Jiro, the kobold mascot, knows all and is willing to act like it when he doesn’t! Among other things, he clarifies Tales of the Valiant RPG rules sleuthed out by the ToV community!
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Normally, Ask Jiro tackles a few questions. But this month, we’re all about one thing. Two things, actually. Fighting with two weapons can be an epic experience that fits into many fantasy stories. In a tabletop roleplaying game, it can be intimidating or confusing. Let’s de-confuse it.
Two-Weapon Basics
Per the Player’s Guide, the rules for two-weapon fighting are:
When you take the Attack action and attack with a Light melee weapon you are wielding in one hand, you can use a bonus action to attack with a different Light melee weapon you are wielding in the other hand. You don’t add your ability modifier to the damage of the bonus attack, unless that modifier is negative. If either Light weapon has the Thrown property, you can throw the weapon instead of making a melee attack with it.
What’s a Light weapon? Any weapon that has the Light property on the weapon list. Light weapons include: clubs, daggers, handaxes, light hammers, sickles, scimitars, and shortswords. Player’s Guide 2 (get the preview here, and if you didn’t back it, there’s still time to late pledge!) adds half a dozen new Light weapons, expanding your options for two-weapon fighting even more.
You might notice that most of these weapons are simple weapons, which every class can use. That means you can even have a dual wielding wizard! For spellcasters, remember that if you want to wield two weapons and still cast spells, you will need the Combat Casting talent (which is a great talent for any spellcaster, regardless!).
Advanced Two-Weapon Fighting
So, any character can wield two weapons. They both have to be Light and it takes a bonus action for attack #2. SORTED.
Is there more? Well, you can get fancy. If you have access to Martial talents and are at least level 4, you can take the Two Weapon Mastery talent. This talent allows you to:
- Use the two-weapon fighting bonus action attack with any one-handed weapon, not just a Light weapon.
- Deal additional damage equal to your PB on your bonus action attack.
- Draw or stow both weapons instead of just one at a time.
- Go big when you crit or kill with the bonus action attack. You get to move without provoking opportunity attacks and then make another melee attack!
Though this talent isn’t required to wield two weapons, your character gets way more effective in melee combatant with it. For spellcasters who want to wield two weapons, this feat can be hard to get. And it isn’t as necessary as it is for a martial class, especially if wielding two weapons is a backup rather than your primary damage dealer.
Set Your Two-Weapon Fighter to Purée
Anyone can wield two weapons effectively in combat, especially if the character has access to the Two-Weapon Mastery talent. But two classes in particular have the potential to excel at wielding two weapons: fighters and rangers. These ambi-poindexters have access to Quick Strike in their Martial Action class feature.
That lets them use their bonus action attack when two weapon fighting to make two attacks with that extra weapon instead of one! And if you also have the Two-Weapon mastery feat, you don’t need either weapon to have the Light property. Dual longswords, battleaxes . . . whips, I guess, if you wanted to . . . anything you can hold in one hand is fair game.
Check back tomorrow for a detailed breakdown of using two-weapon fighting by each class!
Got a question of your own? Head over to the Kobold Press official Discord server and ask your question there! Maybe you can be featured in a future installment of Ask Jiro!
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