Double Weapons, Off Hand, and Tempest-style fighters

[Kuato]

Customer (kuato)
09/16/2008 01:32 PM Does the off hand property apply to both "ends" of a double weapon or solely to the "secondary weapon end" of the double weapon (so as not to violate the "when wielding two weapons one must have the off hand property" text from the PHB). Obviously, if the entire weapon has the off hand property it makes double weapon feats an excellent investment for Tempest-style Fighters (from the Ampersand preview).

Thanks!

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Page Number: 10
Book Name: adventurer's vault

Hello kuato,

As per the Double weapon description on page 10 of the Adventurer's vault, the off-hand property only applies to the second head. It also specifies that you can interchangeably use either head unless the power specifies that requires the off-hand or main-hand property.

Hope that helps. Let us know if you have any further questions.

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It's not as good for Tempest as we might have liked, I guess, but its still a little useful.

 

[Gloombunny]

Not that I really have any faith in CustServ answers, but I like any interpretation that doesn't make double weapons totally superior to paired off-hand weapons.

 

[ObsidianCrane]

They are still superior in some ways. Specifically a single +1 weapon essentially counts as 2 +1 weapons.

 

[Gloombunny]

They are still superior in some ways. Specifically a single +1 weapon essentially counts as 2 +1 weapons.

But it only gets any special properties on the main-hand part, right? So a +1 lifedrinker double weapon is like a +1 lifedrinker weapon and a +1 plain magic weapon. That's an advantage, but a much smaller one, gp-wise.

 

[Saben]

Nothing about Tempest stops you from using a NON offhand weapon in the main hand. Sure you lose the +1 attack and +1 of the damage, but Double Weapons still have a "coolness" factor to make up for that... Might be especially worth it if you have both Light Blade and Heavy Blade feats....

 

[Vestrial]

This ruling, and the fact that the weapon property only applies to one end, make double weapons strictly inferior to paired offhand weapons for a tempest. Shame, really, they are definitely more interesting...

 

[keterys]

Having a double weapon over using a pair of short swords, say, means that you're dealing (for the weapon) +1 damage per end (1d8 over 1d6), gain +1 AC, and your enhancement bonus is likely +1 over one of your hands (ie, +3 for both instead of +3 and +2) and can apply both heavy blade and light blade properties.

What you give up is +1 attack on one end of the weapon and +1 damage on one end of the weapon. Which is coincidentally the same as the magic enhancement difference.

So it's not strictly better, there's just a real decision there and the feat is not automatically worthwhile.

 

[DracoSuave]

Not to mention, Double-Weapons are Defensive, so they do provide an AC bonus on top, and offhand weapons that deal 1d8 or whatever aren't inherently bad by any stretch.