Engineering (Draw Steel)

Skills

Definition

Engineering covers how mechanisms work: reading a trap's trigger, rigging a counterweight to lift a gate, aiming a catapult, designing a pulley to raise a wagon from a ravine. It is a Reason skill because it applies principles to a problem. It comes up in dungeons full of devices, in sieges, when the party must improvise a bridge or a lift, and when a machine has to be understood before it can be sabotaged or repaired.

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How it works

**Characteristic**: Reason. **Skill group**: Reason skills. **Test**: 2d10 + Reason; 11 or lower is tier 1, 12 to 16 tier 2, 17 or higher tier 3. Training grants a benefit and unlocks attempts untrained heroes cannot make. **How it is used**: Tier 3 gives a working design or a full read of a device. Tier 2 works with limits, such as one use or a slower build. Tier 1 misjudges the load or the trigger, with predictable consequences. **Edges and banes**: Schematics, proper tools, or a familiar type of machine grants an edge (+2). Alien technology, missing parts, or working in darkness imposes a bane (-2).

Tips

**Best for**: Problem-solvers who want to change the battlefield rather than fight on it as given. **Character concepts**: Soldier career siege engineer, Artisan clockmaker, memonek raised among machines. **Synergies**: Mechanics for hands-on operation and sabotage, Architecture for the building around the machine, Tactics for using siege engines in a plan.

Frequently asked questions

What is the split between Engineering and Mechanics?

Engineering is the design and analysis. Mechanics is operating, fixing, and breaking an existing device with your hands.

Can I disarm traps with Engineering?

You can understand how one works, which often reveals a safe path. Disarming it is usually Mechanics or Pick Lock depending on the trigger.

Engineering (Draw Steel)

Definition

How it works

Tips

Frequently asked questions

Further Reading