combat. The designs below are iterations of that first  concept.

These skeletons, whether they were once pirates or captives, were killed and hidden away in a barrel of one substance or another. Over decades or even centuries, their decaying bodies and malicious spirits fused with the contents of their barrel, granting them unique capabilities in their afterlife. Once freed from their prisons, they'll lash out at anyone they can get their hands on.

Tactics

The Barrel Skeletons offer a symbiotic trio of skills that give DMs a lot of strategies to play with. While the (highly explosive) Gunpowder Skeleton can create fire, the Wine Skeleton can catch fire and embolden their attacks with it while they slowly burn. Meanwhile, the Water Skeletons offer tankier combat while being able to extinguish their boozy brethren.

Set up the monsters in a cramped area such as below-deck in an abandoned ship or in a musty basement storeroom. Much of the fun of the skeletons come from igniting the battle with some fire damage. But if your party isn't dishing out any Burning Hands of Fireballs, consider ways to introduce fire into the environment with torch-lit sconces or a slowly burning trail of gunpowder that creates a time constraint before the whole place explodes.

Gunpowder Tactics

The first thing to know here is that when hit with any sort of fire, there's a chance a Gunpowder Skeleton will explode in a fire-ball-like splendor. With that in mind; the Gunpowder Skeleton can be a great tool to teach trigger happy mages to think more tactically about their moves. Additionally, when one Gunpowder Skeleton explodes, any other Gunpowder Skeleton within range has a chance of exploding as well, creating a devastating chain reaction.

The Gunpowder Skeletons also offer the strongest range attacks with their fiery Blunderbus rifles. Start them off at a distance so that they can pick away at the tankier players before they can get too close. If you want your skeletons to be more tactful, they can also shoot the wine skeletons positioned closer to the party to activate their fire damage.

Wine Tactics

The wine skeletons offer more standard combat. Armed with a broken bottle and a surly attitude, Wine Skeletons will be the brawlers of the bunch. Position them as a barrier between the Gunpowder Skeletons and the party.

As noted, the Wine Skeletons are highly flammable but that doesn't mean they'll burn up too quickly. Once lit, the fire coats their wine-soaked bones and offers additional fire damage with each melee attack allowing for one or two rounds of heavier hits before they burn up completely.

Water Tactics

The Water Skeletons give the DM the ability to extinguish Wine Skeletons and as well as any other fire-based risks. Along with their standard sword and shield, useSpew to put out fires and reposition the battlefield by knocking back party members.