Tales from Oddwater
Spoiler noticeMajor spoilers ahead

The Monster Manual reveals creatures, bosses, abilities and where you’ll encounter them, including content still in development. Even if you’re testing the game, we recommend playing through the first four adventures once before reading further. Keep the surprises intact until you’re ready to explore the full bestiary.

Before you open this volume

Major spoilers ahead

The Monster Manual reveals creatures, bosses, abilities and where you’ll encounter them, including content still in development. Even if you’re testing the game, we recommend playing through the first four adventures once before reading further. Keep the surprises intact until you’re ready to explore the full bestiary.

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Volume III · Monster ManualBuild 25

Flaming Skull

Creatures of the Crooked Mile

A complete creature referenceOpen the book ↓
Flaming Skull
Implemented development through Build 25Reviewed 28 October 2026

← Alphabetical bestiary / Flaming Skull

Flaming Skull · Fire

A grin with no reassuring explanation. Fire does the talking, and the skull seems quite pleased with the conversation.

Reference statistics

Basic difficulty · ordinary profile before temporary states and encounter adjustments

HP
44
Armor class
11
Attack
+8
Damage
d4+2
Initiative
16
Strikes
1

Weaknesses Frost, Holy

Resistances Fire

Polymorph immunity No authored immunity

Traits and special behavior

Fire Ray and Fireball. Eligible actions use weights of 70 for Fire Ray and 30 for Fireball. When an action is unavailable, the remaining eligible weights determine the choice. Fire Ray makes an ordinary spell attack for d4+2 Fire damage. Fireball automatically deals an independent d4+3 Fire to each living hero; it becomes eligible in round 2 and has a three-round cooldown. Both add half the tier damage bonus, rounded up, and count as spells. The skull’s hovering artwork does not grant the Flight ability.

See the condition reference for the shared effects, and enemy tuning for difficulty-wide chance adjustments.

Statistics by difficulty

DifficultyHPACAttackDamageStrikes
Basic4411+8d4+21
Advanced8016+12d4+41
Expert9922+13d4+51
Master11724+15d4+61
Master+13226+16d4+81

Includes explicit tier overrides and the final maximum-HP multiplier. Damage is the ordinary die and bonus, before final outgoing multipliers. Rage, growth, buffs, encounter adjustments and special action damage are not baked into this table.

Current appearances

AdventureLocationEncounter roster
The Burning CityThe City GatesFlaming Skull × 2
The Burning CityTown Hall SquareFlaming Skull × 1

Detailed reference

These panels retain the exact authored configuration, including unscaled base values. For tier overrides, −1 Attack or damage bonus and zero HP or strikes mean “inherit”; tier indices run from 0 (Basic) to 4 (Master+). Field values and message templates are shown as reference data, not additional rules.

Creature configuration
Stable identifier
flamingSkull
Name
Flaming Skull
Plate Name
Skull
Role
Flaming Skull
HP
44
Armor class
11
Attack
8
Damage die
4
Damage bonus
2
Initiative
16
Artwork registry index
35
Visual Scale
0.65
Preserve Aspect
Yes
Attack Text
{actor} strikes at {target}.
Weaknesses
  1. Frost
  2. Holy
Resistances
  1. Fire
Element
Fire
Actions
  1. Name
    Fire Ray
    Element
    Fire
    Damage die
    4
    Damage bonus
    2
    Weight
    70
    Attack Kind
    spell
    Icon
    spell.ember
    Sound
    combat.fireRay
  2. Name
    Fireball
    Element
    Fire
    Damage die
    4
    Damage bonus
    3
    Weight
    30
    Party
    Yes
    First Round
    2
    Cooldown
    3
    Attack Kind
    spell
    Icon
    spell.ember
    Sound
    combat.fireball
Tier Damage Multiplier
0.5
Tier Adjustments
  1. Tier index (0–4)
    1
    HP
    36
  2. Tier index (0–4)
    2
    HP
    30
    Attack
    6
    Damage bonus
    1
  3. Tier index (0–4)
    3
    HP
    26
    Attack
    6
    Damage bonus
    1
  4. Tier index (0–4)
    4
    HP
    22
    Attack
    6
    Damage bonus
    1
Keep In Combat Frame
Yes
Registered Combat Art
Yes
Encounter configurations (2)

Whole encounter rewards and modifiers are shown here; they are not rewards for defeating this creature alone. Legacy fields remain visible for configuration audits.

  1. Stable identifier
    burning-gate-skulls
    Enemies
    1. flamingSkull
    2. flamingSkull
    Gold
    50
    Xp
    50
    Opening
    Fire gathers in the skulls. Frost may cool them.
    Pre Combat Message
    encounter_burning-gate-skulls
  2. Stable identifier
    cc-12-emergency-collections
    Enemies
    1. goblinBandit
    2. flamingSkull
    Opening
    A bandit pries at the <b>collection box</b>. A Flaming Skull snaps at his fingers. The Company arrives, and <b>both turn on them</b>. They can leave this quarrel alone.
    Gold
    26
    Xp
    24
Artwork and presentation
Resource
JournalArt/Adventures/BurningCity/Creatures/FlamingSkull
Registrations
  1. Resource
    JournalArt/Adventures/BurningCity/Creatures/FlamingSkull
    Height Units
    0.6
    Body Height
    0.941406
    Ground Y
    0.039062
    Center X
    0.500977
    Elevation
    0.45

Download the exact creature definition (JSON)

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