Engineer

Ship-keeper, salvage-builder, and diagnostic reader.

The Engineer is booked as depreciable technical capital on a Kadiss asset register. They do not own the machines they tend -- they are leased alongside them. A senior Engineer's contract reads like a depreciation schedule: years of service, restrictive clauses on outside work, a death clause that triggers a non-compete payable to the next of kin. They are kept functional with stimulant rations, dry berths, and a quarterly brain-scan that measures cognitive decline against projected output. The Nine sign their requisition forms.

On the Kadiss, the Engineer rides the grid as a verified technical specialist -- their credentials are checked at every ship and Station. They do not game the grid because they have no reason to: it lets them find parts. What the Engineer fears is redundancy. A 30-year veteran with bad knees and a slower diagnostic reflex gets desk duty, then early retirement, then a window in Rim housing. The best of them keep current by salvaging, modding, and learning systems the corp does not teach.

In the Rim, the Engineer runs dark. They read dead hulls as forensic evidence: the dent pattern from a rail-gun hit, the scorch radius of a plasma vent, the fracture face that says structural fatigue versus deliberate demolition. Field Fabrication turns salvage into solutions -- the same skill the corp uses to keep a Station alive, repurposed to keep a starship limping through unscheduled space. Structural Analysis reads the architecture as a diagnostic. Overload System is what happens when an Engineer decides the rated value is a suggestion, not a law.

Operating on the Academic chassis (d6 HD, half BAB, Fort/Ref poor, Will good), with no armour (the work demands free hands and bulk-free posture). Prime requisites: INT. Reading machines is perception plus pattern recognition; it does not require conviction, only attention. The will was never relevant.

Rules Reference

Field	Value
Armor Allowance	None
Bab Tier	half
Base Skill Points	4
Hd	d6
Hd Sides	6
Max Level	20
Multiclass Notes	Engineers can multiclass with Academic and Salvager archetypes. Non-humans use simultaneous multiclassing rules.
Primary Abilities	INT
Prime Requisites	INT
Save Tiers / Fortitude	poor
Save Tiers / Reflex	poor
Save Tiers / Will	good
Weapon Allowance	Pistol, Knife, Tools (1d6 melee damage)

Notes

Archetype Niche: The Engineer is the party's creator and fixer. Field Fabrication produces useful devices from available materials -- the Engineer builds solutions to problems rather than buying them. Structural Analysis provides information dominance over the built environment. Overload System provides burst power for critical moments (double shields, double engine thrust, double weapon damage) at the cost of system downtime. The Engineer's niche is making technology work -- fixing what's broken, building what's needed, and pushing systems past their limits.

Level Table

Apprentice

Field	Value
bab	0
fortitude	0
level	1
reflex	0
skillPoints	16
title	Apprentice
will	2
xp	0

Technician

Field	Value
bab	1
fortitude	0
level	2
reflex	0
skillPoints	4
title	Technician
will	3
xp	2500

Engineer

Field	Value
bab	1
fortitude	1
level	3
reflex	1
skillPoints	4
title	Engineer
will	3
xp	5000

Ship's Engineer

Field	Value
bab	2
fortitude	1
level	4
reflex	1
skillPoints	4
title	Ship's Engineer
will	4
xp	10000

Senior Engineer

Field	Value
bab	2
fortitude	1
level	5
reflex	1
skillPoints	4
title	Senior Engineer
will	4
xp	20000

Chief Engineer

Field	Value
bab	3
fortitude	2
level	6
reflex	2
skillPoints	4
title	Chief Engineer
will	5
xp	40000

Master Engineer

Field	Value
bab	3
fortitude	2
level	7
reflex	2
skillPoints	4
title	Master Engineer
will	5
xp	70000

Grand Engineer

Field	Value
bab	4
fortitude	2
level	8
reflex	2
skillPoints	4
title	Grand Engineer
will	6
xp	110000

Systems Master

Field	Value
bab	4
fortitude	3
level	9
reflex	3
skillPoints	4
title	Systems Master
will	6
xp	160000

High Systems Master

Field	Value
bab	5
fortitude	3
level	10
reflex	3
skillPoints	4
title	High Systems Master
will	7
xp	220000

Forge Lord

Field	Value
bab	5
fortitude	3
level	11
reflex	3
skillPoints	4
title	Forge Lord
will	7
xp	290000

High Forge Lord

Field	Value
bab	6
fortitude	4
level	12
reflex	4
skillPoints	4
title	High Forge Lord
will	8
xp	360000

Artificer

Field	Value
bab	6
fortitude	4
level	13
reflex	4
skillPoints	4
title	Artificer
will	8
xp	430000

High Artificer

Field	Value
bab	7
fortitude	4
level	14
reflex	4
skillPoints	4
title	High Artificer
will	9
xp	500000

Machine God

Field	Value
bab	7
fortitude	5
level	15
reflex	5
skillPoints	4
title	Machine God
will	9
xp	570000

High Machine God

Field	Value
bab	8
fortitude	5
level	16
reflex	5
skillPoints	4
title	High Machine God
will	10
xp	640000

World-Builder

Field	Value
bab	8
fortitude	5
level	17
reflex	5
skillPoints	4
title	World-Builder
will	10
xp	710000

High World-Builder

Field	Value
bab	9
fortitude	6
level	18
reflex	6
skillPoints	4
title	High World-Builder
will	11
xp	780000

Architect of Reality

Field	Value
bab	9
fortitude	6
level	19
reflex	6
skillPoints	4
title	Architect of Reality
will	11
xp	850000

Supreme Engineer

Field	Value
bab	10
fortitude	6
level	20
reflex	6
skillPoints	4
title	Supreme Engineer
will	12
xp	920000

Special Abilities

Field Fabrication

Field	Value
level	1
name	Field Fabrication

description: Engineering, Mechanics, and Repair are class skills with a +3 competence bonus. With field kit or workshop and 1 hour of work, the Engineer fabricates a device, weapon mod, or field tool from salvage or supplied stock. DC is set by complexity: simple (DC 15: climbing rig, basic trap, jury-rig sensor), moderate (DC 20: weapon scope, armour patch, improvised turret), complex (DC 25: shield generator, powered tool, drone component). Fabricated devices function for 24 hours before requiring maintenance. The Engineer maintains a number of devices equal to INT modifier. At level 7, fabrication time halves. At level 13, devices last 72 hours. At level 19, devices are permanent. This is the corporate repair bay skill applied without corporate stock -- in the field, the Engineer rebuilds what the corp would scrap.

Structural Analysis

Field	Value
level	3
name	Structural Analysis

description: Standard action to assess a structure, vehicle, or mechanical system. The Engineer reads: structural integrity (HP remaining, weak points), functional status of subsystems, and whether the structure is rigged (collapse, explosive, deliberate sabotage). +4 to checks to disable structural fail-safes or to cause controlled collapse. At level 9, structural weak points read as a free action. At level 15, the Engineer predicts the failure moment (rounds or stress threshold). A Ranger-Scout reads biome, a Wallreader reads lithology; the Engineer reads built things as a forensic record of what happened here.

Overload System

Field	Value
level	5
name	Overload System

description: The Engineer pushes a mechanical or electronic system past rated capacity. Full-round action, Engineering check DC = 15 + system complexity. On success, output doubles for 1 minute (shield, weapon, engine, generator). System disables for 10 minutes after. On failure, system disables immediately. At level 11, triple output at DC 20 + complexity. At level 17, double output sustained indefinitely with a successful DC 25 Engineering check at the end of each period. The Overload is engineering ego speaking -- the corp's rated values are what you accept by default; the Engineer has decided, today, not to accept them.