Two-Weapon Fighting

The rules presented here use Mike Mearls' rules as Two-Weapon Fighting: inspiration, but they also aim for simplicity, to align with all other aspects of 5th Edition D&D, while simultaneously Variant Rules integrating the aspects of two-weapon fighting that make it viable and fun to play. They are the product of many hours of When compared to other fighting styles, two-weapon fighting writing, rewriting, playtesting, and re-playtesting. excels at early levels, but from about 5th level and onward, The Two-Weapon Fighting fighting style and the Dual quickly falls behind, both in terms of utility and damage per Wielder feat are also reworked within these rules. round. Thus, for anyone who likes to be effective in combat, two-weapon fighting isn't really much of an option at all, when compared to other fighting styles. Great Weapon Masters are Two-Weapon Fighting without question the highest damage option, while Defense When you take the Attack action and are wielding a light and the Shield Master Feat grant the greatest defensive melee weapon in each hand, you can make one additional capabilities. As written in the 5th Edition Player's Handbook, attack with your off-hand as a part of the same action. You two-weapon fighting isn't quite up to par in terms of offense have a -5 penalty to the additional attack roll, and you add or defense above 4th level. The purpose of these variant rules your ability modifier to the damage of each attack you make is to make two-weapon fighting viable and competitive with (as normal). other fighting styles at all levels. If you have the Extra Attack feature, you can choose to Mike Mearls offered his variant rules on Twitter, which are make your extra attack(s) with either weapon. as follows: If either weapon has the thrown property, you can throw the weapon, instead of making a melee attack with it. While you are wielding two light weapons, you gain a +1 When you take the Attack action, you can choose to forgo bonus to AC. the additional attack to instead adopt a parrying stance. If you While you are wielding two light weapons and you take do, you can't make attacks with your off-hand until the start of the Attack action on your turn, you can make one your next turn, but you gain a +1 bonus to Armor Class until additional attack as a part of the same action. If you do, all the start of your next turn. You lose this bonus if you are no attacks that you make on that turn suffer a -4 penalty to longer two-weapon fighting. the attack roll. If you have the Extra Attack class feature, the penalty instead becomes -2. If that feature grants you two additional attacks, the penalty becomes -1, and if that Fighting Style feature grants you three additional attacks, you suffer no Replace the Two-Weapon Fighting option in the Fighting penalty to the attack roll. Style class feature with the following option: You can choose to forgo the extra attack to increase the AC bonus to +2, rather than +1. Two-Weapon Fighting You can add your ability modifier to the damage of the When you engage in two-weapon fighting, you reduce the bonus attack (contrary to the rules in the Player's penalty on the attack roll for the additional attack by an Handbook, page 195). amount equal to your proficiency bonus. He notably ignores the effects of feats and offers no replacement for the Two-Weapon Fighting fighting style Feat: Dual Wielder (rendered useless by the final point), but aside from that, this You master fighting with two weapons, gaining the following method is strikingly more complicated than any other similar benefits: rule (in 5th Edition anyway, as this sort of thing is common in You can use two-weapon fighting even when the one- 3rd Edition). handed melee weapons you are wielding aren't light. He also mentions a few different features of two-weapon You can draw or stow two one-handed weapons when you fighting that were requested as 5th Edition was being would normally be able to draw or stow only one. playtested, and there are a few different aspects of it that are While you are two-weapon fighting and another creature vying to be fixed. These include: hits you with a melee attack, you can use your reaction to Two-weapon fighting needs to allow an extra attack in add half your proficiency bonus (rounded up) to your AC some form. As the rules are, this extra attack takes a for that attack, potentially causing the attack to miss you. bonus action. If the attack then misses, you can make a melee weapon The use of a bonus action renders two-weapon fighting attack against the triggering creature as a part of the same useless or sub-optimal with some class features (such as reaction. Rage, Second Wind, and Action Surge), and severely limits its usage. Other fighting styles don't suffer this drawback. Two-weapon fighting offers better defensive options, which manifests in the form of an AC bonus. According to Mike Mearls, treating two-weapon fighting as a single attack with bonus damage for the off-hand weSampleapon "tested poorly... people like getting that extra file attack." (For example, if you are dual-wielding two shortswords, then instead of getting an extra attack with a shortsword, an attack would deal 2d6 piercing damage: 1d6 for each shortsword.) A: Balance. Tested with the AC bonus, two-weapon fighting Frequently Asked Questions overperformed. Making the bonus dependent on forgoing the Q: Two-weapon fighting references your off-hand. Do I have to attack forces you to choose between offense or defense, but declare a main-hand and an off-hand? you can't have both. Two-weapon fighting focuses on versatility. You can use it A: Technically yes, but it's simple. Is your character left- or to deal damage or to increase your own defenses, but it right-handed? Your answer is your main hand. The other is doesn't quite match the capabilities of a character focused on your off-hand. This eliminates any question of declaring your one or the other. Two-weapon fighting can't match a Great main hand, as your answer will always be your main hand, no Weapon Master in damage output, and it can't match a Shield matter what. (Talk to your Dungeon Master if you really want Master in terms of defense. What it can do, however, is shift to bring up the whole ambidexterity arguement.) between the two and be reasonably good at both. Q: Why the -5 penalty to the additional attack? Q: Why was the third benefit of the Dual Wielder feat A: In short, the -5 penalty helps balance the additional attack. designed to be like it is? A free extra attack is very strong, and the penalty helps A: Realistically, dual-wielding allows you to simultaneously balance the pros of two-weapon fighting, especially at early parry and counterattack (one weapon is used to parry an levels. incoming attack while the other is used to begin the Without the penalty, two-weapon fighting would become counterattack), which is what makes it effective at all. The one of the highest performing offensive fighting styles, and final benefit of the feat represents this capability. You parry that isn't the point of these new rules. The point is to create a an incoming attack, and if you do so successfully, you can versatile fighting style that can be good at both offense and capitalize on the parry by immediately counterattacking with defense, but not out-perform any fighting style dedicated to your other weapon. one or the other. This also makes two-weapon fighting stronger both As a final point, the penalty helps to balance two-weapon defensively and offensively. Less attacks will hit you, and you fighting with classes that don't have the Extra Attack feature. will get an extra attack whenever the parry is successful. The In the rules for two-weapon fighting presented in the Player's balance of this benefit makes two-weapon fighting an Handbook, this is balanced by the need to use a bonus action, excellent middle ground between high-damage fighting styles but in these rules the additional attack is a part of the same (like Great Weapon Master) and high-defense fighting styles Attack action. Offering an extra attack for free is very strong, (such as Defense and Shield Master). As stated before, two- especially for classes that don't normally get an extra attack, weapon fighting is intended to be versatile, not more such as rogues. The penalty allows such a character to keep powerful than any other, but reasonably good at both offense the additional attack without stealing the thunder of the and defense. Extra Attack feature. Q: Concerning the 3rd benefit of the Dual Wielder feat, why Q: Why does the Fighting Style reduce the penalty of the do you add only half of your proficiency bonus (rounded up)? additional attack roll by your proficiency bonus, instead of a static number like other fighting styles? A: Adding your entire proficiency bonus would make the feat too powerful. The Defensive Duelist feat allows you to add A: Other offensive fighting styles scale with level. In other your proficiency bonus to your AC against one attack, but words, each offensive fighting style applies to each attack you offers no counterattack.

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