D&D (2024) A take on dual wielding

[clearstream]

point of dual wielding is to attack with a melee(sometimes ranged) weapon in each hand.

And yet my one-armed ranger begs to disagree. Swish swash, with their scimitar in one hand. Meanwhile my rogue is throwing a dagger and then flipping out another in the same attack action - with the same hand - and throwing that too.

that is the fantasy trope, and all styles and feats are here to support that way of fighting so it has a mechanical value in combat comparable to others.

I referred to this earlier with words like appealing or attractive: it's a matter of taste. Why should we be bound to go forward only as it has gone in the past?

if you want some other kind of "twin" strike make some other style and/or feat.

Sure, and it would make Dual Wield redundant.

 

[Horwath]

And yet my one-armed ranger begs to disagree. Swish swash, with their scimitar in one hand. Meanwhile my rogue is throwing a dagger and then flipping out another in the same attack action - with the same hand - and throwing that too.

so we can now dual wield with a shield equipped?

I referred to this earlier with words like appealing or attractive: it's a matter of taste. Why should we be bound to go forward only as it has gone in the past?

because two weapon fighting is TWO weapon fighting.

Sure, and it would make Dual Wield redundant.

why?
make feat:
swift duelist.
+1 STR or DEX
When you wield only a single one handed weapon, you can make one attack as a Bonus action.
if that weapon has nick property, you can make this extra attack as a part of Attack action.

 

[clearstream]

so we can now dual wield with a shield equipped?

Yup, that's certainly the case one has to hedge against. Maybe "and are not wielding a shield" would cover it.

 

[Pauln6]

so we can now dual wield with a shield equipped?


because two weapon fighting is TWO weapon fighting.

why?
make feat:
swift duelist.
+1 STR or DEX
When you wield only a single one handed weapon, you can make one attack as a Bonus action.
if that weapon has nick property, you can make this extra attack as a part of Attack action.

Even rules as written it's tough to maintain. But if you are already wielding a light weapon and shield you either have to sheath your main weapon at the end of your first attack and draw your second weapon for your bonus action attack. You are now no longer equipped with your original weapon.

Free interact can theoretically be used to swap weapons but there are limitations. I think it's unlikely it will survive a pass from an official sage advice.

 

[ECMO3]

Even rules as written it's tough to maintain. But if you are already wielding a light weapon and shield you either have to sheath your main weapon at the end of your first attack and draw your second weapon for your bonus action attack. You are now no longer equipped with your original weapon.

You are not equipped with it if you throw it either, and even under the old rules you could throw the first weapon and still attack with the second.

 

[Bill Zebub]

I have a house rule that anybody who complains about realism suddenly finds that magic doesn't work for their character anymore.

Well, I don't really. But it's tempting.

 

[GMMichael]

I have a house rule that anybody who complains about realism suddenly finds that magic doesn't work for their character anymore.

Well, I don't really. But it's tempting.

Funny, but not fair. I can't explain how my e-tablet works, but it's still realistic.

 

[clearstream]

Funny, but not fair. I can't explain how my e-tablet works, but it's still realistic.

To my reading you're describing something different. The complaint isn't not knowing how it works. It's knowing how it works and objecting to that on the grounds it's "unrealistic".

You don't refuse to use your tablet on the grounds you can't explain it, presumably.

 

[Pauln6]

You are not equipped with it if you throw it either, and even under the old rules you could throw the first weapon and still attack with the second.

Yeah I meant more that it's harder to maintain the weapon juggling every round. If you throw a weapon, it's not available to throw again the next round. In melee, you are starting the round with a different weapon, so your mastery combo is reversed. Even if you can use your object interaction to stow your weapon and draw your original weapon, you can't do anything with your original weapon after you have attacked. If you have 3 attacks, you can stow the weapon at the end of your turn, but then you have no weapon equipped for your reaction.

With thrown weapons you risk being left unarmed but because throwing them is free (as opposed to dropping or stowing) you can always equip another weapon at the end of your turn as your free interaction.

 

[clearstream]

Yeah I meant more that it's harder to maintain the weapon juggling every round. If you throw a weapon, it's not available to throw again the next round. In melee, you are starting the round with a different weapon, so your mastery combo is reversed. Even if you can use your object interaction to stow your weapon and draw your original weapon, you can't do anything with your original weapon after you have attacked. If you have 3 attacks, you can stow the weapon at the end of your turn, but then you have no weapon equipped for your reaction.

With thrown weapons you risk being left unarmed but because throwing them is free (as opposed to dropping or stowing) you can always equip another weapon at the end of your turn as your free interaction.

Throwing weapons seem like something one definitely wants to support. I throw a dagger. Then another (different) dagger. Then another. Etc. Maybe I have a whole bandolier of daggers. I can equip one as part of an attack action, and provided my hand is free it seems common to allow that I can equip another as a free interaction. Throw > draw > throw > draw > throw. I don't see any text that specifically prevents a character also wielding a shield while doing so.

What I would most like to see in some sort of future Sage Advice, would be clarity from the game designers around how they see shields and "different weapon" mattering to game balance. And if they don't, then offering a reading that gives players greatest choice over how they picture their characters.