Hi! I am thinking about creating a melee monster, but starting to read about the arch militant, I cannot find any way to make him even as acceptable as a ranged killer. Not only the WS is more expensive, but also the weapons deal much less damage!

My idea for the character was to make him some kind of new try of creating a space marine, choosing a death worlder with the "false man" birthright and as the game progresses, make him a gland warrior. The problem is that I cannot find any combination that can make him an acceptable melee combatant. I know that you are not supposed to use a sword into a gunfight, but at least I would like to be able to rip and tear someone!

Which melee weapons are considered cool in the game? And accesible to a starting player? Which one should be chosen for the weapon master ability?

Thank you for the help!!!

Get a Thunder Hammer as your starting Acq. Win the game.

Well, they do start with the weapon proficiencies, whichever melee weapon you might like to use, they have great access to Strength, and Agility advances, can max out Dodge, one after another, to survive closing with the enemy, and their special isn't limited to ranged weapons. Other than the Weapon Skill advances being a middle cost, instead of a small one, I don't see too many problems with a melee-oriented Arch Mil.

Of course, the game can lean toward ranged, as almost everyone will be carrying a gun, and, like the game it's based off of, most things not Assault-devoted (Gene-Stealers, Howling Banshees, Striking Scorpions, certain Terminators, probably most Orks, based on their abysmal Ballistic Skill) will crumble under assault conditions. You can't use cover, you might have difficulty moving, can be surrounded, the weapon might require stamina, etc. Once you can kill your foes from a distance you don't think they can do the same from, you'll want to, unless you have an actual reason to want to close.

Anyway, if you can pick a good weapon, like the aforementioned thunder hammer, or maybe a power fist, or something good for parries, and you can actually close with the enemy, I don't see that you'll have too much of a problem. You might get further granting cover fire for your Rogue Trader (they're the opposite on WS vs. BS advances), while they carve things up, but you certainly don't have to. Minusing the WS advances, you have some access to good WS/Str-using talents, and can always Elite Advance something you want before Rank 5, if you can make a good case for it. Other than some Missionaries, who have to decide not to use flamers, instead, and the Explorator who's building for combat, perhaps rather than what an AdMech SHOULD build for, I'm not sure what career would really do this better than AM, and still be Human.

Thank you very much! I will start to look more about making a combined character, taking some ranged options. That hammer looks really nasty! I want that!! Maybe some kind of strane sword for the parry or something, but dual wielding can be a good option, to shoot and then... hammertime!!!

If you want to really dominate CQC a build to consider would be a Storm Bolter, Thunder Hammer and GQ-Combat Shield. Combine that with the Arch-Militants weapon master ability to boost your ranged damage and you can be lethal at anything in short to medium range while still being an unkillable f*ck in melee.

My character went and brought power armour with a jump pack powerfist in one hand and the other was a gun with a fore arm power blade I know exotic but amazing and once I could get my power field I have become a nightmare for enemies that daemon price had nothing once he met me

Remember for melee you are adding your strength for damage so no reason you shouldn't be in in double digits with a powerfist before rolling dice on damage and your special ability would be awesome with power weapons

A Daemon Prince had nothing on you?

What sort of wish fulfillment campaign is your GM running...

Hahaha thanks! really cool ideas! As I do not see my GM being such a "giver", I think I will end up with just a power sword and a mono kraken tooth dagger in melee and a hellgun. Powe weapons seem cool. Hope can start as a false amn with ambidiextrous!!!

well to be fair sanctified weapons really did neuter the fellow somewhat

Aquenaton your right being ambidextrous is essential to really wining in melee followed by getting best craftsmanship weapons

For starting gear fora melee character its really hard to go passed the Conversion Field. 50 PR rating, goes off like a photon flash grenade if it absorbs 12 points of damage or more.
Which means you have a chance of blinding enemies that attack you. And it doesn't require a reaction to use so you can use your parry first, then rely on the field for a while.

Yes there is a chance of it being overloaded and stop working until you can have a tech priest look at it/recharge it. but survivability is a huge bonus.

With Force Fields you should always have your character act naturally and, should they use to react, use their parry/dodge before the Force Field comes into play, as after that, its probably too late to react and move your blade to parry/shift your body part out of the way.

For Dual Wield:

Look into lightning claws if you want to rip and tear (Faith & Coin) 1claw is Ex. Rare, but unwieldy until you get a pair, so a Storm Shield or a plasma pistol in your other hand until you can afford the other.

Eventually Eldar Mirror swords will be kick ass, due to the +20 parry bonus for wielding both at the same time.

I'll even point out the Loi Burning Blades are hilariously fun. Setting enemies on fire is just amazing fun. and upping your chances makes it more so.

Sowrd & board:

Hard to go passed the Thunderhammer.

Let me second the Lightning Claw idea

Personally, I find the career levelling system in the 40k FFG games to be a little illogical in that they do not match up to the fluff descriptions IN THE SAME BOOK. This Melee Arch Militant business is a perfect example...

Simply getting to the position of being able to be an arch militant should be something of an indicator as to the potential of the individual in question. I usually grant a bunch of free talents and stat bonuses to AM characters for this reason. Not from the 'guidelines' in the RAW, either. Most of my RT characters start their lives as Dark Heresy or Only War characters and once they hit a certain point, if they are lucky, the universe may unfold before them in interesting ways. I have found that this creates more player love of the character, as well as better rounded characters. Also, I am a fan of Darwinian character creation and my group loves playing intro campaigns as it gives us the chance to run the most random/badass scenarios we can think of and see if our snowflakes survive. We have had a lot of melee focused AM-like characters through various grand campaigns, and with the correct character building and roleplaying, they can work. I find people like to take an exploitative look at the armory, trying to shoehorn their idea into a playable character and using gear to buff or bandaid stats or abilities where necessary.

The RAW is just a guideline... read all the rules three times and give your character the ones they would realistically have at that point in their lives/careers/experiences. I find that a lot of the talent x -or- talent y choices in the rulebook character creation are ridiculous, as one in that career would need both to be effective. I have the same issue with certain placement of ability increases, mostly in the "+20 at level four?!?!?" variety. These problems led me to pretty much write my own homebrew core rulebook and supplements. I am surprised my gf put up with that little stunt, but my players and I are a LOT happier now. Consider the case of Mork, AM Magnus of House McClymon:

Mork started as a peasant on the Agri-World of Beliar IV. Mork was taken prisoner in a D.Eldar raid c.M37. After being forced to fight in the gladiator pits and tortured for... why not?, Mork was eventually part of a prisoner riot incited by an undercover agent of House McClymon, and proved himself exceptional by (getting lucky with a natural 02 to hit vs. a 94) killing a mandrake in a single blow. Mork was inducted into the House Guard, where he survived Ad. Mech, Ork warbands (confused about which Mork was which), more eldar, a minor warp incursion, four shadow ops against (non-Astartes) Imperials, the Warrant changing hands, and more xenos and ship purgings than Mork cared to count (we played three xenos and two purges) before he found himself with a rather badass reputation and an officer's rank. One sad day, the AM of the group dies gloriously (smeared against the hull of a Desolation battleship because he had no more fate points left to burn...) and a replacement must be found... "Isn't Mork kinda crazy? You think we can talk him into this?" -> 4 DoS on the charm test-> "You want me to ​what? ​ ****, where have you been all my life? I've wanted to do this for years!" -> (Give the AM player Mork's packet and tell him this is your character for the rest of the battle. Trades are allowed) Let Mork pick a few shiny things out of the armory -> New AM for the group to abuse and humiliate while trying to force into doing Astartes-level badassery.

In the above case, the player was actually happy his previous AM had died, so that he could advance a character he had been playing (where applicable) for many, many sessions as a background face, essentially piloting an NPC until the day someone asked me his name and I had to make one up. I knew which batch of recruits he was from because I gave them all Jaded, 20 insanity points, -8 Fellowship, Hatred Eldar, and a minor affliction of the mind... None of which was RAW.

Make the game work for you, don't try and shoehorn your ideas into the rules as written. Check out some of the rules for Only War and Dark Heresy, they seem to have a wider base. There is no reason why there can't be a melee AM. Melee combat is awesome... for the survivors. If you have to write your own leveling charts, so be it. The point of the game is creativity and fun...

Well I found one I had sitting around and this person kicks as in Melee hates the formatting so sorry if it looks a bit funky



Quinn “Flagg” Siegmund

17500xp/17500 “No Retreat, No Surrender, No Mercy” Into the Storm

Home World – Death World Catachan

Birthright – In Service to the Throne – One Amongst Billions Schola Progenium

Lure of the Void – Crusade – Warrior Imperial Guard

Trials and Travails – Lost Worlds – Rogue Planet 14 ^th Black Crusade

Motivation – Devotion – Creed Colour Sergeant

Lineage – Disgraced – The Last Child -

WS -55

BS -45

STR-50

T- 60

AG- 60

INT- 40

PER -38

WP -42

FEL-29

Wounds: 26, Fate Points: 3, Corruption Points: 0, Insanity Points: 4, Profit Factor: 40

Awareness [Per] +10% Ambidextrous

Barter [Fel] Basic Weapon Training (Universal)

Carouse [T] Battle Rage

Charm [Fel] Blind Fighting

Common Lore (Imperial Creed) [int] Bulging Biceps

Common Lore (Imperial Guard) [int] Die Hard

Common Lore (War) [int] Frenzy

Demolition [int] Furious Assault

Dodge [Ag] +20% Gunslinger

Drive (Ground) [Ag] Heavy Weapon Training (Launcher)

Interrogation [WP] Heavy Weapon Training (SP)

Intimidate +10% Inspire Wrath

Literacy [int] Jaded

Medicae [int] Meditation

Scholastic Lore (Tactica Imperialis) [int] Melee Weapon Training (Universal)

Speak Language (Low Gothic) [int] Paranoia

Survival [int] Pistol Weapon Training (Universal)

Tech-Use [int] Quick Draw

Trade (Armourer) [Ag] Rapid Reload

Trade (Remembrancer) [Ag] Sound Constitution [x9]

Thrown Weapon Training (Universal)

True Grit

Two-Weapon Wielder (Ballistic)

Unremarkable

Weapon Master: Melee

The Arch-militant gains a +10% bonus to hit, +2 to damage, and +2 initiative when using a weapon of his chosen class in Combat.

Synthmuscle

A -10 to any Agility Tests due to the newly misshapen and unnatural body shape.

Paranoid:

They suffer a –10 penalty to all Interaction Skill Tests made in formal surroundings.

Survivor:

Gain a +10 bonus to any test to resist Pinning and Shock.

Frenzy

Spends one full Round fuelling his anger

Gain a +10 bonus to Weapon Skill, Strength, Toughness, and Willpower, but suffering a –20 penalty to Ballistic Skill and Intelligence. The Explorer must attack the nearest enemy in melee combat if possible. If he is not engaged with the nearest enemy, he must move towards that enemy and engage it if possible. The character will not take obviously suicidal actions such as leaping off a building in order to engage someone on the ground, but he will take any actions that have a reasonable opportunity to engage in melee with the nearest enemy.

While Frenzied, he is immune to Fear, Pinning, stunning effects, the effects of Fatigue, and he may not retreat, or flee.

The Explorer must use the All-Out Attack Manoeuvre in melee combat if possible. He remains Frenzied for the duration of the combat.

Melee Weapon – Power Scythe, Best Craftsmanship Very Rare

[Melee +10%; 1D10+8 E; 7; Power Field, Unbalanced; 9 Kg]

Melee Weapon, Thrown – Mono-Combat Knife, Best Craftsmanship Scarce

[Melee +10%; 5m; 1D5+1 R; 0; 1Kg]

Ranged Weapon, Pistol – Ripper Pistol, Good Craftsmanship [x2] Extremely Rare

[Pistol; 30m; S/2/-; 1D10+3 I; 7; 8; Full; Reliable, Tearing, Toxic; 4Kg]

Fire Selector +1Kg [Clip x3] Scarce

Red Dot Sight +0.5Kg [+10% with Single Shot] Scarce

Maglev Impeller +2kg [+10m Range, +1 Damage, +1 Reload] Very Rare

Motion Predictor +0.5Kg [+10% with Auto/Semi Fire] Very Rare

Ranged Weapon, Basic – Plasma Gun, Good Craftsmanship Very Rare

[basic; 90m; S/2/-; 1D10+8 E; 10; 20; 5 Full; Maximal, Overheats; 18Kg]

Red Dot Sight +0.5Kg [+10% with Single Shot] Scarce

Ranged Weapon, Heavy – M34 Autocannon, Good Craftsmanship Very Rare

[Heavy; 300m; S/3/-; 3D10+8 I; 6; 20; 2 Full; Reliable; 40Kg]

Red Dot Sight +0.5Kg [+10% with Single Shot] Scarce

Motion Predictor +0.5Kg [+10% with Auto/Semi Fire] Very Rare

Ranged Weapon, Thrown – Grenade -

Frag [Thrown; 27m; 2D10 X; Blast (4)] Cannon

Krak [Thrown; 27m; 2D10+4 X] Rare

Armour, Advanced – Pressure Carapace Armour, Best Craftsmanship Very Rare

[Head 7, Body, 7, Arms 7, Legs 7; -Kg]

Impact Gel Cells +0.5Kg [+2 armour against Impact damage] Rare

Ask your GM if you're allowed to use the alternative version of the Arch-Militant suggested here: https://rogue-trader-rise-of-the-fallen.obsidianportal.com/wikis/modified-class-option-melee-militant

Beyond that, you should definitely look into getting a Storm Shield for a parrying weapon AND one of the best Force Fields in the game. Get a Forearm Weapon Mounting so that you can have pistols on your arms that you can fire into melee while blocking to get as much synergy as possible. Get a Stunsphere as well, because if you can throw a whole mess of those a mandatory Shocking test can cripple quite a few enemies.

For an actual weapon, I like a Null Rod to protect against Psykers, or pretty much any of the Dark Eldar weaponry if you can get them. A Chainfist for your non-shield hand is also very, very good because you'll get 3 dice to try and score a Righteous Fury with, its Pen will be on par with a Power Weapon, and your hand is a chainsaw. You will be almost completely unable to parry, but that's what the shield is for.

If you really want it as ludicrous as possible, The Inquisitor's Handbook has Sollex-Aegis Energy Blade. Maybe with ammunition backpack - if you think your monster will ever need to swing a roaring plasma thruster with handle for more than 10 rounds. Then again, Orks may indeed stay in melee range this long.