Question regarding Two-Weapon-Fighting (Pathfinder)

[Ganzir]

Hi everyone, I purchased the Pathfinder Corerulebook last week and just finishe the combat section.

Here I have a question regarding Two-Weapon-Fighting.

It states

Quote:

If you wield a second weapon in your offhand, you can get one extra attack per round with that weapon. You suffer a -6 penalty with your regular attack or attacks with your primary hand and a -10 penalty to the attack with your offhand when you fight this way.

Assuming you play a character with a BAB of +20/+15/+10/+5 so you have 4 regular attacks when fighting with two weapons those bonuses decrease to

+14/+9/+4/-1 for the regular attacks. Now you have a offhand attack at a -10 penalty.

Does this penalty refer to the hightest bonus or the lowest or one in between. The rules are not clear about this.

Thanks in advance

[Paul Watson]

Dirk Wiedemann wrote:

Hi everyone, I purchased the Pathfinder Corerulebook last week and just finishe the combat section.

Here I have a question regarding Two-Weapon-Fighting.

It states

Quote:

If you wield a second weapon in your offhand, you can get one extra attack per round with that weapon. You suffer a -6 penalty with your regular attack or attacks with your primary hand and a -10 penalty to the attack with your offhand when you fight this way.

Assuming you play a character with a BAB of +20/+15/+10/+5 so you have 4 regular attacks when fighting with two weapons those bonuses decrease to

+14/+9/+4/-1 for the regular attacks. Now you have a offhand attack at a -10 penalty.

Does this penalty refer to the hightest bonus or the lowest or one in between. The rules are not clear about this.

Thanks in advance

It's the highest attack bonus. So it would be +14/+9/+4/-1/+10 (offhand)

[Ganzir]

Thanks for the quick answer, that leads to one further question:

If the same character has the Two-Weapon-Fighting Feat and wields a light weapon in offhand the penalties are -2/-2 resulting in:

+18/+18(offhand)/+13/+8/+3

Now this same character selects Improved Two-Weapon Fighting.

Quote:

In addition to the standard single extra attack you get with an offhand weapon, you get a second attack with it, albeit at a -5 penalty

Does this penalty stack with the normal penalty?

So is it

+18/+18(offhand)/+13(offhand)/+13/+8/+3

or is it calculated independantly?

[Javell DeLeon]

They stack.

That made it to where your offhand attack would mimic the attacks of your primary. Base Attack wise anyway.

The initial penalty is just for wielding 2 wpns.

[Rezdave]

Paul Watson wrote:

It's the highest attack bonus. So it would be +14/+9/+4/-1/+10 (offhand)

Note the assumption that you are taking your Off-hand attack in the 1st iteration.

Suppose the following, wildly hypothetical situation:

It.1) Two-handed attack with primary weapon at +14, killing first opponent;

It. 2) Improved Disarm with primary weapon at +9, disarming second opponent;

It. 3) Free Action to "drop weapon" with secondary hand and use some funky splat-book feat to catch weapon of Opponent #2 in off-hand as it flies through the air with successful "attack" at -6 (+4 with -10 penalty);

It. 4) Two weapon attack against Opponent 2 at -1 (Primary) and -11 (Off-hand).

Now, chances are It. 1 was probably rolled at +20 since TWF was not a factor, but I used my foresight and applied the TWF penalties across all attacks in the round as the rules state you must. Maybe our Player planned to use the Splatbook feat in advance and it requires taking the penalties, even if unsuccessful. Whatever.

Point is, IMHO, it should apply to iteration. Here's another, probably more likely scenario:

It. 1) A high-Strength and well-buffed fighter uses THF and Power Attack and other feats to finish off a high-AC but low-HP injured but dangerous opponent he knows will heal next round. He's going all-or-nothing for a single, massive attack with mega-damage rather than risk a pair of smaller attacks;

It. 2) After killing Op1 he has to deal with a lower AC but unscathed Op2. Makes his primary attack one-handed and "drops" his off-hand as a Free Action while drawing a second weapon (Rapid Draw or movement with Spring Attack and +1 or better BAB allowing drawing a weapon during Move Action or whatever);

It. 3) TWF at +4/-6;

It. 4) Primary attack only at -1.

No doubt some rules-lawyer will find problems with both of my examples, but my point doesn't change. Inevitably, some weird, rules-legal situation will evolve in your game where a character takes a TWF attack on an iteration other than the first. IMHO the total penalty should apply for that iteration and not the "highest" BAB for the off-hand attack.

FWIW,

Rez