Fellow GMs, do you put any further restrictions on gear besides the rarity? Can players choose mods? Some mods are like 5500 and are rarity 4... Would you restrict that?

Cheers.

There's one guideline I follow when it comes to gear: Just because its in the book, has a rarity and price attached to it, and may or may not be restricted. It does not mean you can buy it. The metadata of the rarity, cost etc are there to offer context to the item if it is ever sold, fenced or legally purchased. However as a GM you can very easily say "sorry, that isn't available for general purpose". I do this with some things like the Personal Stealth Generator or Shield, as well as some very nice guns. The logic being that I would craft adventures around them and offer them as gear rewards. It stops people from simply getting the person with high negotiation, several ranks in 'I know somebody' and other talents from purchasing something like a TIE Phantom which you would DEFINATELY not be able to buy.

My opinion is this is a game you play together. If it fits how the character is behaving and would fit with his character theme then why would you keep him from getting it? These rewards are suppose to represent a reward for a large group of missions. It's not something you are giving them it is something that their character in theater has earned (yes it's a game so earned is hard to prove but they have risked their fake lives for this stuff).