Dual Weapon and Multi-Weapon Fighting


Rules Questions


It is possible to have 4 arms and therefore wield two dual weapons. In this case, what is to be done with Two Weapon Fighting/Multi-Weapon Fighting and the Dual Weapon property?

If a 4 armed creature holds two spears, one in each hand, and has Spear Dancing Style, allowing them to use spears as if those weapons had Dual Weapon, how many attacks would they get? How would these attacks be calculated with BAB?

In my research I think I've found that a creature or person might conceivably do this with little effort apart from feat taxes, but such a thing is so unlikely that I haven't seen in depth discussions about it.

+6 BAB allows one iterative attack at -5. (+6/+1) TWF allows one additional attack at full BAB and a -2 penalty for all attacks. (+4/+4/-1) Multi-Weapon Fighting allows beings with three or more arms to use TWF as intended with only one arm counting as a main hand. With 4 arms and weapons, this could conceivably look like +4/+4/+4/+4/-1 if the 3 off hand weapons are light, or +2/+2/+2/+2/-3 if all of the weapons are one handed, but not light.

Since Dual Weapon states that in the event it is used as a Dual Weapon it is treated, "just as if you were using a one-handed weapon and a light weapon," could one conceivably interpret this as the +4/+4/+4/+4/-1 attack sequence, as if the wording simply wants to apply TWF in it's optimal and intended use, or would they be limited to +2/+2/+2/+2/-3 as if they were wielding a single off hand weapon that was not light and therefor throwing off the Multi-Weapon Fighting benefit? In the latter case, since both weapons are the same size and make and thus fairly balanced, would that make up for this line of thinking?


Okay - Double weapons, not Dual weapons, gotcha.

Just about everything you said was correct. It would take Multi-Weapon Fighting to wield two spears w/out the higher penalties (since they count as four weapons).

Technically you'd be at the +2/+2/+2/+2/-3 because you have two one-handed weapons and two light. As a GM, I think it would be pretty reasonable to discount that in this kind of case, or only apply -3 instead of -4. It's only one extra 'virtual' one-handed, vs. the three you could wield taking the full penalty.


Thank you, sorry for my mislabeling. It was mental gymnastics to think about, I'm glad I'm not far off.

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