D&D 4E 4e Two Weapon Fighting Power

[Wulfgar76]

Offhand Attack • Fighter Exploit 1
Wielding two weapons, you make a quick slash with the weapon in your offhand.
At-Will • Martial, Weapon
Minor Action • Melee
Target: One Creature
Attack: Melee -4 vs. AC
Hit: 1[W] damage
Special: To use this power you must be carrying a light weapon in your off-hand.

----
Last night we decided to run a "4e Lite" test adventure and one player had his heart set on dual wielding. This is what I came up with. The essence of the power is that it allows you to make a quick, but weak, extra attack as a minor action.

Does it work? Too good? Too lousy? Am I breaking any fundamental 4e rules with this power?

Thanks!

 

[Cadfan]

Yeah. You are.

We know there are powers which have in their description that you get to make an attack with both weapons you're wielding.

Allowing an extra attack as a minor action doubles the advantages of dual wielding when you use this power in combination with a power that already has dual wielding built into it.

But for messing around with the playtest characters at level 1, I think its fine.

 

[Wulfgar76]

Yeah. You are.

We know there are powers which have in their description that you get to make an attack with both weapons you're wielding.

Allowing an extra attack as a minor action doubles the advantages of dual wielding when you use this power in combination with a power that already has dual wielding built into it.

But for messing around with the playtest characters at level 1, I think its fine.

So there are dual wielding powers, but we just haven't seen them right?

Is there any player-created Dual Wielding powers that would do a better job than this?

 

[Imban]

Agree with Cadfan. I'd probably make it a standard action to attack with both, with a penalty to the off-hand attack.

Of course, without any dual-wielding powers in what you're playing with right now, it's not gonna matter.

 

[FitzTheRuke]

I think it looks like a fun little way to give it a shot, but I agree that it's unlikely that they did it this way. Just swap out for the real rules when you get 'em!

Fitz

 

[Scalding]

The problem that I see with that power is that it allows a front-line fighter three attacks per round: Standard attack, Minor Offhand Attack, and Move->Minor Offhand Attack.

I believe the best way to resolve this would be to have something more like:

[sblock=Dual Strike]Dual Strike • Fighter Exploit 1
At-Will • Martial, Weapon
Standard Action • Melee
Target: One or Two Creatures
Attack: Str vs. AC
Hit: 1[W] damage
Secondary Attack: Str -4 vs. AC
Hit: 1[W] damage
Special: To use this power you must be carrying a light weapon in your off-hand, which determines the damage of the secondary attack.[/sblock]

Although the wording there isn't very good, I think this covers the idea.

 

[deathdonut]

It might be something as simple as a rule that allows you to roll twice on your weapon attacks and pick the higher when dual wielding.

edited: even simpler than the power I previously posted.

 

[Cadfan]

So there are dual wielding powers, but we just haven't seen them right?

Is there any player-created Dual Wielding powers that would do a better job than this?

We saw a couple real dual wielding powers from the paragon path preview. One power permitted a sort of dual wielding whirlwind attack, where the player attacked every adjacent enemy twice, once with each weapon.

I'd just permit two attacks, one with each weapon, at no penalty. That should balance just fine if your player isn't using very big weapons. I'd probably even allow the attacks to be Dex based attacks.

It might be overpowered, but its only going to be overpowered by a point or two of damage. It would be close enough for guesswork.

 

[muffin_of_chaos]

Personally I'd like to see some more Minor Action powers. The more dynamic combat can be, the better.
Though I also think some At-Will powers shouldn't be usable every round.