Earn Income

You set the task level when someone tries to Earn Income. The highest-level task available is usually the same as the level of the settlement where the character is located. If you don't know the settlement's level, it's usually 0–1 for a village or remote colony, 2–4 for a town or starship, or 5–7 for a city or space station. A PC might need to travel to a megacity or capital to find tasks of levels 8-10, and to the largest ports of call in the galaxy or another plane to routinely find tasks beyond that. Some tasks can be done on the infosphere, but characters might not receive the benefits until they return to a port of call. Some locations might have higher-level tasks available based on the nature of the settlement. A major port of call might have higher-level tasks for Piloting, a city with a vibrant arts scene might have higher-level tasks for Performance, and so on. The Earn Income Tasks table includes some ideas for suitable tasks. If someone is trying to use a particularly obscure skill, they might have trouble finding tasks of an ideal level, or any at all—no one in most settlements is clamoring for the expertise of someone with Squox Lore.

Once the PC has decided on a particular level of task from those available, use the DC for that level. You might adjust the DC to be more difficult if there's network maintenance during a job over the infosphere, a rowdy audience for a performance, or the like.