Driver

Of the 8 Career Skills, choose 4 to get a free rank. Of the 4 Specialization Skills, choose 2 to get a free rank.

Explorer Career Skills: Astrogation, Cool, Knowledge (Lore), Knowledge (Outer Rim), Knowledge (Xenology), Perception, Piloting (Space) and Survival

Driver Specialization Skills: Cool, Gunnery. Mechanics and Piloting (Planetary)

Pilots are great for traveling from one system to anm other, but it's the Drivers that move beings around once they hit dirtside. While nearly anyone can manage the basics of a ground vehicle or a speeder, a Driver is priceless when the blaster bolts start flying or the weather turns particularly nasty. It's one thing to know how to go forward and back and how to apply the breaks. It's another thing entirely to know how far one can flip a speeder over to one side without stalling while skirting the wall of a canyon, swerving through rocky outcroppings and avoiding a hail of plasma fire from the swoop gang that's chasing the group.

Drivers understand the machines they operate, and they are exceptionally skilled with nearly anything that moves from one place on a planet to another, typically demonstrating some higher level of style or finesse.

Drivers are highly valued almost anywhere they go. Companies, military and security units, governments, and criminal factions all have a regular need for those who can transport personnel and goods over a planet's surface. Additionally, more than a few planets in the Outer Rim have traditions of racing of one style or another, and Drivers are naturals for being able to enter such competitions and walk away with a decent purse. Naturally, this depends on their skill and their ability to avoid being killed by other Drivers.

An Explorer with a Driver specialization is a natural fit for almost any Player Character group. His basic skill set as an Explorer is already helpful, and his talents for moving the group around on a planet automatically make him exceedingly valuable. This is especially true when the inevitable situation arises demanding a quick getaway under a hail of blaster fire.

Potential Backgrounds

  • Academic: Drivers are probably the least likely to come from an academic background, but it's not impossible to come up with a story that makes sense. For example, imagine a scientist who designs the latest power systems and insists on testing them himself in the harshest held conditions. Perhaps his ideas are too radical, and he needs a team to help him take a prototype to the Outer Rim to truly prove the concept, far away from the prying eyes of Imperial watchdogs.
  • Criminal: Drivers are greatly valued by most criminal organizations and enterprises; after all, after every caper there is the need to get away quickly and cleanly. Out in the frontier areas, many Drivers discover that legitimate jobs are few and far between (and often boring), while the truly lucrative opportunities to employ their gifts come with working for those on the wrong side of the law. What's more, the very idea of speed limits and traffic regulations is anathema to a Driver, so he is likely to have a number of traffic violations on his record wherever he goes.
  • Entrepreneur: Drivers know their skills sets are in high demand throughout the galaxy, so many of them specifically go into business for themselves as professionals. Many prefer to maintain a distance from their clients; they only want to know what they are driving, where they are going, and how they are getting paid. Others will contract on a long-term basis with a client, usually with a stronger idea of who and what they are transporting. Of course, combat-oriented Drivers can usually make decent money as specialized mercenaries.
  • Ex-Imperial Operator: Drivers are employed by the millions in the Empire, operating every form of vehicle imaginable. Speeders, ground rovers, walkers, swoops—all these and more are part of the Imperial war machine, not to mention normal day-to-day business operations. As with all Imperial institutions, there are strictures, policies, and regulations for everything, which can be painfully inhibiting to someone who truly wishes to let loose and push his vehicle beyond its alleged limits. Unfortunately, skilled technicians in any role tend to be greatly valued by the Empire, especially if they know a great deal about high-end machinery that shouldn't be shared with the galaxy at large. Such a Driver may well find his way as far out into the frontier as possible, where he can find an old classic of a speeder, enhance its performance, and show the rustics what a great machine with a great Driver can really do.
  • Fallen Noble: Drivers usually have an addiction to speed and a fascination with machines. As with the Big-Came Hunter, a noble may decide that he derives a sense of power over his environment by mastering machines of motion. Winning races in a Podracer or on a swoop has that element of danger that truly appeals to those who have everything. When one loses everything, he may well take his talents and experience with those same machines out to the Rim to discover a path for himself in his fallen state.
  • Wanderer: Drivers can easily be wanderers who simply wanted to cover ground more effectively. After all, knowing how to handle vehicles across the worst terrain means the wanderer need never worry about having his path blocked; all ways are open to him. Knowing how to handle machines well is also a great set of skills to barter passage with when he wants to make his way to the next planet on his journey.