Whence two-weapon fighting?

[ZombieRoboNinja]

So we know that rangers can pick between archery and two-weapon fighting builds (or "tactics" I guess). We know that rogues and fighters don't seem to have any class abilities that relate to two-weapon fighting. And we know that the multiclassing feats ARE the extent of multiclassing in 4e, and they don't allow you to pick up the ranger's class proficiency in two-weapon fighting.

So I'm thinking there are two possibilities: either there are feats that allow you to add two-weapon fighting to your non-Ranger (which I think we've actually heard explicitly denied), or else the ONLY way for your character to hold a weapon in each hand is to have Ranger as his primary class.

I'm thinking the latter looks like a strong possibility. For example, the Stormwarden paragon path requires both Ranger class (which you could get from the multiclass feat) AND "two-blade fighting style," which presumably is a Ranger class ability you can pick up only by starting out as a Ranger.

To me, this sounds like an unnecessary restriction. I don't mind dipping a few feats or powers to make my dual-mace-wielding paladin, but I certainly shouldn't be forced to make his primary class Ranger.

Am I missing something here? Is there any way to hold two weapons without being a martial striker who likes nature?

 

[Scipio202]

And we know that the multiclassing feats ARE the extent of multiclassing in 4e, and they don't allow you to pick up the ranger's class proficiency in two-weapon fighting.

Incorrect. We know that there is a "deeper" form of multiclassing in lieu of picking a paragon path. We don't know many details, but it seems highly likely that whenever you would have gotten a PP feature, you'll pick up another feature from your MC class. Also, there was a designer blog post the other day that seemed to suggest they will be alternate introductory MC feats in "XXXX Power Sourcebook" books which would likely give different class features.

I also think there's a decent chance there will be a stand alone TWF feat (chain).

 

[NebtheNever]

It's also conceivable that, while you may not be able to pick up the Ranger's two-weapon fighting style, you may be able to swap your powers with Ranger powers that are two-weapon fighting exploits.

 

[DylanCB]

Wait and see

Eh, a bit early to tell. I mean, you wouldn't be able to be a Stormwarden, unless two weapon fight is a feat. I would guess it is, or maybe you could make it. But with most attacks being powers, it would be hard to do. I would hope they would allow at least something to make a paladin with two weapons fun. It would be hard to make defender powers that match that fighting style.

 

[thalmin]

We know that rogues and fighters don't seem to have any class abilities that relate to two-weapon fighting.

I must have missed it. What is there to indicate they don't. If it's just because we haven't seen it yet, we have seen very little so far.

 

[ZombieRoboNinja]

I must have missed it. What is there to indicate they don't. If it's just because we haven't seen it yet, we have seen very little so far.

Well, we've seen the entire class writeup for rogues, and it doesn't mention two-weapon fighting at all. We've also heard that fighters get to pick between weapon-and-shield and two-handed-weapon styles, but not two-weapon-fighting.

 

[Incenjucar]

The fact that they don't have a PATH for TWF doesn't mean they can't TWF.

 

[small pumpkin man]

I don't believe two weapon fighting will be a feat, or an ability, I don't think it will be possible (or at least very much not easy) to ever gain the ability to use two weapon fighting on your basic attacks or on normal powers, I think two weapon fighting will be a suite of powers which require and use two weapons, but are better than normal to make up for that downside.

As such, using two weapons will be possible for characters who aren't rangers (by multclassing and then taking storm warden, or deep multiclassing) but even that may not be optimal.

 

[thalmin]

Well, we've seen the entire class writeup for rogues, and it doesn't mention two-weapon fighting at all. We've also heard that fighters get to pick between weapon-and-shield and two-handed-weapon styles, but not two-weapon-fighting.

Actually, no. We have seen the "opening spread" for the Rogue. I believe the Rogue entry is about 15 pages long in the PHB.

 

[AZRogue]

Multiclassing with Ranger allows you to be considered a "ranger" when it comes to restrictions, right? If you pick up a Rogue multiclass, and you're a Fighter, you can then choose paragon paths that have Rogue and Fighter as requirements, I thought.