Dual-wield
From NWNWiki
- This article is about the combat style; for the first level ranger feat, see Dual-wield (feat).
The term dual-wield refers to a PC's ability to make attack rolls while wielding a weapon in each hand. Any character can equip two weapons at once, but the weapons have to follow specific rules and some penalties will be applied.
- A character cannot dual-wield if either weapon is two-handed (a larger size category than the wielder).
- Whips, morningstars, and flails cannot be placed in the off-hand as the game has no animation for such a situation.
- When dual-wielding, the main hand gets the full strength modifier as a damage bonus while the off-hand gets half that (rounded down).
- Wielding two weapons incurs penalties to attack rolls based on whether or not the off-hand is wielding a light weapon, and on having the two-weapon fighting and/or ambidexterity feats.
| situation | main hand | off-hand |
|---|---|---|
| non-light off-hand weapon and no feats | -6 | -10 |
| light off-hand weapon | -4 | -8 |
| wielder has ambidexterity | -6 | -6 |
| wielder has two-weapon fighting | -4 | -8 |
| light off-hand weapon, plus two-weapon fighting | -2 | -6 |
| light off-hand weapon, plus ambidexterity | -4 | -4 |
| wielder has ambidexterity and two-weapon fighting | -4 | -4 |
| light off-hand weapon, plus ambidexterity and two-weapon fighting | -2 | -2 |
- The penalties to attack bonus incurred by dual-wielding apply only to primary attacks and off-hand attacks, they do not apply to bonus attacks such as those from the flurry of blows feat or the divine power spell.
- The improved two-weapon fighting feat grants a second off-hand attack at a -5 penalty (in addition to the above penalties).
- A ranger gets the dual-wield feat at first level, granting the benefits of two-weapon fighting and ambidexterity when in light armor (or no armor).
