two weapons combat

black thor · Post by **black thor** » Thu Mar 18, 2004 3:11 am

wich feat must I give to my character for using tho weapons without penalty?

my ranger1/rogue X with two weapons proficency still has a -2 both in the main hand and in secondary hand ...

-2 for competence...
why?

as a ranger, he has a slot in each weapon, and then I spent a slot in tho weapons...

vlam · Post by **vlam** » Thu Mar 18, 2004 6:58 am

using both hands always gives a penalty, even with the 2weaponfighting and ambidex feats. i never had a dualweapon char, dont think it makes the difference. but it looks kewl

Mirk · Post by **Mirk** » Thu Mar 18, 2004 7:19 am

the reason for -2 penalty is to balance out the extra attck the char gets. just as Rapid Shot feat gives an extra misille weapon attack with a -2 on all attacks, so does duel-weilding.

oh, and holding a weapon other thatn a shortsword or a dagger in the of-hand will give a -4 penalty...

black thor · Post by **black thor** » Thu Mar 18, 2004 8:05 am

thanks...

does "two weapons" is a good choice in IWD2 ?

i want to give tho short swords to my ranger/rogue (he still use ranged attak as first ability, with the high dex)

Mirk · Post by **Mirk** » Thu Mar 18, 2004 9:52 am

the efficiency of duel-weilding has been debated over and over... personnaly, however, i NEVER had a party without a duel-weilding char, usually in the dex-based special-ops (scout, mage-killer, dirty-fighting) role, generally a highly-multyclassed build (with up to 5 classes)

the ran1/rogX is a classic nothing-too-fancy version for this build, especially if you want your char to be mainly a long-range char. adding the ranger levles gains you a lot, while you loose very little.

as the weapon choice goes, if you do noy take the 4 fighter levles to specialize, don't limit yourself to shortswords. use a shortsword in the off-hand, and use a main hand weapon most suitable for the situation: longsword for a good balance of damge and critical range, scimitar for a high critical range (very effective with Luck bunuses and Dirty Fighting), mace/club/flail for blunt damage, axe for another approach to critical hits... you get the idea!

there is an issue of Weapon Finesse - I'm not sure it works with 2 weapons. if it does, and your char is low on Str, two shortswords are a good idea.

koz-ivan · Post by **koz-ivan** » Thu Mar 18, 2004 8:59 pm

Originally posted by Mirk
there is an issue of Weapon Finesse - I'm not sure it works with 2 weapons. if it does, and your char is low on Str, two shortswords are a good idea.

that's really the best reason to dual wield, finesse and small blades for low strength / high dex builds.

other than that as a style imho it lags behind the larger damage output of twohanded weapons, or the protection of one hander + shield.

blue_wister · Post by **blue_wister** » Tue Mar 30, 2004 2:26 pm

Well, I'm dual wielding with a level 20 barb and a level 19 fighter in my party, and these guys are NUTS!

The barb is using a +4 longsword and Bhaal's Fire longsword, and the fighter is using 2 uber-bastard swords (each is d10+4 plus other stuff). With their str bonuses these guys usually hit for 18-22 base damage each hit, plus damage bonuses from fire, cold, etc.

My 'to-hit' skills at high levels more than compensates for the -2 attack rolls, and with 350 hit points my barb doesn't mind not using the sheild.

Buffing and hasting 2-3 dual wielding warriors is one of the most powerful tactics in the game.

medctnstn0307 · Post by **medctnstn0307** » Mon Apr 05, 2004 4:47 pm

Yeah I was so happy when I saw this for IWD2. First saw it with Diablo 2. Naturally I had to try it. My barbarian is it level 15 and hardly gets touched its amazing. I gave him a ring of regeneration just in case.

koz-ivan · Post by **koz-ivan** » Wed Apr 07, 2004 6:57 pm

Originally posted by blue_wister
Buffing and hasting 2-3 dual wielding warriors is one of the most powerful tactics in the game.

not really, for the most part wielding two handed weapons will do more damage faster, and will be clearly better for most of the game.

but dual bastards is still pretty good (towards the end), it's close either way, and imho might not be worth the stats / feats for some char bulids to dual wield, and i'm not convinced the offhand should be anything but a short sword, w/ only one attack / turn (the offhand) the difference between the two is minimal.

blue_wister · Post by **blue_wister** » Mon Apr 12, 2004 11:26 am

Originally posted by koz-ivan
i'm not convinced the offhand should be anything but a short sword, w/ only one attack / turn (the offhand) the difference between the two is minimal.

Why would you say this?

I don't remember anything in the manual, etc. that says my off hand is limited to one attack per round.

That's not what it shows in my character details when I look at #of attacks for each weapon.

koz-ivan · Post by **koz-ivan** » Mon Apr 12, 2004 7:03 pm

Originally posted by blue_wister
Why would you say this?

I don't remember anything in the manual, etc. that says my off hand is limited to one attack per round.

That's not what it shows in my character details when I look at #of attacks for each weapon.

look carefully at your char screen, try it with only one weapon, and then with two, you'll see that there is only one offhand attack.

Mr.Waesel · Post by **Mr.Waesel** » Tue Apr 27, 2004 4:45 am

Originally posted by black thor
thanks...

does "two weapons" is a good choice in IWD2 ?

i want to give tho short swords to my ranger/rogue (he still use ranged attak as first ability, with the high dex)

Nope, it isn't in P&P D&D and it isn't here. For more info, you can look at this link, but you need to understand a fair bit of math before it makes sense...
Link