Hey there,

I asked myself if "Black Market Contacts" is supportive. I mean every act of buying stuff can be assisted by your teammates. Because these are negotiation or streetwise checks and your buddy can assist you by that.

So e.g. if my buddy is buying an item and he has "Black Market Contacts 1", he is decreasing the rarity by 1. If i am assisting him at is attempt to buy this item and i have also the "Black Market Contacts 1" can i decrease the rarity by another 1 point for him?

- Dutzen -

I cannot find any RAW that explicitly states yes or no in the Assisted Check section (p. 25-26) or the talent section, so this one is totally up for GM interpretation.

I would allow it, since the Black Market Contacts talent is a ranked active talent with an associated cost. For each level of rarity reduced, the players add 50% of the base cost to the item. 2 PCs with Black Market Contacts 1 should be able to combine their talents in the search If they are willing to pay double the price (2 ranks = +100%).

To the idea of combining talents on assisted checks, I say it depends on the check and talents involved. Allowing two characters with a 3-4 ranks of Solid Repairs each assist each other on a Damage Control Mechanics check may be a little unbalanced. Don't mean to highjack the thread, but I'm undecided on the general principle.

I would rule it on a case-by-case basis, but in this case, I would be okay with it in my game. There's no RAW answer, so you'll have to talk to your GM about it. If that talent rarely gets used already in your game, you'll have a good case for allowing it to be combined.

I don't have the book in front of me, but if I remember black market contacts right it requires a underworld check to find the gear if im right on my memor, I would give blue dice in the underworld.check to find the gear, but I wouldn't adjust the price further for the assistant.

EDIT: its a streetwise check, but that only the role, not how I would handle it.