two-weapon fighting

[Matthias777]

I started a new topic on the ambidexterity thing...didn't want to derail this thread. You may go about your business...
_________________
Arek | Kage

[Ankhanu]

[DoubtBreak]

[Ankhanu]

[DoubtBreak]

[Ankhanu]

[garhkal]

[Matthias777]

Since shields came up, here's what I've done: A proper shield or its equivalent may be used in conjunction with the Melee Parry skill (or for those that have done away with the Parry skills, Melee Combat) as a reaction roll without incurring one-hand or off-hand penalties (only when parrying with the shield; if you decide to bash someone with the shield, you suffer the penalties).
_________________
Arek | Kage

[DoubtBreak]

I apologize in advance for making this so long:

[vong]

[Revenant]

This is how I handle it, in case anyone is curious.

First off, Ambidexterity and Two-Weapon Fighting are not easy to do, thus just getting started in the business of attempting it is generally worth more effort than most characters are willing to put in. The penalties to attempting it generally outweigh the bonuses until the character has spent quite of time training (spending CPs to raise skills).

The Bad News:
Fighting With Two Weapons: Attempting to wield two weapons at once is difficult and automatically imposes a -4D penalty to all combat skills relating to actions involving those skills for that combat round. This includes Brawling Parry and Melee Parry, but not Dodge. This penalty is calculated before MAPs.

Using Your Off-Hand: Everyone has a handedness. When attempting to do things with your off-hand (for instance if your main hand was severed, injured, or stuck in a door) you suffer a -2D penalty to all skill rolls that involve using your hands.

Ambidexterity: The character is equally adept at using either of their hands, favoring neither. This special ability halves the dice penalty for fighting with two weapons (dropping it to -2D). In addition the character no longer suffers any penalty when using their off-hand by itself. All droids are considered to be ambidextrous. This special ability costs 35CPs to purchase.

The Good News:
Attacking With Two-Weapon Fighting: The character is permitted to attack twice before any MAPs are calculated (once for each weapon, rolled separately). This signifies that both attacks are happening and have been planned without the attacker needing to separate their concentration. MAPs for dodges or parries made prior to the characters own attacks are still applied to their skill rolls however.

The difficulty of both attack rolls is always 1) the highest difficulty of the weapons used +5, or 2) the opponents parry/dodge roll +5.

Characters using Lightsaber/Sith Sword Combat must split thier Sense and Control dice between each lightsaber. They may split their dice however they choose. So if a Jedi has a Sense skill of 6D he may allocate 2D to his on-hand attack and 4D in his off-hand attack. Two-Weapon penalties and MAPs apply to these pools as per normal rules. The Jedi may reallocate dice at the beginning of every round, but may not change it until the round ends. If one of the weapons is not a lightsaber then the Jedi may only add half (round down) is normal Sense and Control pools to any attack and damage rolls.

Example: Bantha Bob is wielding a vibroblade (Diff 15) and a lightsaber (diff 20). To strike Darth Garth (who isn't dodging for sake of this example) he would need a 25+ on each skill roll. Had Darth Garth decided to dodge then Bantha Bob's new difficulty number would have been whatever Darth Garth rolled +5.

Off-Hand Parry: Because of the advantage of having another weapon to intercede incoming attacks anyone using Two-Weapon Fighting gains a +5 bonus to their parry rolls. If the hero/villain uses a full defense action increase this bonus to +10.

These rules do not account for semantics (weapon sizes, or weights) or for any fancy styles created around the galaxy that involve turning two-weapon fighting into an art form. However, once a character becomes skilled at it they are not only a force to be rekoned with on a battlefield, and a wonderment to picture in the Mind's Eye during fight scenes.

As you can see I'm not as generous when it comes to handing out bonuses to damage or extra dice just because someone decided to pick up an extra weapon. The technique of fighting with two weapons is not, never has been, and never will be an easy thing. Most martial artisits who learn to do it take an average of 5-8 years to become talented at it and even longer to 'master' it.
_________________
"Told you, we did. Warned you, we tried. Now screwed, we all are... way to go Kenobi." - Jedi Master Yoda

"The boy is plain dagnasty evil!" - Obi-Wan Kenobi

[Esoomian]

[Revenant]

[Orion]

[Delkarnu]

What does everyone think of this:

Two Weapon Fighting (A)
Specializations: Specific weapon type (vibrodaggers, vibrosword)
Does not add to melee combat skill. Skill may not exceed the player's melee combat skill.
Two Weapon Fighting is the "melee combat" skill used whenever the character wants to use two single handed weapons at the same time.
Characters with Two Weapon Fighting can choose one of the following:
Full attack: Against one opponent, a character can use both swords to attack a single opponent, getting +2D to attack but cannot do any other action that round. If the attack beats the roll by 1-6, roll one damage, 7+, roll damage for both weapons.
Full Defense: A character gets +2D to defend, but cannot do any other action.
Attack and Parry: A character can attack with one weapon and defend with the other. The player gets +1D to both rolls and this counts as a single action for multiple action penalties

Two Lightsaber Fighting (A)
Specializations: Double Bladed or two lightsabers.
Does not add to lightsaber skill. Skill may not exceed the player's lightsaber skill.
Two Weapon Fighting is the "melee combat" skill used whenever the character wants to use two lightsabers at the same time or a double bladed lightsaber.
Characters with Two Lightsaber Fighting can choose one of the following:
Full attack: Against one opponent, a character can use both swords to attack a single opponent, getting +2D to attack but cannot do any other action that round. If the attack beats the roll by 1-6, roll one damage, 7+, roll damage for both weapons.
Full Defense: A character gets +2D to defend, but cannot do any other action.
Attack and Parry: A character can attack with one weapon and defend with the other. The player gets +1D to both rolls and this counts as a single action for multiple action penalties.

I tried to balance the difficulty of learning to use two weapons with the difficulty for an opponent to defend or attack against someone using two weapons. Getting an adavanced skill high enough to be a benefit is expensive, but specializations can make it easier.

The Two lightsaber version has the additional cost of getting the force skills high enough to train with Lightsaber Combat up to make the difficulty without injury (definitely a skill for advanced Jedi only)