Hi all,

I'm new to DH 2e and Warhammer 40K in general. Just about to start an adventure with many ranged characters. Therefore, I keen to build a melee focused sister of battle. I have 4k xp to spend (this includes the starting 1k). I'd be most grateful for stat line, skill and talent advice (including a forward plan assuming she survives to have more that 4k xp...).

Many thanks!

Have you selected a homeworld yet? Shrine world is a pretty obvious choice but anything that has a good fate threshold would be effective. Do you want the character to be completely focused on combat? Since you are starting at a higher experience level will you have enough influence to meet the influence requirement for the elite advance coming in or is it something you'll still need to build up to?

Feudal World is an ideal home world for an aspiring SOB.

Are you intending to actually go for Sister of Battle once you hit the right influence level, or are you an acolyte that just happens to be an adepta sororitas?

If wanting to make a true 'battle sister', then as noted, Shrine World and Feudal World are both good - one helps with Fate points, which fuel a lot of the battle sister's abilities, whilst the other makes you better able to move about in powered plate.

If you're wanting pure melee abilites..... I'd be tempted to suggest Assassin or Fanatic as the role; one role bonus gives you a damage boost, the other (essentially) a weaponskill boost.

4,000 Xp is a goodly chunk and can make a pretty effective combatant. It broadly depends what style of melee combat you want to go forwards with, and what you (as an acolyte cell) expect to fight.

with 4,000 Xp in the bank, you've got enough to specialise quite a bit. I would consider the following suggestions:

• If you're intending to be a pure melee combatant, I wouldn't stick to low-tech weapons only. There are three classes of 'advanced' melee weapons - chain, shock and powered.
• Chain weapons are easiest to get hold of and have pretty decent damage output, plus tearing pairs well with righteous fury-powered effects, but suffer from being destroyed by powered blades if you face them. Best for low-tech humans, big animals, etc.
• Powered blades - will blend in better with the nobility, and is the best thing when facing a normal human in good armour with a powered blade of their own (i.e. up-spire rich buggers)
• Shock weapons - likely to cause comment because few people carry them as a matter of course. Shocking is a good trait and they're immune to powered blades. Good for taking people alive.
• The good thing about a melee combatant is that carrying a blade is acceptable in a wider selection of places than carrying an assault rifle - a noble's party, for example, is likely to permit a ceremonial (but still lethal) sword where an assault shotgun would be checked at the door. Blus, blades are quiet and don't run out of ammo.
• The bad thing about a melee combatant is needing to reach melee alive to do any good, and that means coming into short range of people's guns. Agility is a key stat - it powers both the Stealth and Dodge skills and determines how fast you can run. Hard Target is a very good talent if you plan on running at someone with an assault rifle! Also consider Sprint.
• I would choose either parry or dodge to specialise in - having both is a bit redundant. You should obviously have a decent Weaponskill, if you take a balanced weapon, especially if it's good or best craftsmanship and Counter-attack, consider Parry, otherwise stick with Dodge as it works at range as well.
• Paired weapons - if you want to attack with paired weapons, head straight for two-weapon wielder and ambidextrous. Note that you don't need this combination if you're only attacking with one weapon in your main hand; parrying with an off-hand blade is fine. There is some suggestion of taking a cheap-ish powered blade in that hand and using a chain weapon for damage in the other.
• Broadly speaking, damage in melee comes from either delivering one massive blow and killing your opponent dead, or unloading lots of attacks per round and overwhelming them.
• One massive hit: The All Out Attack gives you +30 to hit at a cost of your own reaction. Killing Strike makes it undodgeable, Hammer Blow improves its Pen and makes it concussive - hopefully stunning your opponent so they can't take advantage.
• Many hits: Ambidextrous and two-weapon wielder melee, plus swift or lightning attack gives you the ability to land a ridiculous number of hits.
• Regardless of fighting style, crushing blow is good and flesh render is good if you use a chain weapon.