Hi there folks, have a quick question about the Arch Militant class. At character gen they get universal proficiency with ranged basic, ranged pistol and melee, yet later in their advancement track they get the specific proficiencies as options. Is there any reason at all that a player would take them given that they already have universal proficiency?

I understand they would still need a proficiency for any exotic weapons they come across but the advancement lists the other regular ones as well I believe.

Hello!

I believe they just list again all the options to help with the advancement process as new options are allowed in future sourcebooks & some of the careers will be tweaked (original skills/talents/stuff taken out & replaced with new). They did this in DH too.

This doesn't mean you have to take stuff you already have. It's just a handy place to see all the options your PC has.

Also, I believe, but not certain, that "universal" doesn't quite mean that - some weapon types are left out. Take a look at the specific entry.

Does that make sense?

L

Who?

The "universal" doesn't mean every weapon. It includes "only" bolt, las, launcher, Melta, Plasma, and SP. Which is all of the Imperium's weapons classes. In order to effectively use them you still need exotic and primitive profs.

Dalnor Surloc said:

Ok, this I understand. What I mean is that given that the Universal Prof covers all those things & the Arch Militant starts with them why are they then listed in the advancement profile, I can't see any reason to take them.

There isn't really, it's just there for completeness and for future supplements which may swap in alternate ranks and starting packages. It makes it easier to convert between DH and RT too, plus a GM can occassionally find a use when building classes/NPCs.

Also, don't forget that the Arch-Militant doesn't begin with any Heavy Weapon Training talents at all. So if you add those to all Exotic Weapon Training talents, they still have a lot to learn.

UberMunchkin said:

You can't take them. They are technically already taken by the character from the beginning. They did the same thing in the errata for Dark Heresy. In the first prints the talents and skills that PC's began with weren't listed on their first rank (well at least not most of the time), but somehow it was decided that the talents and skills that PC's start out with should be listed on the first rank along with the additional skills and talents you can buy. Probably for illustration purposes, to give both players and Gm's a good overview of exactly which talents and skills that any given career path will have access to, without having to flip back and fourth between the character creation chapter and the careerpaths chapter.

So for the Archmilitant: yes the Universal weapons proficiency talents are listed, but you can't buy them because the character has by default already bought them.

Note that, if coming in from DH, a guardsman switching into archmilitant might not have it, and so would need to buy it.