Mannahnin
Scion of Murgen (He/Him)
True. Although in real life, you can also grab an opponent's shield to pull it out of the way or wrench their arm/throw them if they're bound into an arm strap, kick it, sunder it with an axe, and block a big chunk of the wielder's field of vision while they're raising it to defend their head.That's one of the things I always find funny/annoying when it comes to Shields in D&D. IF the rules ever let you strike with a shield, (and 5e doesn't have this, AFAIR), then they always make you take a feat (specialty training) to do it.
IRL, if you can't strike with a shield, you really, really don't know what you're doing. You are not even close to "proficient" with a shield.
Back in my LARP days I remember noticing that field of vision factor remarkably often when I switched from fighting two weapon primarily (long and short swords) to sword & board primarily.
Accuracy with pistols makes a big difference, and considering how fast you can squeeze the trigger on a semi-auto... Overall it would certainly be possible to do twice as much damage in the same time (not counting clearing jams or reloading) if you were coordinated enough, but I think on average you wouldn't come close to that, due to reduced accuracy.We use guns in modern fantasy RPGs, too. Does a dual-pistol-wielder damage twice as fast as a single-wielder? What if the latter bears a ballistic shield?
Yes, that's my experience as well. You can shift which hand/direction the actual attack is coming from vs. the feint/bind.The other thing to do would be to create a bind with the two primary weapons to leave you a chance to force the issue with your second, though your opponent will probably try to grab or block/deflect with their hand in that case. Although if they're using a long weapon - a spear, many polearms, most 2-H Swords - your advantage is countered to a large degree if they're able to keep you at a range where your second weapon can't reach them. It can be very hard to deflect a big weapon with a single-handed one.
And also yes, trying to block/parry a large weapon wielded in two hands coming at you with a lot of angular momentum using a single handed weapon sucks. Shields handle that better due to greater mass and better anchoring/leverage, but of course against, say, a two-handed axe or maul you definitely don't want to catch a solid blow square on the shield where the impact may break it and carry through to your arm.