Meet The Scientist

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The next few posts are going to come rather quickly, just so you know. The Scientist class was one of the classes with a puzzling skill spread to me. Why would a Scientist be likely to have hacker-like Computer skills? I work with a number of scientists and engineers at my job and aside from one or two Linux enthusiasts most of the scientists have minimal computer literacy, some performing tasks by rote even. The engineers are much savvier about computers. I attribute this to the scientists' incredible focus on their chosen areas of expertise myself. So I have tried to re-make the Scientist into a well-rounded scholar and investigator.

SCIENTIST

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Scientists are the brains of any X-PLORERS mission team.  They are the ones to analyze the samples, piece together the disparate bits and deduce the dangers from the variform clues.  If you need to know what something is made from or what dangers a new lifeform presents, or how that anomaly is impacting the local space-time, the Scientist is the one to ask.

The skills for a Scientist character are:

• Chemistry (BRN) is the science of material things and can determine the makeup of alloys, the class of an animal venom, the properties of a new metal or plant extract, detect new elements, etc.  Successful use of use of this skill can determine the particular effects of any aggregate compound on other materials, identify the components and elements of any such compound's make up (within the limits of current scientific knowledge) and classify new elements and their likely effects.

• Mathematics (BRN) is the universal language, it is true that while the base numbering system might be different, it is also true that the same mathematical problems have to be solved for any intelligent species to reach space and then the stars.  Additionally, a solid understanding of mathematics is necessary to understand and use the other physical sciences.  The Mathematics skill covers every aspect of using numbers to figure out and decipher the universe: algebra, arithmetic, calculus, differential equations, geometry, probability, trigonometry, and so on.

• Physics (BRN) is the study of physical reality and the rules that govern it. An understanding of physics can determine the strength of gravity on a new planet; determine what local materials would best be suited to the construction of a new building, the power of a laser or the feasibility of an aerospace design.  Successful rolls against this skill can design a spacecraft, determine the chances of an avalanche occurring on a particular mountain or what optics are best for a new laser. If you need to know how much stress it can take before collapse, how matter is put together, or how to blow it up, Physics is the science for you!

• An elective skill selected from any of the other classes available in the game.

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Up next, the Spacer (revised Scout) class.

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