I am trying to find an affordable set of armor for my melee guy to aim to get at some point in our campaign. I didn't opt for the extra credits at character creation so I'm stuck in heavy clothing for now. What are some good choices to aim for that aren't crazy expensive? Our GM isn't one to really give out a lot of credits during a campaign.

Depending on what books you have access to, the Norman Great Coat (Suns of Fortune, 100 cr) and the Mk III Flak Vest (Dangerous Covenants, 300cr) are good starter options. Both are within the starting budget, and each add a small bonus (the coat is good against cold weather, the flak vest against blast).

If you're looking for something a bit more expensive, you cant go wrong with Padded Armour, which will add a second soak. Eventually, you'll want to move up to something like Laminate (which is similar to most bounty hunter body or stormtrooper armour). And there are heavier, more expensive powered options as well.

What books do you have access to?

9 hours ago, Bulwyf said:

I am trying to find an affordable set of armor for my melee guy to aim to get at some point in our campaign. I didn't opt for the extra credits at character creation so I'm stuck in heavy clothing for now. What are some good choices to aim for that aren't crazy expensive? Our GM isn't one to really give out a lot of credits during a campaign.

If nothing else, you can fall back to Padded Armor, which gives you an extra point of soak and only costs 500 credits, so even under a credit-stingy GM that's something that should be obtainable without too much problem. It can't have attachments installed, but that's about it's only downside.

The sourcebooks list all sorts of variations, but anything that provides 2 soak and 1 defense is going to be your best bet. Just look through whatever sourcebooks your GM is allowing to be used (as not all of them will allow every product that FFG has published, nor may they have purchased them all). If nothing else, there's always heavy battle armor from the core rulebook, which has the soak 2/defense 1 I mentioned as well as hard points for armor attachments, though it is expensive and adds a fair bit to your character's encumbrance even when worn.

Catch Vest (Suns of Fortune, 300 C) has 2 soak against energy-based weapons, only 1 soak against other forms of damage. You could get safer into melee range against blaster wielders with this vest and it's cheap.

or

Blast Vest (Fly Casual, 200 C) has one soak, but gains +2 soak against slugthrowers or other physical projectiles as shrapnel, flying debris... (If your GM is nice he might allow you to use the higher soak also against physical melee damage.)

or if you can live with a setback

Biogel Suit (Disciples of Hamony, 350 C) 2 Soak, +1Soak against Brawl or bludgeoning Melee weapons.

6 hours ago, Rogues Rule said:

Biogel Suit (Disciples of Hamony, 350 C) 2 Soak, +1Soak against Brawl or bludgeoning Melee weapons.

1

Uhhh! that's a sweet piece of armor.

In cyphers and masks (AoR spy book) there is a 0 hp attachment called armor inserts. Basically it'll turn any article of clothing with 0 or 1 soak and 0 defense into armored clothing (yes the texts says turn it into armored clothing), and it has mods to increase soak by 1, increase defense by one, and increase the difficulty of the perception check to notice you're wearing armor by 1. It costs far less than armored clothing, I'm not sure I'm remembering the price correctly but I think it's 400 credits. And you can add it to any specialty clothing which can have its own set of benefits. The AoR diplomat book (desperate allies) have several interesting pieces of clothing, my favorite is banal apparel which effectively provides a free rank of the indistinguishable talent although it isn't worded that way.

3 minutes ago, EliasWindrider said:

In cyphers and masks (AoR spy book) there is a 0 hp attachment called armor inserts. Basically it'll turn any article of clothing with 0 or 1 soak and 0 defense into armored clothing (yes the texts says turn it into armored clothing), and it has mods to increase soak by 1, increase defense by one, and increase the difficulty of the perception check to notice you're wearing armor by 1. It costs far less than armored clothing, I'm not sure I'm remembering the price correctly but I think it's 400 credits. And you can add it to any specialty clothing which can have its own set of benefits. The AoR diplomat book (desperate allies) have several interesting pieces of clothing, my favorite is banal apparel which effectively provides a free rank of the indistinguishable talent although it isn't worded that way.

The downside is that your character will forevermore reek of cheese.

?

10 minutes ago, HappyDaze said:

The downside is that your character will forevermore reek of cheese.

?

If his soak reaches 7 or higher I'd agree with you, if it stays at 6 or less I don't.

The best Armor for a melee character is a wall or a pillar

39 minutes ago, Archlyte said:

The best Armor for a melee character is a wall or a pillar

I always find the best armor to be a friendly ranged combatant with an autofire or gunnery weapon. No one shoots at the the melee guy while they are being chewed up by heavy guns.

1 hour ago, Edgookin said:

I always find the best armor to be a friendly ranged combatant with an autofire or gunnery weapon. No one shoots at the the melee guy while they are being chewed up by heavy guns.

Or the friendly ally that's openly wielding a lightsaber, as they tend to draw a lot of attention. Plus, depending on the build they may well be able to survive being shot at (such as by having healthy ranks of Reflect, or better still having Improved Reflect and ways to upgrade attacker's difficulty), leaving your melee-centric guy free to get up close and personal without quite so much concern about getting their butts shot off.

Granted, the 'saber guy isn't likely to show up in a purely EotE or AoR campaign, but said character does tend to draw enemy attention, especially of the Imperial variety. ?

I think Armoured Clothing is your best bet.

Def: 1 and Soak:1, all for 1,000 credits.

Even has a Hard Point to personalize.

Throw in a Gungan Energy Sheild while you're at it. Don't laugh.