Yet another two-weapon fighting question


Rules Questions


Okay, I scanned the list of two-weapon fighting questions and this one didn't pop up, probably because everyone knows the answer but me.

When using two weapons and you take a move action then attack, you only get 1 attack. That part I got.

What I don't know is: Do you still take the penalty for using 2 weapons when you only attack with 1 weapon in that initial round? My guess is you probably do, but I wasn't sure since you only swing one weapon that round.


You designate whether or not you will be two weapon fighting each time you take your turn. If you only gain a single attack in a given round, there is no reason to give yourself the TWF penalties. You're only penalized for attacks you actually get.

In other words, there is a difference between holding two weapons, and wielding two.


Two-Weapon Fighting normally only applies to full attacks (the Fighter archetype excepted). If you move and make a Standard attack, you do not suffer any TWF penalties.


Davick is correct. You only take the two weapon penalty when you are taking your extra attack from TWF. You can carry a weapon in each hand without penalty, you can even attack with either hand in any given round. As long as you don't take the extra attack in a round, there's no penalty.

This holds true with iterative attacks when your BAB gets to 6. If you have a long sword in one hand and a short sword in the other, you can attack with either weapon or a combination of both without taking the TWF penalties:

1) Attack with long sword (+6), iterative attack with long sword (+1)
2) Attack with short sword (+6), iterative attack with short sword (+1)
3) Attack with long sword (+6), iterative attack with short sword (+1)
4) Attack with short sword (+6), iterative attack with long sword (+1)
The bonuses are the same if you have a long sword in each hand.

If you take the extra attack in a round, you'll take the TWF penalties on all attacks. This is where the "main hand" and "off hand" issue comes into play, also:
Main hand: Attack with long sword (+4)
Off hand: Extra attack with short sword (+4)
Main hand: Iterative attack with long sword (-1)
These all take -2 because you have a light weapon in your off hand. Generally people take the iterative attack with their main hand, but that's not required.

Suppose you have a long sword in each hand. Now your attacks look like:
Main hand: Attack with long sword (+2)
Off hand: Extra attack with second long sword (+2)
Main hand: Iterative attack with first long sword(-3)
In this case, the attacks all take -4 because you are using a one-handed weapon in your off hand.

Note that you only get the extra attack on your "main hand". Your iterative attacks don't get an extra attack until you get Improved TWF.

Grand Lodge

One of the most important things to remember about two weapon fighting:

No extra attack, no penalty. No full attack, no two weapon fighting.

Basically, two weapon fighting is a special type of full attack, that grants an extra attack, but incurs penalties to all.


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Actually, its even OK to attack with two weapons as long as you don't gain any extra attacks. Or any number of weapons if your normal BAB is high enough.

Liberty's Edge

And if you get an AoO you also attack do a single attack at your full BAB (no TWF penalty)

Sczarni

blackbloodtroll wrote:

One of the most important things to remember about two weapon fighting:

No extra attack, no penalty. No full attack, no two weapon fighting.

Basically, two weapon fighting is a special type of full attack, that grants an extra attack, but incurs penalties to all.

This is spot on. Try to focus on the number of attacks being made, rather than the number of weapons being used.


Exactly. Even if you had a Longsword, Dagger, Boot Blade, and Boulder Helmet, and +16 BAB (4 iteratives), you could attack with all four (one per iterative attack) and it's perfectly kosher.

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