Remember the old "light weapons strike two blows per round, heavy weapons strike once every other round" thing?
I've never played that rule. I don't think I even noticed it. Back in the day, my desire to play far outweighed my need to read the rules. I was the GM, with the only rule book, and spent my time cooking up gonzo dungeons not rule questing.
My question is: would it be worth using a tweak (I've read a few) like light weapons do half damage and heavy (those listed) do double, be worth a go?
Mathematically (I think...) the pros and cons would even out over many combats but in the short term, in the moment so to speak, it might make a dramatic difference. Or not?
Since all weapons do 1d6 damage, the rule seemed to favor dual dagger wielding thieves than a fighter with a battle axe, so we never paid attention to it either.
ReplyDeleteThese days I always use variable weapon damage, so that actually makes the 2x light weapons rule usable.
Your idea of half damage for light weapons and double for heavy would work, especially if you use 1d6 damage.
All depends on how rules-lite you want to be .. but here's my suggestions
ReplyDeletebased on "quick but not precise or slow and deadly" as the direction for the ruling
dual-wielding
-add a penalty (-2) on attack rolls when dual-attacking for both attacks
- or a (-4) for the second attack
great-weapon fighting
-add a bonus (-2) to AC for the character on the round the he preparing his attack, add a bonus (+2) to attack rolls on the round he does
Francois: Good call. I forgot to mention allowing heavy weapon parries on their "off" round too. Since they attack every other round, they may parry (basically the same as a +2 bonus to AC) on the rounds they don't make attacks.
ReplyDeleteWe played with a rule where one-handed weapons went once per round and two-handed every other round, but for 2d6 damage. Eventually (pretty quickly, actually), we just ditched it altogether.
ReplyDeleteor maybe no attack penalties/bonuses - and just go with
ReplyDeletedualwield - +2ac (penalty) during the turn you dual attack
greatweapon - -2ac (bonus) during the turn you do not attack
Not for me.
ReplyDeleteno cookies for you then. ;) j/k
ReplyDeleteOld Skull = Dark Side = COOKIES! ;-)
ReplyDeleteNot sure where "dual wield" came from (assuming that's fighting with a weapon in each hand?). Holmes (I think) foreshadows weapon speed from AD&D but doesn't complete the idea to make the whole thing worthwhile.
ReplyDeleteLots of people like to use a "fighting with two weapons" rule and although I like the idea I've yet to see it implemented well. Usually gamers like to grant a benefit because you're giving up a shield but the benefit is frequently granted to classes that can't use a shield, such as the thief.
Holmes' original text for this section of the rules had all single-handed melee weapons (inc swords) getting two blows per round: http://zenopusarchives.blogspot.com/2014/01/part-16-exchange-of-two-blows-with.html
ReplyDeleteHalf-damage for light weapons is better, but still favors light weapons slightly. Even better is roll 2d20, 1d3 for one hit, 1d6 for two hits. See this post where I analyzed the damage break down:
ReplyDeletehttp://zenopusarchives.blogspot.com/2012/04/table-number-of-attacks-and-damage-per.html
Thanks Zach H, awesome history lesson. Normal weapons getting 2 attacks might have countered the many monsters that deliver multiple attacks without penalty.
ReplyDelete