So do you want a one handed weapon with one free hand or a one handed weapon you wield in 2 hands? There's a pretty big difference and if its the latter you may as well have a one hand.
Bastard sword and Katana are hand and a half so you can switch on the go pretty well if your trying to do both things.
Bastard sword and Katana are hand and a half so you can switch on the go pretty well if your trying to do both things.
I am currently running a TWF Fighter with a Bastard Sword and Handaxe. If I don't start combat adjacent to my target my SOP is to move adjacent and attack two-handed with the Bastard Sword on one round, then Quick Draw the Handaxe and Full Attack with both sword and axe on the next round. The character also has a level of Gunslinger, so depending on the circumstance I may take an additional round to put in an Up Close and Personal 2d6 shot before moving to engage.
I previously ran a pure damage-dealing two-hand weapon brute (half-orc Barbarian/Frenzied Berserker with a Greataxe) as an experiment to see just how much damage a standard melee type could dish out. (The answer: LOTS! ;D ) So far my current two-weapon guy is behind the curve compared to the other, but that may change as he levels up and acquires more feats and magical weapons (he's currently only 4th level and fighting with masterwork gear.)
Hmmm, if I understand what you're asking, I may have a character that does something similar.
My Fighter/Cleric typically fights with a Bastard Sword 2-handed. I chose this largely for aesthetic reasons; I didn't feel that it was realistic to do 2-handed power attack damage with a longsword, or to use a greatsword from horseback.
Technically, I suppose I don't always fight with it 2-handed, I use a shield on horseback.
If you are asking if there are any character builds designed to use a free off hand, none that come to mind; or at least that I have used. A few ideas:
Fighter monk, free of hand used to grab, catch arrows, punch? technically two-handed weapon fighting, but cool in that you can use monk abilities. Downside: Why not just be a monk, or use two weapons?
Perhaps somebody who throws splash weapons with the off hand? I guess that's a second weapon...
Character does a lot of grappling, so needs a free hand? This idea I really like, actually. A good grappler could use a dagger or shortsword as their primary weapon, get into a lot of grapples using the free hand, and just stab the s+*& out of his opponents once they are grappled. This one actually sounds like it might work mechanically, and confer an advantage of sorts. Never tried it though.
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Cool, it bleeped my swear word!
I'm looking for advice on how playable this is and what kind of class and feats i should be looking at. I've got it in my head to have a character that specializes in a one handed weapon alone. No shield or second weapon or 2h weapon. Is this viable? if so how?
Thanks for any help.
I'm currently playing a samurai that fights with a katana. Usually he wields it two handed for the extra strength and power attack damage, sometimes he wields it with a shield or even one-handed if he has something else he needs to carry in his off-hand.
My experience is that this can work extremely well and can allow for a lot of tactical flexibility. Is this the kind of build you're looking for?
recently ive played with a fighter/rogue using the aldori swordlord archetype (I believe its just called sword lord now in the srd) and if you build it correctly with the right feats/traits you do a ton of damage while using a 1h sword (note the class puts alot of emphasis on feinting and bluffing which is why I went rogue into assassin)
i think prehaps one person asnwered the op question. it's possible.
dawnflower dervish
you can also consider the duelist prc and the free hand fighter archtype.
crane style compliments well with this type of fighting.
or dervish dance
i would argue the best way is to 3/4 levels of weapon master, then 4/3 levels of rogue then go into duelist PRC.
another possiblity would be
along the way pick up crane style.
if your DM will allow, the andriod race is an excellent race for this style.
in the end, pathfinder has done alot to make the free hand melee combantant stronger.
Use the Crane Wing feat. You can 2H it for more damage on your turn, and still threaten with it when you have only one hand holding it between turns.
That sounds like a good way to synergize. Some GMs might not like the idea of constantly shifting grips every round, but I don't see anything illegitimate about it.
For me, 1handed weapon wielded in 2hands doesn't really rise to the level of a specific build, it's just something you do.
You choose the 1handed weapon because you can hold items without un-wielding your weapon,
and because you aren't scared of getting grappled like a 2-handed-only weapon user is.
You usually use the 1handed weapon with 2 hands because it's easy and you get more damage that way (base STR and Power Attack).
...you can use just a longsword as either one handed OR two handed. bastard sword proficiency is just an absolute waste.