Getting a License

Some items require licenses to own or operate, or are restricted to qualifying organizations or individuals. In such cases, a character must pay a license fee to own the object legally. A license fee is a separate expense, purchased in addition to the object to which it applies. The four accessibility ratings are as follows:

• Licensed: The owner must obtain a license to own or operate the object legally. Generally, the license is not expensive, and obtaining it has few if any additional legal requirements.
• Restricted: Only specifically qualified individuals or organizations are technically allowed to own the object. However, the real obstacles to ownership are time and money; anyone with sufficient patience and cash can eventually acquire the necessary license.
• Military: The object is sold primarily to legitimate police and military organizations. A military rating is essentially the same as restricted, except that manufacturers and dealers are generally under tight government scrutiny and are therefore especially wary of selling to private individuals.
• Illegal: The object is illegal in all but specific, highly regulated circumstances.

=======================================================

Getting a License:

To get a license, you must pay the fee required to file the application. The amount of the fee is a percentage of the object's normal cost. Once you've paid the fee, make a Knowledge (Bureaucracy) check against the DC listed in the Skill DC column. On a success, your license is approved and will be available to you in a number of days as listed in the Time Required column. On a failure, you spend a number of days as listed in the Time Required column, but you are not granted the license and your application fee is lost. You may try again as often as you like if you have the time and credits to do so.
Whether you succeed or fail on your Knowledge (Bureaucracy) check, your request is recorded in public records. The more restricted the license, the more in-depth the background check required, and this leaves an increasingly detailed electronic trail for others to follow.
You can choose to secure a license through illicit means. If you want to bribe an official, make a Persuasion check instead of a Knowledge (Bureaucracy) check. If you want to fabricate a false identity or steal another person's identity, make a Deception check instead of a Knowledge (Bureaucracy) check. If either of these checks fails by 5 or more, the local authorities are alerted to your activities.
The table below conveys the mechanics of acquiring an item license. 

Rarity	License Fee	Black Market Cost	Skill DC	Time Required
Licensed	5%	x2	10	1 day
Restricted	10%	x3	15	2 days
Military	20%	x4	25	5 days
Illegal	50%	x5	30	10 days

The GM reserves the right to alter information shown in the table above to better fit particular circumstances. Consider the values shown to be base values, as opposed to final ones. 

=======================================================

The Black Market:

Almost anything is available on the Black Market. However, you must make a gather information check to locate a Black Market merchant who has the object you seek. The DC of the check is listed in the Skill DC column of the table.

• The GM may apply a bonus or penalty to the check depending on the circumstances. (For example, finding a Black Market dealer on the smuggler's moon of Nar Shaddaa is relatively easy and may warrant a +5 bonus on the check.) 
• Having a contact with connections to the Black Market may also provide bonuses, however, relationships with shady individuals can have unexpected consequences down the line. Keep all the variables in mind when weighing options. 
          • Who can be trusted? 
          • What motives might NPCs have? 
          • What risks are invited with every decision? 

• If you succeed on the gather information check, you find a Black Market merchant who has access to the item you seek. If you fail, you can try again later. If you fail by 5 or more, someone notices you've been asking questions and comes to capture, interrogate, or silence you.
• Once you find someone who can get the item for you, you'll have to pay two, three, four, or five times the item's normal price (as listed in the Black Market Cost column of the table) and wait some time for the item to become available (as listed in the Time Required column).

=======================================================

Other Factors:

When seeking items, the rarity, typical vendor type, and availability should be considered as well. Rarity speaks to how common an item is at the galactic level, which informs how easy or difficult it would be to find. Some items are tied to a specific culture or area of the galaxy, in which case, such an item might be rare at the galactic level, but extremely common in its own neck of the woods. 

• Seeking an item like this could necessitate traveling to the galactic neighborhood from which the item originates. The subsequent steps would vary greatly depending on the circumstances. 
• Unless there is a reason for a PC to have existing knowledge regarding rarity, accessibility, vendors, or availability, they will need to perform a skill check related to the information they are seeking. In most cases, a gather info check is a sensable option, as the character seeks out someone who has the knowledge they are looking for. Arguments for other skills will be heard if there are any, but remember, the GM always holds the right to reject them.  
• Locating an item a player is looking for will be easier the more they know. A gather info check gains a +2 bonus for each RAVA designation they know (max of +8; quick maffs). Those designations can also be uncovered via successful gather info checks. There are a number of other potential bonuses players can uncover while playing as well—most of them have pros and cons the players will need to weigh.   
• One thing to remember is failures can draw unwanted attention. The grander the venture, the greater the potential consequences. Scale is also not uniform—a rookie attempting a major heist is much riskier than a seasoned veteran taking the same job. Similar logic applies here. 
• The manner and intensity of attention entirely depends on the circumstances, and could range from rubbing a local the wrong way, to making enemies with a powerful crime lord, and much more.  
• Also keep in mind that people don't typically give information (or anything) for free. Acquiring information is going to either cost credits or favors in just about every cases. 

=======================================================

Although acquring a license legally can be somewhat tedious, players should weigh the risks and rewards yielded by skirting the system. The variety of alternate methods described in this article have many benefits, but also invite new risk.