So I was thinking about dungeons and ruins in general and the nasties in which reside and I started wondering, "If a skeleton can shoot a longbow, could it open a door?"
This opened a floodgate of questions in my mind, "Is the use of weapons and shields just leftover from life, a "muscle-memory" if you will. If so would using a door be as well? If it requires some modicum of intelligence would a normal skeleton draw a sheathed weapon? Pick one up? Would it recognize a better weapon? If disarmed would it try to retrieve it?"
I'm curious what people think, what they would house-rule, please debate
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Depend on the orders of its master, it goes back to who made the dungeon and gave instructions to the skeletons. Usually skeletons have specific tasks, like skeleton archers guarding a room by shooting arrows at anybody who opens a door or animating as soon as intruder comes into a room. At least, that's the way I see it.
I know I like having skeletons just be places sometimes, like other undead the spontaneously crop up, whether due to demonic or infernal presence, the veil between the realms of life and death is thin, things like that.
My first thoughts (never really 'codified' this before):
Uncontrolled unintelligent undead don't plan, they react.
They don't have any initiative , so they will tend to stay where they are.
They have no sense of self preservation so they won't avoid attacks of opportunity for instance.
they have no tactical awareness so they won't stop to pick up a disarmed weapon if their claws will do - they won't have a sense of which is superior (even if they did they likely wouldn't care).
Extending from that, they will tend to use the weapons they have in hand though, because they won't think to change it (this will be bad if they have a bow in hand and in melee).
My first thoughts (never really 'codified' this before):
Uncontrolled unintelligent undead don't plan, they react.
They don't have any initiative , so they will tend to stay where they are.
They have no sense of self preservation so they won't avoid attacks of opportunity for instance.
they have no tactical awareness so they won't stop to pick up a disarmed weapon if there claws will do - they won't have a sense of which is superior (even if they did they likely wouldn't care).
Extending from that, they will tend to use the weapons they have in hand though, because they won't think to change it (this will be bad if they have a bow in hand and in melee).
I'd go along with this. I see skeletons and zombies as basically "see living, attack living" creatures. That's really the extent of their "thinking" unless programmed otherwise by their creator.
Skeletons are the animated bones of the dead, brought to unlife through foul magic. While most skeletons are mindless automatons, they still possess an evil cunning imparted to them by their animating force—a cunning that allows them to wield weapons and wear armor.
Given this, I'd say opening doors shouldn't be a problem.
What about all the different types of zombies?