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As the title, the description of the race states they are sentient robots many times so I would assume they could receive further Robotic or maybe Bionic enhancements, however due to their nanotechnological nature, it is possible their body may reject or simply absorb modifications.

Has there been any official word on this? If not, what is the general concensus on the matter?

Giant2005 wrote:As the title, the description of the race states they are sentient robots many times so I would assume they could receive further Robotic or maybe Bionic enhancements, however due to their nanotechnological nature, it is possible their body may reject or simply absorb modifications.

Has there been any official word on this? If not, what is the general concensus on the matter?

NO...

Machine People are Nanites. Nanobots.
They have a Self-Healing ability which would "eat" the cybernetics/bionics/robotics to repair themselves to the way they should be.
The can Machine Meld, which is good enough really. Pick up a Laser pistol, meld with it, power it yourself....sweet deal if you ask me.

Yeah I was thinking the same thing, but on the other hand, they aren't forced to fuse with the metal otherwise their bodies would absorb that lazer gun also.
If they don't have to absorb all metals they touch, there is no reason that would force their bodies to absorb the bionic limb.

Also, their listing for their regeneration powers says nothing about regenerating lost limbs so the bionic limbs being expelled by their regeneration powers seems unlikely.

Therefore...

Want a bionic eye? Machine meld.

Want a translator? Machine meld.

Want a headjack? Are you out of your mind?

My advice for the GM, if you want to control
this ability, are the following:
- Limit the numbers, by level and maybe by ME.
- Roll for each time the character regenerates whether
or not the nanites dissolve a "melded" system.

As always: do not be too generous nor too heavy handed.

Adios
KLM

Mind you - most "sensitive" compterised systems are
manufactured with MP (and Noro's with Telemechanics)
in mind, as it is mentioned in DMB2.

But again: do not null their abilities too much.

Adios
KLM

The Machine People aren't T-1000's, even though they can alter their shape somewhat.

I would say no to morph-adding in additional cybernetic and bionic components, but that's just me and my wacky ballance issues.

A more frightening thought is: can the Machine People network themselves together, sharing skills, ideas, and most importantly, pooling thier IQ stat? It is my belief that they can...

Metalsmith wrote:

Giant2005 wrote:As the title, the description of the race states they are sentient robots many times so I would assume they could receive further Robotic or maybe Bionic enhancements, however due to their nanotechnological nature, it is possible their body may reject or simply absorb modifications.

Has there been any official word on this? If not, what is the general concensus on the matter?

There has been an "Official" word on it.
http://forums.palladium-megaverse.com/viewtopic.php?t=35296

"Question: question could a machine people phaseworld pg. 77 use their morphing and machine melding powers to incorporate bionics and cybernetics, ie. universal head jack, multi-optic eye, retractable vibro-blades, etc into their being.
Answer: Yes."

I was pretty glad for this information until I read some of the answers that were obviously wrong... So now I'm stuck in the mindset that the entire thing (including this relevant answer) has potential to be wrong.

EDIT: Thought I better clarify a little, the question that made me realise that the answers were definitely not canon (and the question that also stopped me reading the FAQ) was:

Question: #1. If a Promethean arrived on Rifts earth could he become a Lord Magus? My biggest problem is when he reaches 8th level and becomes an MDC structure does he become completely invulnerable to damage?
#2. All though there is no such thing as stupid questions but stupid people, I have to ask this question. Can a True Atlantean become a Lord Magus?
Answer: 1) Prometheans are effectively barred from taking ANY other Magic Using O.C.C. because they can ONLY learn Temporal Magic Spells; Lord Magi learn a much broader range of Spells (see Rifts: Phase World, page 26).
2) No, it's a magical transformation.

The Promethean thing is quite clearly wrong - nowhere does it state Prometheans can only learn Temporal Magic, not only that but one of the recommended classes is the Temporal Mage, which by default begins with normal incantations. (Not even going to bother bringing up that the Promethean-only class, the Time Master, also learns conventional invocations).

I was only referring to the statement suggesting Prometheans could only ever learn temporal magic spells which is undeniably wrong.