Hi,

I’m creating my first character and have a few questions.

I’m creating a Selonian Solider Vanguard.

I’m investing the xp into 2 more Brawn (3 total) and 1 more Agility (4 total), and the remaining 10xp into the talent tree - Body Guard and Toughened.

Career Skills: Athletic, Brawl, Ranged Heavy and Light

Specialization Skills: Athletic and Vigilant

I understand anything can be taken and built upon if that’s how you want it.

But if my idea would be to have multiple range weapons, should I not take Melee because I’ll take Brawl and utilize the Tail ability when needed?

or would there be advantage to taking Melee as well or instead of Brawl since it’ll only be to upgrade 1 dice when using my tail?

Also, would taking multiple Range types be of any advantage or am I wrong in my line of thought? As I’ll be the tank basically, I can take some shots on my way to engage in close combat.

Thank you In advance.

First I'll address Ranged (Light) vs. Ranged (Heavy):

I have never had a character focus only on Ranged (Heavy). They have always had at least a little bit of Ranged (Light), and usually a secondary pistol. Similarly, I have never had a character focus exclusively on Ranged (Light) so that when they are in a situation where they need to hit harder or farther, they have a good option.

Something to bear in mind is that Ranged (Light) covers grenades as well, so even if you don't feel that you want/need a pistol, you'll probably want to chuck some 'nades.

Given how situational Ranged (Heavy) weapons can be (not easily concealed, often restricted, high encumbrance), I always have at least a pistol. Plus, it's always good to have a backup weapon.

Now one Melee vs. Brawl:

I'm not familiar with the Selonian's Tail ability. If I remember what I heard correctly, it's something along the lines of: "Make a (Hard?) Brawl check and knock (any?) Engaged opponent(s?) prone." Am I in the ballpark?
Anyway, it all depends on what you want to do. If you just want to be effective with the Tail ability, go for Brawl. If you want to be an effective fighter in hand-to-hand combat, go for Melee. Its weapons do significantly more damage.

What I would not advise (without some warning, at least) is getting both, as you risk having too wide a skill spread and not being effective enough at the ones you actually want/need to be good at. If you are going to be primarily Ranged*, I would recommend picking one. I don't know how good the Tail ability is, but you might want to get a couple ranks in Brawl to boost its effectiveness and pass up on Melee, as either would probably be situational.

*If you are proficient in Ranged combat, there would rarely be any reason to rush up into engaged range of a target unless it is after you fire and you are trying to force the enemy to take a Maneuver to retreat or else suffer a penalty to their ranged combat checks against you. Ranged weapons (especially Ranged [Heavy]) typically do much more damage than Melee/Brawl weapons.

In short:

Throw ALL of your initial XP into bumping up your characteristics.

That will leave you with maybe 5 - 10 XP, which you can bump into one or two skills.

For a starting character I wouldn't waste XP into the Melee skill.

As a soldier, if you're letting the opfor get into melee range then you're doing it wrong.

28 minutes ago, Mark Caliber said:

In short:

Throw ALL of your initial XP into bumping up your characteristics.

That will leave you with maybe 5 - 10 XP, which you can bump into one or two skills.

For a starting character I wouldn't waste XP into the Melee skill.

As a soldier, if you're letting the opfor get into melee range then you're doing it wrong.

Some might argue that, if you let it come to personal combat, you're doing it wrong. And to those fighting from the cockpits of snubfighters, we salute you!

31 minutes ago, HappyDaze said:

Some might argue that, if you let it come to personal combat, you're doing it wrong. And to those fighting from the cockpits of snubfighters, we salute you!

Darn hotshots! Take all the glory while we do all the fighting.

Wait a sec, I'm a fighter plane. Well, I usually play troopers, at least...

4 hours ago, HappyDaze said:

Some might argue that, if you let it come to personal combat, you're doing it wrong. And to those fighting from the cockpits of snubfighters, we salute you!

And those who are skilled at infiltrating will tell you that isn't them who come to melee range but it's us who sneak close to eliminate them without making any noise.

It's generally good to be flexible in this system, but "being good at all the guns" isn't necessarily an immediate concern.

I played a Starfighter Ace in a campaign once, who ended up being one of the deadlier party members, despite having no ranks in Ranged weapons, and nothing more than a standard blaster pistol.

With 4 agility, I could still close to short range and fire on minion groups, absolutely demolishing the 1 difficulty die, and generally scoring enough advantages to crit, killing an additional minion. I might not have been as effective against nemesis-level enemies, with higher soak, and who aren't as phased by standard blaster crits.

So don't feel like you'll be ineffective with Light weapons if you're untrained. Raw ability counts for a lot in Star Wars.