Zombies with auto-dodge, and disarm/entangle issues

[Tor]

Pg 183 mentions that 'certain characters and creatures' get the ability. The only characters I know who get it are HtH Commando guys (lvl5). Does anyone have any idea what 'creatures' refers to in this game setting?

I thought maybe dogs might get it, but their stats on p74-75 don't mention it. Nor does it appear to be imparted by the special training described on pages 73-74. I thought it could be a cool house rule to give it to them for brief periods when they're using their 'burst of speed' ability, thoughts?

Since zombies in general do not dodge, I thought maybe a couple of the variants might. P45 gives the 'Fast Attack' ones a dodge bonus (no others get one) so I figure at least they would be inclined to dodge. Since they get no parry bonus, and would not have auto-parry (no combat skills) it's hard to imagine they'd have such a sense of self-preservation so as to spend an attack avoiding something.

Does anyone else like the idea of giving Fast Attackers an auto-dodge? The idea of them instinctively (and without compromising their offense) dodging stuff while advancing at you seems a lot more in-line with the concept. I can't grasp the idea of them being all "oh, well, I could continue to close distance, try to ounce, entangle, but I'd rather try and avoid this attack" with their limited bestial intelligence.

Related to this... I notice in addition to a strike bonus, zombies all get DISARM bonuses when in a frenzy (especially Flesh-Eaters). Anyone else find that odd? It smacks too much of self-preservation. I can only get my hands around zombies responding with entangle since entangle is partially offensive in nature (prevents escape) and we could view defense as a side effect of it.

Perhaps we could view disarm as an extension of their instinct to grab weapons to kill better? Like "I'll knock it out of their hand, then go pick it up" as opposed to "I'll take their weapon to protect myself from getting hurt by it"? Or we could also view it as reducing an opponent's defenses like "I'll get this broomstick out of their hands so they can't prevent my from biting their neck by continuing to jam it in my mouth" since they'd then be without parry bonuses. Most humans who get disarmed would also lose (p173) their HtH/PP parry bonuses (not sure if there are some exceptions to this, perhaps in N&SS?) if defending against weapon-wielding zombies, so that's another bonuses.

Thinker Zombies also get a dodge bonus, but they aren't as fast as Runners so I don't think they should get auto-dodge. Besides, they get a parry bonus, so they should have fun with that. I like the idea of them parrying more than I do dodging.

Flesh Eaters are a tad faster than Thinkers, but not as fast a Runners, so I'm iffy as to whether or not they should get auto-dodge. They don't have any dodge bonus (I'm proposing the dodge bonus Runners get applies to auto-dodging) so letting them have it would still be okay since they'd have lower bonuses than Runners do (lower PP too, though even a Runner never has the PP to get a bonus). Still, if one incorporates penalties for low attributes (introduced in RUE) for zombies then PP could make a difference in rolls for them.

[eliakon]

Welcome to the wonderful world of Cut and Paste. The likely hood of anything in DR having autododge is...remote. I would, personally, say that zombies don't dodge period. But if you attack a hummingbird for some reason, then its gonna get an autododge

[CyCo]

About the disarm bit, I think it would be more along the lines of dashing/knocking the weapon out of it's intended victims hands, rather than trying to take the weapon and keep a hold of it. Sure, the human could then try and grab it back off the ground, but most zombies don't think of that. It's still a valid tactic, as it make the poor human scrabble for their weapon, giving the zombie a better chance of having dinner.

[auyl]

Welcome to the wonderful world of Cut and Paste. The likely hood of anything in DR having autododge is...remote.

I think this is more the issue here than auto-dodge being given to zombies. Even if it isn't copy and pasted, they may have kept this streamlined and in the game just for the commando hth.

[Tor]

Fast-Attack guys really should have auto-dodge though. =/

Also I want Mock zombies to have automatic body flip.

[auyl]

As is true in any Palladium system. Feel free to do things as you want. Being a GM it's your choice to do so. I just don't see any reason why a zombie would have such abilities, but if you wanted to give it to them, by all means do so.

[Tor]

I just don't see any reason why a zombie would have such abilities

The book suggests that they do so I think that Fast Attack is the likeliest candidate since they're all fast and twitchy.