Tech Levels

Tech Levels
The complexity that technology brings can be, for the sake of gameplay, be broken down into broad levels:
A Only the most primitive, teeth and claws, pointy sticks B Stone tools, fire C D&D Primitive D D&D Normal E D&D Advanced (Repeating firearms, reliable steam power) F Simple Electronics (dynamos, light bulbs, relays, unreliable vacuum tubes) G Solid State Electronics including computers with delicate storage, Fission H Advanced computers, beam weapons, stable AI, Fusion I Cyberpunk/Bladerunner/Aeon Fluxx/Ghost in the Shell/Dune J Star Wars/Babalyon 5 K Star Trek/Farscape
A character's ability to understand and work with objects is mostly dependant on their upbringing and training. This is reflected in the base tech levels for the ethno backgrounds. A character is at least passingly familar with how an object should operate if their tech levels are the same. Their base understanding can be expanded upon based on Intelligence and Wisdom modifiers. This will create a range of tech levels that the character can, with diligence, understand. To create this range, take a character's tech base and step it up one level for each + of Intelligence modifier. Next take the character's tech base and step it down for each + of Wisdom modifier. Example: a character has +1 Intelligence and +2 Wisdom and a base tech of D. The Intelligence of the character means that they can learn the complexity of tech E and the Wisdom will let them understand the simplicity of tech C and B.