Is there a penalty for attacking with an off-hand weapon ?


Rules Questions


If I attack with a weapon in my off-hand (not holding anything in my primary hand), do I have a malus to my attack roll ?

Grand Lodge

1 person marked this as a favorite.
Pathfinder Adventure, Rulebook Subscriber

If you only attack with one weapon, it is considered your main hand, regardless of which hand.


1 person marked this as a favorite.

Nope, only when you take the extra attack. Iterative attacks have no issues regardless of which hand or weapon you use.


If you have multiple attacks because of high BAB, do you have to take them with the same weapon? Or can you take your primary with one and your secondary with a weapon in your other hand?


Pathfinder Maps Subscriber

The restriction on iterative attacks is only that they be made in order. You can make them with any weapon you're wielding. It's only if you use TWF to gain an extra attack that there is a "main-hand/off-hand" issue. If you can draw a weapon as a free action with quickdraw or via some other method you can even change weapons between iteratives that way.


SlimGauge wrote:
The restriction on iterative attacks is only that they be made in order. You can make them with any weapon you're wielding. It's only if you use TWF to gain an extra attack that there is a "main-hand/off-hand" issue. If you can draw a weapon as a free action with quickdraw or via some other method you can even change weapons between iteratives that way.

Interesting... I wasn't aware that you could swap weapons like that. Neat! I don't usually play characters where this would come up, but it's handy to know.


Pathfinder Maps Subscriber

I wrote a thread on it some time ago with the premise of fighting zombies and skeletons. You want to use the mace on the skeletons but the slashing weapon on the zombies. I'll try to find it.

EDIT: It must be too old, I can't find it back. Perhaps it's in the beta discussion ? Hmmm.


SlimGauge wrote:
The restriction on iterative attacks is only that they be made in order. You can make them with any weapon you're wielding. It's only if you use TWF to gain an extra attack that there is a "main-hand/off-hand" issue. If you can draw a weapon as a free action with quickdraw or via some other method you can even change weapons between iteratives that way.

Only if you have a way to also get rid of weapons as a free action. Quick Draw lets you draw but not holster a weapon quickly. You can of course drop it :)


Pathfinder Maps Subscriber

Yes, Quatar. The original question involved simply having one in each hand and using the one appropriate to that attack's target. Only later did we discover that you could drop either one (or both if you wanted to quickdraw a two-handed weapon) and quickdraw a third weapon for that third attack.


Generally, dropping a weapon is the preferred method of disposing of one temporarily when you need a new weapon in the heat of battle.

Community / Forums / Pathfinder / Pathfinder First Edition / Rules Questions / Is there a penalty for attacking with an off-hand weapon ? All Messageboards

Want to post a reply? Sign in.