Operator

Overview

The Operator is Rifts' wasteland mechanic, junker, and gear specialist — the character who keeps the party's vehicles running, repairs damaged power armor, salvages working components from broken tech, and improvises functional gear from scrap when nothing else is available. Where a Technomancer is a magic-and-tech caster who creates magical tech, the Operator is a practical engineer who maintains, repairs, and modifies mundane tech. They're the unsung hero of any vehicle-heavy or gear-heavy campaign — without an Operator, the party's truck breaks down in the wasteland with no one to fix it.

Operators in canon are practical, resourceful, and often grumpy. They range from formally trained mechanics (Federation motor pool veterans, Northern Gun corporate techs) to self-taught wasteland junkers who learned by taking apart pre-Rifts trucks. They tend to dress in work clothes, carry tool belts, and have grease under their fingernails. The class is the party's "engineer in the back of the van" — quiet, essential, and almost never the spotlight character in a combat scene.

The Operator is not a combat class. Its identity is technical skill, not firepower — built on Crafting Specializations, a Workshop, and an instinct for mechanism. Their party value is downtime and any encounter that turns on vehicles, electronics, or salvage.

At a glance

Class features by level

Sub-Specs

Federation Motor Pool Operator

• L1: Federation-trained. Bonus to Federation gear; reduced Federation spare-parts cost; military reputation.
• L7 Greater: Federation spare-parts delivery (gated by 1–2 day delivery time).
• L15 Master: Federation Combat Support (a faction favor, gated by GM availability).

Wasteland Junker

• L1: Self-taught. Salvage from technological creatures available.
• L7 Greater: Junkyard Dive (spend 2 Workshop Reserve).
• L15 Master: Major Salvage (spend 3 Workshop Reserve).

Corporate Tech

• L1: Manufacturer-trained. Bonus to commercial tech; discount on corporate purchases.
• L7 Greater: identify a manufacturer-specific weakness (1 action, once per round).
• L15 Master: Industrial Inquiry (acquire a corporate item at 50% cost; gated by 1–2 week delivery).

Class feats

Class feats available at each feat level — you gain one at every even level, and can always pick a feat of your level or lower.

Level 1

• Skill Specialist. Gain an additional Specialization beyond your class's 3 starting.
• Tool Specialist. +1 status bonus to checks made with hand tools, diagnostic equipment, and welding gear.
• Mechanic's Eye. Identify the make/model/age of any vehicle, weapon, or piece of armor with a 1-action examination (no roll required for common items; for rare or unusual items, the GM may require a check).
• Gearhead. You gain a +1 status bonus to Crafting checks to Repair, and you treat your proficiency rank for operating and piloting vehicles as one step higher than normal.

Level 2

• Quick Fix. Trigger: a vehicle you're aboard, or an allied construct or power-armored ally within 30 ft, takes damage. Reduce that damage by an amount equal to your level (you brace a panel or reroute power). Once per round.
• Scrounger. Whenever you Salvage in a tech-rich area, you also turn up common consumables — ammunition, fuel, batteries, and basic gear. You can reliably scrounge basic supplies wherever machines are found.
• Combat Driver. While you pilot a vehicle, it gains a +1 circumstance bonus to AC, you can Take Cover within it as a free action, and you can use Field Repair on the vehicle you're piloting.

Level 4

• Field Specialist. Field Repair restores additional HP equal to 1d6 + Crafting proficiency level (cumulative with baseline Field Repair healing).
• Improvisation Master. Improvised Vehicles built via your class feature operate at −1 status (instead of −2) when first built, and the penalty disappears entirely after 1 week of "break-in" use.
• Salvage Specialist. Your Salvage Run extracts +1 component beyond its normal yield.

Level 6

• Field Mechanic. You can use Field Repair to restore Hit Points to a creature's worn power armor, or to a construct or cybernetic creature's HP, as a 2-action activity in combat (patching plating and servos under fire).
• Targeting Diagnostics. When you Recall Knowledge or use Mechanical Intuition on a vehicle, construct, or power-armored creature, you may grant one ally who can see you a +1 circumstance bonus to their next attack roll against it. Once per round.
• Improved Field Repair. Your Field Repair's per-device cooldown drops to 1 minute, and it restores 1 additional die.

Level 8

• Major Modification. You can perform a Major Vehicle Modification in 1 day instead of the multi-day standard. No daily limit — the day of focused work is the limiter.
• Operator Network. You have a network of fellow Operators across the wasteland. You can query it for information about specific tech (manufacturer, age, modifications, the location of similar items); a response arrives in 1–2 days.
• Overcharge Gear. Once per round. Tune an adjacent ally's weapon or armor: their next Strike before the start of your next turn deals +1d6 damage, or their armor gains +2 Hardness until the start of your next turn (choose when you act).

Level 10

• Master Mechanic's Repair. In combat (or 10 minutes out of combat). Restore Hit Points equal to (3 × your class level + INT modifier) to a vehicle, construct, or a creature's worn power armor. You can't repair the same target again until 10 minutes pass — the gear-side equivalent of a Chopper's Cybernetic Repair.
• Rapid Salvage. Your Quick Salvage becomes a 1-action activity, letting you strip a working part off a downed construct, vehicle, or device mid-combat to use immediately.
• Jury-Rigged Defense. Using salvage on hand, deploy improvised cover in an adjacent square (granting standard cover) or hand a deployable ballistic shield to an ally (a +1 circumstance bonus to AC until they drop it).

Level 12

• Custom Vehicle Build. Over a multi-week downtime project, design and construct a custom vehicle to your exact specifications (standard base cost plus custom modifications). The project time is the limiter; no daily cap.
• Master Salvage. Salvage Run yields one unexpected component per attempt — a rare item, an unusual tool, or evidence of something significant (GM ruling on what shows up).
• Master Pilot. Vehicles you pilot gain a +2 circumstance bonus to AC and improved handling, and you reduce the multiple attack penalty on the vehicle's mounted weapons by 1.

Level 14

• Combat Engineer. From salvage and standard parts, you can set explosive charges, mines, or breaching charges: a placed charge deals fire or force damage in a burst (basic Reflex vs. your class DC), or breaches a door, wall, or vehicle hull instantly.
• Greater Targeting Diagnostics. Your Targeting Diagnostics bonus increases to +3 to the attack roll and +2d6 to damage, and it applies to every ally who can see you against the studied machine, construct, vehicle, or power-armored creature.
• Field Fabrication. During any 10-minute rest, you can fabricate a temporary piece of gear (a tool, a one-use device, or basic ammunition) from salvage; it functions until your next long rest.

Level 16

• Legendary Workshop. Your Workshop becomes mobile — you can transport it via a fitted vehicle. The Workshop operates at full capacity wherever the vehicle goes.
• Magnum Opus Operator. Over 1 week of focused work, build a unique, custom piece of high-end tech (vehicle, weapon, gear). The item operates at +1 status to all uses for as long as you maintain it. The week of work is the limiter; no daily cap.
• Master of Machines. You operate and pilot any vehicle, mech, or power armor at your highest proficiency rank, and any vehicle, construct, or power-armored creature you've studied with Mechanical Intuition this encounter is off-guard to you.

Level 18

• Battlefield Repair Bay. 10-minute activity to set up a deployable repair node. While it stands, allied vehicles, power armor, and constructs within 30 ft regain Hit Points at the start of each of their turns, and your Field Repair can target every eligible ally near it at once.
• Reinforce. Trigger: an allied vehicle, construct, or power-armored ally within 30 ft would be reduced to 0 HP. It instead remains at 1 HP as you slam an emergency patch into place. Usable once per 10 minutes.
• Master Salvager. Your salvage yields are doubled, and you can extract functioning high-tech components from nearly any mechanical or electronic wreck, including exotic and alien tech.

Level 20

• Grand Engineer. Your Master Mechanic's Repair restores the maximum value of its dice plus your level, removes the Broken condition, and can target two creatures or vehicles at once; its cooldown is removed.
• Walking Arsenal. You and any ally using gear you actively maintain gain a +1 status bonus to attack rolls and AC, and your Overcharge Gear affects every ally within 30 ft when used.
• Living Legend Operator. Your Workshop's capstone abilities function anywhere, even without the facility, and given a few minutes you can jury-rig a working solution to almost any mechanical or technological problem (GM discretion).

Where the class fits the scene

Combat

• The Operator is a moderate-support class in combat. Main contributions: Field Repair (1-action HP restore to a vehicle/device — useful in vehicle combat), simple weapons + class proficiency, and combat options that open up via class feats at higher levels.
• Damage output is low; survivability is light-armor-tier. Plays as a non-frontline character.

Downtime

• The Operator dominates. Vehicle repair, electronics repair, salvage, improvisation — the party's gear maintenance routes through them.
• Particularly powerful in long-distance travel scenarios (a truck breaking down requires an Operator) and scrap-rich environments (cities, ruined facilities).

Without a Workshop

• Field Repair is still available.
• Major repairs are unavailable until a Workshop is re-established (1 week + 10% wealth).

Spotlight situations

• Vehicle-heavy / travel-heavy campaigns: the Operator is central. Every vehicle the party uses passes through their hands.
• Scrap-rich environments: Salvage and the Junker Sub-Spec excel. The Operator essentially generates wealth.
• Power-armor-heavy campaigns: an Operator with Power Armor Tech is the Chromeboy's best friend.
• Federation-friendly campaigns: the Federation Operator gets reputation and resources.