Character and professions

One character. Earned capability.

Develop one continuing character through training, qualifications and specialist capability. Become able to solve more problems yourself.

Back to CYBERTECH

An Engineer teaches a trainee to diagnose and repair a machinery rig.

What this means for your play

Choices with practical meaning.

You control one persistent character, not a party. Training, qualifications, resources and practical experience shape the work you can legitimately perform. Growth means more possible solutions, not automatic mastery of every task.

Choose what independence means to you

You might develop a profession that supports technical work, concentrate on your cybernetic capability or invest in the people and facilities that support your projects. Those choices change what you can personally handle and where outside expertise remains valuable.

Find the right person for the work

Owning a part is not the same as knowing how to install it. A professional can have a real location, price, schedule and relationship to a settlement or organisation. Finding someone appropriately qualified can be as important as finding the component itself.

In depth

How it works.

Follow the part that interests you. These systems continue to matter as your character and operation grow.

Capability has to be earned.

CYBERTECH includes professions, training, qualifications and specialist progression that affect what your character can legitimately do. A failed qualification is not silently awarded because the next mission expects it. You can remain unqualified. You may later undertake legitimate retraining or requalification. If you still cannot perform the work, another qualified person may need to do it. Your character's professional development becomes part of the world rather than a menu of automatic unlocks.

Owning the technology does not mean you know how to use it.

CYBERTECH does not treat the player character as magically capable of doing everything.

Specialist work requires specialists.
Cybernetic installation may require the correct professional.
Carrier work may require appropriately skilled people.
Technical analysis may require a laboratory.
Complex fabrication may require the right facility.
Professional work may require the right qualification.
Specialists can have:
Real locations.
Real availability.
Real costs.
Real time requirements.
Real relationships to organisations and settlements.

Finding a component can be only the first part of the problem. You may then need to find someone capable of doing the work.

Become more capable, not simply more powerful.

One of CYBERTECH's central progression ideas is that growth gives you more possible solutions.

Early in the game:
You may not have the equipment.
You may not have the money.
You may not have the specialist.
You may not have the facility.
You may not have the vehicle.
You may not have the qualification.
Later:

You may have several legitimate ways to solve the same problem.

That is the growth.
Not unlimited power.
Greater capability.
Greater independence.
Greater choice.

A concrete example

The qualification was not earned

You fail a qualification needed for later work. It is not awarded to keep the preferred story moving. You can retrain and attempt to qualify legitimately, or pay a qualified professional to perform that work. Your record and the cost of your chosen solution remain real.