Skeleton Merchant

Skeleton Merchant

Statistics

Type	NPC
AI Type	Passive
Max Life	250

• Internal NPC ID: 453

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The Skeleton Merchant is an NPC that sells items; he is found in the Cavern layer. He spawns randomly, similar to a bound NPC. Enemies will not spawn near him. He will not move into a vacant house if one is available, similar to the Traveling Merchant and the Old Man, and will despawn when off screen, unlike them, making it the only NPC that despawn off screen.

His stock changes at 4:30 AM daily, and he does not need to respawn for it to do so. He has a specific inventory for each moon phase.

He will throw bones to fend off nearby non-skeletal enemies.

Unlike other NPCs, the Skeleton Merchant does not have a map icon. A Hunter Potion will highlight him, but the Lifeform Analyzer will not detect him.

A Skeleton Merchant, found lurking in the Cavern.

Items sold

Inventory Item Cost Availability Strange Brew 5 During the following moon phases -     Lesser Healing Potion 3 During the following moon phases -     Spelunker Glowstick 1 50 At night(7:30 PM to 4:29 AM) or during a full moon. Glowstick 10 During the day (4:30 AM to 7:29 PM) if there was no full moon. Bone Torch 1 During the first half of every in game minute (every real life second). Torch 50 During the second half of every in game minute (every real life second). Bone Arrow 15 During the following moon phases -     Wooden Arrow 5 During the following moon phases -     Blue Counterweight 5 During the following moon phases -   Red Counterweight 5 During the following moon phases -   Purple Counterweight 5 During the following moon phases -   Green Counterweight 5 During the following moon phases -   Bomb 3 Always available. Rope 10 Always available. Gradient 20 During Hardmode, During the following moon phases -     Format C 20 During Hardmode, During the following moon phases -     Yoyo Glove 50 During Hardmode. Slap Hand 25 During Hardmode blood moon. Magic Lantern 10 During the night (7:30 PM to 4:29 AM) of a full moon -

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

Notes

• The Skeleton Merchant's appearance blocks monster spawn around the player, like what 3 town NPCs do, but there is something more: he is counted as 7 normal NPCs in the process of counting active NPCs when spawning NPCs, in most cases effectively blocking virtually anything from spawning, including critters (the maximum spawn is 9(15*0.6) when 3 town NPCs are present). This creates a problem when you are preparing to farm monsters in the Underground or Cavern layers. You must have a strong external damage source (lava, boulders, Lihzhard traps) to kill him in order to continue farming, or just go far enough for him to despawn.
• He cannot drown, and he can sometimes spawn in pools of water.
• He cannot be teleported using a Portal Gun.
• The Skeleton Merchant does not attack skeletal enemies, nor will they harm him via contact damage. Skeleton archers, however, may shoot him by accident if the player is behind the merchant. This will only deal one damage to the merchant (or two if it is a critical hit)
• He cannot be killed by explosives.

Names

Skeleton Merchant/Names

Quotes

• "You would not believe some of the things people throw at me... Wanna buy some of it?"
• "I'd lend you a hand, but last time I did that, I didn't get it back for a month."
• "You've got a real backbone coming way down here, how 'bout ya buy somethin?"
• "Stay away from the spiders. They'll suck out your insides and leave you a hollow shell of a man. Trust me on this one."
• "Excellent! Someone's finally come by to take some of these maggots off my hands."
• "There's no illness or condition that can't be cured by some of my Slime Oil! Trust me, it works, just look at my lively figure!"
• "The only things constant in this world are death and taxes, I've got both!"
• "Got any spare bones for sale? I'm looking to replace my broken hip... again."

Trivia

• The names "Jack Sellington" and "Skellington" are references to Jack Skellington from "The Nightmare Before Christmas".
• No-Eyed Willy is a reference to One-Eyed Willy from "The Goonies".
• The name "Mandible Calavera" is a reference to Manuel "Manny" Calavera from "Grim Fandango".
• The names "Billy Marrows" and "Gloomy Mays" are a reference to the TV salesman Billy Mays.
• The name "Tom" may be a reference to Blues Brothers Band member Tom "Bones" Malone.
• "Tom" may also be a reference to the enemy Tim.
• The quote about Slime Oil is a reference to the "Miracle Tonic" peddlers of the 1800s, who were commonly called Snake Oil Salesmen.
• The quote "The only things constant in this world are death and taxes, I've got both!" is a reference to Benjamin Franklin's famous quote, "In this world, nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes."
• The quote "You would not believe some of the things people throw at me... Wanna buy some of it?" is a reference to a young scavenger named "Squirt the Peddler" in the game "Diablo III". Squirt periodically asks the player a near-exact variation of this question, but refers to "things people throw away" instead of "things people throw at me".
• The quote "Stay away from the spiders. They'll suck out your insides and leave you a hollow shell of a man. Trust me on this one." suggests that the skeleton was slain by a spider.
• Some quotes such as "Got any spare bones for sale? I'm looking to replace my broken hip... again.";"Excellent! Someone's finally come by to take some of these maggots off my hands."; and "I'd lend you a hand, but last time I did that, I didn't get it back for a month," suggest that all of the skeleton enemies have adequate reason to be aggressive and violent.
• Even though he is not a town NPC, he will throw confetti during a party.
• He is one of two NPCs that does not have a Map Icon, the other being the Old Man.

History

• 1.3.0.1: Introduced.

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