Strength damage bonus for double weapons

[Rozman]

How do you apply Strength bonuses to damage for each end of a double-weapon?

• it's a 2-handed weapon so it gets 1.5x Strength bonus
• the off-hand attack gets 1/2 the Strength bonus

I would take this to mean:

• Primary head gets 1.5x Stength bonus
• Off-hand head gets 1.5x (0.5x Strength bonus)

You end up with, at Strength 18 for +4 Strength bonus:

• +6 damage on Primary head (1.5x4)
• +3 damage on Off-hand head (1.5x0.5x4)

Is this the way other people read it?

 

[youspoonybard]

I can't find any texts that refutes the initial part, but the light one is definetly off.

You can't get 1.5 str by 2-h wielding a light weapon (Look under Damage at the beginning of the combat section)

 

[Dr. Zoom]

When using a double weapon as a double weapon, you treat it like you were fighting with two weapons. The primary head gets the normal strength bonus to damage, and the off-hand head gets 1/2 the strength bonus to damage.

So the Str 18 (+4) example you give is +4 to damage with the primary head and +2 with the off-hand head.

 

[MorganKiller]

Exactly.
If you decide to attack with just one head of the weapon (normal attack or full attack) then you apply 1 and 1/2 Str bonus. Any of the two heads, it doesn't matter which one you were using as primary...

 

[Rozman]

I knew I had to be missing something

 

[Norfleet]

Double weapons, when wielded in a double-attack, get 1.0 and 0.5 strength bonusses, for primary and secondary attacks, respectively. When wielded for AoOs, or for the single "attack" action, you get 1.5 strength for it, as a two-handed weapon, because you're using it in both hands for that.

 

[Impeesa]

What if you're weilding it with three hands? Do you get 1.5x and 1x, or do you have to assign the extra .5 to one specific end?

--Impeesa--

 

[Norfleet]

Well, if the weapon is being wielded in 3 hands, the rules for multiweapon fighting is that the primary hand gives you a 1.0 strength bonus, and all other hands are 0.5 strength bonus. Therefore, a three-handed sword grants a bonus of 2.0 (1.0 + 0.5 + 0.5), when wielded in three hands.

As for a double weapon, the weapon has 2 ends, and is being wielded in 3 hands. Therefore, each end is being wielded by one and a half hands, so the "primary" end gets a bonus of 1.25, and the secondary end gets 0.75.

 

[Ranger REG]

Can someone confirm Norfleet's answer? The idea of having more than two hands on a singular weapon is redundant, IMHO. The x1.5 multiplier is all you're going to get under the normal two-handed weapon rule.

 

[Caliban]

Can someone confirm Norfleet's answer? The idea of having more than two hands on a singular weapon is redundant, IMHO. The x1.5 multiplier is all you're going to get under the normal two-handed weapon rule.

Savage Species has rules on increasing the strength bonus for weapons designed for more than two hands. I don't think they work with weapons designed for only two hands though.