Dual Wielding...

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I have A Barberian,Paladin, Monk, Cleric, Wizzard and rogue...
I was wonder should I get any to duel-weild. If so what feats do I have to have to duel wield and what advabtages are there to duel wielding. Also if I should duel wield, should I sacrifice one of my characters for a Ranger (because people have said they are good duel wielders) and why is a ranger a good duel wielder. Again if so which should I sacrifice (it is not hard to get rid of a character, I would just use a cheat to put the new character up to the same level. It's not really cheating if I do that ).

Thanks {LDU}stealth

[ October 05, 2002, 11:09: Message edited by: Taluntain ]

 

The advantage of dual wielding is that you get an extra attack per round and can benefit from the enchantments of a second weapon. You need the Ambidexterity feat and the Two Weapon fighting feat to dual wield effectively. Not having those feats results in crippling to hit penalties. You should also use either a short sword or a dagger in your shield slot if you can find a decent one, as it will reduce your to hit penalty.

Rangers are 'good' at dual wielding because they get Two weapon fighting and ambidexterity for free if wearing light (leather or studded leather) armor. You get this benefit by multiclassing as a ranger though, so if that's all you want as far as ranger abilities, there is no need to completely replace a character.

So, *should* you dual wield? Well, thats harder to answer. Dual wielding is a useful strategy for low strength characters. If your character is really strong, it makes more sense to use a two handed weapon (more damage) or a shield (better AC) and spend the feats on something else.

The monk and wizard have no need for dual wielding. The cleric probably has better things to do with his time as well. I suspect your barb is probably very strong (18+?), so he's better off with greatswords or greataxes.

The paladin, I assume, uses longswords for the eventual Holy Avenger? He's a possible dual wield candidate. However, two feats is pretty expensive for a paladin. I'd stick with a big shield.

The character I would look at in your group is the rogue. He's not going to be using two handed weapons or shields since he doesn't start with those proficiencies anyway. I would carefully look at getting those two feats for your rogue and picking up a nice dagger or shortsword for his offhand. If your rogue is human, half elf, tiefling, or halfling, I'd just add a level of ranger instead. More cost effective.

 

Actually dual wielding with rogues in IWD2 isn't that effective a strategy. In pnp dnd people would dual wield rogues because each attack per round could be a sneak attack (so dual wielding could mean up to +10d6 damage per round which is a lot) but in IWD2 only one attack per enemy is a sneak attack so dual wielding will probably mean you get an extra 1d6 + 5 (max from the enhancement of the weapon) + str (which in most cases is 10) so approximately 6 to 11 damage which is nothing next to the 35 or so damage a barbarian can do on average per attack,my recomendation is insetad of a level of ranger to pick a level of barbarian for your rogue for the extra speed, this way with the dash feat and boots of speed he'll be able to move faster and be used as a decoy or a scout (the only things rogues are good at in IWD2)

 

He can pick up both a level of ranger and a level of barbarian if he wants to, assuming rogue is his favored class. How does that matter to the choice between wielding a single sword or dual wielding for the rogue? The only trade off issue is whether the one extra attack is worth the -2 to hit penalty (and the feats, if you aren't selecting a ranger level).

It is generally a good deal for the rogue to dual wield with or without sneak attacks. Hacking things down with a greatsword or hiding behind a shield are not options for a rogue (without spending feats, that is). Nor are they generally extremely strong. So dual wielding is a good way to improve damage output by 30-50%.

 

Yes but if you get the +5 brilliant energy short sword from the battlesquare then you can use the expertise feat to boost up your AC by 5 and not worry about hitting with the main hand or use power attack to inflict 5 extra damage with your main hand. Then you will either use a second weapon (and unless it is a brilliant energy weapon as well it will probably never hit) or use a shield and boost your AC even further, I decided to do the later (at least until I reach the battlesquare in HoF, if it gives me an extra +5 brilliant energy short sword I may reconsider it) right now my rogue has the highest AC from anyone else 35 with expertise on or 30 with power attack on, though I must admit that he still gets hit a lot in HoF, but he was great in normal mode

 

Well, I generally don't build my entire character around a particular magic item. Especially one you only get from doing an immensely boring, optional area.

 

I say get the dual wield. first it looks cool, and it gives you an extra attack which generally means extra damage per round. And there's the enchantment on the second weapon, so you can deal out some extremely painful combination of status effects with your attacks

 

I don't know why everyone is down on rogues...Mine is pretty decent. Despite spending most of the game firing a crossbow, he's racked up 23% of the party's kills!

The key to maximizing the rogues abilities is to have him move around during combat; always trying to get behind his opponent. My rogue has one level of ranger to get the ambi/2 weap fighting feats. Add weapon finesse and rapid shot and improved initiative...He's pretty good at sneaking up behind people and sliding his shortswords between the ribs!

I think my halfling rogue is my favorite character, next to my half-orc fighter/barbarian!

 

Rogues are very good characters. Most of the people that are down on them either want to be pure thieves, which the game doesn't really support in terms of opportunities or they can't get over the differences between backstab and sneak attack.

I have been very happy with the combat abilities of my two rogues. One was a Barb4/Rogue12 and the other was a Demarch5/Rogue12.

 

My party is very low level. I am still in the goblin fortress. I am 5th and 6th level. I have a 6th level rogue, all 6 in rogue, and she is a very powerful fighter. She just flanks everyone and does an average of about 20-25 while my fighters are still doing 15 or so. I have found rogues are great in combat. Also they get a lot of skill points. My rogues is great in lockpicking and trap disarming. She has not failed to disarm/lockpick anything yet. Also rogues are great for reckon. I just hide in shadows and scout.