Modified FFG Resources

This system is meant to abstract money to reflect a game structure where resource management is more of a tactical concern (this is what you have to get you through the current mission) than a strategic one (pinch every penny like it could be your last). I've broken it up into four chunks for easier digestion:


 * [Modified FFG Resources#Simplified] is the simplified version and is meant for players and characters who don't want to get into the weeds.
 * [Modified FFG Resources#Advanced] is the more complicated version for folks who really enjoy squeezing every ounce of joy they can out of the mechanics of an equipment system.
 * [Modified FFG Resources#Negotiation] updates Negotiation and Streetwise to reflect the new system.
 * [Modified FFG Resources#Talents] updates the seven talents that touch the existing resources mechanics so that they work with the new system. It also clarifies two other talents that were vague as-written even in the old system.

= Simplified =

This resources system is meant to eliminate the need to track credits closely. It assumes the team’s Rebel allies supply them with essential equipment. It also assumes that each character has at least one piece of equipment that defines them – the pilot’s ship, the cyborg’s cybernetics, the medical droid’s bacta tank, and so forth – and that they have (or will eventually gain) access to this item. I’ve presented this both as a set of simplified rules and advanced rules. Anyone in this group can learn the advanced rules, but the simplified rules are less customizable and can make it easier to quickly pick a couple pieces of incidental equipment.

Basic Kit
Everyone gets one of each of these at the start of each mission:


 * Basic Armor: Maximum Rarity 4; not Restricted; no mods/attachments. Includes some equipment that doesn’t grant soak or defense but is still classified as armor (such as cargo clothing or performer’s attire).
 * Basic Weapon: Ranged or melee weapon. Maximum Rarity 4; not Restricted; no mods/attachments.
 * Basic Com: Earbud Comlink
 * Basic Storage: Utility Belt or Backpack
 * Basic Medical: 3 Stimpacks
 * Basic Cash: Rarity 2

Incidentals
Incidentals are equipment supplied by the Rebellion at an agent’s request. The Alliance wants to get these items back after the mission, but they also understand the realities of war and won’t begrudge the loss of some equipment in the service of completing the mission successfully.

At the start of each mission, each character may choose three pieces of personal equipment (not vehicles or heavy equipment like bacta tanks or field equipment) fitting one of the following criteria:


 * Maximum Rarity 5, not Restricted, and no mods/attachments.
 * Maximum Rarity 4 and Restricted, but no mods/attachments.
 * Maximum Rarity 4, not Restricted, and one attachment (unmodded) of maximum Rarity 4, but this must adhere to the item’s HP limits.
 * If the equipment has limited uses (drug doses, grenades, Medpacks, etc.), a single Incidental grants three uses.

Each time Duty rolls over, you may increase the maximum Rarity of the Incidentals you are assigned by 1 instead of gaining new Defining equipment or a Defining equipment effect.

Specialty
The Alliance may provide what would qualify as signature equipment as part of any mission. Often this will be a ship or other vehicles, heavy ordinance, or mission-specific equipment. The Rebels do expect these to come back in one piece (unless they’re not meant to come back, such as heavy ordnance) and will get rather cross if they don’t.

Defining Equipment
Defining equipment is a remarkable or unique resource tied directly to your character concept. It must be appropriate to one of your Specialties (or Species, for Species-specific gear like a bowcaster). It need not be a tangible resource, much less a fungible one; a mentor can be Defining equipment, as can a network of spies.

Each character begins play with one piece of Defining equipment fitting one of the following criteria:
 * Personal equipment with a maximum Rarity of 6 and not Restricted or Restricted with a maximum Rarity of 5.
 * A vehicle of up to Silhouette 3 with a maximum Rarity of 5 (Rarity 4, if Restricted).
 * Two cybernetic implants with a maximum Rarity of 5 (Rarity 4, if Restricted).
 * 10 uses of expendable equipment of up to Rarity 5 (Rarity 4 if Restricted) per mission.
 * Cash of Rarity 5 per mission.
 * An ally, network, status, or other resource subject to GM approval.

Each time Duty rolls over, instead of increasing the maximum Rarity of the Incidentals you are assigned by 1, you may purchase an additional piece of Defining equipment (using the base values above) or increase the Rarity of one piece of existing Defining equipment by 1 (maximum 10).

You may forgo beginning play with your Defining equipment, instead saving it as a bonus after increasing Contribution once or twice. For example, if you have your eye on a Rarity 6 starfighter, you can wait until the first time Duty rolls over before “purchasing” it.

= Advanced =

This resources system is meant to eliminate the need to track credits closely. It assumes the team’s Rebel allies supply them with essential equipment. It also assumes that each character has at least one piece of equipment that defines them – the pilot’s ship, the cyborg’s cybernetics, the medical droid’s bacta tank, and so forth – and that they have (or will eventually gain) access to this item.

I’ve presented this both as a set of simplified rules and advanced rules. Anyone in this group can learn the advanced rules or use the simplified rules. These advanced rules are for those who enjoy the process of carefully picking equipment or customizing items unique to their characters.

Basic Kit
Everyone gets one of each of these at the start of each mission:


 * Basic Armor: Maximum Rarity 4; not Restricted; no mods/attachments. Includes some equipment that doesn’t grant soak or defense but is still classified as armor (such as cargo clothing or performer’s attire).
 * Basic Weapon: Ranged or melee weapon. Maximum Rarity 4; not Restricted; no mods/attachments.
 * Basic Com: Earbud Comlink
 * Basic Storage: Utility Belt or Backpack
 * Basic Medical: 3 Stimpacks
 * Basic Cash: Rarity 2

Incidentals
Incidentals are equipment supplied by the Rebellion at an agent’s request. The Alliance wants to get these items back after the mission, but they also understand the realities of war and won’t begrudge the loss of some equipment in the service of completing the mission successfully.

At the start of every mission, each character may choose three Incidentals:

Incidental Armor: Replaces Basic Armor. Base maximum Rarity 4, not Restricted, and no mods/attachments. Choose one (choose two if you spend two Incidental slots on Incidental Armor or choose three if you spend three Incidental slots on Incidental Armor):


 * Restricted allowed.
 * Rarity +1 (max. 6).
 * One attachment/mod.

Incidental Weapon: In addition to Basic Weapon. Ranged or melee weapon. Base maximum Rarity 4, not Restricted, and no mods/attachments. Choose one (choose two if you spend two Incidental slots on Incidental Weapon or choose three if you spend three Incidental slots on Incidental Weapon):


 * Restricted allowed.
 * Rarity +1 (max. 6).
 * One attachment/mod.
 * Choose three weapons with the same Rarity and other effects, which you may mix and match. Or choose 10 such weapons if you buy this effect twice.

Incidental Explosives: At base, one explosive/ordinance of maximum Rarity 5 and not Restricted. Choose one (choose two if you spend two Incidental slots on Incidental Explosives or choose three if you spend three Incidental slots on Incidental Explosives:


 * Restricted allowed.
 * Rarity +1 (max. 7).
 * One attachment/mod.
 * Choose six explosives/ordinance with the same Rarity and other effects, which you may mix and match. Or effectively unlimited explosives/ordinance if you buy this effect twice.

Incidental Pharmaceuticals: Up to 3 Stimpacks or doses of drugs, which can be mixed and matched. Base maximum Rarity 4 and not Restricted. Choose two (choose three if you spend two Incidental slots on Incidental Pharmaceuticals or choose four if you spend three Incidental slots on Incidental Pharmaceuticals):


 * Restricted allowed.
 * Rarity +1 (max. 6)
 * Choose 10 such pharmaceuticals.

Incidental Equipment: Base maximum Rarity 3 and not Restricted, and choose one (choose two if you spend two Incidental slots on Incidental Equipment or choose three if you spend three Incidental slots on Incidental Equipment):


 * Restricted allowed.
 * Rarity +1 (max. 6).
 * One attachment/mod.
 * Choose three pieces of equipment with the same maximum Rarity and other effects, which you may mix and match. Or choose 10 such pieces of equipment if you buy this effect twice.

Incidental Transport: A planetary vehicle. Base maximum Rarity 2, not Restricted, no ship scale weapons, no airspeeders or walkers, and Silhouette 2. Choose one (choose two if you spend two Incidental slots on Incidental Transport or choose three if you spend three Incidental slots on Incidental Transport):


 * Restricted allowed.
 * Airspeeder allowed.
 * Ship scale weapons allowed.
 * Rarity +1 (max. 6).
 * Silhouette +1 (max. 4).

Incidental Cash: Rarity 3 Cash (Rarity 4 if you spend two Incidental slots on Incidental Cash or Rarity 5 if you spend three Incidental slots on Incidental Cash.

Incidentals, Attachments, and Mods
Personal equipment (not vehicles or heavy equipment) can come with attachments, each of which increases the item’s effective Rarity by 1. An attachment’s Rarity cannot exceed the maximum Rarity of the appropriate Incidental equipment and is limited by the item’s HP.

Incidentals don’t generally have mods, although they can be added in the usual fashion during a mission as a Rarity 2 purchase.

Incidentals and Duty
Each Duty rollover (and Contribution increase) allows the character to add another of the effects above to their Incidentals. This can be used to increase the maximum Rarity as with the simple system, but it can instead be used to add attachments, permit airspeeders, increase the number of doses of drugs, etc.

Instead of increasing the maximum Rarity of Incidentals at the beginning of the mission, it can be used to increase the number of Incidentals the character may select at mission start. For example, a character with Contribution 3 could choose three Incidentals that are Restricted and have a Rarity of 6 (the maximum for Incidentals, even at high levels of Contribution), but he may instead choose five Incidentals with a maximum Rarity of 5 (not Restricted).

Each time Duty rolls over, you may increase the maximum Rarity of the Incidentals you are assigned by 1 instead of gaining new Defining equipment or a Defining equipment effect.

Specialty
The Alliance may provide what would qualify as signature equipment as part of any mission. Often this will be a ship or other vehicles, heavy ordinance, or mission-specific equipment. The Rebels do expect these to come back in one piece (unless they’re not meant to come back, such as heavy ordnance) and will get rather cross if they don’t.

Defining Equipment
Defining equipment is a remarkable or unique resource tied directly to your character concept. It must be appropriate to one of your Specialties (or Species, for Species-specific gear like a bowcaster). It need not be a tangible resource, much less a fungible one; a mentor can be Defining equipment, as can a network of spies.

The advanced version permits more customization. Each character begins play with one piece of Defining equipment, although she may forgo this at character creation to save up for a better piece of Defining equipment after one or more Duty rollovers.

Duty rollovers allow improvements to a piece of Defining equipment or the purchase of new Defining equipment using the base qualities, but this is instead of increasing the Rarity of your Incidentals by 1.

If improving equipment, increase the number of choices available by one per Duty rollover spent. Defining Armor, for example, has base maximum Rarity 4, is not Restricted, and chooses three of the listed options instead of two of them. Most of the upgrades or options can be purchased multiple times to cumulative effect, such as purchasing maximum Rarity +1 twice for a total maximum Rarity +2.

Defining Armor
Base maximum Rarity 4; not Restricted. Choose two of the following:


 * Restricted allowed.
 * Maximum Rarity +1 (max. 10).
 * One attachment or mod (to limits of HP).

Defining Weapon
Base maximum Rarity 4; not Restricted. Choose three of the following:


 * Restricted allowed.
 * Rarity +1 (max. 10).
 * One attachment or mod (to limits of HP).

Defining Equipment
Choose one piece of personal equipment. Base maximum Rarity 4; not Restricted; no large equipment (such as a bacta tank or field equipment). Choose three of the following:


 * Restricted allowed.
 * Rarity +1 (max. 10).
 * One attachment (to limits of HP).
 * Larger equipment (bacta tank or oil bath) allowed.

Field Equipment
A base of operations is usually only available as a Duty rollover for the whole team. Once established, field equipment can be added as an individual Duty rollover but counts its Rarity as 2 higher and requires the larger equipment effect above.

Custom Equipment
If there is no official piece of equipment that grants Boost dice, removes Setback dice, or grants some other benefit to a skill you want equipment to affect, you can use the following guidelines to create custom equipment. These rules can also be applied to Incidentals.

Rarity 4 or less:


 * Permits an action that would otherwise be impossible (such as downloading a file or breathing underwater).
 * Grants one boost die in narrow circumstances.
 * Removes two setback dice in narrow circumstances.

Rarity 5-7:


 * Grants two boost dice in narrow circumstances.
 * Removes all setback dice in narrow circumstances.
 * Upgrades once in narrow circumstances.
 * Grants one boost die (or removes two setback dice) for most uses of the skill.
 * Grants a talent available for 10 XP or less (subject to GM approval).
 * Grants two effects normally available at Rarity 4 or less.

Rarity 8-9:


 * Grants three boost dice in narrow circumstances.
 * Grants a talent available for 15 XP or less (subject to GM approval).
 * Grants two effects normally available at Rarity 5-7.

Rarity 10:


 * Grants three boost dice for most uses of the skill.
 * Upgrades twice in narrow circumstances.
 * Grants a talent available for 20 XP or less (subject to GM approval).
 * Grants two effects normally available at Rarity 8-9.

Defining Planetary Vehicle
Choose a planetary vehicle. Base maximum Rarity 2; Silhouette 2; not Restricted; no ship scale weapons; no airspeeders or walkers. Choose four of the following:


 * Restricted allowed.
 * Airspeeder or utility walker allowed.
 * Ship scale weapons allowed.
 * Rarity +1 (max. 6).
 * One mod (to limits of HP)
 * Silhouette +1 (max. 4).

Defining Space Vehicle
Choose a space vehicle. Base maximum Rarity 4; Silhouette 3; not Restricted. Choose one of the following:


 * Restricted allowed.
 * Rarity +1 (max. 10).
 * One mod (to limits of HP).
 * One weapon upgrade.

Increasing Silhouette
Ships of Silhouette 4 or higher are not available to individual characters at character creation, and Silhouette can’t be increased by purchasing talents. However, two individual Duty rollovers can increase the Silhouette of a ship by 1, to a maximum of Silhouette 5 (except with special GM permission).

Shared Starships
If multiple characters split the cost of a Defining Space Vehicle, instead of granting it one of the benefits above, two characters may choose to increase the Silhouette by 1. Two characters may share a Silhouette 4, Rarity 4 ship that is not Restricted (such as a YT-1300 Light Freighter), for example, and four characters may share a Silhouette 5, Rarity 4 ship that is not Restricted.

Defining Expendables
Choose a category of limited use item, such as drugs, grenades, torpedoes, Medpacks, or Cash. At the beginning of each mission, you start with one or more such items of your choice. Base maximum Rarity 4; not Restricted; one use of such an item. At the start of the mission, choose three of the following:


 * Restricted allowed.
 * Rarity +1 (max. 10).
 * Three uses (may purchase this twice to instead receive 10 uses, or three times for effectively unlimited uses). May mix and match within the same category, such as different kinds of grenades.

Cash
Hard currency is an expendable with a Rarity.

It can be used to purchase one piece of equipment of equal Rarity, up to three pieces of equipment of Rarity one less than its own, or up to 10 pieces of equipment of Rarity two less than its own.

This is for personal equipment, not vehicles or large equipment, which follow special rules:


 * Planetary vehicles that adhere to the base rules for Incidental Transport count as Rarity 4 for the purpose of Cash purchase. Each additional Incidental slot the vehicle requires increases the Rarity cost by 1 when purchasing it with Cash.
 * Space vehicles that adhere to the base rules for Defining Space Vehicles count as Rarity 6 for the purpose of Cash purchase. Each additional Incidental slot the vehicle requires increases the Rarity cost by 1 when purchasing it with Cash.
 * Heavy equipment and field equipment must adhere to the Defining Equipment limits.

In all cases, this must be equipment that the character has been able to find available for sale – requiring a Negotiation check for legal goods or a Streetwise check for Restricted goods.

Defining Cybernetics
Choose one cybernetic implant. Base maximum Rarity 4; not Restricted. Choose two of the following:


 * Restricted allowed.
 * Rarity +1 (max. 10).
 * One additional implant (max. Brawn for organics, 6 for droids).

= Negotiation =

For the most part, Cash is given a lower Rarity value than other goods to reflect its flexibility. That can be very important, however.

Finding a Seller
In addition to dickering over price (more on that later), a Negotiation roll is often required to find legal goods for sale at a fair price (Streetwise is rolled for Restricted goods). The item’s Rarity determines the difficulty of the roll, adjusted at the GM’s discretion for various local factors:


 * On a success, the good or service is available for its list price (no change in the Rarity cost). Additional successes increase the number of such items available – 3 at 2 successes, 10 at 3 successes, and functionally unlimited at 4+ successes.
 * On a Triumph with success, it’s available and counts its Rarity as 1 lower. Triumph with failure means it isn’t readily available, but the character gets a read on where it can be acquired or gets something that will serve her purpose, even if it isn’t an exact match.
 * On a failure, it’s probably available somewhere, but the character can’t find anyone selling it.
 * On a Despair with failure, it’s not available at any price. On a Despair with success, it’s available, but it comes with serious complications – a favor owed to the seller (or an owner who definitely doesn’t want to sell), for example, or it’s stolen property the real owner is trying to get back.
 * Advantage with success usually means the goods are of high quality, and three Advantage on a success usually has the same effect as a Triumph. Advantage on a failure means the desired good or service isn’t readily available, but that the character finds something else for sale that is useful, albeit not something that satisfies the immediate need (unless he gets three Advantage, which acts the same as a Triumph).
 * Threat usually means the goods are stolen, damaged, or in some other way inferior – or that they are even more expensive (further increase Rarity by the number of Threat). Three Threat is usually the same as a Despair. Despair paired with failure and Threat usually means it can’t be found, but the fact that the character is asking after a seller has attracted unwanted attention.

Haggling
Once a seller has been found, the character must reach an agreeable price.

Rarity Adjustments
Although an X-Wing and a blaster are both Rarity 5, they obviously don’t cost the same. When looking at the Rarity of something a character wishes to purchase, make the following adjustments:


 * Limited use goods (such as explosives and Stimpacks) are treated as being 1 Rarity lower.
 * Increase the effective Rarity of space vehicles of Silhouette 3 by 2. Each additional +1 Silhouette adds 2 Rarity.
 * Increase the effective Rarity of planetary vehicles of Silhouette 2 by 1. Each additional +1 Silhouette adds 1 Rarity.

This only applies to the actual purchase (or sale) of a good. Finding a ship for sale isn’t appreciably harder than finding a blaster of equal Rarity that someone is willing to part with.

Paying in Cash
When paying with Cash with a Rarity equal to or greater than the Rarity of a desired good or service, no Negotiation roll is required most of the time. If it’s available in the area, you can nearly always pay the list price. If you do choose to dicker, this is a Negotiation roll against a difficulty determined by the seller’s Negotiation or Cool:


 * Each success wrings some change out of the seller, reducing its impact on the buyer’s pocketbook. This is Cash with a Rarity equal to the number of successes, to a maximum of the purchased item’s Rarity (essentially making it free).
 * Failure with no Advantage, Setback, Triumph, or Despair still allows the character to pay full price for the desired goods.
 * Triumph makes the seller favorably inclined towards the character. Future Negotiation rolls against him enjoy a Boost die (maximum 3 Boost dice).
 * Despair earns the seller’s enmity, and she refuses to sell to him unless he offers a price 1 higher than the good or service’s Rarity (if successful) or not at all (if a failure). Future Negotiation rolls against her suffer a Setback die (maximum 3 Setback dice).
 * Advantage on a success or failure allows the buyer to extend the negotiations, making another Negotiation roll with Boost dice equal to the Advantage. However, he must accept the results of the new roll (unless it also generates Advantage). Triumph and Despair on the original roll have their normal effects.
 * Threat on a failure still allows the buyer to purchase, but at an increase in Rarity cost equal to the Threat. Threat on a success forces the buyer to either accept the asking price or extend the negotiations, making another Negotiation roll with Setback dice equal to any Threat. She must accept the results of the new roll (unless it also generates Advantage). Triumph and Despair on the original roll have their normal effects.

Selling
Finding a buyer works like finding a seller – using Negotiation to locate a buyer of legal goods and Streetwise to locate a buyer of Restricted goods. The difficulty is usually the same as for finding a seller, complete with modifiers for vehicles and heavy equipment. It’s much easier to find someone willing and able to purchase goods that verge on fungible than it is to find someone who can and will buy a rare and expensive item. However, Rarity modifiers for location are usually reversed; it’s generally easier to find a buyer on Coruscant than on frontier world – even for illegal goods.

When selling an item for Cash, the Rarity of the item the character sells is counted as two less than usual. For example, selling a blaster of Rarity 5 yields Cash of Rarity 3. This doesn’t require a Negotiation roll, as long as a buyer has been found, but Negotiation rolls can modify the price the character receives:


 * Each success increases the Rarity of the Cash received by 1.
 * Failure with no Advantage, Threat, Triumph, or Despair means the buyer will not pay a penny more than the list price.
 * Triumph makes the buyer favorably inclined towards the character. Future Negotiation rolls against him enjoy a Boost die (maximum 3 Boost dice).
 * Despair earns the buyer’s enmity. If successful, she refuses to buy from him except at a further -1 Rarity discount (for a total of Rarity -3 instead of the usual Rarity -2). If a failure, she refuses to buy from him at all. Either way, future Negotiation rolls against her suffer a Setback die (maximum 3 Setback dice).
 * Advantage on a success or failure allows the buyer to extend the negotiations, making another Negotiation roll with Boost dice equal to the Advantage. However, he must accept the results of the new roll (unless it also generates Advantage). Triumph and Despair on the original roll have their normal effects.
 * Threat on a failure still allows the character to make the sale, but as though the Rarity of the goods he is selling were lower by an amount equal to the Threat. Threat on a success forces the seller to either accept the offered Cash or extend the negotiations, making another Negotiation roll with Setback dice equal to any Threat. She must accept the results of the new roll (unless it also generates Advantage). Triumph and Despair on the original roll have their normal effects.

Barter
Bartering is at once more complex and more profitable than using cash. Most merchants favor it, and some purveyors of goods (or just folk on the Outer Rim who don’t have much use for cash) refuse to accept anything else. Finding someone willing to barter works like finding a seller, the difficulty of the Negotiation or Streetwise roll is exactly the same. However, Advantage means something different.

By default, a barter is no less “lossy” than a cash sale. The Rarity of the good the character may purchase without rolling must be at least 2 less than what he is offering in trade.

However, if he rolls Negotiation or Streetwise and achieves success, each Advantage reduces the Rarity of the good he must offer in trade. Finding a suitable trading partner willing to offer or accept Restricted goods always uses Streetwise, although only one side of the deal need involve Restricted goods.

For example, trading Rarity 4 armor for a Rarity 2 weapon is straightforward as long as the character can find a trading partner at all. Two Advantage on a successful Negotiation or Streetwise roll allows a trade of two objects of equal Rarity. Three or more Advantage allows the character to come out ahead in the deal – but he must still successfully close the deal using Negotiation.

= Resource Talents =

Some resource-related talents are invalidated under this system, but they’re fairly easy to adjust so that they serve their intended purpose in the new system. This list only reflects talents in the core AoR and EotE. If there are other talents that require conversion, it shouldn't be too hard to modify them:

Black Market Contacts (AoR; EotE): You may select Restricted Incidentals as though they were not Restricted. You add Boost dice equal to ranks in Black Market Contacts to Streetwise rolls to locate Restricted goods available for sale.

Bought Info (AoR): Largely as written, but the difficulty of the Knowledge skill check is the Rarity of Cash required to automatically succeed at it.

Gearhead (AoR; EotE): Remove Setback equal to ranks in Gearhead from Mechanics checks. Once per session, when you or a member of your team would add a mod to an attachment, you may add one additional mod to attachment (whether the same item or different ones).

Greased Palms (AoR): Largely as written, but the Rarity of Cash required to use this talent is equal to the number of times it upgrades the target roll.

Inventor (AoR; EotR): As written for Incidentals. Additionally, automatically add one mod to attachments you add to your Defining equipment.

Know Somebody (AoR): As-written. Additionally, this applies to both locating a seller of legal goods and buying/bartering for them.

Master Merchant (AoR): Before making a Negotiation check to buy, sell, or barter, the character may suffer 2 strain. If the check succeeds, you add your Negotiation ranks as additional successes.

Sound Investments (AoR): At the beginning of each mission, you receive one additional Incidental or may increase the Rarity of your Basic, Incidental, or Defining Cash by your ranks in Sound Investments.

Wheel and Deal (AoR): As-written. Additionally, this applies to both locating a buyer of legal goods and selling/bartering with them.

Dayzdark (talk)