Tinkerer¶

"Anything mechanical, I can fix. Anything not mechanical, I can make mechanical."

Role: Engineer + gadgeteer. Builds traps, repairs gear, picks locks via tools instead of stealth. The class that bridges crafting and combat.

At a glance¶


Stat bonuses	Intelligence +3, Dexterity +3, Perception +2
Allowed weapons	Staff, Dagger, Hammer
Starting skills	Tinkering (5), Engineering (4), Lockpicking (3), Trap Setting (3), Staves (3)
Starting kit	Hammer, Padded Vest, Tinker's Kit, 2× Lockpick, Wire Spool, Bandages
Best faction	Merchants Guild (your customers) and Arcane Collegium (your collaborators)
Best merc team	Old Guard - they keep you alive while you set up

First 30 minutes¶

You're a setup class. First fight, you'll be slow. After three days, you're terrifying.

Find the workshop. Ghelmyon's industrial district - the blacksmith's basement has a Tinkerer's workbench.
```
walk to forge
walk to workshop
```
Craft something. Anything. Your Tinker's Kit gives a starter recipe set - basic traps, repair patches, lock tools.
```
craft snare_trap
```
Buy wire + scrap metal. Forever your two consumables. Every fight you set traps for, you spend wire.
Don't engage hostile mobs directly. Set a trap on the path, bait, retreat. Tinkerer wins fights they prepared for; loses fights they're forced into.

Skills to focus first¶

Trap Setting (3 → 5) - your real damage. Pre-placed traps deal pre-multiplied damage.
Tinkering (5 → 7) - your craft. Unlocks better tools, better traps, lock picks.
Lockpicking (3 → 5) - Tinkerer-side approach to locks (no Stealth dependency, just a lock + a tool).

After Tinkering rank 5, branch into Gadgeteer (combat-trap specialist) or Engineer (utility/construction focus).

Suggested merc team¶

Old Guard - Hendrik keeps you alive during your prep turn; Maelis covers the moments your traps are still cooling. Both veterans understand "wait, just let me finish placing this."

Quest or grind?¶

Craft = grind. Your daily loop is craft 2-3 traps, sell some, keep some. The Merchants Guild questline pays well for craft work. The Collegium has a Mechanical Arts subdivision that respects Tinkerer skills.

Combat quests work too but you'll always lose efficiency vs a Warrior - your kit needs setup time.

Mid-game arc¶

Hit Tinkering rank 5. Path unlock + recipe library expansion.
Reach Merchants Guild friendly rep. Vendor unlock for rare components.
Build a portable forge. Lets you craft mid-quest, not just at the workshop.

Training & Practice¶

Where the work happens between adventures.

Head to the Academy Tinker Bench (academy_tinker_bench, in the Collegium's Mechanical Arts subdivision). Talk to Master Tinker Pivot - he runs the bench, signs the ledger, and decides which tier of work you're ready for.

How it works:

/shift start at the bench (or /tinker_shift start) to take a 4-hour shift. Pivot posts a queue of tickets scaled to your rank - a stuck cellar lock at the bottom, a jewelled clockwork nightingale at the top.
Resolve tickets with the bench's verbs: repair <object>, fabricate <object>, or examine <object> to spec out what a broken thing actually needs. The ticket's nature decides which sub-skill gets the credit - locks always credit lockpicking, clockwork always credits engineering, and the general bench work credits tinkering. Plus a small stipend per ticket.
/shift end to close early (or let the timer expire).

Tier ladder (Pivot decides): easy → standard → challenging → esoteric. Higher tiers pay more and unlock the rarer ticket types; apprentices start at easy and earn the harder slates by keeping the routine ones clean.

Why bother:

Steady SP without burning your own wire and scrap.
Modest purse per resolved ticket (Collegium stipend, not adventuring pay).
Twenty clean shifts typically earn a referral letter the other Mechanical Arts branches honor - opens doors at sibling benches in other cities.
Pivot teaches up to rank 70 in tinkering / engineering / lockpicking.

Capstone - Volatile Cascade¶

Unlocked at rank 30 in engineering. Detonate your alchemical reserves. Every hostile creature in the same location takes (engineering rank × 2) damage, bypassing armor.

You yank the failsafe pin and step back. Glass shatters. The room lights up.

Once per day. The Tinkerer's nuke. At rank 60+ engineering this hits like a top-tier mage AOE. Best used on a wave of mooks; wasted on a single high-HP boss.