A Workbench is a bench, a vise, and a spread of tools — the general-purpose workstation of the Wasteland. It is where gear is built, modified, taken apart, and put back together. Of the three workstations it handles by far the most, and every weapon, armor, and robot modification in the game is installed at one.
A Workbench is a fixture, not an item
You do not carry a Workbench. It is part of the world — you find one, or you build a settlement around one. Nothing on this page can be done in the field unless it says so.
What You Do Here
| Operation | Test | Materials | Perk | 🔨 Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Install / swap a weapon mod | 🧠 INT + 🔧 Repair (INT + 🔬 Science for energy) | Scrap by host tier | 🎖 Gun Nut · 🎖 Blacksmith · 🎖 Science! | By tier |
| Install / swap an armor mod | INT + 🔧 Repair | Scrap by host tier | 🎖 Armorer | By tier |
| Install / swap a Power Armor mod | INT + 🔧 Repair | Scrap by host tier | 🎖 Armorer | By tier |
| Install / swap a robot mod | INT + 🔧 Repair | Scrap by host tier (Big Guns column) | 🎖 Robotics Expert | By tier |
| Remove a mod | — (no Test) | — | Same as installing | By tier |
| Fabricate gear — pipe guns, T1–T2 melee, T1–T2 armor, clothing | INT + 🔧 Repair | Scrap + materials | None / 🎖 Blacksmith / 🎖 Armorer | By tier |
| Custom Gear | INT + 🔧 Repair | Scrap + materials | 🎯 Jury Rigging + GM gating | By tier |
| Improvised Crafting | INT + 🔧 Repair | Scrap | None (GM-adjudicated) | GM discretion |
| Dismantle an item into Scrap | — (automatic) | Yields Scrap | 🎖 Scrapper for Uncommon / Rare | 15 min |
| ⚙️ Scrap Refinement | INT + 🔧 Repair | 5 lower-tier Scrap | None | 1 hr |
| Refill a Repair Kit charge | — (automatic) | 3 ⚪ Common Scrap | None | 15 min |
| Refill a 🧰 Toolkit charge | — (automatic) | 3 🟢 Uncommon Scrap | None | 15 min |
| Repair with raw Scrap | INT + 🔧 Repair | Scrap | 🎯 Jury Rigging | 1 hr |
| Duplicate Combining | INT + 🔧 Repair | A second identical item | None | 1 hr |
| Repair a Robot — Fix / 🔩 Fix Malfunction | INT + 🔧 Repair | 1 kit charge | None | 1 hr per charge |
Full rules for each of these live on 🔨 Crafting. Every mod’s own page lists its band, gate, and Test.
Two skills, one bench
What a Workbench Can’t Do
Some jobs need a different station:
| You want to make | Go to |
|---|---|
| Chems, medical items, syringer ammo | ⚗️ Chemistry Station |
| Explosives, grenades, mines (except the Molotov) | ⚗️ Chemistry Station |
| Cooked food, alcohol, purified water | 🍳 Cooking Station |
And some jobs can’t be done at any workstation at all. A bench in a garage is not a factory — the industrial-workshop rule puts three categories out of reach:
- Ammunition. Cartridges and cells need primers, casings, and calibrated tooling. Scavenge or buy it.
- Manufactured tool-kits — Repair Kit, 🧰 Toolkit, First Aid Kit, Doctor’s Bag, 🦴 Osteosynthesis Implant. Found or bought. (Refilling Repair Kit and Toolkit charges still works — that’s a different job.)
- Advanced weapons and armor from scratch — Tier 3+, energy weapons, power armor, robot chassis. These are found, then modified.
Working Without a Workbench
A few operations never needed one:
- Kit-based repair. Spending a Repair Kit or 🧰 Toolkit charge on an item works anywhere, including in combat. That is what kits are for.
- 🔨 Butchering a creature and dismantling a robot corpse.
- Crafting a Molotov, a 🧶 Rope, and the handful of other recipes whose own page says Workstation: None.
The 🎯 Field Repairs milestone (🔧 Repair +3) extends that list to the bench-work repairs — 🎯 Jury Rigging, Duplicate Combining, and repairing Robots — but not to anything else here.
Modification always needs the bench
No perk, milestone, or item lets you install a mod, refill a kit, or fabricate gear in the open Wasteland. 🎯 Field Repairs covers repairs, not construction.
Finding One
Workbenches are common wherever people maintain equipment for a living — settlements, garages, workshops, military bases, raider camps, and most places that have been occupied since the war. Assume a settlement of any size has one the party can use, for free or for a small fee.
They are also immovable. A party that wants a Workbench of its own has to hold a place that already has one, or take the time to build it.
Related Systems
- 🔨 Crafting — the full crafting system, including 🔨 Crafting Time and material costs
- Modifications — the full mod catalogue
- ⚗️ Chemistry Station · 🍳 Cooking Station — the other two workstations
- 🔧 Repair and 🔬 Science — the skills used here
- ⚪ Scrap — the universal crafting material
- ⚙️ Scrap Refinement — converting Scrap between tiers
- Condition — what repair restores