1 handed 2 hand? - Downloaded from the Wizards Community, all coding removed by Solauren

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 Scarecrow91 Aug 14, 2015 1:55:33	Sorry if this question is already up and answered, but I've been wanting to make a character who can use two handed weapons with one hand while using a hefty shield in the other (like the crusaders in diablo3). If it's possible, which melee class and which feats should I go for to accomplish this?
#2 Veleria Aug 14, 2015 3:31:59	It is not supported in 5e. You could choose a class that gets a defense bonus and pretend its a shield but for what you are really looking for longsword and shield is your answer. Try the Duelist fighting style for extra damage. Another way you can get a shield with a 2 handed weapon is the cleric spell shield of faith (1st level). Its magic and doesnt count as a shield technically but it does look like a holy shield.
#3 mellored Aug 14, 2015 5:48:03	Well... See if your DM will allow a little leway, and take dualing (fighter, ranger, or paladin). But instead of adding +2 damage, increase the die size by 2 (1d8->1d12), and call it a greatsword. You'll deal some extra damage on crits, but close enough.
#4 Direach Aug 14, 2015 8:27:45	My suggestion is to add an Oversized Weapons feat, allowing a character to wield larger one-handed weapons (increase their die type by one, typically d8 to d10). Versatile oversized weapons would be equivalent to their great weapon analog (greatsword, greataxe). That way it will work with all the existing class features and other feats, rather than wandering into the weird territory of whether Great Weapon Master applies to a two-handed weapon being wielded with one hand, or a one-handed Polearm Master with a shield. You could add some other perk to the feat as well, although by itself it would be a solid damage boost with no drawbacks.
#5 TenaciousJ Aug 14, 2015 9:29:48	I gave out mithral weapons occasionally. Since mithral is supposed to be much lighter than steel but at least as strong, mithral weapons gain the finesse property if they're not heavy, and if they're heavy they gain the versatile property with a damage decrease while one handed. So a mithral great axe would be a 1d10 weapon while held in 1 hand. I ruled that great weapon master's power attack feature would not work while wielding a mithral heavy weapon 1-handed. Perhaps you can convince your DM to use that idea if you don't want to waste feats on what amounts to +1 or 2 extra damage on average.
#6 Tempest_Stormwind Aug 14, 2015 10:40:08	What if I told you there is a two-handed weapon that you can use in one hand? It's nearly five feet long, and it deals 1d10 damage (average 5.5, or 11 on a crit), but you can use it in one hand if you're willing to accept it "only" dealing 1d8+2 (average 6.5, 11 on a crit). It's the bastard sword or katana. ...Which is also called the longsword. I just considered the Versatile 1d10 mode to be its default instead of the normal 1d8, and wield it with the Duelist style (which works with a shield). The thing with D&D isn't that there's a perfect rule for every situation, a class with this exact concept lurking in some forgotten rules tome. It's that you have total control over your description. This example was written for 3.5, which has many times more mechanical options than 5e (it's an older game with a lot of books), so there's almost certainly a perfect option for it hidden in some book somewhere... but the basic logic works in 5e as well. The most extreme reflavoring I've ever seen described an "elemental changeling", an arcane bio-engineering experiment where the humanoid could shift its body partially into water (causing swords to pass through him if he could see them first, missing when they should have hit), air (to glide along walls and at high speeds), and even stone (to solidify his limbs right before striking). He had other abilities as well, mostly based around enhanced senses and other transmutations, such as liquifying his arms to wrap around things before solidifying them into stone to hold them, shifting his body to gas to let magic effects pass through him, and shifting to water, absorbing extra moisture from the air to reconstitute his wounds. Several of these were changes that had been so complete that they had been internalized, so they didn't even rely on magic to perform (in much the same way a fire elemental doesn't need magic to keep burning, even though basic physics would suggest he'd run out of fuel eventually), but a few of the more exotic abilities still relied upon it. What was he, in the rules? Show The 'elemental changeling' was a single-class Monk. These abilities were, respectively, his AC bonus, speed bonus / slow fall, improved unarmed damage, high Wisdom / Still Mind, Improved Grapple, Evasion, and Wholeness of Body. (He had planned to pick up some psionic feats that would work in the same way. Up the Walls would have the same flavor as Slow Fall, just being slightly more magic dependent.) He even described the Lawful alignment requirement by suggesting that he'd been conditioned since birth by his arcane creators to obey authority, and these same wizards were the ones "renewing his magic" or "upgrading the enhancements" when he gained a level. The multiclass restriction was the penalty for disobeying these wizards' orders, essentially contaminating the experiment. Quite a long way from the kung fu master thematically, but mechanically identical to the stock monk.
#7 Illithidbix Aug 14, 2015 13:53:13	Versatile weapons (Longswords, Battle Axes and Warhammers) are pretty much two-handed weapons used one handed.
#8 guachi Aug 14, 2015 22:51:50	I was going to suggest precisely what Mellored already said. 1d8 longsword + duelist style = 1d12. It's more on a crit but the d12 doesn't get enough love.

Post/Author/DateTime

Post

Scarecrow91

Aug 14, 2015 1:55:33

Sorry if this question is already up and answered, but I've been wanting to make a character who can use two handed weapons with one hand while using a hefty shield in the other (like the crusaders in diablo3). If it's possible, which melee class and which feats should I go for to accomplish this?

Veleria

Aug 14, 2015 3:31:59

It is not supported in 5e. You could choose a class that gets a defense bonus and pretend its a shield but for what you are really looking for longsword and shield is your answer. Try the Duelist fighting style for extra damage.

Another way you can get a shield with a 2 handed weapon is the cleric spell shield of faith (1st level). Its magic and doesnt count as a shield technically but it does look like a holy shield.

mellored

Aug 14, 2015 5:48:03

Well...

See if your DM will allow a little leway, and take dualing (fighter, ranger, or paladin). But instead of adding +2 damage, increase the die size by 2 (1d8->1d12), and call it a greatsword.

You'll deal some extra damage on crits, but close enough.

Direach

Aug 14, 2015 8:27:45

My suggestion is to add an Oversized Weapons feat, allowing a character to wield larger one-handed weapons (increase their die type by one, typically d8 to d10). Versatile oversized weapons would be equivalent to their great weapon analog (greatsword, greataxe). That way it will work with all the existing class features and other feats, rather than wandering into the weird territory of whether Great Weapon Master applies to a two-handed weapon being wielded with one hand, or a one-handed Polearm Master with a shield.

You could add some other perk to the feat as well, although by itself it would be a solid damage boost with no drawbacks.

TenaciousJ

Aug 14, 2015 9:29:48

I gave out mithral weapons occasionally. Since mithral is supposed to be much lighter than steel but at least as strong, mithral weapons gain the finesse property if they're not heavy, and if they're heavy they gain the versatile property with a damage decrease while one handed. So a mithral great axe would be a 1d10 weapon while held in 1 hand. I ruled that great weapon master's power attack feature would not work while wielding a mithral heavy weapon 1-handed.

Perhaps you can convince your DM to use that idea if you don't want to waste feats on what amounts to +1 or 2 extra damage on average.

Tempest_Stormwind

Aug 14, 2015 10:40:08

What if I told you there is a two-handed weapon that you can use in one hand? It's nearly five feet long, and it deals 1d10 damage (average 5.5, or 11 on a crit), but you can use it in one hand if you're willing to accept it "only" dealing 1d8+2 (average 6.5, 11 on a crit). It's the bastard sword or katana.

...Which is also called the longsword. I just considered the Versatile 1d10 mode to be its default instead of the normal 1d8, and wield it with the Duelist style (which works with a shield).

The thing with D&D isn't that there's a perfect rule for every situation, a class with this exact concept lurking in some forgotten rules tome. It's that you have total control over your description.

This example was written for 3.5, which has many times more mechanical options than 5e (it's an older game with a lot of books), so there's almost certainly a perfect option for it hidden in some book somewhere... but the basic logic works in 5e as well.

The most extreme reflavoring I've ever seen described an "elemental changeling", an arcane bio-engineering experiment where the humanoid could shift its body partially into water (causing swords to pass through him if he could see them first, missing when they should have hit), air (to glide along walls and at high speeds), and even stone (to solidify his limbs right before striking). He had other abilities as well, mostly based around enhanced senses and other transmutations, such as liquifying his arms to wrap around things before solidifying them into stone to hold them, shifting his body to gas to let magic effects pass through him, and shifting to water, absorbing extra moisture from the air to reconstitute his wounds. Several of these were changes that had been so complete that they had been internalized, so they didn't even rely on magic to perform (in much the same way a fire elemental doesn't need magic to keep burning, even though basic physics would suggest he'd run out of fuel eventually), but a few of the more exotic abilities still relied upon it.

What was he, in the rules?
Show
The 'elemental changeling' was a single-class Monk. These abilities were, respectively, his AC bonus, speed bonus / slow fall, improved unarmed damage, high Wisdom / Still Mind, Improved Grapple, Evasion, and Wholeness of Body. (He had planned to pick up some psionic feats that would work in the same way. Up the Walls would have the same flavor as Slow Fall, just being slightly more magic dependent.) He even described the Lawful alignment requirement by suggesting that he'd been conditioned since birth by his arcane creators to obey authority, and these same wizards were the ones "renewing his magic" or "upgrading the enhancements" when he gained a level. The multiclass restriction was the penalty for disobeying these wizards' orders, essentially contaminating the experiment.

Quite a long way from the kung fu master thematically, but mechanically identical to the stock monk.

Illithidbix

Aug 14, 2015 13:53:13

Versatile weapons (Longswords, Battle Axes and Warhammers) are pretty much two-handed weapons used one handed.

guachi

Aug 14, 2015 22:51:50

I was going to suggest precisely what Mellored already said. 1d8 longsword + duelist style = 1d12. It's more on a crit but the d12 doesn't get enough love.