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Dragon 68	-	-	-	Dragon

One of the more obscure rules in the
AD&D™ Dungeon Masters Guide is on
page 70, under “Attacks With Two Weapons.” It states, briefly, that a character
may choose to attack with a weapon in
each hand if so desired. The weapon in
the favored hand may be any one-handed
weapon, but that in the other must be a
hand axe or a dagger. Dexterity affects
combat, with increasing penalties “to
hit” for characters with relatively low
dexterity and lesser penalties for those
with higher dexterity.

This rule needs expansion; it leaves a
lot of situations open to interpretation,
and some of the potential problems and
benefits should be described in more detail. If DMs allow players to
use a weapon in each hand, characters
will obviously become more powerful offensively. A high-level fighters with high
dexterity will become particularly fearsome in combat. Other character classes
could also benefit from this ruling. However, players may well not choose to
have their characters use such an attack
mode, since they will generally be unable to use a shield to defend themselves
at the same time. Though the expansion
of the rules in the DMG presented here is
unofficial, I have tried to make it workable and logical within the present game
framework.

Handedness should be established for
each character in whatever manner the
DM sees fit, with either the right or left
hand becoming dominant; it’s best to let
the player make this simple choice rather than using a table. Once declared,
andedness is permanent for that character, alterable only by use of a wish or
an act of the gods.

The following table, adapted from the
DMG, gives the penalties “to hit” for a
player character using two weapons,
one in the primary hand and the other in
the secondary hand:
 

Character's dexterity	Primary	Secondary
3	-5	-7
4	-4	-6
5	-3	-5
6-15	-2	-4
16	-1	-3
17	0	-2
18-20	0	-1

These scores were determined by using a base “to hit” penalty of -2/-4 for the
primary/secondary weapon hand, and
adding the Reaction/Attacking adjustments for dexterity, as given in the AD&D
Players Handbook and the DEITIES &
DEMIGODS™ Cyclopedia. If a character
uses a weapon in his or her secondary
hand, without using a weapon in the
primary hand or while holding a shield in
the primary hand, the penalties “to hit”
for the secondary hand should be used
as shown above. Rather than have a separate category of people defined as
ambidextrous, able to use a weapon
equally well in either hand, persons with
high dexterity (17+) could be considered
ambidextrous; their secondary hands
will function almost as well as their primary hands.

As to the sorts of weapons that may be
used in the primary and secondary
hands, the following selections are given. It was arbitrarily decided to restrict
the types of weapons usable in the primary hand to those not exceeding 4’ in
length or 100 g.p. in weight, and which
can be used in a space of 4’ or less. Secondary hand weapons would be limited
to one-half of the above specifications.
These rules would govern weapons use
for characters of approximately man size
(5’ to 7’ height).

Weapons usable in primary hand:
battle axe, hand axe, club, dagger,
horseman’s flail, hammer, footman’s
mace, horseman’s mace, footman’s
pick, horseman’s pick, scimitar, broadsword, longsword, shortsword.

Usable in secondary hand: hand
axe, dagger, hammer, horseman’s
mace, horseman’s pick, shortsword.

The DMG states that only a dagger or
hand axe may be used as a secondary
hand weapon. DM’s are free, of course,
to adhere strictly to this ruling; the selections above were added to increase variety within a reasonable degree.
Characters using a weapon in each
hand will effectively double the number
of attacks they may make each round, as
shown in the table below. Such attacks
would apply only to thrusting or striking
weapons. Fighters and members of fighter subclasses in combat with creatures
having less than one hit die will gain an
additional attack: For instance, a 2nd
level fighter normally gets 2 attacks per
round with a weapon in each hand, and
has 3 attacks per round in the same situation against a creature with less than
one hit die.

Attacks per round with two weapons
 

Class/level	Attacks/round
Fighter 1-6	2
Paladin 1-6	2
Ranger 1-7	2
Other classes  (of any level)	2
Fighter 7-12	3
Paladin 7-12	3
Ranger 8-14	3
Fighter 13 & up	4
Paladin 13 & up	4
Ranger 15 & up	4

<1. The above table needs to be extended for cavaliers and new fighter sub-classes.>
<2. As well, the issue of specialization is not addressed.>
<3. Last but not least, a version of this table needs to be integrated with the new Initiative rules.>

A character striking an even number of
times per round will have those attacks
divided evenly and alternately between
the two weapons being used, starting
with the primary hand weapon. If the
character strikes an odd number of times,
the attacks will be made alternately between the two weapons, starting and
ending with the primary hand weapon.
Any strength bonuses to hitting and
damaging scores are applied to attacks
made with either hand. Any non-proficiency penalties for using a weapon a
character has not used frequently are
accounted for in the attacks a character
makes with that weapon, no matter which
hand it is used in.

A character may, if desired, hold both
a dagger and a small shield in the secondary hand. In such a case, at the start of
each round of combat the character
must declare whether he or she is going
to attack with the dagger or defend with
the shield in that round; the character
cannot gain the shield’s benefit and use
the dagger in the same round. No other
weapon but a dagger is suitable for this
kind of combat. Attacks with the dagger
must be made at an additional -1 penalty
“to hit,” on top of all other penalties or
bonuses “to hit,” because of the weight
of the shield on the forearm.

For characters of racial types generally shorter in height than 5’, the following
selection of weapons for primary and
secondary hand use are given. Those
printed in italic type may be used in the
primary hand by dwarves only, since
only they are massive and strong enough
to manipulate the indicated weapons.
Halflings, gnomes, and other small races
of 3’ to 5’ average height may make use
of the other weapons.

Weapons usable in the primary hand
by those under 5’ tall: hand axe, club,
dagger, hammer, horseman’s mace,
horseman’s pick, scimitar, longsword,
shortsword.

Weapons usable in the secondary
hand by those under 5’ tall: hand axe,
dagger.

    As a side note, the only other weapons
a dwarf could logically use one-handed
(with a shield) besides those mentioned
above would be the horseman’s flail,
footman’s mace, and broadsword. All
other weapons (including the ever-popular battle axe) must be used two-handed
because of their size and weight.
The DEITIES & DEMIGODS book offers a couple of examples of characters
who commonly use two weapons: Fafhrd
and the Gray Mouser from the Nehwon
mythos. Interestingly, the material in the
DDG book seems to contradict the rulings in the DMG. The Gray Mouser fits in
with the above tables as far as attacks
per melee round with two weapons, but
receives no penalties “to hit” because he
has a 19 dexterity. Fafhrd, who likewise
uses two weapons, is a 15th level ranger
who attacks only twice per round; it is
not mentioned whether he receives a
penalty “to hit” with his left hand’s weapon. Though I would probably let these
characters stand as written, it would be a
good idea to establish some internal
consistency to an AD&D campaign and
adopt rules that apply to all characters.

Until such time as official rulings are
outlined on the above, this article is offered to cover these situations. Next time
you want to scythe a pathway through an
orc army, use two weapons instead of
one and double your fun. But doesn’t
that half-orc chieftain have two weapons too?. . .

<Also see: Two Hands Are Better Than One>