ok. to go along with a surged character i made I gave him claws. in the book it states I can use these as weapons under the unarmed school. now as an adept it seems that critical strike and the other unarmed powers should be applicable to this. is this true? what would you rule? would you allow it or would I need to just RP the fighting with claws part .-.

Sure, why not? As long as you use only your Hands, Claws, Teeth, Tail, other Limb/Extremity it is unarmed combat and anything that refers to unarmed combat applies.

Adept powers I would say yes. Bone lacing or martial arts I would be more on the fence about. Bone lacing because claws are more slashing attacks (although you could rule that having a heavier, sturdier arm could help those, too), and martial arts because they are based on punching more than raking with your fingernails (but then there are styles that use tiger claw - type attacks, and you could argue that knowing how and where to hit someone would carry over to claws, too).

The melee combat rules need some patching up in places, to unify the system and make things like how and when Adept Powers apply clear and sensible. Basically, I say anything used in melee that is part of your body should count as Unarmed.

For example, Cyberware Fangs shouldn't use the Exotic Melee Weapons: Fangs skill, especially when every other type of Fangs counts as Unarmed. They should also all have the same damage code. The various varieties of Horns use Exotic Melee Weapon: Horns for some reason, except for normal Troll horns, which apparantly aren't even useable for attacking (although I imagine you could simply perform a "headbutt" instead - the important factor is probably only that it deals normal Unarmed damage). All the various types of Claws count as Unarmed, but Cyberware Hand Razors which are essentially claws do not. Kicking someone is Unarmed, but kicking them with a Foot Anchor or a Cyberspur mounted in the ankle isn't. I could go on.

~Umi

on topic: I'd allow it if I'd allowed the surged character concept in the first place.

@glyph: my groups had that exact discussion and came to different terms with it. As a GM I just sad: If you can have it, the opposition can have it too. That said one group opted for the grittier version with bone lacing and spurs, etc. adding up while the other group wanted it to be distinc from each other if cutting someone up or knocking him/her/it down.



...and I could dive in right behind you and never ever get to see the end of it.

We started to houserule a lot arround melee combat going back and forth with opening it up and then narrowing it down again. Whenever we allowed options to increase we felt the training needed (the amount of karma spent) to get to those options where to "cheap" in relation to firearms training and what you got out of it. Martial arts rules changed that a little, but brought about other kinds of problems. I also would like to see a more streamlined approach to how damage is calculated and what skill to use when and how. I also understand that it is nigh impossible to develop a melee combat system that represents all the styles and modes of fighting and killing up close mankind has developed over time even without metahumans, cyberware, magic and whatnot arround.

Thus said it always revolves arround the same principles: stop the breathing, start the bleeding and promote established shock (just about the opposite a trained medic would go for).