A character can spot a hidden mechanical device (i.e. a trap of some sort) if he/she makes a dice roll using his/her Engineering (including relevant specialisms) + PE.
It takes 10 seconds to search an item or small area for a trap. If there are several traps hidden on an item, a search will reveal only the first trap; this must be successfully disarmed or triggered; the character can then search again for the next trap.
The difficulty depends on how well the trap was designed and built as follows:
| Design | Manufacture -> | Abysmally made | Poorly made | Competently made | Well made | Excellently made |
| Abysmally designed | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | |
| Poorly designed | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | |
| Competently designed | 2 | 4 | 6 | 8 | 10 | |
| Well designed | 3 | 6 | 9 | 12 | 15 | |
| Excellently designed | 4 | 8 | 12 | 16 | 20 | |