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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Elder-Basilisk" data-source="post: 1318800" data-attributes="member: 3146">I don't think that "fight this way" is as ambiguous as Hypersmurf makes it out to be. The stingy interpretation he puts forward seems to be that if you hold a weapon in your off-hand, that counts as "fights this way" and all penalties apply--even if you don't attack with it. When applied to unarmed strike or armor spikes, however, this becomes just plain silly. Every character is almost always wielding an unarmed strike. It doesn't seem reasonable to say that just wearing spiked armor or having Improved Unarmed Strike (for those DMs who want to insist that only those who have the feat are always wielding one) means that you always incurr the TWF penalties no matter what you do. In this case, they would cease to become TWF penalties but, since they would always apply to everyone, they would become simply Weapon Fighting penalties.Now, that is a reductio ad absurdium argument and I'm sure it's not what Hypersmurf or others intend. However, if the "fights this way" applies whether or not an attack is made, I fail to see the bright line dividing that position from the absurd one I outlined above. An alternate interpretation of "fights this way" which I think manages to present a very clear bright line is choosing to gain the extra attack. Now, since a character need not make every attack he is entitled to (for instance, a fighter with BAB +11 next to two orcs and an ally can cleave through one orc into the other with the first blow, kill the second orc with the second blow and then forgoe his third attack in liu of throwing his sword or attacking his ally). So, the FAQ answer still makes sense under this interpretation. The character chooses to gain the extra attack but does not take it. (Perhaps he's facing a Remorhaz and thinks that 5 extra points of AC are worth the attack penalties but doesn't want to risk the head destroying his weapon).</blockquote>

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