The Artisan Skill has a lot of different applications in S-running. It really is a Skill Group in and of itself. I've been wondering about creative ways to apply it for one of my own PCs. A couple of trades are listed as potential specializations: carpentry and painting (though I suspect the latter was meant to be more the artistic version than the trade). I can see this aspect of the Skill being used as a way to infiltrate a location and pass as actually being the trades person. You know the archetypal scam: find a trade job about to be done in the building, hijack the van and replace the tradesman with one of your own. One of the ways the scam can fail is if the substitute is challenged on his knowledge (purposefully or incidentally). "So, which paint should I use under these circumstances, the matt eggshell or the semi-gloss? Really? That's not what the literature says."

My guy has INT 6 and Artisan 6(9), with a specialization in drumming. (Yeah, sort of a Rocker.) So he has 15 dice to do all kinds of things. I want to figure out what. Here are some trades and under which Skill I think they should be slotted. Some I haven't listed seem obvious to me, like auto mechanic fitting under Automotive Mechanics, or locksmith. I could use some help, both with the ones I have here and any I didn't think of.

Cabinetmaker: Artisan
Carpentry: Artisan
Cook: Artisan
Electrician: Industrial Mechanics
Furniture restorer: Artisan
Gasfitter: ??
Insulator: ??
Ironworker: ?? (Industrial Mechanics maybe?)
Landscape gardener: ??
Live music for the party: Artisan
Mason/bricklayer: ?? (though Sculpture is listed under Artisan)
Millwright: Industrial Mechanics
Painting: Artisan
Plumber: ??
Roofer: ??
Sprinkler systems installer: ??
Tilesetter: ??
Welder: Industrial Mechanics

Artisan is used in some vehicle mods, using the 'half is hardware, half is a specific skill' rule. Off the top of my head, I think its used for pimped ride, maybe some others.

But yeah, as written, it really is a fantastic skill.

I've recently used the Artisan skill with a specialization in 3D rendering that let's my character produce high-quality false recordings (good for blackmails or falsifying evidence).

When one of the other players was playing a free spirit with possession, I was the one who sculpted him a rendering of Michelangelo's David. He went around calling himself "Dave Angelo" and could pause as a statue to hide from security.

Sign--
Wacky

I know from my own experience in training for rough carpentry, it has uses that cross over into a lot of these areas, so I will toss "carpentry" inside the quote where I think it is applicable in most cases. And I'll toss a description down here of why that might be the case:

Insulator: ?? "carpentry" ... but depends on type of specialized insulation, some of the foam systems require very specific knowledge of the preparation and use of the product, where as fibreglass batt insulation (use of gloves, glasses, coveralls with hoody is advisable but some people actually get used to the glass shards in their skin and clothing and don't care/want to admit it bugs them aka tough guy) is just a stage of framing and closing in a structure to give it the necessary ®estitance rating for energy efficiency aka heat loss.

Landscape gardener: ?? "carpentry" ... but what you have here are actually two separate things, the preparation of a foundation and laying of drainage and finishing up a lot have a lot of landscaping in them that carpenters can handle but specific knowledge of plants? Only if they are a gardener on top of the carpentry. Basicly, I am saying some carpenters start out green grunt ditch diggers and don't forget the importance of safe shoring up of earth and drainage for run off water.

Roofer: ?? "carpentry"
Tilesetter: ?? "carpentry" ... I have seen both of those fall under carpentry before, while sheathing and rain screening the building and in finishing up the interior and exterior of the surfaces of a building.

The reason a lot of these trades end up being listed separately from carpentry is that they end up being areas of the construction process that are specialized in so as to speed up the process while maintaining quality in those areas with very specific products that are marketed for their quality and craftsmanship, at the higher skill levels truly becoming an art where you can practically see a tradesperson's signature in the quality of their work and those working under them and around them. Often the higher skilled trades person will advocate for a grade of work that may well exceed the industry standards set out in the Building Code and the engineer who approved the building plans in terms of cost as well as structural integrity but they should always have appropriate building permits for their work.

For evidence of what I am talking about, one of the better shows I have seen in regards to the subject is the Holmes line of shows. In a way, he is kinda this generation's Bob Vila (though some of that guy's practices where questionable at times because of specific local conditions not being applicable to the products he was hawking), where as other shows seem to gloss over details in construction far too much so as to focus on the design side of things for the sake of drama or ignorance.

I would say some of the Plumber, Electrician, and HVAC stuff does benefit from Carpentry knowledge as well, especially so they don't compromise structural integrity when they cut (into the stud supports of load bearing walls or cause window frames and floors to sag) to run their pipes, wires, and vents.

Does that help your Artisan description? I would say that having appropriate knowledge skills narrow down what something like Artisan does for a character would be helpful as well, though I am uncertain how that might take form as assisting or defaulting dice to the Artisan dicepool.

The thing you have to remember is that it is 'artisan' skill as in 'art' not as in 'trade skills'

Carpentry for example would include things like whittling or adding decorative inlays or things like that more than building the framework for a house. Painting would include 'Mona Lisa' not 'three coats and a primer'.

Trade skills fall under knowledge.

Plumbing for example would fall under a knowledge skill, though someone with IM would likely have a basic idea of how it works and might be able to fix a leaky faucet, but they won't be able to install plumbing for a building. Same with insulator and alot of those other things you mentioned. IM might provide some basic knowledge, but the knowledge skill is going to be needed for anything beyond the most minor of projects.

There are some that are a bit more grey area. Landscape gardener would likely be both (kind of like chemistry is both). You would need the artisan skill to make it look good (creative ability to make colors and form combine pleasingly) and landscaping knowledge skill to know that you need X kind of soil and Y kind of plants will bloom at the right time and a slope of Z degrees will degrade due to rain etc.

So, I think if you want to pass as anything besides an artist, you would need a knowledge skill as opposed to just the Artisan skill.