Hi, first time GM here looking for advice on Mods.

pg 187 has a nice description on the types of mods, but I cant seem to find a table listing mods rarity and cost.

From what I can see, mods are VERY good, like being able to increase characteristics!!

I am particularly interested in how much you would charge for the Innate talent Quick draw mod (for this player, it is going to give him access to a talent which he would have otherwise needed to cross specialize to get)

So if anyone has any advice on a general rarity & price guide for the 4 types of mods (damage, weapon quality, innate talent and skill/characteristic bonus mods) I would really appreciate it!

You'll find a list of prices and rarities for the attachments on page 189.

As things are now the only way to get "mods" as you put it is through attachments. The cost for this is the attachment price for the initial basic modification(s), the additional modification options require 100 credits per option, and an increasing Mechanics check starting at Hard (PPP) and increasing by +P per additional modification option after the first. Applying the attachment itself does not require a Mechanics check and should be possible to do in minutes - or within reason at the very least. The superior weapon customisation should, in my opinion, have additional cost or time added - but as the rules stand no such requirement.

So there is no individual price for types of qualities, damage increasing and such, there are no guidelines offered for how to make your own attachments - except what is offered by looking at the existing attachments.

Characteristics can only be increased three ways in this game: character creation, Dedication talent and cybernetic enhancments. Sure there is one armour attachment that increases Brawn, but as far as I know there is only one. I'd not make the a common thing to home brewed stuff.

Attachments for weapons/armour can increase skills, negate setback dice, add boost dice, supply ranks in talents - and of course add qualities, adjust qualities (like cumbersome), affect encumbrance, range and damage... and so on.

You'll find a list of prices and rarities for the attachments on page 189.

As things are now the only way to get "mods" as you put it is through attachments. The cost for this is the attachment price for the initial basic modification(s), the additional modification options require 100 credits per option, and an increasing Mechanics check starting at Hard (PPP) and increasing by +P per additional modification option after the first. Applying the attachment itself does not require a Mechanics check and should be possible to do in minutes - or within reason at the very least. The superior weapon customisation should, in my opinion, have additional cost or time added - but as the rules stand no such requirement.

So there is no individual price for types of qualities, damage increasing and such, there are no guidelines offered for how to make your own attachments - except what is offered by looking at the existing attachments.

Characteristics can only be increased three ways in this game: character creation, Dedication talent and cybernetic enhancments. Sure there is one armour attachment that increases Brawn, but as far as I know there is only one. I'd not make the a common thing to home brewed stuff.

Attachments for weapons/armour can increase skills, negate setback dice, add boost dice, supply ranks in talents - and of course add qualities, adjust qualities (like cumbersome), affect encumbrance, range and damage... and so on.

Did not know the difficulty kept increasing. My Accuracy 2 sniper rifle was now suspiciously easy to build. Oops.

Thank you for your reply. I thought there must be an *additional* cost to purchase the mod after you have bought the attachment. Only because I thought reading the rules as written, it seemed WAY undercosted.

So take for example the strength enhancing system (aprox 5-6k creds is good price for increasing brawn characteristic), but once you have bought that, it only costs a measly extra 100 creds to add on a mod which gives you 1 rank in a talent (brace) which if its not in your specialization would otherwise cost you 25exp (or 35exp if talent is not in your career). Additionally at 300 creds you can increase the brace talent by 2 ranks, which takes considerably more experience.

Fair enough, if he fails, he is never allowed to attempt to install the mod again in that attachment (or at worst its destroyed - but that requires despair, so unless I use destiny to upgrade the difficulty). But potentially you can pay 300 cred to gain 60-80exp worth of talents?

Didn't think you could buy Talents outside of your Specialisation trees (Skills yes, Talents no).

1) Thank you for your reply. I thought there must be an *additional* cost to purchase the mod after you have bought the attachment. Only because I thought reading the rules as written, it seemed WAY undercosted.

2) So take for example the strength enhancing system (aprox 5-6k creds is good price for increasing brawn characteristic), but once you have bought that, it only costs a measly extra 100 creds to add on a mod which gives you 1 rank in a talent (brace) which if its not in your specialization would otherwise cost you 25exp (or 35exp if talent is not in your career). Additionally at 300 creds you can increase the brace talent by 2 ranks, which takes considerably more experience.

3) Fair enough, if he fails, he is never allowed to attempt to install the mod again in that attachment (or at worst its destroyed - but that requires despair, so unless I use destiny to upgrade the difficulty). But potentially you can pay 300 cred to gain 60-80exp worth of talents?

1) There is an additional cost for additional modifications, albeit it's not nearly as much as some attachments costs - in other cases the modifications can be more expensive, like the filed front sights, the attachment costs 25 credits, but the modification option costs 100. The end of the paragraph concerning modification options on page 187 just above "types of modifications", could be interpreted as each modification costs 100 credits and is as the Mechanics check increasing, so the second would cost 200 (I'm not entirely sure if this actually is the intent or not, can't remember just now).

2) Remember that modifications are (more or less) minor adjustments to the attachment, and the cost of the brawn enhancing attachment is quite high, further adjustments shouldn't cost as much. Also, remember that you cannot buy talents not in your specialisation(s)! And if you buy into a spec outside your career there is no increased cost to talents from the spec (although to get access to the spec costs 10 XP more than for an in-career spec.)

3) Yes. But remember it's situational, they need that particular piece of equipment and it only works when using it or wearing it, it's not like you gain a new talent permanently, weapons and armour can be stolen and ruined (Sunder, always remember Sunder!)

Didn't think you could buy Talents outside of your Specialisation trees (Skills yes, Talents no).

When I did the above calculations, I factored in it would cost 20 exp to buy a new specialization within your career, then an additional 5 exp to buy the 1st rank of the talent (in this example a BH assassin crossing over into gadgeteering and purchasing 1st rank of brace talent)

1) Thank you for your reply. I thought there must be an *additional* cost to purchase the mod after you have bought the attachment. Only because I thought reading the rules as written, it seemed WAY undercosted.

2) So take for example the strength enhancing system (aprox 5-6k creds is good price for increasing brawn characteristic), but once you have bought that, it only costs a measly extra 100 creds to add on a mod which gives you 1 rank in a talent (brace) which if its not in your specialization would otherwise cost you 25exp (or 35exp if talent is not in your career). Additionally at 300 creds you can increase the brace talent by 2 ranks, which takes considerably more experience.

3) Fair enough, if he fails, he is never allowed to attempt to install the mod again in that attachment (or at worst its destroyed - but that requires despair, so unless I use destiny to upgrade the difficulty). But potentially you can pay 300 cred to gain 60-80exp worth of talents?

1) There is an additional cost for additional modifications, albeit it's not nearly as much as some attachments costs - in other cases the modifications can be more expensive, like the filed front sights, the attachment costs 25 credits, but the modification option costs 100. The end of the paragraph concerning modification options on page 187 just above "types of modifications", could be interpreted as each modification costs 100 credits and is as the Mechanics check increasing, so the second would cost 200 (I'm not entirely sure if this actually is the intent or not, can't remember just now).

2) Remember that modifications are (more or less) minor adjustments to the attachment, and the cost of the brawn enhancing attachment is quite high, further adjustments shouldn't cost as much. Also, remember that you cannot buy talents not in your specialisation(s)! And if you buy into a spec outside your career there is no increased cost to talents from the spec (although to get access to the spec costs 10 XP more than for an in-career spec.)

3) Yes. But remember it's situational, they need that particular piece of equipment and it only works when using it or wearing it, it's not like you gain a new talent permanently, weapons and armour can be stolen and ruined (Sunder, always remember Sunder!)

2. My point was that I thought in this situation the attachment was costed fairly, but the mods were way under-costed, as i didn't feel it was just a 'minor' add on. I'm deciding whether it will be ok for me as a GM to say its going to cost 500-1000 creds extra per mod in this case

3. Ok, this is a very fair point . But if I started destroying the players gear, I think i'm going to get lynched

However, i'm not sure if this changes things, but the items in question are for a player who is a droid - and all the gear he is getting (eg armor) has been installed into his chassis, so all these upgrades wont be able to be stolen (easily anyway). Or if I sunder him, he might need a verbobrain transplant to a entirely new body

When I did the above calculations, I factored in it would cost 20 exp to buy a new specialization within your career, then an additional 5 exp to buy the 1st rank of the talent (in this example a BH assassin crossing over into gadgeteering and purchasing 1st rank of brace talent)

2. My point was that I thought in this situation the attachment was costed fairly, but the mods were way under-costed, as i didn't feel it was just a 'minor' add on. I'm deciding whether it will be ok for me as a GM to say its going to cost 500-1000 creds extra per mod in this case

3. Ok, this is a very fair point . But if I started destroying the players gear, I think i'm going to get lynched

However, i'm not sure if this changes things, but the items in question are for a player who is a droid - and all the gear he is getting (eg armor) has been installed into his chassis, so all these upgrades wont be able to be stolen (easily anyway). Or if I sunder him, he might need a verbobrain transplant to a entirely new body

1. I get ya.
2. Some of the attachments do fairly little by themselves, but their mods are great (Marksman barrel, meh; Accuracy on Marksman barrel, great), so it all kinda balances out.
3. Also, modding an attachment requires a hard Mechanics roll, so XP that would have gone elsewhere is going to that skill instead.

2. My point was that I thought in this situation the attachment was costed fairly, but the mods were way under-costed, as i didn't feel it was just a 'minor' add on. I'm deciding whether it will be ok for me as a GM to say its going to cost 500-1000 creds extra per mod in this case

3. Ok, this is a very fair point . But if I started destroying the players gear, I think i'm going to get lynched

However, i'm not sure if this changes things, but the items in question are for a player who is a droid - and all the gear he is getting (eg armor) has been installed into his chassis, so all these upgrades wont be able to be stolen (easily anyway). Or if I sunder him, he might need a verbobrain transplant to a entirely new body

2) Attachments would be a lot less used if the cost for modification options equalled the attachment cost, or were in the same range. Increasing the cost to 500+ credits might be ok for some groups, but if you are less generous with cash handouts, then they'll have some sessions with fun increases without having to save yet another few sessions worth of cash for the next modification. And as Col. Orange points out, the modifications require a pretty decent Mechanics skill - for at least one person in the group... or extra cash to get some other mechanic to do it.

3) Sunder is fair - but only use it to knock them down a notch if they get too reliant upon their gear. I wouldn't use it by default whenever they get some new and better gear, but use it from time to time - also remember you need 3 or 4 advantages to completely destroy a piece of equipment with Sunder, 1 advantage only damages it. Be creative

I think the current system is fairly priced as it is, most good attachments cost a lot, and then it's only fair that the investment has some good pay off.

Stealing and/or destroying the PCs' gear is not a big deal. Looting can be immensely profitable and the potential loss of the PCs' gear balances out the issue.