Topic: Two Weapon Fighting Skill Question

[HawksNut]

I know the penalty for two weapon fighting is -20 for each hand and an additional -20 for the off-hand (assuming not ambidextrous).

Can someone explain to me why it would be necessary for a PC to have two weapon fighting skill greater than +40 (assuming ambidextrous) to offset the -40 in each hand.

What do you do with the remaining or is this a moving maneuver and if you succeed then you get to attack with both weapons? If so, does the -20 per hand apply then? How do you or can you offset the -20 OB per each hand?

HawksNut

[jdale]

If this is for RMFRP/RMSS, you actually have no penalties for using the trained weapons in the trained hands. Your number of ranks in TWC may not exceed the number of ranks in the weapon skill for either weapon. Your OB is based on your skill bonus in TWC and not on your skill bonus in the respective weapon skills. You suffer a -20 penalty if using the weapons in the wrong hands (e.g. your skill is for rapier in your right hand and dagger in your left hand, if you have the rapier in your left hand and dagger in your right, you suffer -20 for both attacks). You also suffer a -20 penalty on both attacks if attacking two different opponents.

If parrying, you reduce both attacks by the same amount, and that amount is your parry DB. E.g. if you have +85 OB, you could make two attacks at +65 and gain a +20 parry DB. If you attack two foes, you are starting with +65 OB (+85 minus 20 for two foes), but you could make two attacks at +45 and get +20 parry DB against each foe.

The idea of skill bonuses canceling out penalties is an RMU thing, it doesn't appear in RMSS/RMFRP. I'm not sure how this works in RM2/RMC, that might be different from both.

[Cory Magel]

What jdale said.

[tulgurth]

Actually I thought there was a skill in rmss that canceled out a penalty.  Spacial location awareness: blind fighting.  The SLA was specifically used to cancel out the -100 for fighting blind.   Anything over +100 was wasted.   If I am wrong please correct me as I am going from memory on this one.

Now I go and open a book, the rmsr, a person trained in this skill can actually benefit up to a +110 skill bonus.  Normally used by the blind, a seeing person will have to make a static maneuver roll to acclimate themselves to being blind for use of this skill.  Failure of the roll equates to that character being considered blind for 1 round.  They can spend several rounds at 20% activity trying to adjust, gaining a cumulative +5 bonus to the roll up to a maximum of +50 bonus.

[jdale]

Good point. I should have remembered Spatial Location Awareness, I've used it very heavily as my PC. Less so now that I have the Darkvision spell, but SLA still has its uses.