It should be 1d4 damage.
D&D 5E Consensus about two-weapon fighting?
It should be 1d4 damage.
TwoSix
Dirty, realism-hating munchkin powergamer
Because why, exactly?
This has been a major issue for myself and many others. How to keep it balanced and still make it feel like a viable option. I feel like I may have found a fair solution.
Keep existing RAW, however adding this to the two weapon fighting style description:
"When fighting with two one handed weapons you may choose to add half your proficiency bonus, rounded down, to your damage or AC. You make this choice at the start of your turn and it lasts until the start of your next turn. The bonus to damage only applies to your attack actions, not your bonus action or reaction attacks.
Only the primary weapon of the attack will be considered for any enchantment bonus.
Optional: the offhand weapon bonus may be used if using for defense. "
This gives a +1 bonus to damage per attack or AC at early levels up to a +3 at higher levels.
My reasoning behind this feels like a natural relationship between your two weapons, and how you use them in a real situation. Your secondary weapon is used more to help guide your primary weapon to a better strike, whether you are using it to open up a hole in the opponent's defense to sink your blade in deeper or just creating a smaller wound to distract from the greater strike coming.
If you decide to go defense your offhand becomes a versatile shield that you become better at utilizing as you progress.
As you level it does surpass dueling in damage, yet still should be well under a great weapon fighter. Defensively it may surpass a shield eventually, but it will not grant the benefits of shield mastery.
This will free up your bonus action to be used for better choices without sacrificing your combat effectiveness.
Let me know what you think.
Keep existing RAW, however adding this to the two weapon fighting style description:
"When fighting with two one handed weapons you may choose to add half your proficiency bonus, rounded down, to your damage or AC. You make this choice at the start of your turn and it lasts until the start of your next turn. The bonus to damage only applies to your attack actions, not your bonus action or reaction attacks.
Only the primary weapon of the attack will be considered for any enchantment bonus.
Optional: the offhand weapon bonus may be used if using for defense. "
This gives a +1 bonus to damage per attack or AC at early levels up to a +3 at higher levels.
My reasoning behind this feels like a natural relationship between your two weapons, and how you use them in a real situation. Your secondary weapon is used more to help guide your primary weapon to a better strike, whether you are using it to open up a hole in the opponent's defense to sink your blade in deeper or just creating a smaller wound to distract from the greater strike coming.
If you decide to go defense your offhand becomes a versatile shield that you become better at utilizing as you progress.
As you level it does surpass dueling in damage, yet still should be well under a great weapon fighter. Defensively it may surpass a shield eventually, but it will not grant the benefits of shield mastery.
This will free up your bonus action to be used for better choices without sacrificing your combat effectiveness.
Let me know what you think.
CleverNickName
Limit Break Dancing
Woops, wrong thread...
Cap'n Kobold
Hero
Not a fan. AC bonuses alongside an already high AC class like most martials are considerably more valuable than damage bonuses.
Also, using two weapons giving a better AC than using a shield is just plain wrong. ;-)
It doesn't incorporate the off-hand weapon well.
Personally, I would go with basic Two-weapon fighting being:
When wielding two weapons and the weapon in your off-hand is Light, if an attack misses, you may make an attack with your off-hand weapon as a bonus action. Your main-hand weapon is considered to be the one making the majority of attacks that round.
The Two-weapon fighting Style would give: When two-weapon Fighting, your off-hand weapon does not have to be a Light weapon. Additionally when you use your bonus action to make an off-hand attack after your attack misses, you may make an off-hand attack every time your main hand attack misses until the beginning of your next turn.
The Two-weapon feat would give: When taking the attack action while wielding two weapons, you may make one additional attack with your off-hand weapon.
When wielding two weapons, you gain +1 to AC.
I did edit it on a different thread to not be allowed for heavy armor, thematically a heavy armor wearing person could not possibly have the range of motion required to move in ways this style requires.
Also note that the player will not always be using the parry stance, in fact most would rarely use it unless absolutely necessary.
I have done the math on the damage side and find that over time this would leave the TWF falling squarely in the middle of S&B and GWF on damage, and the rounds where the TWF is on the defensive they will be well under S&B, especially if you consider that if they are forced to fight defensively they will likely be using their bonus action to help themselves get out of the current situation.
You're proposing changes to 3 skills that will dramatically change many situations. My proposal changes one skill, which is mostly class reliant (excluding dips for m/c) to put it more in line with the other class options. A mid level (lvl12) game would have the TWF receiving a +2 to damage OR ac while S&B is getting +2 damage AND ac.
I'm honestly not taking feats into account as once we put in feats and other class abilities we may as well add in magic weapons and equipment, at which point you never know where the damage will end up, most likely still with the GWF to be honest.
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