Rigger

“Don’t trust them crazy Riggers,” huh? Kid, that’s rich. You’d still be parked in orbit if it weren’t for ‘em. D’jump drives don’t run on wishful thinking, no, they run on Thool. You know… Thool? The single biggest thing since capitalism? That glowing sludge is what keeps the whole Federation connected, one spark of it, and space folds like paper. But Thool’s got a personality. Spirited one, too. Anyone who works around it long enough starts picking up the hum, that low, hungry vibration that never quite goes away. You can wear all the shielding you want; sooner or later, it starts whispering through the cracks. That’s where Riggers come from. They don’t go mad. They just start hearing the galaxy louder than the rest of us.

Sure, they’re a bit off. Some stare too long at bulkheads, talk to their tools, or mutter about “listening to the coolant.” One I knew swore he could smell power leaks. Another collected shells from worlds he’d never visited. But for all their quirks, they’re the best mechanics this side of reality. You can hand a Rigger a pile of scrap and a week later they’ll hand you a working thruster — probably improved. They see systems like most folks see faces: all emotion and little details, and they feel when something’s wrong. They don’t fix ships. They heal them.

Most folks forget just how hard their work is. You think it’s all spanners and diagnostics? Try hauling an astrotech conduit the size of a bus through partial-G, or patching a ruptured coolant line while the deck’s still melting. That’s why Riggers tend to be built like bulkheads themselves. They’re part mechanic, part muscle, part “don’t ask what that noise was.” Plenty of boarding parties have learned that the hard way, win the bridge if you want, but the second you hit engineering, you’re in their domain.

And yeah, they’re weird about their tools. Every Rigger’s got what they call a Powered Whatsit, don’t ask them to define it, they’ll just grin. Could be a wrench, a multi-tool, a makeshift plasma torch, or something that looks like it crawled out of a dream. Each one’s self-built and temperamental as hell, but to them it’s sacred. Never touch it, never borrow it, and never, ever lose it. They’ll know. Somehow, they always know.

So no, kid, you don’t have to trust ‘em. You just have to understand that every ship, every port, every D’jump crew or spacers outfit that ever worked owes a Rigger somewhere. When the alarms are screaming and your drive’s coughing blood, you’ll want one on board. They’ll get you flying again, mumbling something about soda cans, duct tape and bad wiring, like it’s all just another Tuesday. And when they’re done, maybe you’ll stop calling ‘em crazy.

- Cpt. Tuna Sal, Pre-flight checks before the final voyage of the Argonaut, Mark 6143.

Riggers don’t study machines, they just get them. Hand one a busted relic from a long forgotten colony of extinct xenofauna and they’ll turn it over in their hands, squint a little, and tell you it was meant to scramble eggs or broadcast at 42.8 megahertz. Doesn’t matter how alien, ancient, or jury-rigged the tech is; they know what it’s for. Ask how and they’ll shrug, maybe say the universe told them. Truth is, nobody really knows. Maybe it’s Thool exposure, maybe instinct, maybe something else humming in their skulls. Whatever it is, a Rigger can look at a tangle of wires and see purpose where everyone else just sees smoke.

Ritual.

You gain the Strange Knowhow Ability:

Every Rigger’s got one, their signature omni-tool, their badge of office, their best friend in a fistfight. No two Whatsits are alike. Some look like wrenches, others like pocket reactors, and a few defy polite description altogether. Built from scavenged parts, stims overdose, and divine inspiration, a Whatsit always seems to do exactly what its owner needs, whether that’s fixing a flux coil, slicing a data feed, or cracking open a skull. Other Riggers can spot one instantly; they claim the tools carry a kind of fingerprint, a hum that says who built it. Ask a Rigger about their own, and you’ll learn nothing of value but to another Rigger, its better than a resume. The Whatsit isn’t just a tool, it’s an extension of the self, with a power supply.

Trait.

You gain a Powered Whatsit Item, detailed below:

At Rigger Ranks 3, 5, 7 & 9 the Powered Whatsit gains 2 additional Hardpoints for a total of 4, 6, 8 & 10, respectively.

Riggers run on a different wavelength. While everyone else lines up their tasks in neat little rows, a Rigger’s brain builds an incomprehensible web of crap. It's messy. It glows. It's impossible to map, but somehow, it's all connected. They’ll bounce between fifty projects before breakfast, half-finish twelve of them, forget three completely, and then, out of nowhere, pull off something brilliant no one else even saw coming. Their workspaces are chaos incarnate, piles of half-assembled miracles, each one part of a system only they understand. Try to tidy it, and you’ll break everything. The mess is the method. It can make them scattered, forgetful, even frustrating, but that same scattershot focus lets them see angles the rest of us miss. Give a Rigger space to move at their own tempo, stay out of their way and they’ll surprise you every time… With twelve solutions instead of one.

Trait.

You achieve Automatic Success any time you perform a Multitasking Save.

In addition, you can not provide the benefits of the Help Action or [Leadership] Abilities to others, nor can you receive the benefits from others.

Please Note: You can still provide them to yourself, as Appropriate. (See Draeck, for more information).

Furthermore, you can maintain an unlimited number of Projects.

Every Rigger’s got their thing. Some tap the hull three times before a D'jump. Some have to line up every bolt head in a perfect spiral. Some can’t start a repair until they’ve muttered their favourite cereal mascot's catchphrase under their breath. They know it’s strange — hell, they’ll be the first to admit it — but knowing doesn’t make it stop. When the urge hits, it’s an all-consuming compulsion. The world shrinks to a single unfinished ritual until it’s done, no matter how small or how long it takes. Most of the time, it’s harmless but when it isn’t, it can grind a Rigger to a halt, trapped in a loop only they can see. Other spacers envy their insight, their way of seeing what no one else can, but they don’t see the cost. For every flash of genius there’s a shadow of compulsion, and the Rigger lives between the two, trying to make peace with both.

Trait.

During Character Creation or when you gain your first Rank of Rigger, you must nominate a task or habit that you must perform every time you achieve a Critical Failure on a Check, Attack or Save. This task should require an Action and nothing further, but you may wish to decide on something more unique for the Character, as Appropriate.

Until you perform this Action, or the end of the Encounter, you will suffer the Disadvantage Property on all Checks and Attacks you perform.

Examples of Actions you could perform include:

• Throwing a pinch of salt over your shoulder.
• Addressing the room from atop the box of speaking.
• Licking a battery.
• Muttering a specific phrase with accompanying hand motions or dance.
• Making a specific series of sound effects.
• Double checking all of your objects you keep on your person.
• Pacing back and forth.
• Fidgeting with an object or article of clothing.
• Casting a specific Cantrip.

This is a detrimental effect, and a serious cost of being a Rigger. Have a discussion with the Players, to make sure that the effect is both disruptive enough to be a downside but also Appropriate for you, the party, and the narrative.

There’s no other way to explain it, Riggers shouldn’t be able to do what they do. Nobody understands tech like they do, not the engineers, not the scientists, not even the folks who built it. They’ve got a kind of instinct that lives somewhere between genius and insanity. Hand them a reactor coil, an engine core, or a busted toaster and they’ll pull it apart, smash half of it, and put it back together better than new. Some are born for astrotech, some for heavy machinery, others for cybernetics or weapons, but all of them share that same impossible knack. Watching a Rigger work is like watching an artist perform; it’s wild, loud, and a little terrifying, but somehow it always ends with everything running smoother than before. If you need it fixed, tuned, or coaxed back from the dead, you don’t call a technician. You call a Rigger.

Trait.

You gain a D4 Bonus Die to Tech Checks and Attacks.

At Rigger Ranks 4, 6, 8, & 10, the Bonus Die is Upgraded to a D6, D8, D10 & D12, respectively.

In addition, you gain 1 free Rank in one of the following [Masteries]: [Fabrication], [Industrial], [Mad_Science] or [Mechanics]. This can't increase this [Mastery] to a Rank greater than your current Rigger Rank.
Alternatively, instead of gaining a free Rank in the above [Masteries], you may choose to gain 2 [Abilities] from one of them instead. These [Abilities] must be of equal or lower Rank to your new Rigger Rank.

Example: If you would advance your [Rigger] Rank to 4, you could use your free Rank to advance your [Mechanics] [Mastery] to Rank 4 but you could not use it to advance your [Industrial] [Mastery] to Rank 5.

At Rigger Ranks 4, 6, 8, & 10, you gain an additional free Rank, or pair of Abilities, in one of the above [Masteries], as detailed above.

Trait.

You gain a Job Die. A Job Die is a Bonus Die that is added to Checks, Attacks or Saves that you are Proficient or Resistant in, respectively. Your Job Die is a D4.

If you gain an additional instance of this Ability, and you already have a Job Die, you do not gain another; it is Upgraded instead.

At Rigger Rank 4, 6, 8 & 10, you gain an additional instance of this Ability.

Trait.

You gain an additional Proficiency. This can be Swagger, Presence, Initiative, Reaction or any Skills.

Please Note: You can select any of the above options, not just the ones listed on the Starting Package, so long as you are not already Proficiency in it.

At Rigger rank 5, 7 & 9, you gain an additional instance of this Ability.

Lots of Spacers call it lots of things; the love tap, percussive maintenance, reminding the machine who’s boss, or simply whacking the damn thing. Regardless of what you call it, for most folks, it’s stupid; you’ll just break the thing worse than it already is, but when a Rigger smacks a system with their Powered Whatsit, things just… fall back into place. Whatever the name, it’s that miracle moment when a ship that was dead in the water suddenly coughs, sputters, and decides to live again. Nobody knows how it works, maybe the vibrations jolt a stuck relay, or maybe the machine just remembers who it belongs to. It’s never a permanent fix, but it’s enough to keep the lights on and the engines burning until you’re out of danger. You can call it superstition all you want, but when your reactor’s whining and the enemy’s still firing, you’ll be begging for a Rigger and that magic swing.

Action.

You gain the Love Tap Ability:

Some say it’s the Thool talking. Others swear it’s madness. The Riggers don’t bother explaining it, they just call it conversation. The veterans, the ones who’ve been elbow-deep in reactor cores longer than most spacers have been alive, start to develop a knack that no one can quite explain. They don’t operate machines anymore — they ask them. A seasoned Rigger can stroll through a hangar and tell which drives are sulking, which compressors are lying, and which old hammer’s in the mood to cooperate. They’ll mutter a few words, maybe give the casing a pat, and the whole system hums to life like it’s greeting an old friend. It’s not magic or Animism, just that the boundary between person and machine wears thin after enough years soaked in Thool fumes and static. You can scoff if you want, but when your engines are dead and your comms won’t answer, it’s the Rigger you’ll call. And somewhere in the background, you’ll hear them talking to the hardware, soft, calm, patient, until the ship starts talking back.

Trait.

You can talk to Items, [Vehicles], Cyberware or technology in general (or its spirit), without the need for Skills, Abilities or Presence. It will simply act as if it has a personality of its own, able to answer questions and even have wants or desires. It can even perform functions within it's power if you ask, such as turn on or perform it's purpose, as Appropriate.

You may need to convince the piece of technology to talk to you, just as you might a living person, but most are excited to just be heard for a change and will likely divulge any information or perform any task within their power, if asked, without the need for a Check, Attack or Save.