Architecture and Engineering skills?

By Chryckan, in Rules Questions

Have an idea for a Kaiu engineer that's an architect but can't figure out which skill or skills is used for architecture and engineering. The school gives you smithing and design as artisan skills. Now while I can see you somehow shoehorn engineering into smithing (I mean even making a clock work mechanism you probably had to bang pieces of hot metal against each other at one point during the process so you could argue it makes sense. Guess the same could be true for building a bridge.). But even with modern languages incessant use of designer for every remotely creative profession, design in the L5R rules explicitly concerns fashion design so it doesn't really seem to fit architecture. Yet it certainly doesn't fit smithing either.

Of course you always have labour which certainly would work for a carpenter or a potter but architecture or engineering. Not exactly endeavours you think of when you hear the word labour?

Which brings you back to smithing. Yet at the same time you don't want to make it the ad-hoc skill for every technical skill there is.

So which should you use?

Probably Aesthetics and/or Labor.

"The Aesthetics skill covers activities that create non-utilitarian visual art."That would likely cover the "built-for-appearance" aspect of Architecture.

Construction is called out as a "possible Labor subskills," so I'd go with that for once it's being built. "Laying groundwork and foundations" is under the Earth Approach of Construction.

Fire Approach of Labor is also "drafting new plans and designs." So that seems pretty close to your Architect interest.

Edited by Hida Jitenno
formatting

Indeed. I'd agree with Innovate/Labour for designing a structure.

Yes, the skills are a bit broad-brush (for example Survival includes Horsemanship by default).

Thanks, that clarify things a bit. :)

If engineering and design is an important part of this game, maybe there's a subskill worth adding?

Alternatively, if this came up after the start of the campaign, I allow subskill emphases (a houserule) which allows for rerolling a number of blank dice on the skill check equal to the number of applicable subskill ranks the character possesses.