Off-hand weapons. Meaningless?

[Andor]

Heh. Everybody missed the point of the question.

RAW what stops a Tiefling Wizard from wielding a Bastard Sword in each hand? What stops him from being able to attack with either one of them? What stops the Two-weapon fighting feats from kicking in?

As far as I can tell, not a damm thing. Which makes the 'off-hand' weapon trait superfluous because all weapons are off hand weapons.

BTW, why no whining about how halflings can't use shortbows?

 

[Nifft]

BTW, why no whining about how halflings can't use shortbows?

Presumably because they can.

Cheers, -- N

 

[Vendark]

RAW what stops a Tiefling Wizard from wielding a Bastard Sword in each hand? What stops him from being able to attack with either one of them? What stops the Two-weapon fighting feats from kicking in?

As far as I can tell, not a damm thing. Which makes the 'off-hand' weapon trait superfluous because all weapons are off hand weapons.

A Ranger's Two-Weapon Fighting Style and the Off-Hand property of weapons are examples of exceptions that prove the rule. By telling you explicitly what you can do, they also make it abundantly clear what you can't do.

Reasonable people understand this, especially in an exception-based system.

 

[erik_the_guy]

Ok, to be honest, how many people here agree with this statement:

The arguments concerning two weapon fighting and the keywords "wield" and "hold" in this forum are a result of the poor explanations of off-hand weapons and two-weapon fighting in the PHB. The creator did not write this section of the rules very well.

Because if that's true then we can argue all day about what the most literal, "correct" application of the rules is, but it probably won't be the same as what was intended. We may as well come up with some agreeable, sensible house rules to cover this until something is released in the future.

The arguments in this forum are extremely complex, and I doubt that the creator intended us to figure this out on our own. It is just a poorly written part of the rules. Wait for some errata or ruling
OR
post your best suggestions for house rules

 

[Andor]

Presumably because they can.

Cheers, -- N

Err... How? Halflings can't use two-handed weapons. The shortbow is a 2 handed weapon. Ergo halflings can't use it.

 

[DLichen]

Shortbow has the small property, which means halflings can use it.

 

[Andor]

Shortbow has the small property, which means halflings can use it.

Ahh. I had missed that entirely. Cool!

Now if only they could do something abouts staves for those poor halfling wizards.

 

[Firebat]

Ahh. I had missed that entirely. Cool!

Now if only they could do something abouts staves for those poor halfling wizards.

Get a saw, cut 'em and make 'em Small Size.

Really, I don't think this is much of an issue, you could safely rule that anyone smart enough to craft a magical staff is also smart enough to make it the right size for its intended wielder.

 

[jtrowell]

Juste take a normal staff, reduce the damage dice by one step, give it the "small" properties, call it "small staff" and allow it to work as a wizard implement.

 

[hong]

Juste take a normal staff, reduce the damage dice by one step, give it the "small" properties, call it "small staff" and allow it to work as a wizard implement.

So that would be... a buck-and-a-quarter-staff?