Combat Cyborg Character Creation Conundrums

[Hotrod]

So I've been putting together a generic Combat Cyborg NPC generator to go with my collection (linked in my signature below), and I'm a bit confused about the canon, by-the-book rules on several key points of character creation. Since I've never actually made a combat cyborg before, I'd appreciate some help finding the canon specifications on the following questions:

What weapon proficiencies are used for built-in bionic weapon systems, such as finger/forearm blasters, retractable vibro-blades, energy rods, and/or laser eyes?

How does Physical Strength factor into melee damage for Combat Cyborgs? The punching/kicking values provided are straightforward enough, but if a Combat Cyborg is wielding a vibro-blade, do I use only the blade's damage, or do I add in the punching damage (which at the upper limits significantly exceeds a vibro-blade's damage)?

Combat Cyborgs get Hand-to-Hand: Expert, which grants special attacks with prescribed damage values (karate punch, kick attack, et cetera). They also get robotic strength, which allows attacks with damage that far exceeds what appears in Hand-to-Hand: Expert. Do they still get these special attacks? What damage should these attacks do?

[ShadowLogan]

You might want to look up some of the Cyborg NPCs in the various books to see how Palladium presents them.

Re: WP
Energy Rod falls under WP E-Pistol (it literally is a hand-held device), retractable vibro-blades use WP-Knife (for all practical purposes they are a claw weapon at this point). Finger, Forearm, and Eye weapons are more of a GM call (this is one of those instances where it would be nice of Palladium to identify required WP as standard), alternatively you could just make a WP(s) available to the 'borg that is mechanically identical to an existing skill, but only applies to built-in borg weapons (and maybe PA), but that would be a house rule.

Re: PS melee damage:
I've seen it as adding in punch damage in places

Re: HTH damage:
I'd use the higher of the two damage codes.

[Hotrod]

You might want to look up some of the Cyborg NPCs in the various books to see how Palladium presents them.

Re: WP
Energy Rod falls under WP E-Pistol (it literally is a hand-held device), retractable vibro-blades use WP-Knife (for all practical purposes they are a claw weapon at this point). Finger, Forearm, and Eye weapons are more of a GM call (this is one of those instances where it would be nice of Palladium to identify required WP as standard), alternatively you could just make a WP(s) available to the 'borg that is mechanically identical to an existing skill, but only applies to built-in borg weapons (and maybe PA), but that would be a house rule.

Re: PS melee damage:
I've seen it as adding in punch damage in places

Re: HTH damage:
I'd use the higher of the two damage codes.

The energy rod interpretation seems valid enough to me. Can you provide some examples/references on the other two matters?

Right now, I'm leaning towards adding punch damage to melee weapons, eliminating special punch/kick attacks, and just converting the 1D6 body flip/throw from SDC to MDC, but I don't have a canon basis for this, and I want this to be as canon-accurate as possible.

[Colonel_Tetsuya]

You might want to look up some of the Cyborg NPCs in the various books to see how Palladium presents them.

Re: WP
Energy Rod falls under WP E-Pistol (it literally is a hand-held device), retractable vibro-blades use WP-Knife (for all practical purposes they are a claw weapon at this point). Finger, Forearm, and Eye weapons are more of a GM call (this is one of those instances where it would be nice of Palladium to identify required WP as standard), alternatively you could just make a WP(s) available to the 'borg that is mechanically identical to an existing skill, but only applies to built-in borg weapons (and maybe PA), but that would be a house rule.

Re: PS melee damage:
I've seen it as adding in punch damage in places

Re: HTH damage:
I'd use the higher of the two damage codes.

The energy rod interpretation seems valid enough to me. Can you provide some examples/references on the other two matters?

Right now, I'm leaning towards adding punch damage to melee weapons, eliminating special punch/kick attacks, and just converting the 1D6 body flip/throw from SDC to MDC, but I don't have a canon basis for this, and I want this to be as canon-accurate as possible.

Forearm blades use WP Knife. The strap-on-able Vibrow Claws use WP Knife. I see no reason why a basically identical system that just happens to be retractable would be different.

As for adding Supernatural Strength damage to Melee Weapons or not - its gone both ways a number of times. Some MDC hand weapons state ("add damage from SN strength") it, and some dont. There has never been a straight up rule of which im aware.

Put this in quotes since it's not canon at all.

Where im going with that is changing the Augmented/Robotic/SN charts entirely. It will likely alter the total damage done (higher sources past the mid 40s will likely come well down), but it would basically be for the lower str brackets (everything up to the mid 40s or so) changing the die roll into a die roll + modifier to get near the original damage.

Say, with a SN PS of 35, you inflict (right now) 4D6MD on a puunch, or 1D4x10MD on a power punch. I'd alter this to 2D6+10 MD on a punch, and 4D6+10MD on a power punch.
For melee attacks that use an MD weapon, you use the weapons' damage and then add the modifier.. so with a SN PS of 35, when using an MD weapon, you add +10 (A Vibro-sword in this case doing 2D6+10). This will likely bring the top end damage down at 41-50 and 51-60 (just so the modifiers dont make the damage too crazy).

There will be some cases where itll seem weird to use a weapon (considering you could do equivalent or better damage with a punch), but often times the trade-off is worth it (for reach, ability to parry without taking damage in some situations, etc). This would also make some monsters make more sense since now using their claws isn't totally useless.

As for the misc attacks... i wouldn't change them at all in any way. Theyre all pointless. Its been noted elsewhere that kicks from beings with augmented (Little-A here, so anything better than normal that grants a different damage roll) strengths simply do their punch damage. Who cares what a "karate punch" does? There's no special game mechanic for it, so the damage is irrelevant. Why would you ever make one when your SN/Robotic str allows you to do much more?

Just leave them as-is. If someone wants to use a karate punch, they are doing a karate punch that does 1D8 or whatever. Their choice. Wouldn't change the body flip/throw, either. No reason. Its main benefits are not the damage.

[Blue_Lion]

edited for redundant.

[Blue_Lion]

The way I see it there are three possible solutions to built in ranged weapons that have no relevant wp.

1. fallowing the rules for no WP with guns they are fired with no bonuses to strike.
2. House rule that it uses a WP for the sake of it having a WP.
3. House rule a WP energy blast for attacks that do not have a WP. Based on the battle mages having a sharp shooter for it.

[ShadowLogan]

@Hotrod
Re: PS Melee Damage
Borg strength comes in 2 or 3 ranges:
Augmented: doesn't do MD unless a Power class move that takes 2 actions. Nothing is stated about stacking damages.

Robot: MD attacks are an option, the Robotic PS range for 'Borgs 24-36 (RUE pg46) would actually require a maximized PS to even run into HTH > Weapon damages. It should also be noted that Robot PS in RUE rules say nothing on the issue of stacking damages (there IS a at least one NPC example that adds Claw damage plus punch found in Mercenaries pg70). Don't forget that the weapon might not do as much damage as say a punch/kick, but it will have greater reach.

Supernatural: IINM a very rare case. This would require using the SN Punch & Weapon rules that have a "which ever is greater or added together" clause, which is more of a case by case basis unfortunately.

RE: HTH Moves
Looking at the 'Borg NPC in Mercenaries pg70 who has HTH: Expert (9th level) does seem to point toward the higher code. Granted as this is an NPC and NPCs sometimes break the rules, or might just be an abridged listing for the common stuff.