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Sunday, June 23, 2013

Two-Handed Musings

Here's a thought about two-handed melee weapons, like the great sword. Like some people, I give a +1 attack bonus to anyone fighting with two weapons, rather than two attacks; the rationale is that you're trading the +1 defense you would get from a shield in your off-hand for a +1 to hit. Since the common argument about using "all weapons do 1d6 damage" is that it makes using a two-handed weapon a drawback rather than an advantage, why not give the same +1 attack bonus to great swords and the like?

This is better, for me, than increasing the damage of a great sword. Consider: an ogre does 1+2 damage. If you increase the damage of the great sword, you have to ask: is a man with a great sword equivalent to an ogre? If not, the most damage a great sword should do is 1+1. That's considerably less than most proponents of "variable weapon damage" would prefer.

7 comments:

  1. The way I manage d6-only damage:
    -the opponent with the longest range (mace vs dagger; sword vs mace; greatsword vs sword, etc.) gets +1 to hit.
    -two-weapon combat is allowed only to fighters or thieves with 15+ dexterity: you can use the second weapon to attack (+1 to hit) or to parry (+1 to AC)
    -two handed weapons do 1d6+1 damage only if wielded by a fighter with 15+ strength.

    This way, a character who isn't strong enough wouldn't forfeit the protection of a shield for a cumbersome weapon.

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    1. Is that "two-weapon combat is allowed only to (fighters or thieves) with 15+ dexterity" or "two-weapon combat is allowed only to (fighters) or (thieves with 15+ dexterity)"?

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  2. (The moment I posted my comment, I realized my wording was clumsy...)
    It's only 15+ DEX characters, either fighters or thieves. Thus, a player who gets an average strength but high dexterity could choose a fighter with rapier & "main gauche" , à la Grey Mouser.

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  3. Well, that makes two-handed weapons and dual wielding equivalent mechanically, which is kind of boring. I use two dice, take highest for two-handed weapon damage. Thus, it skews higher, but doesn't reach the possibilities of ogre damage. (Rules originally lifted from Philotomy.)

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    1. They aren't completely equivalent under this rule. First, because you generally can't dual-wield five-foot or six-foot swords, so there's a difference of reach. Second, the +1 for dual wielding is either +1 to attack or +1 to defense (using off-hand weapon as a "shield".)

      I've done the two-dice, take highest before (didn't quite help during the TPK...) I might still do it in addition to the +1 to attack.

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    2. That's true about reach. I don't distinguish between the reach of weapons other than spear or pole arm versus smaller melee weapon, so I didn't think of that, but I know you do, so that's a totally fair difference.

      But that leads to another issue; isn't dual wielding always better than using a shield, if you have the option to get a +1 AC? Or am I forgetting some other perk you make available to those using shields?

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    3. Well, it's an either/or situation. You're either using your off-hand weapon to attack, or to defend, but not both at the same time. Oh, and a parry is useless against a missile weapon, so you need a shield for that.

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