Dual wielding with a ranger/thief

[Xanthul]

Well, ive started a ranger/rogue and im now levels 2/1. I have chosen these feats: weapon focus: rapier, weapon finesse and favored enemy: undead. When i equip a single rapier, the attack bonus is +5 but when i equip both, its +1 in both hands. have i done something wrong ? do i have to choose another feat to avoid penalties ?

thanks a lot [img]smile.gif[/img]

[WOLFGIR]

If you use a rapier in both hands you get a large minus.
The best thing is when you have rapier in your main hand and a light weapon in your off hand. (-2/-2) Otherwise it is something like (-4/-4).

Also make sure that NWN isn´t mean to you, sometimes my weapon finesse has been changed to the strength instead.. A reload usually fix this.

There is no feat called "twin swords" as is presented in Forgotten Realms campaign setting that ease off the off hand penalties for wielding two large swords. The only way to get rid of the high penalty is to change to another weapon in your off hand.

(in the manul you can see the complete list of the bonuses for fighting with two weapons, also presented as a PDF in your game directory)

[Wurm]

Originally posted by WOLFGIR: If you use a rapier in both hands you get a large minus. The best thing is when you have rapier in your main hand and a light weapon in your off hand. (-2/-2) Otherwise it is something like (-4/-4). Also make sure that NWN isn´t mean to you, sometimes my weapon finesse has been changed to the strength instead.. A reload usually fix this. There is no feat called "twin swords" as is presented in Forgotten Realms campaign setting that ease off the off hand penalties for wielding two large swords. The only way to get rid of the high penalty is to change to another weapon in your off hand. (in the manul you can see the complete list of the bonuses for fighting with two weapons, also presented as a PDF in your game directory)

Nicht ganz correct WOLFGIR

you can use twin weapons later in the game as your skill increases AND you find and use a certain gauntlet that allows for ambidextrous weapon use. (first available in chapter 2) What I did is used a sword and shield intill I went up enough levels to increase my dual wielding skills. right now my Ranger is pretty unstoppable with his dual longswords of the gladiator

[Xanthul]

Thanks a lot, then ill have to stick with a rapier and a short sword or something

EDIT: forget it, i didnt know i had a manual in .pdf format in the game folder

[ 08-28-2002, 06:08 AM: Message edited by: Ertai_OHF ]

[Morgeruat]

yeah, rapiers are a screwy weapon, they count as light for weapon finess, but are still medium weapons when you try to dual wield them, the shortsword is the way I went with mine (pick up the feyduster and you'll do some pretty nasty damage while your foe is stunned)

[Draggor]

Once you get a few levels you'll hardly notice the -4 penalty. With your feats you'll really only be getting 1 less penalty to hit for your off hand because while the penalty goes from -4 to -2 if you change to a light weapon you don't have weapon focus with that off hand. I'd stick with 2 rapiers. That way you get double the use out of feats like weapon focus and improved critical.

mmm my ranger is kicking some serious hide with Blade of the Galdiator as a main hand weapon and a Mercy Killer blade as the offhand, penalties arn't really a problem for him as he is skilled enough to deal with it now.

[Dreamer128]

If we believe the manual, the Rapier is quite populair as an off-handed weapon because it is considered a light weapon. Even though its size is medium.
I take it they were wrong then...

[Micah Foehammer]

The "light" weight classification of the rapier only applies for purposes of the weapon finesse feat. When using the rapier as the off-hand weapon, it is NOT considered a lightweight weapon and therefore the extra benefit for using a "light" weapon in the offhand is not applied. The tradeoff is that the rapier has one of the best critical ranges in the game. If you can dual wield TWO keen rapiers the damage you can deal is AWESOME, especially if you can get the weapon focus, weapon specialization and improved critical feats in rapier. A keen rapier with all three feats will give you a 12-20 crit range!

[Gimli]

With 2 kurkis, you get the same critical chances, plus there is no penalty to dual wielding with them. And small rogues can dual wield kurki, for a halfling dualing rapiers is out of the question