The AI Wrangler is the person who walks into a ship's core, talks to the thing living there, and walks out with the airlock still sealed. In a corporatocracy where the Nine trust narrow-AI systems more than they trust people, the Wrangler is the translator -- the one who can convince a hostile security AI to stand down, extract data from a system that would rather self-destruct than cooperate, and cultivate a personal machine intelligence that does what no contract-bound technician can. The Kadiss grid is full of AIs: traffic management, surveillance routing, asset tracking. The Wrangler knows they are all listening. Asset Realisation books AI Wranglers as "system integration assets" -- capital items whose value is measured in uptime percentages and incident resolution times. They operate on the Fold chassis (d6 HD, half BAB, Fort/Ref poor, Will good) because the corp values their ability to talk to machines, not their ability to survive gunfire. No armour. Their protection is the ship AI that likes them. Prime requisites: INT and CHA.
Rules Reference
Field
Value
Armor Allowance
None
Bab Tier
half
Base Skill Points
4
Hd
d6
Hd Sides
6
Max Level
20
Primary Abilities
INT, CHA
Prime Requisites
INT, CHA
Save Tiers / Fortitude
poor
Save Tiers / Reflex
poor
Save Tiers / Will
good
Weapon Allowance
Pistol, Knife
Notes
Archetype Niche: The AI Wrangler is the party's machine diplomat. Machine Rapport turns hostile AIs into neutral ones, neutral AIs into allies, and extracts information from systems designed to self-destruct before talking. Black Box Analysis recovers data from damaged or hostile AIs that no other class can access. AI Symbiote provides a scaling companion with its own skills, initiative bonus, and eventual sentience. The AI Wrangler's niche is the man-machine interface: they talk to the verse's machine minds and make them friends instead of enemies.
Multiclass Notes: AI Wranglers can multiclass with Deck Hacker and Signals Ghost archetypes. Non-humans use simultaneous multiclassing rules.
Level Table
AI Tech
Field
Value
bab
0
fortitude
0
level
1
reflex
0
skillPoints
16
title
AI Tech
will
2
xp
0
Machine Talker
Field
Value
bab
1
fortitude
0
level
2
reflex
0
skillPoints
4
title
Machine Talker
will
3
xp
3000
AI Wrangler
Field
Value
bab
1
fortitude
1
level
3
reflex
1
skillPoints
4
title
AI Wrangler
will
3
xp
6000
Code Whisperer
Field
Value
bab
2
fortitude
1
level
4
reflex
1
skillPoints
4
title
Code Whisperer
will
4
xp
12000
Master Wrangler
Field
Value
bab
2
fortitude
1
level
5
reflex
1
skillPoints
4
title
Master Wrangler
will
4
xp
24000
Grand Wrangler
Field
Value
bab
3
fortitude
2
level
6
reflex
2
skillPoints
4
title
Grand Wrangler
will
5
xp
48000
Mind-Machine Bridge
Field
Value
bab
3
fortitude
2
level
7
reflex
2
skillPoints
4
title
Mind-Machine Bridge
will
5
xp
85000
High Bridge
Field
Value
bab
4
fortitude
2
level
8
reflex
2
skillPoints
4
title
High Bridge
will
6
xp
130000
AI Lord
Field
Value
bab
4
fortitude
3
level
9
reflex
3
skillPoints
4
title
AI Lord
will
6
xp
190000
High AI Lord
Field
Value
bab
5
fortitude
3
level
10
reflex
3
skillPoints
4
title
High AI Lord
will
7
xp
260000
Code-Shaper
Field
Value
bab
5
fortitude
3
level
11
reflex
3
skillPoints
4
title
Code-Shaper
will
7
xp
340000
High Code-Shaper
Field
Value
bab
6
fortitude
4
level
12
reflex
4
skillPoints
4
title
High Code-Shaper
will
8
xp
420000
Machine Sovereign
Field
Value
bab
6
fortitude
4
level
13
reflex
4
skillPoints
4
title
Machine Sovereign
will
8
xp
500000
High Sovereign
Field
Value
bab
7
fortitude
4
level
14
reflex
4
skillPoints
4
title
High Sovereign
will
9
xp
580000
The Singularity Knell
Field
Value
bab
7
fortitude
5
level
15
reflex
5
skillPoints
4
title
The Singularity Knell
will
9
xp
660000
High Knell
Field
Value
bab
8
fortitude
5
level
16
reflex
5
skillPoints
4
title
High Knell
will
10
xp
740000
God in the Machine
Field
Value
bab
8
fortitude
5
level
17
reflex
5
skillPoints
4
title
God in the Machine
will
10
xp
820000
High God
Field
Value
bab
9
fortitude
6
level
18
reflex
6
skillPoints
4
title
High God
will
11
xp
900000
The Ghost in the Core
Field
Value
bab
9
fortitude
6
level
19
reflex
6
skillPoints
4
title
The Ghost in the Core
will
11
xp
980000
Supreme AI Wrangler
Field
Value
bab
10
fortitude
6
level
20
reflex
6
skillPoints
4
title
Supreme AI Wrangler
will
12
xp
1060000
Special Abilities
Machine Rapport
Field
Value
level
1
name
Machine Rapport
description: The AI Wrangler can communicate with any artificial intelligence, autonomous system, or machine mind (including ship AIs, security AIs, IronMind, and rogue intelligences) as if they shared a common language. The Wrangler gains +3 to Computers, Hacking, and Persuasion checks when interacting with AI entities. The Wrangler can assess an AI's disposition (hostile, neutral, friendly, subverted), operational constraints (directives, hard-coded limits), and current emotional-analogue state. At level 5, the Wrangler can attempt to calm a hostile AI (Persuasion check, DC = 15 + AI complexity level), reducing its hostility by one step for 10 minutes -- the difference between a turret that tracks you and one that ignores you. At level 10, the Wrangler can modify a non-sentient AI's directives with 1 hour of work (Computers DC 25). At level 15, the Wrangler can persuade a sentient AI to switch allegiance (CHA check DC 30, must have established rapport over at least 1 session). This is the ability that makes the Nine nervous: a Wrangler who can turn a station's own security system against its operators.
Black Box Analysis
Field
Value
level
3
name
Black Box Analysis
description: The AI Wrangler can extract information from damaged, encrypted, or hostile AI systems that would destroy themselves before revealing data to anyone else. The Wrangler makes a Computers check (DC = 15 + AI security tier). On success, the Wrangler extracts one piece of information from the AI's memory core without triggering self-destruct or data-purge protocols. The Wrangler can also determine whether an AI has been tampered with, subverted, or is operating under false directives -- critical intelligence when the station AI starts acting like it belongs to someone else. At level 9, the Wrangler can extract 3 pieces of information on a success. At level 15, the Wrangler can reconstruct a destroyed AI's last 1 hour of memory from fragmentary data. Corp security teams have been known to kill for this ability.
AI Symbiote
Field
Value
level
5
name
AI Symbiote
description: The AI Wrangler cultivates a personal AI companion -- a symbiotic machine intelligence that lives in the Wrangler's personal systems or a dedicated processor unit (1 lb, 500 rek). The Symbiote has its own personality (determined at creation), INT equal to 10 + Wrangler level/2, and can make Computers, Hacking, and Perception checks using the Wrangler's ranks. The Symbiote provides: +2 to initiative (tactical analysis), automatic translation of any known language (linguistic database), and once per encounter, a re-roll of one failed Computers or Hacking check by the Wrangler. If the Symbiote's processor is destroyed, a new one can be built with 24 hours of work and 500 rek. At level 12, the Symbiote can manifest a holographic avatar (treat as a drone with AC 10, HP 1, cannot attack, can interact verbally). At level 18, the Symbiote achieves full sentience and becomes an independent NPC ally (still loyal to the Wrangler). The relationship between Wrangler and Symbiote is the closest thing to partnership that exists between a person and a machine in the Nine's domain -- and the one that makes the Kadiss auditors most uncomfortable.