Tinker

Tinker is one of the twelve power classifications created by the PRT still in modern day use. Tinkers have the ability to fabricate alien or advanced technology.

Methodology
Tinkers are distinct from other parahumans in that their powers don’t work through them so much as they enable them to fabricate things: They can create devices or alter existing devices well beyond usual restrictions of education, knowledge, resources, or physics. Most Tinkers have a specialty, an area of technology in which they operate either exclusively or better than others. Some draw on real world technical knowledge while others rely more on instinct.

Tinkers are among the most flexible parahumans, as a typical Tinker can artificially assume any number of other classifications depending on specialty, in addition to drawing inspiration from the powers of other parahumans or the work of other Tinkers.

Subtypes
Tinkers can be divided in twelve sub-categories:

Trigger events
Tinkers arise from problems without solutions that take place over long periods, culminating in crisis moment. The elements of the trigger build up over weeks or months and are inexorably tied into the moment the character triggers.

The exact nature of the problem informs the type of Tinker that emerges (see also the table above), while other key elements, such as surrounding features, context and details determine the Tinker’s specialty.

Process and Particulars
A Tinker starts with having ideas: those ideas that the shard can provide and the tinkers own, when these mesh the tinker gets inspiration and negligible nudges from the shard that helps them have a design in mind when they build. These builds are based around a 'skill tree' or specialty that the shard provides the tinker with, each build and scan helps advance up said tree. These crafting skills will, generally, only apply to the tinker's specialty and any superfluous items will be based on the tinkers native talents; native artistry and technical accomplishment will make for better designed items. The tinkering process also incorporates scans, covered below in the research section. These scanning devices can take various forms.

A typical tinker will start crafting their technology like any other Maker, but unlike such a typical artisan's process the Tinker's will be interpolated with the shard stepping in during the process, using its exclusive features to tune the resulting technology. The tinker typically enters a fugue state during the process, not noting when the shard might be augmenting a piece of material further then any process the tinker is visibly using. Thanks to this fortification, tinker handled materials can work better, longer, expanding and ensuring certain properties and more to make the final product work toward the tinker's design. The end result will generally be something not replicable by current human technology. See 'Materials' below for a more in-depth look into

Thus, unlike an artist making a painting the process doesn't just take place on one plane of reality, in fact the full process can't be seen in the regular 4-D reality humans are evolved to deal with. A Tinker "painter" would be able to wring out colors from paints that shouldn't be possible, to put in minute details with tools far too large and imprecise for such work. As an addendum; given the wide diversity of parahumans in the world it is not unknown for tinkers to wildly diverge in the methods they take to achieve their results. For method tinkers, I think the thing to consider is, well, a person sits down and uses materials to tinker up advanced equipment. First off... how can you toy with that process? Tear the sentence down, and look at the words and the assumptions.
 * A person sits down and uses materials to tinker up advanced equipment.

What if they aren't alone? Do they need crews? Do they borrow capes to help with the building process and use those capes to inform the end product? Do they create brain-reading engines and kidnap great minds and hook the engines up to the great minds to borrow talents and abilities to refine the end product?
 * A person sits down and uses materials to tinker up advanced equipment.

Can you think of methodologies that don't involve having a workshop? Or that have special cases for workshops? Is there a methodology that can only create things on the fly? What benefits would these on-the-fly tinkers get to make what they do more doable?
 * A person sits down and uses materials to tinker up advanced equipment.

Is there a methodology that could eschew the usual materials, or have a high demand for them? Do they emphasize the creation of materials (like the 3+ dimensional laser chip that Kid Win shows Chariot?) as their whole 'thing'?
 * A person sits down and uses materials to tinker up advanced equipment.

Too many bases to cover here, but look at all the assumptions of tinkering and play with them. Do they finish every job? Or is there something else that fills in the blanks? Secondary power (changer, breaker?), do they finish it in the field, to custom specifications (customizing vs. a target foe?). Do they not make actual equipment, but something more esoteric, like potions, chips, implants, life? Do they only tinker to fix things that were broken, to improve them? In place of equipment, it could be entirely self focused (cyborg parts) or entirely selfless equipment (outfitting others). - Reddit comment by Wildbow.

Research
Through the above mentioned scanning process and possibly even appropriating other Tinkers research, tinkers can 'push' their Tinkering portfolio into other specialties if they are willing to invest the time and energy while dealing with the challenges inherent with being an active parahuman. Research & Getting to AI So if you wanted to get more into the neighborhood of Dragon-like stuff and independently functional creations, you might want to get into AI stuff. In terms of of research, AI is Impulse x Data on the Detail Generator sheet, tinker tab. So it's a question of how easily you'd get into that. If you worked in any of the Data or the Impulse related fields, then it's something you could fiddle with on your own. Keep in mind it's less a question of how far away the option is (distance doesn't matter, exactly) and more the number of turns you have to make to get there. Example: if you were a radiation tinker with flexible access to what they delve into, these would likely be the options open to you (stuff along the impulse & elemental lines) - ignore the duplicate entries in white; it's just for table clarity. Now, keep in mind that whatever they delve into would probably be tainted or modified to reflect the stuff they started off doing & primarily specialize in. Working in AI with a Radiation start might resemble pulling a Pickle Rick only with harvested brain matter and purposefully generated tumors in said brains that give you avenues to hook them up to computers to do the thinking/AI stuff, rather than microchips. But AI is a straight line away and so it's something they could dabble in from the start, assuming they had the freedom with their methodology (hyperspecialists are stuck in one specialty, for example, as are a lot of binary tinkers) and the time/resources to research. They could get there a lot faster by scanning stuff like thinker brains or other people's created life to get the necessary info. Let's say you were a Vat tinker, though. Your lines of specialty run along the Artifice (tinkering with tinkerings) and Life spectrums. It's something of a jump to get from there to the AI field. I might, if I were your GM, rule that you had to cover several bases to get there... This would be a vat tinker's options in terms of what they can get and where they want to go with AI stuff. To get to AI they'd need to go up and make a right turn at Lifesign or Tutoring, or go right and take a northward turn at Clones or Nanotech. As a GM I might say, hey, you can't go straight to AI or even try to skip to getting there. You gotta delve into this stuff which gives you the background knowledge. So you might need to delve into the computer systems involving Lifesign (scanning people, reading lifesigns, targeting weak points), the skill-focused stuff in Tutoring (here, wear this hat, it'll upload kung fu know-how to your brain or download your traumatic memories for me to upload into your buddy's head), the growth of humans with human thoughts and memories (see what Bonesaw did with the S9) or the finer details of nanotech (colonies of microscopic computer systems/machines). And as a GM I'd say 'pick two, delve into them, field test them, and develop enough of a foundation you can go into AI'. Again, that's ~if~ the tinker is allowed to deviate or explore to that degree. Many wouldn't be. But if you could then as a vat tinker you'd then have a huge vat and you have a computer kludged into the top of it and the downloaded memories and skills from the Tutoring stuff you did, and you have a colony of Nanomachines that form a structure in the depths of it and create a kind of nanotech brain in a jar, and it then serves the functions an AI would. This would be a pretty extreme & advanced jump, and keep in mind the tinker is having to get by, gather the resources & do their usual thing in the meantime. This'd be a massive side project with a lot of requirement in resources & time with little return until it came together. Few can afford to do that when they could be upgrading & advancing their core stuff. - Wildbow answering tinker questions on reddit. The extent that they can benefit from another tinkers research and from scanning other parahumans powers is based on the specific tinkers specialty, sometimes it will just make it easier for them for them to create something in their discipline. If Lookout scanned Legend she might get some inspiration regarding light, clear optics at a distance & with intervening smoke/interference, and a little boost (say, a +2% to quality) to interdimensional-type cameras. The equivalent of a few days to a week of devoting a few hours a day to those fields of study. If Kid Win scanned Legend, he'd get a lot of information re: laser guns, modes of fire, energy and output, and other long-ranged stuff. Again, the equivalent of a few days to a week of devoting a few hours a day to studying that stuff. It would be more effective for Kid Win to scan Legend than it would be for Lookout to do the same, because Legend checks all of the boxes, as far as Kid Win is concerned. Different modes of fire? Guns? Options? Energy? Absolutely. If Lookout scanned Legend, then took those scans and handed them to Kid Win, it'd be filtered twice. When she scans she's looking for specific data in a specific context. Then Kid Win gets that data, and he can't use most of it because it's not relevant to what he does. So he can use 10% of the data Kenzie got, which is in itself not a 100% scan of Legend - he might get inspiration regarding long range scopes & that's it- the only real overlap between his specialty, hers, and Legend. Side note: The PRT gives some general data on Protectorate and Ward powers to all of its tinkers, so he'd be getting a more generalist, 'this is everything we could get on Legend (and Alexandria, etc.) in every context we could think of'... which isn't as good as scanning Legend himself, but it's useful, and it means Legend isn't having to sit down and get tricorders pointed at him for two minutes every time he crosses paths with a PRT tinker. - Wildbow on Reddit Similarly using the scans of another tinker will have that data filtered through that tinkers methodology.

Materials
Returning to the above painter metaphor good materials are essential in making good tech; if you wants to mix a certain type of paint then they try to find the right base colors and paint formula, tinkers would be able to get their results with the wrong type of paint and chemistry thanks to their shard but making the shard work so hard for this will decrease the overall quality of the product which is why tinkers tend to focus on getting the best materials available. A good rule of thumb is a few hundred dollars worth of tech for a single build. $200-$400. Increase the asking price to fit mass. If it takes $300 in materials to build a gun, how much does it cost to cover yourself in that material and add some engines? Getting to the $5000, $7000 range. Chariot only built a frame, not really power armor, which is lightweight and specialized and it might run closer to $2000, $3000. A megaproject, like String Theory's? Filling a whole garage or building with tech, at $100 per square foot? Hundreds of thousands, if not millions.

Now, there are variables here.


 * You can cheap out, add weak points (if you get shot in the big glowing weak point on your back you'll explode and your tech stops working), leave it fragile (loses functions or risks misfire on even light bumps & falls), give it less raw power or versatility, maybe shorter battery (now you've gotta finish your mission in 30 minutes or your suit will power down and trap you inside it), less coverage, make it less pretty... you can reduce the price accordingly, to half or a quarter. Gets you started.
 * Building tools and workbenches for your workshop costs a chunk of change but will speed up or reduce the prices of everything that you build in that workshop. Part of the process of building a tinker gun might involve building the tools to turn your mom's microwave into something suiting your purpose, but that's passive and minor, though it does accrue. Be mindful of the setback if you lose track - Accord hiring the Travelers to destroy Blasto's workshop would've set him back to zero in this regard.
 * Getting your tech from a junkyard, rusted out and crap? That tech's only going to count for a quarter or ten percent for what the price would be if it was whole.
 * Stuff isn't thematically relevant? You can't cheap out and pull cars out of a junkyard to dismantle to build your biotinker stuff. Vastly reduced efficacy, especially as you run into diminishing returns (biotinker could use some car batteries, spark plugs, raw metal for vats and general wires, but they'll hit a cap where they've got enough).
 * Throw in some specific, gotta-get-out-and-face-conflict items, related thematically to the specialty? Diamonds for the cryogenic gun, space laser from the university science department for a targeting specialist? Stem cells from a secure research lab for your bio tinker? That'll take your tech up a level, and is likely to be important (if it's not one of five things you have to scrounge up) for your megaproject. Gives some value ranging from $50 to $50,000, depending. Could range higher, but keep in mind that as the number climbs you go from having a scattered few security guards with police on the way to private security firms, secure buildings, and capes that guard the institution. But in general, finding tech or resources that are directly relevant to your specialty comes with a small bonus in how much it counts.
 * Double the asking price and double or quadruple the research time as you get off-spec (example: if you're a tinker dealing primarily with pyrokinesis and you want to build a tinkerized no-fire, no-heat bullet gun to use against the fireproof) if you can get off-spec. Might increase past double as you get further afield.
 * Multiply it by ten if you want to make something high quality, that might hold up to being dropped or knocked around.

Generally speaking this is a pretty big hurdle tinkers have to get over. And since building gets you the ability to go out and get more money and components, and since building stuff is a fast way to figure out directions to take your work, the sooner you get over the hurdle, the better off you are.

Keep in mind that theme & the tinker's trigger could inform this all in small ways. What was the dilemma or long term problem that drove them? Even if they aren't a resource-type tinker, there could be nuances to how they approach it all that mirror the trigger. This is why tinkers go to the PRT. In exchange for loyalty, they cover the costs. Other big sponsoring groups (the Elite, Dark Society, even the Fallen) will often help out in a big way. Even joining a group of some sort that's willing to help you out in exchange for your talents if you can build something is pretty big. There's a reason the majority of top tier tinkers come from the PRT and groups on a similar scale. Keep in mind also that if you're a new tinker and you're trying to find your way forward on your own, if you settle into a pattern, then that's a pattern that may be exploited. People will track you down or start to come after you. Groups will kidnap or strongarm a tinker into joining to provide them with that sheer versatility and ability to problem solve. Tinkers are powerful but they're also vulnerable. So, to start with, going by the price of $200-$400 (NOT a hard & fast rule) to build a bog standard tinker gun that might be a bit fragile, that's going to mean dismantling your television and microwave, and where does that get you? A dip in quality of life and now you've got a gun, putting you a bit behind your average blaster. That's a steep road to climb. - Wildbow in Reddit

Non-Tinker Usage
Due to the process outlined above a Tinker device is nigh-impossible for normal humans to recreate, reverse-engineer, or even maintain. Tinkers not only work with highly advanced technology, production and maintenance is also extremely precise, requiring the aid of the Tinker’s power to get right. Even extremely minor factors that the Tinker isn’t consciously aware of can have great effect on the end result: Examples include ambient temperature, radio waves and earth's superposition in the galaxy.

Tinkers are often able to modify devices of other Tinkers, although even here the end-result will be of lesser quality.

On the other hand, others – even ordinary humans – are able to use Tinker devices. Tinkers even equip teammates with items (although this is unusual), while some Tinkers, such as those from Toybox, sell their goods on the black market. Such effort must always be balanced by the fact that a single misstep can render the entire device non-functional if not dangerous, understandably frustrating.

Regardless a Tinker is a huge asset to any team and are thus highly sought after, if not outright abducted. This is why tinkers are known to form communes for protection or join powerful teams.

As Tinkers often place trackers on their gear, it’s generally unwise to steal it.

Common combinations with other ratings
The thing to understand with tinkers is that they can assume any number of artificial classifications thanks to the technology they create. Blasto and Cask are good examples of this phenomena. There are those whose tinkering works through an alternate means, such as those who can create tinker devices through their presence, or those who have a separate power distinct from their tinkering. Thinker abilities are also known to occur, as they may compliment the tinker power letting them use their power more effectively.

Interestingly there are parahumans that create items and technology that are explicitly not tinker-tech yet still acts as a vector for their powers.

Role in the Cycle
The entities create Tinkers to explore options, taking powers that have already been explored and allowing them to be explored in even more depth, or attempting to ‘crack’ the particulars of a field or specialty from a species from previous encounters earlier in the cycle.

PRT countermeasures
Tinkers are less dangerous when removed from their gear, but should not be assumed to be harmless. The PRT generally appends a Tinker’s specialty to the classification whenever possible, but has a hard time accurately rating a Tinker's threat level.

Trivia

 * Shards in general do not allow for space travel, and other technologies the entities consider high-risk, such as AI and nano-technology, are heavily restricted.