How much you charge for the skilled mechanics to install a mod?

My characters want to mod their attachments with the help from NPCs. How much you charge your players for such tasks? With each mod the difficulty increases, so the price should also. For now I said that the price is 250/500/750/1000c for each level of mod, but I am not sure about it...The mechanic does not roll, he has an auto-success in my games.

You're way too generous. If you are going to completely bypass the dice roll and just turn it into an automatic success with just an exchange of money, I'd scale it from something like superior customization and it would cost a ton. There would be a flat fee for even doing the work and way more per mod installed. If that mechanic they hire is succeeding automatically then he is an awesome mechanic with a fantastic workshop and it should be painful to pay for that.

Hmm, just to make it clear, my idea is 250c for the first mod, 500c for the next, and so. So, if they want to install four mods, the PC has to pay 2500c. That is too little?

Hmm, just to make it clear, my idea is 250c for the first mod, 500c for the next, and so. So, if they want to install four mods, the PC has to pay 2500c. That is too little?

Does that include the cost for parts, or is it just for labor? Also, if it's just for labor, then does this cost still get multiplied by 10 for work on vehicles/starships?

Four mods would already cost a PC 100 + 200 + 300 + 400 = 1000 credits, and that's making four rolls of increasing difficulty, a failure on any of which can prevent installation of that mod unless a new attachment is purchased to work on, and which on a Despair (should the GM upgrade a die, for example) destroys the attachment entirely.

You're darn right 2500 credits for no-roll guaranteed mods is too generous.

The way I see it, a tech making that roll has to be prepared for the hassle of dealing with Edge of the Empire types who, if he damages their equipment failing to install a mod, is going to get shaken down or have the cost of a new attachment coerced or beaten out of him. On top of this, the tech needs to cover his own rent and make a profit, too. I'm no actuarial nor do I have a dice roller probability calculator right in front of me, but at a ballpark, if it were *my* character?

If the understanding is, "Your credits, your risk," my hypothetical tech would probably charge your prices plus parts. That's with a dice roll, customer takes their chances. You already said that's not your interest.

If the arrangement is, "You do this until it's right," implying using as many attachments as necessary to get the job done. This is closer in line with what you're envisioning. In such a case I'd charge somewhere between a quarter and half price of the attachment, plus parts, plus labor fees in line with what you've already outlined, per mod, depending on the tech's confidence in their skills and greed. Over the course of four mods, that gives the tech wiggle room to replace the attachment once or twice and still make a profit, and if they one-shot the job? Bonus for them.

Yeah, that ends up being expensive. Example: Forearm grip. Base price: 250 credits, mod options: One Innate Talent (Point Blank), One Weapon Quality (Accurate +1).

Do it yourself cost: 100 credits (first mod) + 200 credits (second mod) = 300 credits.

"Your credits, your risk" cost: 100 (first mod) + 250 (labor for first mod) + 200 (second mod) + 500 (labor for second mod) = 1050 credits.

"Guaranteed success" cost: As above, plus 125 credits per mod (half the base cost of the item) = 1300 credits.

So possibly a bit steep on the labor costs, but in my experience, having something like an automobile or a firearm worked on *is* expensive. So maybe it's not worth differentiating for a cheap mod like a forearm grip... but use that price scheme on something like an Augmented Spin Barrel and you're looking at a "Guaranteed Success" cost of 2800 credits at two mods, plus the original cost of the attachment. A full four mods becomes 7000 credits. That seems pretty fair to me for a no-risk procedure (for the client; if the mechanic has a string of bad luck, it can still end up costing them more than they make very easily).

I agree that the price is too low, but I would probably jst charge them 1 job, with the difficulty of the job dependent on the difficulty of the mod(s). You want a couple mods on a single attachment, then why dont you bring this crate of blasters over to my buddy on the Wheel. You want 4 attachments with 4 mods each, then well, my brother in law is on Kessel, and the wife is so upset by that....

Hmm, just to make it clear, my idea is 250c for the first mod, 500c for the next, and so. So, if they want to install four mods, the PC has to pay 2500c. That is too little?

I'll be honest I'm not a fan of the attachment modding system, but letting players just spend credits I'm less of a fan of. I want the whole process to more tied to role playing and the dice, not less. I'd rather the only way to mod attachments were Talents in an Armorer spec. I don't even like the idea of just buying weapons like they are shopping on Amazon really. I would prefer everything involve role playing.

To me it's more fun to have them discover a modded weapon during a session of play that they at least earned through role play and combat, than just let them buy whatever they want.

If I was to slap a price on it, for all practical purposes Superior customization is 2 mods, a +1 on damage, and a +1 Advantage. I'd make every mod cost 2500 credits each for the service, plus the parts. That's the only way I'd even allow it and the point would be to motivate them to work on their own Mechanics skills. So a 4 mod attachment would be 10,000 for the services plus the base parts, plus the extra parts for the work.

Thank you all for sharing their opinions and pointing this and that. Helped a lot.