I was thinking of making a fighter or a wizardslayer dualled to a thief lvl 12.

Here's the dilemma, I know Two weapon style is better but...is single weapon style worth the try? Or is it a waste of precious prof. points?

Thanks in advance.

well even with 5 prof points in 2 weapon style ( and ull have to clarify this one but) you only get like +1 to the hit of your off hand weapon. Since most of the points went to getting rid off the minuses. If you had one handed style you;d be quite a good fighter with it, especially if you went evenly with single style and say long sword. By the end of the game you'd be quite good.

Edit: sorry this was badly worded im falling asleep

[ 03-13-2005, 08:38 AM: Message edited by: lost prophet ]

You can only get up to three proficiency points in TWF. I view Single Weapon Fighting, powergaming-wise, inferior to TWF. Sure, IIRC, you get some AC benefits, making it sometimes worthwhile to give to your tank, but lategame/ToB, I find that AC matters little, and the extra attack that you get with two weapons matters much more. (especially with IH)

plus the bonus the off-hand weapon will give you

as you're dualling to thief then definitely take some single weapon points as it increases the likelihood of a critical hit (and you only need 1 * for this)

the good news of the dynamics of this dual is that you get points almost for 'free' - dual-wield while you're a fighter and then take single-weapon style as one of your thief profs and single-wield as a thief and then take your pick when the fighter reactivates

I recently had an archer who used a single longsword, and he was an effective backup tank. I chose single weapon so that he could get his elf bonuses with longswords, and since dual wielding with a bow involves tedious item switching. Also, with HLA's having single weapon proficiency helps.

For example, by the time I got greater whirlwind, my Valygar had 2* in dual wielding and single weapon. During a fight, he would dual wield. However, when I used greater whirlwind I would have him drop his second weapon, getting the same number of attacks along with increased critical and AC.

Single Weapon Style is best used by Thieves, to increase their chances of getting a Critical Backstab and for improved AC when they're running away afterwards.

Dual-Wielding is best used by flank attackers, to carve up the enemy while the Tank is shrugging off blows. It's the most powerful offensive melee style, but not recommended for anyone but high-level Warriors, as only they have the THAC0 to kill their opponent quickly.

Using it on a mage isn't a bad idea, since it adds a bonus to AC. if a mage is unfortunate enough to be attacked in HTH combat, they will need all the protection they can get.

Pure Wizards caanot place any proficiency points into the Weapon Styles.

Agreed here: as a Fighter dualed to Thief, you'll have tons of proficiency points. Plan them out so that you don't duplicate/lose any as part of the dual-class, and you will have ample proficiencies for both weapon styles and a good selection of weapons as well. Here's an example:

Fighter -> Thief

Fighter pre-dualclass
7F: ** Long Sword, ** Two Weapon Style, ** Short Bow
9F: * Katana
12F: ** Katana

Dualed to Thief, prior to Thief level exceeding Fighter level
1T: * Short Sword, * Single Weapon Style
4T: * Dagger
8T: * Scimitar
12T: * Quarterstaff

Fighter -> Thief, after Thief level exceeds Fighter level
16T: ** Single Weapon Style

"Final", as level 12 Fighter / level 16 (and climbing) Thief:
** Long Sword, Short Bow, Katana
** Two Weapon Style, Single Weapon Style
* Short Sword, Dagger, Scimitar, Quarterstaff