drnuncheon said:
Here's my logic for why the penalty only accrues when you take the extra attack at your highest BAB (minus penalties).
For the purposes of these examples, 'you' are a 20th level fighter with Ambidexterity and Quick Draw.
First of all, it's clear that if you attack with only one weapon, you don't take two-weapon penalties. This is true even if you are holding a weapon in your off hand - note that both shields and unarmed attacks are weapons, and yet you can use a shield or have nothing in your hand and not suffer the two-weapon penalty.
That's correct. Simply holding something, regardless of whether it's a weapon or not, doesn't invoke TWF penalties.
Second, it's clear that an ambidextrous character can choose to attack with either hand - that is, if you held a shortsword in your right hand, you could make 4 attacks with it at no penalty. If you held it in your left hand, you could make 4 attacks with it at no penalty. That's the point of the feat.
No argument there. Ambixeterity is meant to decrease TWF penalties, or be able to rely on either hand as a primary hand (though you still technically always have an offhand when fighting with two-weapons).
Combine them. You are now holding a shortsword in either hand. You can attack 4 times in one round with the right-handed shortword. The next round you can switch and attack 4 times with the left-handed shortsword.
Yes, you could, though it'd be rather pointless, unless one of your hands suffered a specific injury.
Now, what kind of action is switching hands? Switching hands is a free action.
Attack Right - switch as a free action - Attack Left - switch as a free action - etc.
So, as long as you only take your normal 4 attacks, it doesn't really matter where they are from.
(NOTE: I have no idea if switching hands is a free action or not. I couldn't find anything in the PHB or SRD that provided an answer.)
Yeah, you could. Again, mostly pointless. However, switching back and forth between hands not the same as fighting with two weapons at once.
If switching hands is not a free action, then you have this lovely little bit of illogic: The fighter with two shortswords cannot alternate hands on his attacks. However, a fighter with four shortswords could draw one with his right hand, attack, drop it, draw one with his left hand, attack - at no penalty because he's only using one weapon!, drop it, and repeat. How much sense does that make?
Well, that would depend on what you mean by alternate hands. If you're referring to your previous example, that's fine. If you mean that he's actually swinging two short swords, one in each hand, then he receives TWF penalties.
But yes, if you have QuickDraw, I believe you could do what you just described, though again, it'd rarely, if ever, be useful. It's weird, but legal according to the rules.
Now, the 'Attacking with Two Weapons' section says this: If you wield a second weapon in your off hand, you can get one extra attack per round with that weapon. Fighting in this way is very hard".
I believe that 'fighting in this way' refers to weilding two weapons in such a way that you get an extra attack. This interpretation is consistent with both my above logic, with common sense, and with game balance. If you don't gain the benefits, you aren't assessed the penalties.
I believe other existing examples beg to differ. Fighting with two repeating crossbows, for example is perfectly legal. So is chucking throwing axes at an enemy from each hand. However, you incur TWF penalties regardless of how many attacks you make with said axes or crossbows -- the only thing that matters, in respect to the TWF penalties, is whether you're attacking with two different hands simultaneously during the course of a round. Of course it's always beneficial to take the extra attack when you can, but you might not always have the opportunity to do so.
EDIT: Having thought about what I posted a little bit, I think I might not be not quite describing what I mean very cleary. Technically, you are really taking the extra attack granted by two-weapon fighting, it's the iterative attacks from BAB that you're forfeiting, so it would actually fit your definition, as well.
Quick example: Let's say a 6th level fighter (+6 BAB, Ambidexterity, Two-Weapon Fighting) has a hand crossbow in his offhand and a longsword in his primary hand. There is an orc in front of him and one 20' off to the right. He declares that he's hacking at the one in front of him, and shooting the other with his hand crossbow. He downs the one near him with a single swing of his sword and shoots the other with the hand crossbow. He makes the longsword attack at +4 (+6 BAB - 2 due to light offhand weapon). The second possible sword attack is wasted, though it usable, it would weigh in a -1. He makes the crossbow attack at +0 (+6 BAB - 2 due to light offhand weapon, and another -4 since Two-Weapon Fighting benefits don't apply to missile weapons). One could argue that the first attack should be made at -6, but I'm assuming the Two-Weapon Fighting benefits apply to at least the longsword. If someone knows if both weapons have to be melee weapons for the bonuses to apply, please let speak up, but I believe this is correct.
Regardless, it really doesn't matter what weapons he's carrying. If he makes an attack with both his primary and offhand weapons in the same round (the offhand attack
is the extra attack, the penalties are applied.
