Scrounger
Got A Spare Here Somewhere
"According to the owner, this wagon was beyond repair. According to me, it was a wagon, a shed, two ladders, a bridge, and most of a tavern extension. Looks like we were both right."
Not every artificer works from a pristine workshop filled with carefully organized tools and rare materials.
Some work from wreckage.
Scroungers are masters of reclamation, adaptation, and practical ingenuity. They understand that every object is merely a collection of parts arranged for a purpose. When that purpose ends, the parts remain. To a Scrounger, a shattered wagon is not a failure. It is lumber, hardware, wheels, rope, leverage, and opportunity. A collapsed bridge is not an obstacle. It is the beginning of a new bridge. A ruined construct is not scrap. It is a cache of useful components waiting for a second life.
This philosophy emerged naturally throughout Aerith in the centuries following the Shattering. Entire civilizations were forced to rebuild themselves from whatever survived the collapse. Communities scavenged stone from ruined fortresses, salvaged timber from abandoned settlements, and repurposed machinery whose original creators had long since vanished from history. Necessity taught a generation of survivors that usefulness rarely disappears. More often, it simply changes shape.
While many artificers devote themselves to innovation, Scroungers specialize in transformation. They are not primarily inventors, though many are highly creative. They are not traditional craftsmen, though most possess considerable technical skill. Their true talent lies in recognizing hidden potential. They excel at looking at an object and understanding not only what it is, but what it could become.
This perspective often places them at odds with more conventional artificers. An academy trained engineer may spend weeks designing an elegant solution to a problem. A Scrounger is more likely to solve the same problem before lunch using debris, spare parts, and an alarming disregard for conventional procedure. Their work is rarely beautiful. It is frequently temporary. Yet it functions, and in many situations functionality matters far more than perfection.
For this reason, Scroungers are common wherever conditions are difficult and resources are scarce. Frontier settlements rely upon them to keep essential infrastructure functioning. Explorers value their ability to repair equipment far from civilization. Military expeditions employ them to construct fortifications, overcome obstacles, and keep damaged machinery operational under impossible conditions. Salvage crews, archaeomancers, merchants, and adventurers frequently seek their expertise.
Many develop an almost instinctive understanding of structures, mechanisms, and materials. Given enough time to study an object, a skilled Scrounger can often determine how it was built, how it failed, and how its remains might be repurposed into something entirely different. This ability stems from experience as much as training. Years spent dismantling, repairing, rebuilding, and improvising cultivate an intuitive grasp of engineering principles that few formal educations can replicate.
The greatest Scroungers eventually develop a reputation for accomplishing the impossible. They build bridges from wreckage. They restore function to machines long believed irreparable. They transform battlefields into fortifications and ruins into workshops. Their creations often appear crude to outside observers, assembled from mismatched materials and held together by methods that seem questionable at best. Yet these same creations have a frustrating tendency to continue working long after more sophisticated alternatives have failed.
Among artificers, there is an old saying.
Any fool can build something from perfect materials.
True mastery begins when nothing is available except broken pieces.
Scroungers embody that principle more completely than any other artificer tradition. They do not fear scarcity because scarcity is their natural environment. They do not fear ruin because ruin is where they find their resources. Where others see debris, they see inventory. Where others see failure, they see possibility.
In a world still marked by the scars of the Shattering, that perspective remains as valuable as ever.
Because civilization is not built from perfection.
It is built by people willing to pick through the wreckage and start again.
"Nothing is broken until I've looked at it. After I've looked at it, it might become three different things, but it won't stay broken."
Type
Industrial
Scavenging is a core part of being human. I love that you have made it into a subclass and an Artificer was the perfect choice. They give me a wonderful MacGyver feel.
Another one that needed more table time in our playtest game but oh man did the gnome get up to nonsesne with this :)