Zombies and Doorknobs
 

Recent TV has got me thinking - what sort of IQ rolls and DX roll should be required to do things like turn doorknobs?

It's the type of thing we take for granted for your average IQ 10 / DX 10 human so I'm guessing a +10/+10 sort of thing where you normally handwaive it for an average PC (if you ever crit-failed you'd just succeed a second later) but in terms of edge-of-sapience things like zombies, the rolls could be interesting.

It might also come up in situations where magic or injury temporary befuddles someone into a state where they might struggle with those things, or maybe if there's slippery viscera on hands/doorknob where you can't quite get a grip, or maybe you don't reach for the doorknob properly in bad lighting.

In cases where you need to quickly open a door, quickly lock a door, etc then succeeding or failing in 1 second instead of 2-3 could become important in escaping a horde, or a horde opening a door and sticking a limb through before you can barricade it properly.

Re: Zombies and Doorknobs
 

I would go for IQ 5/6 (which is ok for a chimpanzee and a young child) as enough to turn a doorknob with no roll needed.

In some films we see zombies unable to recognize doors as what they are; so not an IQ problem but a knowledge problem. They just cannot remember what a door is. There are other examples of zombies using machinery, guns and the like.

What memories do a zombie keep should be the issue here.

Re: Zombies and Doorknobs
 

If the character knows how to turn a doorknob, I would say a DX roll would be good enough. Margin of failing translating directly into seconds needed to open the door; margin of success could translate into the character closing again the door in order to hinder the chase.

Re: Zombies and Doorknobs
 

Failure to recognize a doorknob as such is simply a failure of knowledge; this is generally going to be a GM call, although I suppose IQ to realize what it is could come into play (personally, I'd be disinclined to try to game that out, as it's similar to rolling against DX - undoubtedly at a sizable bonus - to not fall when leisurely walking over normal terrain). Failure to turn a doorknob would generally only be if you're rushing things - typically because you're trying to do it as a free action (generally while doing something else, like Evaluating or using All Out Defense against the monster after you), but it could also be part of having failed a Fright Check. A straight DX roll to do it as a free action might not be out of the question. For creatures with No Fine Manipulators - or the variant that crabs and many zombies should have, where your Fine Manipulators can be used for grabbing stuff but not really manipulating it - may need a straight DX roll to turn a circular doorknob even as a Ready. Door levers are easier, probably giving a +4 in either case.

Re: Zombies and Doorknobs
 

Ideally, the solution that is decided on should also be flexible enough to handle velociraptors.

Re: Zombies and Doorknobs
 

And drunk people

Re: Zombies and Doorknobs
 

and other clever girl dinos

Re: Zombies and Doorknobs
 

I think the only thing that keeps cats from using doorknobs is their lack of manual dexterity and cats do not have a high IQ. Typically zombies can't handle doorknobs because regardless of IQ considerations they act as if they are in a permanent state of berserker rage.

Re: Zombies and Doorknobs
 

That's the scene I was thinking of when I suggested door levers (by which I mean the door handles you can turn by simply pressing down on them, rather than needing to grip them and turn) giving a bonus to the check. Of course, outside of the Jurassic Park setting, velociraptors would also need to pass a Jumping check or similar to get up high enough to reach the door handle.

Re: Zombies and Doorknobs
 

Yeah, the 'velociraptors' in Jurassic Park are more like smart, featherless utahraptors, IIRC. I guess 'velociraptor' just sounds cooler.