The battlefields of the galaxy are no place for the weak-willed. Warriors of countless species charge into war against the Empire oftentimes armed with with little more than a blaster, a grenade, and a stone-carved resolve. Fully Operational, the Engineer's sourcebook for your games of Star Wars™: Age of Rebellion, provides players and gamemasters with a trove of information about Engineers, those brave Rebels who provide an additional level of support for the cause with their technical skills and talents. The needs of the Rebel Alliance change daily, and Engineers must be ready to apply their knowledge in whatever capacity is necessary; creation and destruction are just two sides of the same credit chip.

New Specialization: Sapper

The Sapper performs brings the role of Combat Engineer to an unparalleled level. Conditioned to the chaos of combat, Sappers utilize their expertise on the front lines of battle in two very crucial ways. First, Sappers can efficiently construct impromptu defenses from the materials and landscape at hand which can provide cover to allies and equipment. Second, they are experts at the devastation explosives can bring. Whether brought to bear against enemy soldiers or fortifications, Sappers gain some very formidable bonuses throughout their talent tree.

Improved Defenses and Improved Position allow the Sapper to make a Survival or Mechanics check, respectively, to fashion a crude fortification that provides a cover bonus, and can even increase the benefit of that cover to two ranged defense by spending additional Advantage or Triumph from the roll. Offensively, the Sapper features two vital explosive-oriented talents at the end of the specialization tree: Weak Foundation and Master Demolitionist. Weak Foundation grants a bonus Success or two Advantage against an enemy structure or emplacement the Sapper has been able to swiftly study and scrutinize to identify vulnerabilities. This bonus applies to everyone, not just the Sapper, thus providing critical support for the forces of the Rebellion. When careful analysis is not the order of the day, though, the Master Demolitionist talent turns the Sapper into the archetype of explosive devastation. For a very modest Advantage cost (or a slightly more immodest Triumph), the Sapper can increase the area of effect range for personal-scale explosives and ordnance; blasts that affect engaged characters can now affect those at short range, with the same effect for short into medium range. Coupled with Strong Arm to increase the range of thrown weapons by one range step, Sappers can create an unrivaled threat zone in which everyone approaching is subject to concussive doom.

Casualties of War

The Bith are a species accustomed to strife. Centuries ago, their homeworld was devastated by a vicious civil war that saw some of the most terrible consequences of military and biological technology brought to bear. Both the quarantined Bith on Clakk’dor VII and the diaspora who were unaffected by the conflict suffered a tumultuous relationship with the Republic, and their support for the Separatists during the Clone Wars has caused the Empire to treat them rather unfavorably.

Bith are not particularly hardy, but their wound threshold does not suffer for it. Their cultural status as accomplished musicians has arisen not for a natural aptitude for music per se, but a highly advanced sense of hearing that provides them a more complete awareness of the nuance of sounds which a trained musician can readily craft into song. This species bonus to Perception is countered by an increased susceptibility to sonic-based attacks. A naturally boosted Cunning score makes Bith a good fit for roles requiring subterfuge and obfuscation, and perhaps no spy in the galaxy has had an easier time blending in than a Bith posing as a touring musician.

Reshape the World One Explosion at a Time

“A plan never survives contact with the enemy, but a garrison wall never survives contact with me, so…”

Fully Operational also comes carrying a crate of new explosive materials and rules perfect for completely ruining the day of whatever and whoever happens to be nearby. Requiring a Mechanics check to prepare, these new explosive compounds and devices can have a wide range of purposes, with compounds useful for everything from area denial to anti-infantry, from perimeter breach to complete starship destruction.

A standard Detonite charge can do catastrophic damage to a small area—or a larger one when used with the Sapper’s Master Demolitionist talent—and is inexpensive, easily available, and benefits greatly from additional charges. An easy-to-use version called the Flex-5 Detonite Tape is also available at a slightly increased price, but is ideal for less trained soldiers to use for small-scale destruction such as breaching doors or eliminating datapads full of sensitive information.

On the other end of the spectrum is the potent and volatile Baradium charges, which are essentially a collection of enough thermal detonator material to do damage on the planetary scale instead of personal. These charges are incredibly pricey and rare and would likely be provided to operatives solely on a mission-required basis.