Tempest class feature with Double Weapons

[Rechan]

Question.

The Tempest Fighter class feature says:

When wearing light armor or chainmail, you gain a +1 to damage rolls with melee and close weapon attacks when you are wielding two weapons. This bonus increases to +2 with weapons that have the off-hand property.

Emphasis mine.

Double weapons have the off-hand property.

Does this mean that a Tempest Fighter in light armor, wielding a double weapon, receives +2 to damage to all attacks?

 

[Klaus]

Question.

The Tempest Fighter class feature says:

Emphasis mine.

Double weapons have the off-hand property.

Does this mean that a Tempest Fighter in light armor, wielding a double weapon, receives +2 to damage to all attacks?

Yup.

 

[Obryn]

Yes, by the book this is so.

The designers apparently had different ideas going into it, but that's the end result.

-O

 

[Saagael]

I have a similar question:

A double sword is both a heavy blade and a light blade. I haven't read anywhere that defines a certain end of the weapon as a heavy or light blade (that is, the whole weapon is both a heavy and light blade). Would feats that affect light blades only boost off-hand attacks, and would feats that affect heavy blades only boost main-hand attacks.

In the spirit of the rules I'd say that the main-hand side is a heavy blade and the off-hand side is a light blade, but I haven't seen any rules that say otherwise. If so, you could take feats like Heavy Blade Opportunity and Nimble Blade and have them both apply to main hand attacks.

 

[eamon]

I have a similar question:

A double sword is both a heavy blade and a light blade. I haven't read anywhere that defines a certain end of the weapon as a heavy or light blade (that is, the whole weapon is both a heavy and light blade). Would feats that affect light blades only boost off-hand attacks, and would feats that affect heavy blades only boost main-hand attacks.

In the spirit of the rules I'd say that the main-hand side is a heavy blade and the off-hand side is a light blade, but I haven't seen any rules that say otherwise. If so, you could take feats like Heavy Blade Opportunity and Nimble Blade and have them both apply to main hand attacks.

The keywords apply to the weapon as a whole, so you can indeed use Nimble Blade and HBO together, for instance. If you wish to flavor this, you could for instance compare it to TWF (which provides benefits to the main hand dependent on also wielding a second weapon) or the defensive property (which grants an AC bonus dependent on wielding another weapon additionally). In short, the overall fighting style may provided bonuses to indirectly affected attacks. In any case; the rules clearly count the overall weapon as being both a light and heavy blade and having being offhand. These properties apply to both ends.

Note that there is some imprecision surrounding weapons with the offhand property vs. those held in your off-hand. The tempests bonus applies to weapons with the property, regardless of how they're wielded, but not all game-effects are so clear-cut.

 

[jester_gl]

People who uses double weapon in "real life" don't really favor one end of the weapon over the other. Since that weapon is normally twirling around, it is understandable that both end keep the off-hand property.

Just for the record, I built a tempest fighter that wield a whip and a handaxe. Both weapon have off-hand property and the whip is the only weapon with both off-hand and reach. I suspect damage will be pitifully low, but that fighter can easily mark two targets per round and with reach for one of them.

Hmmm, Indiana Jones with a whip and a hand crossbow, with the feat that make hand crossbow an off-hand weapon. Why do I keep having those crazy ideas that keep my players groaning. Now I'll have to make a recurring NPC solo adventurer with this idea