Engineer
Name
Engineer
Skill Attribute & Difficulty
Int - Hard
Defaults
Special
Prerequisites
Mathematics (Applied) at TL5+, plus others as noted.
Description
This is the ability to design and build technological devices and systems. A successful roll lets you design a new system, diagnose a glitch, identify the purpose of a strange device, or improvise a gadget to solve a problem. Time required for each attempt is up to the GM.
Note that engineers are designers and inventors; they are not necessarily skilled at the routine operation or maintenance of the things they design! For instance, Engineer (Small Arms) lets you design a new assault rifle, but you need Armoury skill to maintain it and Guns skill to shoot it.
Specializations
Artillery
Defaults: Armory (Heavy Weapons)-6
Designing whatever passes for artillery at your tech level, from trebuchets to smart missiles.
Civil
Defaults: Architecture-6
Planning highways, aqueducts, buildings, etc.
Clockwork
Defaults: Mechanic (Clockwork)-6
Designing wind-up gadgetry such as watches, mechanical men, etc.
Combat
Defaults: Explosives (Demolition)-6
Building or removing fortifications, trenches, etc.
Electrical
Defaults: Electrician-6
Designing electrical systems, such as power cells and transmission lines.
Electronics
Defaults: Electronics Repair (Any)-6
Designing and building electronic apparatus, from computers to sensor arrays. (The specific technologies involved: "Vacuum tubes, transistors, photonics, etc." will depend on the tech level.)
Materials
Defaults: Chemistry-6, Metallurgy-6
Prerequisites: Chemistry or Metallurgy
Concocting new structural materials.
Microtechnology
Defaults: Mechanic (Micromachines)-6
Designing Micromachines
Mining
Defaults: Explosives (Demolition)-6, Geology (Any)-6
Designing underground structures.
Robotics
Defaults: Mechanic (Robotics)-6
Designing robotics and cybernetics.
Small arms
Defaults: Armory (Small arms)-6
Designing personal firearms, such as guns and portable rocket launchers.
Vehicle Type
Defaults: Mechanic (Same vehicle type)-6
Designing a single, broad class of vehicle.
Examples include Engineer (Automobiles), Engineer (Ships), and Engineer (Starships).
Exotic Specializations
Parachronic
Defaults: Electronics Operation (Parachronic)-6. No default if your society has not discovered dimensional travel.
Prerequisites: Physics
Designing apparatus for crossing dimensions
Psychotronics
Defaults: Electronics Operation (Psychotronics)-6. No default for individuals from backgrounds where psionics do not exist.
Designing psionic technology, such as telepathic shield and amplifiers.
Engineer specialties normally default to one another at -4; however, there is no default between exotic specialties (Parachronic, Psychotronics) and more mundane ones (Civil, Combat, Mining, etc.).
Modifiers
Equipment modifiers. Up to +5 to build a gadget if you can give the GM a good description of what you want it to do.