In some campaigns that I have played in, the
DM did not care whether your
character was right- or left-handed since he could
not see any valid reason to make the distinction.
To him it was just another useless detail to keep
track of. However, when I showed him a simple
method for determining handedness and the
reasons for doing so, he agreed with me and had
all of his players roll it up for their characters on
the spot.

The method for determining handedness
assumes that the majority of the people will be
right-handed with a few being left-handed and a
small minority being ambidextrous. Roll a d6
and a d20 together. If the d20 is higher than the
d6, then the character is right-handed. (Obviously,
this will happen most of the time; the
actual probability is over 80%.) If the d20 is less
than the d6, then the character is left-handed. If
the two rolls are equal, then the character is able
to use either hand with equal ability. Note that
this does not remove the dexterity penalties
covered in the DMG for using two weapons. It
means that the character can use a single weapon
in whatever hand he chooses.
    <Fighting With Two Weapons, DMG>
    <Be a two-fisted fighter, Dragon #68, Best of Dragon IV>

The major difference that handedness makes is
in a combat situation. Since the majority of
fighters ? or any class ? will right-handed, they
will have learned and practiced with othwer righthanded
fighters. They will have learned the
standard shield techniques for protecting against
a sword being swung from their left. In many
cases, that may have been all the weapons master
was able to teach them if he was unfamiliar with
the methods of fighting against left-handed opponents.
In other words, when two [right-handed]
lighters stand face-to-face each will have his
sword opposite the other?s shield. But if a lefthanded
fighter stands facing a right-handed
fighter, he must have had training in how to
cover his off side, because his shield is not carried
on the same side as the right-handed person?s
sword. The right-handed fighter, in all probability,
has not had to worry about this, and because
of that fact the left-hander has a distinct advantage,
since he knows how to use his shield to
cover his off side while the other fighter does not.
What it boils down to is that the right-handed
fighter will not be able to effectively use his
shield, thus lowering his armor class by one. If
two left-handed fighters face each other, this
advantage is nullified since (as with two righthanders)
their shields are opposite each other?s
swords

The advantage may seem trivial, but consider
what could happen when a character is around
7th or 8th level. At this point the DM will probably
be sending higher-level NPCs at the party,
and the NPCs will probably have magic items.
Take a situation where an 8th-level left-handed
PC fighter is up against an 11th-level righthanded
NPC with a +3 shield. Not only does the
NPC lose the point of armor class for the shield,
he loses the +3 as well, resulting in a net advantage
of +4 to hit for the player character. The
situation could easily be reversed as well. The
effect in this case is the same as if the character
was attacking from behind, negating all bonuses
due to the shield.

Fighters seem to benefit the most from the
distinction of handedness, but it can easily be
seen that the same arguments apply to clerics as
well. And there are situations when the distinction
does not make any difference. The techniques
involved when using a two-handed
weapon cancel any advantage a left-handed
character would normally have. And, as pointed
out above, any character fighting with two weapons
would lose the advantage.

My opinions on this matter were backed up by
discussions with several members of the local
chapter of the SCA (Society for Creative Anachronism).
They all agreed that the left-handed
person has an advantage over the ?normal?
(right-handed) person. One person described the
feeling as he was going down after one blow:
. . . and then I noticed that he was swinging
with his left hand.?

The final decision on whether to use this or not
is, of course, up to the individual DM. The
system is simple, so it does not detract from play,
yet it adds an extra bit of personality to the
character. When it was first proposed to me, I
jumped at it, and I have used it ever since.

David G. Rathbun
Baton Rouge, La.
Dragon #97