Hi Crew!

I've just been think about how one could modify something like a weapon, a speeder or a starship. Now obviously there are rules for DIY, but what happens if you want to drop it off for someone else to modify?

I can see some potential story ideas there with the players building up contacts with a shipwright, or a mechanic who does some under the counter mods for those who do him/her a favour.

To this end, you would think a PC could leave their gear/vehicle/ship with someone who can modify it without error, and the PCs just spend the credits and are without that item for a certain period of time.

Are these rules out there?

Well I'm sure the rules would be just like the character rules. You determine the role and apply it to the modification. You don't even have to tell the players when something goes wrong with the modification.

I would say that the better the mechanic the higher the price. Or, if you want to give them someone who is cheap and skilled at the same time, you might throw in some obligation the PCs way as they use the Mechanic, opening up some doors for further plot hooks.

Don't flame me here but think of it like D&D when getting others to build or modify equipment for you. The same applies to the old D6 Star Wars in supplments like Tramp Freighters. In those rules, you could take your ship to a mechanic and have additional mods added - without chance of error. The amounts however were much higher when getting someone else to do it, than someone doing the mods themselves.

I'm just wondering if there are some rules to cover that or is it just GM's guess here? Or should I wait for the Technicians Handbook?

there are no rules to cover that right now. But nothing is stopping you as a GM from setting a number of credits you want to suck out of your players coffers in exchange for the modification.

Yep if they pay high enough they can get the mods installed without error...of course each mod is harder than the one before so the price increases....

The way i see it happening is that your players will try to install the first or second mod themsleves then when thigs get harder they mnay want to get a professional to do it. it's also a good hook for an adventure: you do this small job for me and i'll get your ship upgraded

In Far Horizons there's price scales for different types of jobs. Presumably you'd want to hire a specialist for a few days to do the modification- I'll have to check how that'd work when I get home.

I would say it depends on the story. Is there something interesting that would happen with failure, or drive the story forward? Let them make a check to find a reputable mechanic. That might be Knowledge (Education) or Mechanics or Streetwise or whatever. Use Negotiation to help set a price.

However, if it doesn't drive the story forward (failure would derail things) or it's just not interesting, set a price point, let them Negotiate the final price if they're concerned about it, and move on.

Rolls should always focus on what's important to the story.

In Far Horizons there's price scales for different types of jobs. Presumably you'd want to hire a specialist for a few days to do the modification- I'll have to check how that'd work when I get home.

Personally I'd look at how much money the PC has and set a price somewhere between 5 times the cost of the Attachment and mod and how much the PC actually has (if taking money from them is the goal). Otherwise just double or triple cost for a "legal" mod.

Personally I'd look at the difficulty, how many downgrades it would take to put it at a simple difficulty, and multiply the cost by that number.

With the addition of:

"Now I could knock 20% off that if you can do a little job for me. Wadda ya say?"

I would increase the price of the mod by X amount (say x2 or x10, whatever strikes you as appropriate) and substitute the Mechanics check for a Streetwise or Negotiation check (depending on the legality of such a mod/attachment).

Done and doner.

First, the rules for DIY would be the same for a NPC. That is sort of how the rules work, whoever does the work, works within the rules, NPC/PC/leprechaun/unicorn/etc.

Secondly, paying someone to do it is fine, and that is standard role playing to come up with a price for a task. There is a section of the homestead rules that has an NPC upgrade that is a mechanic that has stats ready to go.

Lastly, if you feel you need special rules to break RAW, why not just make an NPC that has like 5 in all the characteristics and stat him up to have all the mechanic skills for building/attaching mods and attach some random price to it. That way you don't have to bother with those pesky rules that require thought/creativity.

Personally I don't see there is a need for a new rule set for something that already exists. Might as well have special rules to be able to open every door too while you are adding arbitrary stuff.

which could have been proceeded by a successful negotiation check.

With the addition of:

"Now I could knock 20% off that if you can do a little job for me. Wadda ya say?"

I would increase the price of the mod by X amount (say x2 or x10, whatever strikes you as appropriate) and substitute the Mechanics check for a Streetwise or Negotiation check (depending on the legality of such a mod/attachment).

I would increase the price of the mod by X amount (say x2 or x10, whatever strikes you as appropriate) and substitute the Mechanics check for a Streetwise or Negotiation check (depending on the legality of such a mod/attachment).

i like that, keeps the dice rolls in the player's court.

And keeps it simple, one dice pool instead of 2 or 3.