Gearhead

Automation dominates the world of 2295. People travel the stars in auto-piloted starships and travel across planets in automated mass transit. Law enforcement drones patrol autonomously, their AI sprites able to direct them through standard operations without the need for operators. There are times when manual control is necessary, and there are people who are perfect for the job: gearheads. Drone jockeys become the mind behind the machine, guiding drones in delicate missions as if slipped into a second skin. Meanwhile, couriers take on the task of getting things from one place to another with speed and style, whether the package is encrypted data, contraband goods, or even a person. If a gearhead’s toys—or anyone else’s for that matter—are damaged on the job, they can also put them back together, possibly even while blindfolded. Gearheads also make use of rapid prototypers to quickly create explosives, gun turrets and other tools to help them support the team on any mission.

## Key Ability Score

Your Strength helps you attack up close in melee and carry heavier weapons and armor, while your Dexterity helps you fire weapons from a distance and dodge returning fire, so you should choose either Strength or Dexterity as your key ability score. Once made, this choice cannot be changed. A high Constitution score allows you to soak up more damage.

## Rapid Prototyper (1st)

You begin play with an advanced version of readily available 3d printers known as a rapid prototyper. A rapid prototyper uses nanotechnology and schematics to quickly craft particular kinds of items to assist you in your work. The rapid prototyper is a modular device that uses autonomous nanoscale printing drones which build and disassemble objects slowly, akin to bees in a hive. All of its components have their energy needs included in the UBP cost and require no additional energy. The rapid prototyper counts as any tools needed to craft items that can be crafted with the Engineering Skill. Your level must be equal or greater than the item's level to craft the item.

To craft with the rapid prototyper, you must deposit an amount of raw materials into the device's cache equal to those needed to craft the new item. The raw materials are an amount of Universal Base Polymers (UBPs) equal to the item's value. If you have a schematic for the item you are crafting, you may instead deposit 75% of the item's value in UBPs, as the schematic reduces waste from the crafting process.

You must be constantly present and attentive while crafting. Without special training, you may not produce ranged weapons, ammunition, augmentations, vehicles, or anything weighing over twice your class level in bulk, but you may produce anything else that could be crafted with the Engineering skill, such as melee weapons, or technological devices. Repairing an item with the rapid prototyper is similar to crafting but requires only 5 Universal Base Polymers per item level.

Your rapid prototyper can scrap items and convert devices into raw materials that can be used to craft other devices. Any item which can be crafted with the Engineering skill can be fed into the rapid prototyper as a full round action. The item gains the broken condition after thirty minutes within the rapid prototyper. After one hour, the item is destroyed and the rapid prototyper converts the item into an amount of Universal Base Polymers equal to half the item's value. If items that are not Engineering-based are deposited within the rapid prototyper, it will not break them down.

## Primary Technical Specialization (1st)

*Main article: Technical Specializations*
You begin play with a technical specialization that reflects your particular area of expertise. Choose one specialization. Once chosen, this specialization may not change. You gain the 1st level ability of this specialization and gain additional primary specialization abilities as you increase in level, as determined by your specialization.

## Technophile (1st)

You have intricate knowledge of the fundamental workings of most technology, allowing you to understand new devices very quickly. You gain one free rank each level in the Computers and Engineering skills, in addition to normal skill ranks, though you still may not exceed maximum ranks. Additionally, you gain the Master Craftsman feat for the Engineering skill as a bonus feat at first level without having to meet the prerequisites.

## VCI (1st)

You gain the Mk1 VCI (Vehicle Control Interface) cybernetic augment for free. It does not use up a head slot. Upgrading to a higher Item Level version does not use up a head slot, but you must pay the extra UPBs.

## Quick Sapping (2nd)

You can temporarily disable an adjacent technological engineering based item as a full round action. This Increases the Engineering DC to disable the device by 5 and requires the appropriate toolkit to disable the device. Disabling a device in this way is temporary and lasts for 1d4 +1 rounds before the device resumes functioning normally. At 5th level, you may spend a Resolve Point to use this ability as a standard action.

## Quick Rigging (3rd)

As a full round action, you can make temporary repairs to any item you can craft with your rapid prototyper. This reduces the Engineering DC to repair the item by 5. These repairs
temporarily remove the broken condition, and do not restore any Hit Points to the item. These repairs last a half hour, after which the item becomes broken again. At 6th level, you may spend a Resolve Point to use this ability as a standard action.

## Weapon Specialization (3rd)

You gain Weapon Specialization as a bonus feat for each weapon type this class grants you proficiency with.

## Evasion (4th)

If you succeed at a Reflex Save against an effect that normally has a partial effect on a successful save, you instead suffer no effect. You gain this benefit only when unencumbered and wearing light or no armor, and you lose this benefit when helpless or otherwise unable to move.

## Trash Treasurer (4th)

You can search areas already thoroughly picked over by others and find things that might have been missed or overlooked. When using the Perception skill to search any workshop, garage, or area with an abundance of Engineering based technological equipment, you gain half your level as an insight bonus to the Perception check. Additionally, when you make the Perception check, you may spend a Resolve Point to make an Engineering check at the same time and use the higher roll as your Perception result. If the Engineering check is the result used as the Perception result, you gain the insight bonus from this ability to that check as if it were Perception. When you succeed at this check you find an amount of UPB's equal to 10 x your class level.

## Primary Specialization Ability (5th)

You gain the 5th level ability of your primary technical specialization. You gain subsequent abilities at the standard levels for those abilities, which are 7th, 9th, 11th, 15th 17th, and 20th levels.

## Tech Cobbler (6th)

You can quickly craft necessary engineering-based technology using your rapid prototyper and schematics. You may instead use only half the item's cost in UPB when crafting using your rapid prototyper and a schematic. Additionally, the item ignores the normal rules for crafting times, and instead requires only 1 minute per item level to be crafted. Crafting in this way otherwise follows crafting rules as normal.

## Secondary Technical Specialization (8th)

*Main article: Technical Specializations*
You select a secondary technical specialization and gain the 1st level ability of that technical specialization. The secondary specialization has delayed growth, but you are still considered to be this type of specialist in addition to your primary specialization.

## Secondary Specialization Ability (10th)

You gain the 5th level ability of your Secondary Technical Specialization. At 13th level you gain the 7th level ability, at 16th level you gain the 9th level ability, at 18th level you gain the 11th level ability, and at 20th level you gain the 15th level ability.

## Improved Evasion (12th)

When you fail a Reflex Save against an effect that has a partial effect on a save, you take the partial effect instead of the full effect.

## Remote Sapping (14th)

You have learned how to use Engineering to disable devices at a safe distance. When using Engineering to disable a device which uses electricity but does not have an internal power source, you may do so by using any power outlet which is connected to the same electrical power system that is also within line of sight of the target device. Attempting an Engineering check to disable the device in this manner is a standard action and increases the DC by 5.

When using Engineering to disable a device which uses an internal power source, you may do so by making an attack on the object with any weapon which deals electricity damage. If the attack hits, it deals no damage, but allows you to attempt an Engineering check to disable the device as a movement action made on the same turn. Disabling a device in this way increases the DC by 5.

When using Engineering to disable a device which uses fossil fuels, nuclear power, or some other chemistry or physics-based power source, you may do so by making an attack on the object with any weapon which deals energy damage. If the attack hits, it deals no damage, but allows you to attempt an Engineering check to disable the device on the same turn as a movement action. Disabling a device in this way increases the DC by 10.

## Archetypes

If the Gearhead takes on an archetype, some of its class features will be altered. You do not gain quick sapping at 2nd level, trash treasurer at 4th level, tech cobbler at 6th level, or improved evasion at 12th level. At 9th level, you don't gain your primary specialization ability at this level. From now on when you would gain a new primary specialization ability you can choose to gain the ability for that level, or the previous ability if you missed it. Once you gain a specialization ability at the appropriate level, this option ends. At 18th level, you don't gain your secondary specialization ability for this level.