TWF with offhand attacks

[Kularian]

Okay, I'm sure this has been discussed to death, so I'm hoping a conclusive answer will come up quickly,

I'm putting together a character for an upcoming game, and I wanted him to be a Monk who used a long sword in his main hand, and his fists/feet as his 'off-hand.' There's the feat (which I can't recall the name) which allows the long sword to be used as a special monk weapon, so I can flurry to my heart's content.

Anyway, my DM says that Unarmed Strikes, monk's or otherwise, cannot be an offhand attack. Nor could I use them as my 'main-hand,' with the long sword as my off-hand. I really don't see why I can't do so, so we figured we'd post here to see what you all think.

Also in the same vein, can a warrior wielding a greatsword use armor spikes as an 'off-hand' attack? I thought I read somewhere that this was true, but he also disagrees on that point. I mean, it is his game and all...but I wanted to try out an interesting character and this is putting a damper on it.

Thank you for your input!

Edit: Somehow...this ended up in the wrong forum... :\

 

[robberbaron]

In no particular order:

Greatsword is a 2-handed weapon so you don't get off-hand attacks when wielding one.

There probably is a feat in one of the twinkbooks that allows a Monk to use a Longsword as a Monky weapon. Haven't seen it but I expect it to exist.

Unarmed strikes can be used as off-hand attacks (unless your DM rules otherwise) but you wouldn't get all your Monk unarmed attacks, and personally I would rule that Monk U/A combat and TWF doesn't stack anyway (there was at least one thread on this subject a couple of months ago).
TWF gives you 1 off-hand attack, ITWF gives you another. You'd use your monk unarmed damage but would only get the TWF attacks and no extra flurries.

Longsword could normally be used as your offhand weapon (again, unless your DM rules otherwise) but you'd get big penalties as it is not a Light weapon. Better to go Shortsword in this case.

 

[ShadowChemosh]

The below is from the 3.5 FAQ and should answer all your questions. Its also a good place to look for other monk and flurry questions.
http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/er/20030221a

Q: Can a monk fight with two weapons? Can she combine a two-weapon attack with a flurry of blows? What are her penalties on attack rolls?

A: A monk can fight with two weapons just like any other character, but she must accept the normal penalties on her attack rolls to do so. She can use an unarmed strike as an offhand weapon. She can even combine two-weapon fighting with a flurry of blows to gain an extra attack with her off hand (but remember that she can use only unarmed strikes or special monk weapons as part of the flurry). The penalties for two weapon fighting stack with the penalties for flurry of blows.

For example, at 6th level, the monk Ember can normally make one attack per round at a +4 bonus. When using flurry of blows, she can make two attacks (using unarmed strikes or any special monk weapons she holds), each at a +3 bonus. If she wants to make an extra attack with her off hand, she has to accept a -4 penalty on her primary hand attacks and a -8 penalty on her off-hand attacks (assuming she wields a light
weapon in her off hand).

If Ember has Two-Weapon Fighting, she has to accept only a -2 penalty on all attacks to make an extra attack with her off hand. Thus, when wielding a light weapon in her off hand during a flurry of blows, she can make a total of three attacks, each at a total bonus of +1. At least one of these attacks has to be with her off-hand weapon.
A 20th-level monk with Greater Two-Weapon Fighting can make eight attacks per round during a flurry of blows.

Assuming she wields a light weapon in her off hand, her three off-hand weapon attacks are at +13/+8/+3, and she has five attacks (at +13/+13/+13/+8/+3) with unarmed strikes or any weapons she carries in her primary hand. If the same monk also has Rapid Shot and throws at least one shuriken as part of her flurry of blows (since Rapid Shot can be used only with ranged attacks), she can throw one additional shuriken with her primary hand, but all of her attacks (even melee attacks) suffer a -2 penalty. Thus, her full attack array looks like this: +11/+11/+11/+11/+6/+1 primary hand (two must be with shuriken) and +11/+6/+1 off hand.

 

[Kiehtan]

The description of the flurry of blows ability says
there’s no such thing as a monk attacking with an off-hand
weapon during a flurry of blows. What does that mean,
exactly? Can the monk make off-hand attacks in addition to
flurry attacks?
Actually, the text to which you refer appears in the entry
for unarmed strikes. When a monk uses her unarmed strike
ability, she does not suffer any penalty for an off-hand attack,
even when she has her hands full and attacks with her knees
and elbows, using the flurry of blows ability to make extra
attacks, or both.
The rules don’t come right out and say that a monk can’t
use an unarmed strike for an off-hand strike (although the exact
wording of the unarmed strike ability suggests otherwise), and
no compelling reason why a monk could not do so exists.
When using an unarmed strike as an off-hand attack, the monk
suffers all the usual attack penalties from two-weapon fighting
(see Table 8–10 in the Player’s Handbook) and the monk adds
only half her Strength bonus (if any) to damage if the off-hand
unarmed strike hits.
To add an off-hand attack to a flurry of blows, stack
whatever two-weapon penalty the monk has with the penalty (if
any) from the flurry. Attacks from the flurry have the monk’s
full damage bonus from Strength, but the off-hand attack gains
only half Strength bonus to damage. If the off-hand attack is a
weapon, that weapon isn’t available for use in the flurry (if it
can be used in a flurry at all, see the previous question). For
example, a 4th-level monk with the Two-Weapon Fighting feat
and a Strength score of 14 decides to use a flurry of blows and
decides to throw in an off-hand attack as well. The monk has a
base attack bonus of +3 and a +2 Strength bonus. With a flurry,
the character can make two attacks, each at +3 (base +3, –2
flurry, +2 Strength). An unarmed strike is a light weapon, so
the monk suffers an additional –2 penalty for both the flurry
and the off-hand attack, and the monk makes three attacks,
each at an attack bonus of +1. The two attacks from the flurry
are primary attacks and add the monk’s full Strength bonus to
damage of +2. The single off-hand attack adds half the monk’s
Strength bonus to damage (+1).
If the monk in our example has two sais to use with the
flurry, plus the off-hand attack, she can use both in the flurry
(in which case she must make the off-hand attack with an
unarmed strike) or one sai for the off-hand attack and one with
the flurry. The sai used in the off-hand attack is not available
for the flurry and vice versa.

But...

From page 41 in the PHB, in the first paragraph of the Unarmed Strike description:

"A monk's attacks may be with either fist interchangeably, or even from elbows, knees and feet. This means that a monk may even make unarmed strikes with her hands full. There is no such thing as an off-hand attack for a monk striking unarmed."

 

[Primitive Screwhead]

I read that piece to mean that a Monk unarmed attack never suffer the 1/2 strength like other 'off-hand' attacks.... even if they are uses as the additional attack granted by TWF.

Its a mis-communication based on using the same term, 'off-hand' to refer to two distinct mechanics.

IMHO a Monk can indead use thier unarmed attack along side TWF.. and even TWF+Flurry when weilding only 'Monk' weapons.

 

[Kiehtan]

I agree, but it is not so clear that it couldn't be interpreted the other way.