So weird question one of my players had. Let's say I have a dagger in off-hand and a short sword in the main hand, with a BAB of +6.
With a full attack, can you attack with Short Sword(Main) and Dagger(Off) then have the next attack -5 be from the dagger, or does it have to come from the short sword on the main hand?
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You choose one weapon to be your main weapon when you full attack in a round, and your two primary attacks must be made with that weapon. The off-hand weapon receives the extra TWF attack. You cannot make a primary attack, then an off-hand, then the primary again.
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That said, you make that choice per round. So there's no reason you couldn't call your dagger your main hand and your short sword your offhand. They're both light weapons. Your attacks would look like:
Dagger (+4)
Dagger (-1)
SSword (+4)
+ str or dex (depending on your build) to each.
Remember that offhand attacks only get half of your modifier to damage.
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You choose one weapon to be your main weapon when you full attack in a round, and your two primary attacks must be made with that weapon.
That's not at all what the FAQ states.
It goes so far as to point out that your +6 attack could be with one weapon, and you could Quickdraw another for your +1 attack.
I'm sure there's an odd edge case involving dropping/throwing and quick drawing, but the basic gist is that (technically) before making any attacks in any given turn, you declare 1) that you are TWFing (and thus apply the penalties) and 2) which hand is your main hand and which is your off-hand.
For almost all practical purposes, if you make sure you apply the penalties you don't need to actually "declare" anything.
As Nefreet points out, there's nothing stopping you attacking once with each weapon as a full attack (not gaining the extra TWF attack), and not take any penalties (and getting full Str bonus to damage), as well as stab with one, drop it, quick draw something completely different and attack with that, or any other combination.
Further, there's some debate about the ordering of attacks when TWFing: I think everyone agrees that attacks with the main weapon happen in BAB order, and the terminology of TWFing forces the same for the off-hand, but the rules are silent on whether a) the first main hand attack must be the first attack you make, and b) whether you can intersperse off-hand attacks between main hand attacks.
Owner - D20 Hobbies
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I'm sure there's an odd edge case involving dropping/throwing and quick drawing, but the basic gist is that (technically) before making any attacks in any given turn, you declare 1) that you are TWFing (and thus apply the penalties) and 2) which hand is your main hand and which is your off-hand.
For almost all practical purposes, if you make sure you apply the penalties you don't need to actually "declare" anything.
As Nefreet points out, there's nothing stopping you attacking once with each weapon as a full attack (not gaining the extra TWF attack), and not take any penalties (and getting full Str bonus to damage), as well as stab with one, drop it, quick draw something completely different and attack with that, or any other combination.
Further, there's some debate about the ordering of attacks when TWFing: I think everyone agrees that attacks with the main weapon happen in BAB order, and the terminology of TWFing forces the same for the off-hand, but the rules are silent on whether a) the first main hand attack must be the first attack you make, and b) whether you can intersperse off-hand attacks between main hand attacks.
+1
The bold is especially important, as I think it's where a lot of this confusion originates and is often debated.
You choose one weapon to be your main weapon when you full attack in a round, and your two primary attacks must be made with that weapon.
That's not at all what the FAQ states.
It goes so far as to point out that your +6 attack could be with one weapon, and you could Quickdraw another for your +1 attack.
Actually, It kind of does state that, even if it also states what you are saying.
In other words, once you decide you're using two-weapon fighting to get that extra attack on your turn (which you have to decide before you take any attacks on your turn), that decision locks you in to the format of "my primary weapon gets my main attack and my iterative attack, and my off hand weapon only gets the extra attack, and I apply two-weapon fighting penalties."
Again, I agree with all of your examples, but the FAQ does actually state that your "locked in" to the decision.
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In other words, once you decide you're using two-weapon fighting to get that extra attack on your turn (which you have to decide before you take any attacks on your turn), that decision locks you in to the format of "my primary weapon gets my main attack and my iterative attack, and my off hand weapon only gets the extra attack, and I apply two-weapon fighting penalties."
It really should JUST say hand vs weapon. Take the example of Shurikens, a weapon listed under two weapon fighting. The main hand weapon is destroyed on the first attack, so you can't possibly be locked into that for your full BAB attacks.
It really should JUST say hand vs weapon. Take the example of Shurikens, a weapon listed under two weapon fighting. The main hand weapon is destroyed on the first attack, so you can't possibly be locked into that for your full BAB attacks.In other words, once you decide you're using two-weapon fighting to get that extra attack on your turn (which you have to decide before you take any attacks on your turn), that decision locks you in to the format of "my primary weapon gets my main attack and my iterative attack, and my off hand weapon only gets the extra attack, and I apply two-weapon fighting penalties."
I totally agree that the FAQ is not worded well and is very likely incorrect. But it does say what he said it says.
I think the intent is clear, and the idea when they wrote it was for melee weapons, which is why shurikens were not taken into account even though they legally can be used.
I think the intent is clear, and the idea when they wrote it was for melee weapons, which is why shurikens were not taken into account even though they legally can be used.
It doesn't make a whole lot of sense for melee either. I attack an Adherer/Mimic/someone using Adhesive Blood with 2 daggers in TWFing. My main hand weapon gets trapped on the first attack. Would that mean I couldn't quickdraw another dagger to continue attacks gained through BAB? What about you use Chairbreaker, to confer a crit on your main hand weapon? Can't draw/attack with another weapon?
Saying the focus was melee doesn't make it any better worded. To make it worse, these are things that were in the game from the start (ranged weapon under TWF [core] and mimic [bestiary 1]).