Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 kyprioth Sep 19, 2009 14:30:01	I am building a 2 weapon warrior, but I have some questions on how exactly it works. 1.) If you had a full attack bonus and were wielding 2 weapons, would you get 8 attacks, two for each one you would normally get? or just 5, 4 normal and one from your off-hand? If you got improved 2 weapon fighting, do you get an extra attack for each normal one or just one extra attack? 2.) do you apply your str bonus to each hit? (i would think so, but...) 3.) If you power attack, do you get the damage boost to all of your attacks or just for the first? (if not, can you power attack for each of your hits?) 4.) If you attack something and kill it with your multiple hits, and got to attack another thanks to cleave, do you get to use all of your attacks on the new target or just one? 5.) Is the damage loss of a light weapon worth the extra attack bonus gained by it? (how much less of a penalty do you get from having two light weapons?) 6.) Should I get weapon finessse for more synergy? More to come most likely.
#2 bruceleeroy Sep 19, 2009 16:47:52	most of your answers are in the PHB.
#3 mynameisjake Sep 19, 2009 20:03:18	A couple of things to preface my answer. Bruce is correct. These are not especially obscure questions. You should be able to answer them yourself. All my answers are based solely on the PHB. All are subject to modification based on official splat books and 3rd party feats. 1.) If you had a full attack bonus and were wielding 2 weapons, would you get 8 attacks, two for each one you would normally get? or just 5, 4 normal and one from your off-hand? If you got improved 2 weapon fighting, do you get an extra attack for each normal one or just one extra attack? Five then six. You get a single additional attack for each feat. Not one for each of your iterative attacks. 2.) do you apply your str bonus to each hit? (i would think so, but...) Yes, but...the additional attacks that you receive from wielding a weapon in the off-hand only gets 1/2 (rounded down, min 1) of the bonus str. dam. 3.) If you power attack, do you get the damage boost to all of your attacks or just for the first? (if not, can you power attack for each of your hits?) This gets a little complicated. The penalty to hit is applied to each and every attack you make. All of them. No exceptions. Even Attacks of Opportunity made before the beginning of your next turn. The bonus damage is applied in full to attacks that hit. Light weapons do not receive any benefit from Power Attack, but do receive the penalty. If you are using, for example, a longsword and a dagger, both weapons receive the penalty from power attack, but only the longsword would receive the benefit. There is one exception. If you have the Improved Unarmed Strike feat, and are using it for the off-hand attack, you do receive the bonus damage (See 'Power Attack, PHB, p98). Generally speaking, Power Attack is a poor choice for combination with 2-weapon fighting. There is an exception, however. See Notes, below. .) If you attack something and kill it with your multiple hits, and got to attack another thanks to cleave, do you get to use all of your attacks on the new target or just one? Just one, but remember, nothing happens simultaneously. You don't drop something with multiple attacks. You drop it with a particular attack. This is important because the extra cleave attack is made with the same bonus of the attack that dropped the target. If it was the first attack, you get the high bonus. If it was the last attack, you get the low bonus. 5.) Is the damage loss of a light weapon worth the extra attack bonus gained by it? (how much less of a penalty do you get from having two light weapons?) There is no benefit, per se, to using 2 light weapons. A longsword + dagger has the same penalty as 2 daggers. The reason some people recommend using the same 2 weapons is so that you can take a weapon focus feat and get the bonus on both weapons. 6.) Should I get weapon finessse for more synergy? That's difficult to say. It depends entirely on what weapons you want to use and how high the dexterity of your character is. And how low the strength. Just make sure you understand how Weapon Finesse actually works. Note: Many optimizers strongly discourage people from even considering Two Weapon Fighting (TWF). The average damage you will do on a round with 2 weapons tends to be just a little bit less than if you were using a single weapon with two hands. Power Attack makes this discrepency even worse. TWF gives a greater chance of doing some damage, at the cost of doing just a little bit less overall. Characters with sneak/skirmish bonuses, however, can do a lot of damage. That's why the TWF Rogue is so popular. Personally, I love TWF. Always have. Can't say why. It's just cool. Here's some advice. 1. Don't use a dagger. A short sword or hand axe is better for the off hand. 2. Don't forget that you can throw with both hands as well. 3. You can also sheath and draw 2 weapons at the same time. 4. Okay this isn't in the PHB, but Oversized Two Weapon Fighting lets you wield a medium sized weapon in the off-hand with the same penalties as if it were light. This gives a better damage curve and allows Power Attack to affect the off-hand attack. It also allows you to use the same type of weapon in both hands (2 longswords, for example), thus gaining the benefit of a weapon focus feat to both attacks. 5. Improved Unarmed Strike is your friend. Power Attack applies fully to unarmed strikes. Like OTWF, this improves the usefullness of Power Attack when TWFing. IUS also allows you to strike with things other than your hand (such as knees, elbows, head-butt, etc), so you can use a two handed weapon like a greatsword, with all it's bonuses, and still get in a second attack with IUS. While some DMs will need convincing, the last FAQ for 3.5 even uses the example of firing a bow and throwing a dagger in the same attack.  So you should be able to swing with the greatsword and punch with a gauntlet, which has the benefit of allowing you to enchant the gauntlet to imporve your off-hand attack. Hope this wall of text helps.
#4 Maat_Mons Sep 19, 2009 20:29:11	For number 4, it is also worth noting that you get to see the result of each attack before deciding on the target for the next. That means if your first target drops part way through your full attack, the attacks you have left could be directed at someone else, possible the same target as your cleave attack.
#5 kyprioth Sep 20, 2009 14:18:36	7.) I am trying to get as many stats to damage as possible in my build. I may have finesse so I can build  off dex, but now that I know that I can use oversized two weapon fighting and use other weapons, I am on the fence about it. I have Swashbucler to level three to get int to damage, is there any other ways to get dex to damage? How about getting Int to damage again? 8.) hmm...can you pay to have a wizard cast wish to raise some of your stats by 5? How much would it cost? 9.) Do unamed bonuses from the same source stack or overlap? (like Ioun stones.) 10.) Where can I find the speed quality for a weapon? Thanks for the help so far everyone.  (If you cannot tell, I am a bit of a newbie.)
#6 Maat_Mons Sep 20, 2009 14:49:26	I may have finesse so I can build  off dex, but now that I know that I can use oversized two weapon fighting and use other weapons, I am on the fence about it. If you want to use weapon finesse and power attack, a rapier is one of the few weapons that can do both. I have Swashbucler to level three to get int to damage, is there any other ways to get dex to damage? How about getting Int to damage again? You should check out the X stat to Y bonus thread. [C]an you pay to have a wizard cast wish to raise some of your stats by 5? How much would it cost? I believe getting one ability boosted by 5 via wish costs 132,650 gp. Do unamed bonuses from the same source stack or overlap? (like Ioun stones.) Overlap. Where can I find the speed quality for a weapon? The Dungeon Master's Guide.
#7 kyprioth Sep 20, 2009 16:25:54	11.) is there a thread on how to raise stats as high as you can with items? 12.) Is there a way to get greater weapon focus without being fighter level 8? I can go up to 7, but I can't fit in another level.
#8 phaedrusxy Sep 20, 2009 19:36:57	11.) is there a thread on how to raise stats as high as you can with items? There doesn't need to be one, because there aren't that many generic ways to do it. +6 enhancement item, +5 inherent bonus (from Wishes, or a Tome of Intellect, etc), max it out with your point buy, and add all your leveling points to it, and that's about it. 36 is the standard cap if you start with a racial +2 bonus and put an 18 in it. Depending on the specific stat, you can go higher via Polymorphing, aging, etc.