Power attack and double weapons

[Patryn of Elvenshae]

Thanks, I knew there had to be a reason to take a double weapon besides the "cool" factor.

Well, that's sort of what the RAW say.

I don't know anyone who actually plays that way, though.

 

[Felon]

Thanks, I knew there had to be a reason to take a double weapon besides the "cool" factor.

How about the fact that double-weapons typically grant the damage of a one-handed off-hand weapon, but only impose the penalties of a light weapon?

How about the ability to wield it two-handed whenever you don't get more than one attack per round? Or need a lot of damage compacted into fewer blows to overcome DR?

How about only needing to take feats like Weapons Focus, Weapon Specialization, and Improved Crit once to benefit both your main hand and off-hand attacks?

 

[Hypersmurf]

How about the fact that double-weapons typically grant the damage of a one-handed off-hand weapon, but only impose the penalties of a light weapon?

How about the ability to wield it two-handed whenever you don't get more than one attack per round?

How about only needing to take feats like Weapons Focus, Weapon Specialization, and Improved Crit once to benefit both your main hand and off-hand attacks?

Of course, with Oversized Two-Weapon Fighting, double weapons are less appealing again - you get the one-handed off-hand damage, you get the one-feat-set, you get the ability to Power Attack with your off-hand weapon (which double weapons lack) - what you're missing is the ability to make a single two-handed attack, but that's well-countered by the likely frequency of magic longswords vs magic double swords in a campaign...

-Hyp.

 

[Felon]

Btw, where's what the official 3.5e FAQ says:

My character has 18 Strength and wields a two-bladed
sword. When I make only a single attack with it, how much
of my Strength bonus can I add to the damage? Does it
matter which end I swing with?

When you make only a single attack with a double weapon,
the weapon is treated as a two-handed weapon. Thus, you’d
add 1-1/2 times your Strength bonus (in this case, +6). If you
used Power Attack on this attack, you’d add double the value
of the penalty you applied to your attack roll (+2 damage per –
1 on attack). It doesn’t matter which end you swing with.

As you can see, the FAQ feels it needs to clarify the matter the other way around, as if the basic misconception might be that a double-weapon wielder never gets a x1.5 Str bonus.