Hello,

I will be starting a new AoR game soon, we made characters but have not picked starting gear yet. We are starting with a base and Knight level play so I have 10k Credits. Now Credits will be hard to come by and base upgrades and equipment will most likely come out of our pockets.

My Character is a Tactician and Imperial Army Cadet. Ideally I would rather use my action in combat for the leadership skills, but I will need to fight as well. I prefer a blaster pistol over something larger and always good to have a melee weapon. I have looked at melee weapons and some blasters but I am torn since I am not sure what would be better? I am not looking to dump a lot of ranks into my combat skills. Brawn is 3, Agi is 3 and 1 rank in Melee and Rng Light.

Formation skills I would always try to do above shooting. Limited to legal goods of rarity 6 or lower, but I can get 1 item that is above 6 or illegal.

Dragoon, H-7 and the X-30 are the 3 I am most torn between.

I haven't had a chance to look at armor or other gear since the GM currently has most of my books.

Any input would be helpful. Not sure how heavy I would go on the modifications either.

Seems like you've done most of the thinking already. The Dragoon, H-7 and X-30 Lancer are all great choices for officer-type sidearms. If you can convince your GM to allow restricted items, the Se-14r Repeating Blaster from Dangerous Covenants (basically a submachine gun) would also make a lot of sense (maybe captured in a previous engagement with the Empire?).

If you want to use your melee skill, just go with some kind of vibroknife (my choice would be the Parrying Vibroblade from Keeping the Peace) and add a Mono-Molecular Edge at some point. That should be sufficient for most situations.

As far as armor goes, there's really nothing specifically made to enhance a leader-type PC. Having something that doesn't weigh you down (so encumbrance 3 or lower) would probably be for the best, my personal choice would be the "Berethron" Personal Modular Armor from Suns of Fortune.

(Make sure to get the BPEA-A1 Cascader from Desperate Allies. That upgrade on Charm, Deception and Leadership checks is awesome for any face-type character.)

Don't worry about "the best" gun. A gun is a tool, get the one for the job. If there's more than one job, you may need more than one tool, good thing you've got a base with an arms room to keep it in.

So lets look at your proposals....

Dragoon: It's got ample damage and accuracy, but it's really more of a carbine than pistol, intended to allow a Ranged:Heavy character to also have a 1-handed option without needing to carry 2 guns... Still, if you play by MMO rules it's one of "the best."

H-7: It is very very nice, with superior, good damage, and a good crit. But it's expensive and your only Rarity 8 option. It's also heavy making it harder to conceal. Finally... it's just a gun. What happens if you lose it? This is Star Wars... weapons get lost... Story-wise it's also pretty fancy, making it hard for you to ever claim to be no one important if you get captured.

X-30: Fantastic range, accurate, low damage but that's offset by pierce, however it's crit rating is ho-hum. It's pricey, costing more than a rifle, but relatively common. So deal here is while it's range will allow you to keep pace with a rifle team, any time you're not out in the open, you're not getting your money's worth.

Other Options:

Model 80: Average Damage, and heavy, but affordable, and with a good Crit rating. Downside is you can't use quick-draw... which will only matter if you have quick-draw.

S-5: Good damage, but heavy, it's expensive, but also comes with a built in dart launcher/ascension gun option, so it's got some flexibility other pistols don't.

SE-14C: Not especially powerful, and with Short range, but able to fire full-auto allowing a skilled shooter to land multiple hits. Someone dun goofed and it's price is low, and it's not restricted, making it's predecessor the SE-14r obsolete.

SH-9: A sluthrower, it's got short range, is not especially powerful and limited ammo, though it has pierce to bring it's damage potential up to that of a blaster pistol. However it's suppressed and easy to conceal, so good for stealth missions and infiltrations. Fluff says it'll even fire wet and underwater, so that's a nice bonus.

CDEF Pistol: Ho-hum numbers and inferior to boot. It is however, one of the cheapest blasters of it's type on the market. Not a great all arounder, but fantastic for those time when you may need to chuck your gun in t he trash. Also good for dropping to newly formed local resistance members, though they'll likely just use the CDEF blasters to acquire gently used E-11s later....

Plain old pistol: Nothing fancy here, but with the right attachments, it might prove better than a more specialized weapon. Especially since you can change out attachments pre-mission to tailor your weapon to the mission. And if it gets lost... eh, it's just a gun.

600 credits can get you a Relby-K23 Blaster Pistol. Rarity of 6, Damage 6, Plus it has Pierce 2 for getting through Soak. It's from The Jewel of Yavin Adventure Module.

A Stun Baton is always good in addition to your average Vibroblade so you can change up depending on your fight (like needing them alive).

I also like the Alliance Light Stealth Armor from Forged in Battle. Great benefits for the price. Overall it leaves you a decent amount of Creds for extra toys and upgrades.

Elg-3a blaster pistol Dam: 6 Enc: 1 400cr range: short crit: 4adv qualities: stun setting, 2 setback to perception checks to find this weapon on a body.

Best holdout blaster in the game combine with concealed holster for 3 set backs against someone trying to find it.

5 hours ago, Ghostofman said:

...

X-30: Fantastic range, accurate, low damage but that's offset by pierce, however it's crit rating is ho-hum. It's pricey, costing more than a rifle, but relatively common. So deal here is while it's range will allow you to keep pace with a rifle team, any time you're not out in the open, you're not getting your money's worth.

...

It's also worth mentioning the fact that the SoroSuub X-30 Lancer Precision Blast Pistol lacks a stun setting, which will be annoying if you suddenly decide you need to incapacitate instead of kill...

The HH-50 heavy blaster is fun for the unsophisticated touch, as it's something like the blaster version of a sawed off double barreled shotgun.

If you're ok with going ranged (heavy) the DH-17 carbine is a compact package the size of a big pistol and offers good damage and autofire. Trick it out with a custom grip and an electronic sighting system and you can mod it to Accurate 2 and effectively remove Inaccurate. Also, per FaD rules, carbines can be used in one hand at up to short range without penalty (ask your GM for their take on it just to be sure though), so it can serve as a pistol up close. Very effectively so, as the electronic sight lets you aim as an incidental at short range.

A more discreet option is the HL-27 light blaster , which has decent crit rating and Accurate 1, which is nice on a light blaster. Also, it's fairly cheap.

Thank you all for your input.

Some good thoughts and opened up my eyes to a few other pieces. Made the choice well, little easier but also a little harder. I have a week or so to think it all over.