Re: Was Magic Fumbles Now 2 Weapons

From: Andrew Dawson <asmpd_at_...>
Date: Wed, 28 Feb 2001 22:44:41 -0500

At 09:22 AM 02/27/2001 +0000, stephen.royle_at_... wrote:
>Two weapon use, how do people handle this?
>One skill with an improved edge?
>Two attacks?
>One attack with -3 to opponent?
>Two weapons, what's wrong with one big one, what are you some kind of
>Lunar? :-)

The way I would handle this is as another Close Combat skill, such as Two-Sword Fighting, Two-Knife Fighting, Two-Axe Fighting, etc. The rank for the skill is 1.5 times the rank for a single such weapon (round up), so Two-Knife is rank 2 and Two-Axe or Two-Sword is rank 5. Using two rank 4 or 5 weapons would require a lot of explanation on the part of the player, so the basic rank stops at 5 (6 if the weapons are exceptional).

The disadvantage is no shield: -1 defensive rank, no shield magic, bad (-10 minimum) improv penalty to block missile weapons, etc. If requested, the player could trade the additional attack rank for a +1 defensive rank (this makes up for the -1 rank from losing the shield, but still doesn't help vs. missiles). Defensively, Two-Knife Fighting is rank 1 offense and +1 rank defense, etc.

I wouldn't allow two attacks without the -3 penalty on the second because I don't think that the fighting style imparts an ability to split your attention in such a way as to attack twice as often. (I also prefer to have fewer die rolls per attack.) Also, two attacks seems to be the most abusive option.

Thanks,
Andy