A question that often comes up in my games when players make skill checks versus rarity to find items that they're wanting to buy is "how many of that item can I get?" The CRB RAW describes the mechanics of buying (and selling) reasonably well, but in terms of availability when succeeding on the Negotiate check all that is mentioned is that the item is found. What if the player wants a half-dozen, twenty, or a hundred of that item? Player wants to equip a small team with a relatively rare rifle. Makes the check and succeeds. He finds finds at least one copy. But he wants 6 (or 20). How many are actually available? How does extra successes and/or advantages affect the quantity found result? Cruiser captain wants to buy a different model of starfighter. Finds a seller and the seller has the exact model the captain is looking for. But does the seller have an entire squadron's-worth of fighters?

Most players only want to buy singles of whatever they're looking for (unless it's stims or other such consumables). But it seems the rules don't provide any guidance for more experienced / wealthy characters wishing to buy hard-to-get, yet legal, items in bulk. I'd like to know how other GMs handle this.

You could probably make a table for quantities, and have different quantity brackets which add different amounts of setback die to the roll.

So maybe like...

2: 1 Setback

3-5: 2 Setbacks

6-10: 3 Setbacks

11-20: 4 Setbacks

21-50: 5 Setbacks

Similar to how FFG's 40k games handle acquiring items in large numbers.

I pulled those numbers out of my ass in about ten seconds so don't pay them much attention, you'd definitely want to give it more thought than I did.

A question that often comes up in my games when players make skill checks versus rarity to find items that they're wanting to buy is "how many of that item can I get?" The CRB RAW describes the mechanics of buying (and selling) reasonably well, but in terms of availability when succeeding on the Negotiate check all that is mentioned is that the item is found. What if the player wants a half-dozen, twenty, or a hundred of that item? Player wants to equip a small team with a relatively rare rifle. Makes the check and succeeds. He finds finds at least one copy. But he wants 6 (or 20). How many are actually available? How does extra successes and/or advantages affect the quantity found result? Cruiser captain wants to buy a different model of starfighter. Finds a seller and the seller has the exact model the captain is looking for. But does the seller have an entire squadron's-worth of fighters?

Most players only want to buy singles of whatever they're looking for (unless it's stims or other such consumables). But it seems the rules don't provide any guidance for more experienced / wealthy characters wishing to buy hard-to-get, yet legal, items in bulk. I'd like to know how other GMs handle this.

If I don't care if they have more, I let em, if I do, I don't. Doesn't need to be more complicated than that I think. If in particular they whine I point out the whole friggin galaxy is at war and people vastly more wealthy than them want good guns also and buy em up.

A quick and dirty rule is that the higher the rarity is, the fewer of any given item will be available. If an item has rarity 8 or higher there's probably only one available on any given planet that isn't a major trade hub. On the othe hand, stuff with rarity 4 you can probably buy in bulk.

In a different manner of finding/purchasing gear (Streetwise, maybe?), I believe they look at the total number of net Successes you have, and that controls how many of that item you can find.

But for rare items, I would probably allow them to find just the one, or possibly two. Really rare items could not be found in quantities of more than one.

Ultimately, I think it comes down to what works best for you and your game.

For me, if the players could narrate a really spectacular story that explains the stupendous dice roll, then I’d be inclined to go with it.

Part of my quandary is handling items that aren't actually rare (say, rarity 7+), but merely uncommon (such as rarity 6). Sure, it's common sense to limit how many of rare items can be found in one location at one moment in time. But items that are not common (specialty blasters or attachments or low-production starfighters from smaller shipyards) should, depending on the exact item, be available in quantities greater than one or two, but not in bulk (50-100+) either. Heavy blasters, 'superior' weapon/armor mod, and cybernetics are just a few examples from the CRBs, with many more in the supplements. (Blasters are tricky, as being weapons, even when legal are tracked by the Empire.)

Look at it this way: if you walk into a car dealership, or sporting goods store, or pawn shop, to buy whatever "the new hotness" is that you're looking for, they probably only have one or two right there-and-then. On the other hand, if you say to them "I'd like to buy this one right now, and I'll be back in a week with an obscene amount of money. How many of these can you get for me?" then you're in business!

Even with hyperdrives, supply chain logistics is still a thing. Depending on who and what sort of business your PCs are dealing with, large quantities of special items will not be in stock , but that doesn't mean they can't be obtained or that they're not for sale.

I've used advantages for extras. I had not considered rarity though. Perhaps need more advantages for extras of a higher rarity.

We've used, with fair success, +1 Rarity/Double the number you're looking for.

So, if you are looking for a crate of 16 of something it would be +4 Rarity (+1 for 2, +2 for 4, +3 for 8, +4 for 16). It was a snap decision fill in and has worked well enough we haven't really looked for an alternative.

Possibly just eyeball it. Ask before hand how many they are after, add setback and upgrade the difficulty appropriately. I think upgrading is important because if word gets around of a sale of 100 rifles that could be very bad for the party. Then there is a Triumph, I would allow that to be used to get something like this, perhaps with a discount on the total cost for bulk buying.

Look at it this way: if you walk into a car dealership, or sporting goods store, or pawn shop, to buy whatever "the new hotness" is that you're looking for, they probably only have one or two right there-and-then. On the other hand, if you say to them "I'd like to buy this one right now, and I'll be back in a week with an obscene amount of money. How many of these can you get for me?" then you're in business!

Even with hyperdrives, supply chain logistics is still a thing. Depending on who and what sort of business your PCs are dealing with, large quantities of special items will not be in stock , but that doesn't mean they can't be obtained or that they're not for sale.

While applying setbacks (per Tom Cruise's suggestion) or increasing rarity (per Jareth Valar's suggestion) are interesting and viable methods, there's a problem with both of those. The player is, say looking for 6 or 20 of something, so you increase the difficulty of the dice pool by adding setbacks or rarity. The player rolls and fails. So the player doesn't find the desired quantity. But this method is just as pass/fail as the RAW system. It doesn't address interpreting the dice result. If you roll a harder check to find a larger quantity you can fail a roll that would have found a slightly smaller quantity had there been fewer difficulty dice in the pool. Player seeks 20 of something, rolls (either +4 setbacks or +4 rarity, depending on suggested method) and just barely fails, but gets a few advantages (say, 2 or 3). How many of the item are available (obviously not all 20, but how many exactly)? How much is the number reduced by extra failures and/or threats? What does the player find with extra successes or advantages?

I like SFC Snuffy's answer, which is useful if the players don't have time constraints on purchases (such as during downtime). But if they can't come back next week or next month?

Surely these questions must come up in people's games? Of course a GM can wing it and come up with some judgment call at the table (like Sturn's answer, which is what I have been doing until I created this thread). But it helps consistency if there's an actual "equation" (rule) that players can know and use. Players tend to like to be able to plan in advance. They also have a tendency to remember things better than I do and point out where a snap judgment made today is less (or more) generous than one made a few months or years ago.

I've been using a thing where every two advantages gives you "More", kind of like autofire.. So if you're looking for Thermal Detonators and succeed on the Streetwise check, then two advantages get you one or two extra whereas four advantages would get you maybe 6-12.

I've been using a thing where every two advantages gives you "More", kind of like autofire.

Useful, and reasonable. Thanks. Any suggestions for extra successes?

Comparing extra success to other skill checks; i would allow it to be spent in 2 ways. Decease the time it takes to track down the merchant or it can be spent to get a discount. Although for the second option i would require the character to roleplay for the discount.

You could also use advantages to trigger additional items beyond 1 or 2

My trading rules:

0. When trading items that aren't needed to be traded for a plot, do it in between sessions, so that you don't take away from the adventure.

1. If the item is legal, PCs can purchase for the base price or they can attempt to use a negotiation check to lower the price. The PC keeps whatever price they roll, in the case that they generate threat on a success. If they fail the negotiation, they are still allowed to buy at the base price.

2. If the item is illegal, you must roll streetwise to attempt buying/selling it. Failure means you are not able to find/purchase any copies of the item at this time & I only allow one roll for each different item in between sessions.

3. Ignore the rarity differences based on your location in the galaxy, unless trading in bulk.

4. Buying and selling is otherwise the same as described in the core rulebook, with the addition that advantage/threat can reduce/increase the price by 5% per & extra successes when buying allows you to purchase multiple items for the same pricepoint at a rate of 1 additional per success past the first (in the case of a larger price due to rolling threat, treat those as the only ones available with that seller).