A weapon attachment question of my own: Would the Spread Barrel attachment work for heavy blaster rifles, if RAW specifies only "blaster rifles and blaster carbines"? The aim here is basically combining the Blast 4 (or more if one succeeds on modifying the attachment) quality with the Auto-fire quality of heavy blaster rifles, since I see no such attachment or mod for blaster rifles or blaster carbines.

A weapon attachment question of my own: Would the Spread Barrel attachment work for heavy blaster rifles, if RAW specifies only "blaster rifles and blaster carbines"? The aim here is basically combining the Blast 4 (or more if one succeeds on modifying the attachment) quality with the Auto-fire quality of heavy blaster rifles, since I see no such attachment or mod for blaster rifles or blaster carbines.

Per RAW, no just the b rifle and b carbine. The h b rifle is a different weapon.

Thanks for clarifying the RAW; as an adjudicating question, would you as a house rule allow such a combination-by-attachment?

Thanks for clarifying the RAW; as an adjudicating question, would you as a house rule allow such a combination-by-attachment?

I would not. I'm not fond of a single weapon that can do everything, so I'd rather see the h b rifle used for autofire, a modified b rifle used for sniping, and a spread barrel b carbine used for roomsweeping.

Personally, I prefer to upgrade the check rather than increase it. Adding more difficulty dice is all well and good, but even if you (the GM) spends a Dark Side Point on it that's only ONE red Challenge die, which only has a 1 in 12 chance of rolling Despair IF the player fails the check. That's not much a of a threat, and it's a thematically strange use of a Dark Side Point. Plus if there are no Dark Side Points available players can simply keep trying over and over again until they pass with relatively few risks both financially and otherwise (unless the players and GM agree that enough Threats have been rolled to someone damage the attachment and/or piece of equipment).

With the text about Despair rolls, it seems to me that "increase" might be a type-o. Think about it from within the context of the setting; why wouldn't everybody not just upgrade the heck out of the equipment the day they got it? Well, because without the proper technical know-how you risk breaking said equipment. If you DO have the technical know-how, however, you can make equipment function at the same level as peak-capacity prototype gear, bypassing all the corners cut with assembly lines.

It should also be noted that there is no difficulty level higher than Formidable (5 purple dice), which is two higher than Hard (the base difficulty level for the first mod on an attachment). One increase after that the task becomes Near Impossible, which requires a Light Side Destiny Point to attempt if the GM even allows it (although it still uses 5 difficulty dice as if it were a Formidable task). Two more increases is territory the game does not cover; as there is no way to spend two Light Side Destiny Points on one check, there is no way attempt a task that hard. So why would the gear modification system allow for something like that...?

Yes, but once you get past Formidable (five Difficulty dice) you just start upgrading them to Challenge dice.

Yes, but once you get past Formidable (five Difficulty dice) you just start upgrading them to Challenge dice.

Doesn't say that in the rulebook. It seems reasonable, but the book says once you get past Formidable you go into Impossible, which has it's own sidebar. Besides, if cloning a new body for yourself or finding food and shelter on a planet without a breathable atmosphere are both Formidable tasks, I seriously doubt the 3rd or 4th mods on a bowcaster accelerator enhancer are even harder than that. There is, however, a greater risk of breaking something.

Personally, I prefer to upgrade the check rather than increase it. Adding more difficulty dice is all well and good, but even if you (the GM) spends a Dark Side Point on it that's only ONE red Challenge die, which only has a 1 in 12 chance of rolling Despair IF the player fails the check. That's not much a of a threat, and it's a thematically strange use of a Dark Side Point. Plus if there are no Dark Side Points available players can simply keep trying over and over again until they pass with relatively few risks both financially and otherwise (unless the players and GM agree that enough Threats have been rolled to someone damage the attachment and/or piece of equipment).

With the text about Despair rolls, it seems to me that "increase" might be a type-o. Think about it from within the context of the setting; why wouldn't everybody not just upgrade the heck out of the equipment the day they got it? Well, because without the proper technical know-how you risk breaking said equipment. If you DO have the technical know-how, however, you can make equipment function at the same level as peak-capacity prototype gear, bypassing all the corners cut with assembly lines.

Just remember that failing the roll means that modification option can never be attempted again on that attachment. One of my PC's wanted to mod something on his Balanced hilt. The dice pool was YYGPPPP. He failed the roll. Now he's out looking for another one. Unless the party has access to a dedicated mechanic, moding their gear gets very hard very quickly.

Yes, but once you get past Formidable (five Difficulty dice) you just start upgrading them to Challenge dice.

Doesn't say that in the rulebook. It seems reasonable, but the book says once you get past Formidable you go into Impossible, which has it's own sidebar. Besides, if cloning a new body for yourself or finding food and shelter on a planet without a breathable atmosphere are both Formidable tasks, I seriously doubt the 3rd or 4th mods on a bowcaster accelerator enhancer are even harder than that. There is, however, a greater risk of breaking something.

After reviewing the relevant sections you are entirely correct. Depending on GM fiat of course moding an attachment would proceed as this:

1:PPP

2:PPPP

3+:PPPPP

If the GM decided to make it an impossible task that would be up to them. Still, unless the player is particularly skilled, they will fail eventually, and the GM always has the right to upgrade the difficulty if conditions warrant it.

Personally, I prefer to upgrade the check rather than increase it. Adding more difficulty dice is all well and good, but even if you (the GM) spends a Dark Side Point on it that's only ONE red Challenge die, which only has a 1 in 12 chance of rolling Despair IF the player fails the check. That's not much a of a threat, and it's a thematically strange use of a Dark Side Point. Plus if there are no Dark Side Points available players can simply keep trying over and over again until they pass with relatively few risks both financially and otherwise (unless the players and GM agree that enough Threats have been rolled to someone damage the attachment and/or piece of equipment).

With the text about Despair rolls, it seems to me that "increase" might be a type-o. Think about it from within the context of the setting; why wouldn't everybody not just upgrade the heck out of the equipment the day they got it? Well, because without the proper technical know-how you risk breaking said equipment. If you DO have the technical know-how, however, you can make equipment function at the same level as peak-capacity prototype gear, bypassing all the corners cut with assembly lines.

Just remember that failing the roll means that modification option can never be attempted again on that attachment. One of my PC's wanted to mod something on his Balanced hilt. The dice pool was YYGPPPP. He failed the roll. Now he's out looking for another one. Unless the party has access to a dedicated mechanic, moding their gear gets very hard very quickly.

That's very true. I ran the modification rules wrong in the last session, I thought it was a lot easier than it actually is. My players are upset with me now, so I'm probably going to compensate them with XP. At the very least the player with the bowcaster accelerator enhancer will be fine because the party has stockpiled plenty of blaster pistols and rifles, which I've ruled can be used to cover any costs involved with both the attachment and mods. It just makes sense.

That's the thing with these rules; not everything is especially codified and defined, a lot of it deals with common sense and player/GM discussion. However SOME things ARE pretty heavily defined, so mistakes can be made here and there. No different than other RPGs... I just wish one player in particular would stop harping on me so much. He read the exact same rules I did and thus made the exact same mistakes I did. While it was happening I thought that it all seemed a little too easy, but I'm too experienced a GM to let a game get slowed down by rules discussions. We just made some rulings and went on with our lives, and I don't see anything wrong with that.

Considering what happens if you fail the check, I don't see any GM would increase the difficulty check rather than upgrade it. The whole system seems to revolve around a risk vs. reward kind of thing rather than a "this is just so hard you shouldn't bother trying unless you're Tony Stark" kind of thing.

Once you move past the Formidable difficulty I'd much rather upgrade the difficulty once than tell my players "sorry, that's impossible, you can't do that". Even if they flip a Destiny point that allows them to try anyway, you still need a difficulty for them to roll against.

Upgrading to the purples to red makes the check way harder. Purple die have 3 failure sides while red die have 7.

The only check our mechanic (4int, 5mech skill) failed was a 3 purple check for our ships shields. He passed everything else including 4+ 6 purple checks.