| 2 people marked this as FAQ candidate. |
This FAQ entry
Weapons, Two-Handed in One Hand: When a feat or other special ability says to treat a weapon that is normally wielded in two hands as a one handed weapon, does it get treated as one or two handed weapon for the purposes of how to apply the Strength modifier or the Power Attack feat?
If you're wielding it in one hand (even if it is normally a two-handed weapon), treat it as a one-handed weapon for the purpose of how much Strength to apply, the Power Attack damage bonus, and so on.
contradicts this one:
Power Attack: If I am using a two-handed weapon with one hand (such as a lance while mounted), do still I get the +50% damage for using a two-handed weapon?
Yes
Which is the correct one?
That's a very good question.
The actual answer at my table is "one hand is one hand, two hands is two hands, and I don't even want to discuss any faqs". Hilariously, the NPC codex figures it one way for some of the lance wielders, and the other way for other lance wielders.
The first entry you mentioned is later than the second entry. But as it doesn't label itself as a change or reversal, and the earlier entry has not been removed, we must consider both.
The first question is about two-handed weapons treated as one-handed weapons. The second one is about two-handed weapons wielded in one hand. By this method, we find that lances get the two-handed PA and Str bonus, and everything else (AFAIK) gets the one-handed bonus.
HOWEVER, this assumes that the distinction between "wield in one hand" and "treat as a one-handed weapon" is intentional and intentionally significant, which I honestly don't think is the case.
|
The thing to see is that with the first one, it specifically says to "treat the weapon as a one handed weapon" and the second one is just "if I am using it one hand" when it simply makes sense to. As far as I know, a lance while mounted is the only scenario that lets you do this.
The second one never calls out anything about actually changing the designation of the weapon (making it still retain properties of a 2-handed weapon). The first one specifically calls out making it count as a different handedness (making it lose the 2-handed designation).
To answer your question: they both are correct. You just have to know when to apply either rule. The first only really comes in effect with stuff like Bastard Sword proficiency and feats like Thunder and Fang. You're going to be hard pressed to find another scenario where you apply the lance ruling to other situations.