Is Rapid Shot more powerful than Two-Weapon Fighting?

[Kai Lord]

I have a 10th level character that I converted from 1E who began as a Barbarian, then as he adventured outside of his homeland, multiclassed into Ranger and then into Peerless Archer. The thing is, his primary means of attack has always been his bow, and he has never fought with two melee weapons at once.

It just looks kind of strange to see Two-Weapon Fighting on his character sheet, especially since this is a feat he supposedly "acquired" while I progressed him in game, and I was thinking of reorganizing his feats somewhat so that Rapid Shot replaced Two-Weapon Fighting. My DM is pretty lenient when it comes to alterations like this, especially when its totally justified by the character concept and history.

This is admittedly a house rule, but that isn't the point of this post. What I'd like is feedback as to whether or not Two-Weapon Fighting is inherently weaker than Rapid Shot. Obviously I'd like the character to become more effective based on his actual skills, but I am not looking to arbitrarily make him more powerful.

EDIT: If Rapid Shot is indeed all around more powerful than TWF, what about Quickdraw or Far Shot? Would you say either of those are equivalent to or less than TWF?

 

[Keth Ogreslayer]

I don't think replacing the two-weapon fighting feats with rapid shot would be unbalancing. The only problem I could see is if you get point blank shot also, since that is a prereq for just about every archery feat. I know a lot of DMs who allow characters to switch out ambidexterity and two-weapon fighting for point blank shot and precise/rapid/far shot.

 

[Crothian]

No, I don't think it is more powerful. It's more melee verse archer thing, then anything else. And do we really need to get into that yet again?

 

[bensei]

Hard to compare power of TWF and Rapid Shot.
One is melee (or thrown), the other is ranged, so very different in lots of instances (damage, AoO, distance, etc.).
Assume you compare Ambi & TWF with PBS & Rapid Shot (both give one extra attack at highest BAB with -2 on all attacks):
- PBS gives extra boni, Ambi not
- Ambi & TWF requires mostly extra attack to be a light weapon (or double weapon), Rapid Shot is just the same weapon
- Ambi & TWF allows Impr. TWF at later levels (nothing for ranged by PHB-rules)
That's the important issues I can think of for the moment.
Notice: To thrown weapons both TWF and Rapid Shot can apply.

 

[Kai Lord]

Notice: To thrown weapons both TWF and Rapid Shot can apply.

I never thought of that. After I made my original post I recalled that in the short story I wrote detailing the specifics of why the character left his homeland there was a scene where he pulled a dagger out of each of his boots and threw them both at an enemy, with both daggers striking the enemy in each shoulder and thought that he would have had to have had TWF to pull that off.

Since that's the only instance of him ever holding a weapon in each hand, and he used them to make a ranged attack, I probably will go ahead and swap out TWF for Rapid Shot. I see no reason to lose Ambidexterity, however.

 

[Kai Lord]

No, I don't think it is more powerful. It's more melee verse archer thing, then anything else. And do we really need to get into that yet again?

What else is there?

 

[Staffan]

- PBS gives extra boni, Ambi not
- Ambi & TWF requires mostly extra attack to be a light weapon (or double weapon), Rapid Shot is just the same weapon
- Ambi & TWF allows Impr. TWF at later levels (nothing for ranged by PHB-rules)

Rapid Shot gives full Strength bonus to the extra attack, TWF only half. On the other hand, for really strong people the weapon can limit the effective Strength bonus.

 

[Dr. Zoom]

According to the PH, page 94, Customizing Your Character, ask your DM to swap out the ranger's virtual ambidexterity/two-weapon fighting class ability for one and only one feat. Choose rapid shot.

 

[Kai Lord]

According to the PH, page 94, Customizing Your Character, ask your DM to swap out the ranger's virtual ambidexterity/two-weapon fighting class ability for one and only one feat. Choose rapid shot.

I see nothing in that section that suggests trading two feats for one. The consensus seems to be that Two-Weapon Fighting is pretty much equivalent with Rapid Shot, so unless someone provides a compelling case why I should change my mind (and I'd love to hear it, that's why I asked), I'm just going to swap out TWF.

EDIT: I do, however, appreciate you pointing out that page reference since its core, and not listed as "variant". Now I can rest assured that my customization isn't even a house rule, which is always nice for character "credibility," for lack of a better term.

 

[Crothian]

I see nothing in that section that suggests trading two feats for one. The consensus seems to be that Two-Weapon Fighting is pretty much equivalent with Rapid Shot, so unless someone provides a compelling case why I should change my mind (and I'd love to hear it, that's why I asked), I'm just going to swap out TWP.

I think he's more referring to that Amb and 2WF are about the equivelant of one feat. Alone, those two feats are really weak.