Previously unanswered FAQ thread!

[Yure]

The situation has come up again from this long thread.
https://paizo.com/threads/rzs2n253?Weapons-in-both-hands-and-iterative-atta cks

The FAQ only partially answered the question in regards to two weapon fighting penalties, but not on whether off hands get damage penalties during iterative attacks. Could this be addressed or is it meant that no penalty (including strength penalty) is incurred when using iterative attacks using weapons in both hands?

[Volkard Abendroth]

If you are using iterative attacks, you are not TWFing and you have no off-hand.

There are no penalties. Each attack is resolved as if it were the only weapon you were using (baring a handful of class features, e.g. spell combat).

[Scott Wilhelm]

When you are 2 weapon fighting with a high BAB. Let's say we have a Human Fighter with Long Sword and Dagger. Only the off-hand gets a damage penalty in this character's Full Attack. So, in the given example, the character has a BAB of +13, so the Full Attack is

Longsword: +13/+8/+3,

Then

Dagger: +11

And if this Fighter has an 18 Strength, then the Longsword gets the +4 Damage, and the Dagger gets the +2.

[MrCharisma]

Scott, in the example given Yure is saying you take the following attacks:

Longsword +13, Dagger +8, Longsword +3.

No extra attack from the rules for two weapon fighting.

In this scenario, what would your damage modifiers be with the dagger?

(PS I agree with Volkard Abendroth)

[Yure]

I've been of the mind of Volkard's explanation. However I have been having another discussion in another thread and this subject came up and I was genuinely interested in the answer.

In my mind it has always worked as Volkard mentioned, but RAW I'm not so sure no more.

[wraithstrike]

Here is your answer in another TWF thread from a guy who was on the dev team at the time. He also wrote the TWF FAQ.

Sean K Reynolds wrote:

"Off-hand" attack penalties and "off-hand" damage penalties"* only exist in the context of using the two-weapon fighting option (Core Rulebook page 202).

Thus, as the FAQ says,

"Basically, you only incur TWF penalties if you trying to get an extra attack per round."

I deliberately wrote that FAQ entry so it wouldn't mention "off-hand" attacks until the section on using the two-weapon fighting option. That's because the concept of an "off-hand" only applies when you are using the two-weapon fighting option in the Combat chapter.

Thus, if you're not using the twf combat option, there's no attack penalty and no Str bonus reduction, because those are penalties* that only apply when using the two-weapon fighting option to gain an extra attack.

* Using "penalty" in the English sense of the word, meaning, "at a weaker value than normal," such as a reduced Str bonus to damage for off-hand weapons. Not necessarily in the game sense of the word, meaning "a modifier that is not a bonus."

[Yure]

Sweet thanks wraith!

Yeah, and that seemed about what I was understanding, but the off hand half damage rule was in the combat damage section away from the two-weapon fighting section so that is why I began to doubt.

The two weapon fighting section also mentions off hand BEFORE the actual extra attack option becomes available. But nowhere is primary, off-hand issue clarified.