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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Kerrick" data-source="post: 3729892" data-attributes="member: 4722">I was talking to a friend about the changes in 4E, and I mentioned that speed factor might be coming back. He thought it was a good idea - that someone using, for instance, a dagger should be able to attack faster than someone using a greatsword. I realized later, though, that even if the dagger-wielder can attack faster, the greatsword-wielder still gets the same number of attacks (assuming they're two fighters of equal level). Try swinging a six-foot-long piece of steel around - it's hard. I guarantee you won't be able to do it four times in six seconds.So I came up with this rule. Now mind you I just thought it up last night, so it's not very refined, but it's fairly simple:A weapon's size limits how many attacks you can make with it in a round.So: Two-handed weapons have a maximum of two attacks per round;One-handed weapons have a maximum of three attacks per round; And light weapons have a maximum of four attacks per round.Bows are treated as one-handed weapons - three attacks/round. Crossbows are unaffected; slings are treated as light weapons. Thrown weapons are treated as light (daggers, shuriken, etc.) or one-handed weapons (throwing axes) as appropriate.The only part of this system that gets complicated is double weapons and two-weapon fighting. Double weapons are treated as a one-handed weapon and a light weapon, subject to the rule for two-weapon fighting (see below).Now personally, I think that a) the TWF feats should've been spaced out a bit more (see below); b) you shouldn't get a 4th attack with the offhand; and c) the number of attacks you can make with the offhand is always less than the main hand.So with this in mind, if you're using a longsword/short sword combo, you would get three attacks/round with the main weapon, and up to two attacks/round with the secondary.How does this play out in damage potential? Well... I totalled up the average damage for each weapon type:Light weapons: 2.6 damage/attack average, or 10.4 points/round.One-handed weapons: 3.8 damage/attack average, or 11.4 points/round.Two-handed weapons: 5.2 damage/attack average, or 10.4 points/round.As you can see, all of them are more or less equal, on average. The greatsword wielder will likely do quite a bit more damage from high Strength and Power Attack; the longsword wielder will do a little more from Strength and/or Weapon Specialization; the short sword wielder will likely be using Weapon Finesse (so no bonus damage), but will likely have sneak attack. The big advantage, though, is that the greatsword-wielding barbarian won't be chopping through the BBEG in 2-3 rounds on his own, and he won't be overshadowing everyone else (like the party fighter) in terms of damage potential. Note: This has NO effect on your attack bonus. If you're a Ftr 20 using a greatsword, you'll get two attacks at +20/+15. If you switch to a longsword, you'll get three at +20/+15/+10. All this does is limit the number of attacks you can make.Now, under this system, the TWF feats would remain largely unchanged except for the prereqs:TWF: Dex 15, BAB +5Improved TWF: Dex 17, BAB +15Greater TWF: Dex 19, BAB +23 (if you use the standard progression into epic, change this to +25)Perfect TWF: no longer a feat. The feat's badly worded anyway - it says you get as many attacks with the offhand as you do with the main hand, so unless you're a fighter with 4 attacks, you'd be better off not taking it.</blockquote>

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