I have a player wanting to craft a blaster sub machine gun. Something akin to a Thompson or MP5. How would you start the template? My idea was a hard Mechanics check. 375 credits for parts.

Damage- 7

Critical- 4

Range- Medium

HardPoints -3

Encumbrance -3

Qualities- Inaccurate 2 (maybe Auto Fire)

Would it be a ranged light or heavy check?

Sub machine gun is definitely a range light since assault weapon are range heavy. For your weapon stats I'd leave the damage and Crit the same but would put a 2 on the modifications (one rail on top and one under or the side. ) If you think of an MP5 it has the classic video game silencer and flashlight. Anyhow this detail is small but it can have the autofire with inaccurate 2 or single bullet at a time for inaccurate 1. But gain advantage for hidding it? Or would it be innacurate beyond short but gain automatically advantage when short range or engaged? You can even push with the price as an heavy blaster riffle modified into the sub machine weapon meaning that anyone outside of the PC who build it gain desaventage when using it.

Hope it helps

See, I really think it depends. An MP5 would be a Ranged [Light] weapon, whereas the more bulky Thompson is about the size of a carbine and thus Ranged [Heavy], so the player should make a decision for the size of his new weapon.
As for the template, the closest thing to an SMG we have is the SE-14R Light Repeating Blaster from Dangerous Covenants, so let's use that as inspiration. Start out with Damage 5/7 (for a Light/Heavy SMG), Crit 4, Range [Medium], give it Inaccurate 1 (2 seems excessive) and Auto-Fire and definitely add the "runs out of ammo by spending 2-3 Threats" rule. Encumbrance and HP should be around 2/3 each. Improvement options can just be ported over from regular weapon crafting, though you could add an option to remove the possibility to run out of ammo.

I'd say the crafting rules has this pretty much covered, as it's mostly about adding autofire to a mid- to small-sized blaster.

Otherwise I'd take a gander at carbines, like the DH-17 or the ACP repeater. Both smallish with autofire.

There's also an attachment option for adding autofire, but I can't recall which book it's in.

1 hour ago, penpenpen said:

I'd say the crafting rules has this pretty much covered, as it's mostly about adding autofire to a mid- to small-sized blaster.

Otherwise I'd take a gander at carbines, like the DH-17 or the ACP repeater. Both smallish with autofire.

There's also an attachment option for adding autofire, but I can't recall which book it's in.

Special modifications.

Two options. One, take a basic blaster pistol, add the rapid-recharge Xciter (special modifications pg 55) and you have a full auto light blaster. Two, build a blaster pistol via crafting (hard check, 200 credits) and spend 4 advantage (or 1 triumph) to add the auto-fire property (special modifications pg 78).

7 hours ago, Ahrimon said:

Two options. One, take a basic blaster pistol, add the rapid-recharge Xciter (special modifications pg 55) and you have a full auto light blaster. Two, build a blaster pistol via crafting (hard check, 200 credits) and spend 4 advantage (or 1 triumph) to add the auto-fire property (special modifications pg 78).

This! RAW is always best...

11 hours ago, Storm-Trooper-God said:

Sub machine gun is definitely a range light since assault weapon are range heavy. For your weapon stats I'd leave the damage and Crit the same but would put a 2 on the modifications (one rail on top and one under or the side. ) If you think of an MP5 it has the classic video game silencer and flashlight. Anyhow this detail is small but it can have the autofire with inaccurate 2 or single bullet at a time for inaccurate 1. But gain advantage for hidding it? Or would it be innacurate beyond short but gain automatically advantage when short range or engaged? You can even push with the price as an heavy blaster riffle modified into the sub machine weapon meaning that anyone outside of the PC who build it gain desaventage when using it.

Hope it helps

I'd have said an SMG was Ranged (Heavy). Looking at the way the official weapons are split, the rule seems to be that if it's fired (or thrown) one-handed, it's Ranged (Light). If it's fired two-handed, it's Ranged (Heavy), and if it's crew-served or has a fire-control system, it's Gunnery.

It's either a blaster carbine with auto-fire (Ranged Heavy) or a blaster pistol with auto-fire (Ranged Light). It would depend on how you went with the build approach and the expected size of the SMG (is it the size of an Uzi or something more like a H&K).

12 hours ago, Ahrimon said:

Two, build a blaster pistol via crafting (hard check, 200 credits) and spend 4 advantage (or 1 triumph) to add the auto-fire property (special modifications pg 78).

I think this will be the route I will go. I will let him use the "Two-Handed" option for it. But because he is really stretching the template I will upgrade the difficulty twice on the check making it a R/R/P diff.