I think I would have made the number of documents you can get out of the device depend on the difficulty.

Basic false identification (used for cursory inspections) Easy (1) Production cost 0

High quality civilian identification Average (11) Production cost 1

Standard clearance governmental or military ID or documents Hard (111) Production cost 2

Documents filed with governmental agencies (BoSS datapads, etc) Daunting (1111) Production cost 3

High clearance governmental or military ID or documents Formidable (11111) Production cost 4

This way you could make as many false driver id's as you want to get into bars, but only a very few to get into those high security places before you need a new data refresh.

Those descriptions are, essentially, what I've had in mind "behind the curtain" of the quickie mechanic that I posted

Well, for the record, it *does* seem a bit contrived/forced to me...but it is, of course, your game.

Any explanation like this will/should naturally lead to questioning why other, less advanced forgeries work better, longer...and eventually, a reasonable player will determine that this device is simply a worse version of what everyone else in the galaxy is doing for their fake ID needs through normal channels. That is...as a player...why would I use this thing, that produces items with an unknown and variable shelf-life, when I can just get myself some proper tools (or find a contact who knows a guy), and get the same set of documents but without the annoying, unnecessary "gotcha"?

So basically, I just don't think that the whole "limited time usage" gimmick is relevant to the realm of a fake ID, and any sort of explanation you'd use to invoke such an artificial limitation is something that, by the nature of the rules already in place, the existing, standard forms of forgery out there must already account for...which means that your "new" method is strictly objectively worse than an equivalent alternative using normal methods. So basically, to shoehorn in one aspect means you're overall just making something that's already been covered, except not as good.

I think I would have made the number of documents you can get out of the device depend on the difficulty.

Basic false identification (used for cursory inspections) Easy (1) Production cost 0

High quality civilian identification Average (11) Production cost 1

Standard clearance governmental or military ID or documents Hard (111) Production cost 2

Documents filed with governmental agencies (BoSS datapads, etc) Daunting (1111) Production cost 3

High clearance governmental or military ID or documents Formidable (11111) Production cost 4

This way you could make as many false driver id's as you want to get into bars, but only a very few to get into those high security places before you need a new data refresh.

Interesting addition. I'll admit, I set just a hard limit of 10 creations before data refresh because the group is large (depending on turnout, there's the possibility of having to create 10 ID's, factoring in a couple of NPC's the group has), so I felt like being generous and allowing for one full crafting set after refresh before difficulty upgrades start hitting. But you've given me a concept to mull over for the next day or so before I have to have my mechanics locked in for Sunday, when I anticipate it being used for the first time.

Those descriptions are, essentially, what I've had in mind "behind the curtain" of the quickie mechanic that I posted

Well, for the record, it *does* seem a bit contrived/forced to me...but it is, of course, your game.

Any explanation like this will/should naturally lead to questioning why other, less advanced forgeries work better, longer...and eventually, a reasonable player will determine that this device is simply a worse version of what everyone else in the galaxy is doing for their fake ID needs through normal channels. That is...as a player...why would I use this thing, that produces items with an unknown and variable shelf-life, when I can just get myself some proper tools (or find a contact who knows a guy), and get the same set of documents but without the annoying, unnecessary "gotcha"?

So basically, I just don't think that the whole "limited time usage" gimmick is relevant to the realm of a fake ID, and any sort of explanation you'd use to invoke such an artificial limitation is something that, by the nature of the rules already in place, the existing, standard forms of forgery out there must already account for...which means that your "new" method is strictly objectively worse than an equivalent alternative using normal methods. So basically, to shoehorn in one aspect means you're overall just making something that's already been covered, except not as good.

I can respect that perspective.

In this case, neither the player nor I are expecting use of this gadget/mechanic to be the default go-to when creating false ID's documents, but something that is used when higher quality forgeries are needed. It springs from flavor in his background, as a tool used by spies who might need such documents in the field, providing them with higher quality output than the guy in some back alley. The problem being, the official False Credentials already set the bar fairly high in terms of their quality. As far as the limited use goes, fluff-wise, it's explained as the device no longer being authorized, so the crafting takes some finessing; mechanics-wise, it's a check and balance. Doesn't seem all that unreasonable that whatever method and algorithm that authenticates higher-level access is updated periodically, making their use limited.

The problem being, the official False Credentials already set the bar fairly high in terms of their quality.

I guess that's my main thing.

If I were a player, my immediate question for you the GM would be, "Okay...so this is just a machine that makes crappy fake IDs? Because I can get the ones that already exist in the book that work great and never magically evaporate...so why would I bother with going out of my way to use a piece of equipment that specifically makes something I can already get elsewhere, except worse?"

Unless you're going to nerf the official equipment from the books specifically to make this thing attain "not useless" status...in which case, it simply becomes "tools to make forged IDs", since now they're all crappy.

I'm just concerned that the mental gymnastics required to make the thing plausible requires making pre-existing stuff not plausible...and if you do that, then this new thing becomes the new "standard", not any better.