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Does Specialisation (2 points) improve damage and THAC0 of off-hand weapon?

Hi - I'm aware that an off-hand weapon does not gain any additional attacks from specialisation (in fact I think the off-hand *always* only gets one attack, unless improved hasted?), but does it still get the damage and THAC0 bonuses? It's a little hard to tell from the character sheet, especially the damage bonus.

e.g. with 2 pips in a weapon you normally get:
+1 THACO / +2 damage / extra 1/2 attack

Comments

  • lunarlunar Member Posts: 3,460
    Yeah you do. Created a lvl 1 human ranger with longsword++ dagger+ katana+ two weapon style ++ STR is 14, I bought two long swords and one dagger from Winthrop. When he dual wields longswords, his off-hand THAC0 is 23.when he takes the dagger in his off hand, his off-hand THAC0 is 24 since he is not specialised in daggers he loses +1 to hit he enjoys when dual wielding longswords.
  • AlsnAlsn Member Posts: 97
    edited January 2013
    Yes, it is for this reason that mastery(3 pips) in a weapon is better than mastery in two-weapon fighting. The style mastery will only grant you another 2 thac0 on your off-hand while the weapon mastery will grant you 2 thac0 with each hand, in addition to a +1 damage bonus. This only applies to fighters, but still.
  • KhyronKhyron Member Posts: 636
    Strangely though, it doesn't seem to add up properly for Swashbucklers. If this is intended by the rules or not, I do not know.

    Swashies are the only thief class that can specialize in any melee weapon and get 2 attacks per round when dual wielding, just like normal thieves. No matter how high levels, thieves will never have more than 2 "regular" attacks (meaning you exclude any given from items, spells etc)

    But the way I see it, a swashie should get 3/2 attacks, seeing how specialization in the main hand weapon should give a bonus half attack.. Don't know why it's like this, but it does bug me.
  • PantalionPantalion Member Posts: 2,137
    Swashbucklers and Blades do not gain additional attacks from specialisation, this is enshrined in the rules as a Warrior only bonus.
  • ZanathKariashiZanathKariashi Member Posts: 2,869
    It adds hit/damage, yes. And penalizes you for non-proficiency, but only for the off-hand.

    It's hard coded that only warriors gain extra attacks from specialization.

    The swashbuckler is a mess anyway....in some ways stronger, and in others weaker then it should be. It's not a huge deal though...once you hit BG2 and can dual-wield speed weapons, they're more powerful then warriors, since their thac0 caps at 2 (counting their class bonuses only) vs the warriors 0, and they get +8 damage per hit, +specialization, and +9 AC. And once they get UAI, they can cast spells from wands/scroll, and use all the same gear a warrior could, even more effectively. Using Speed weapons makes them roughly equal to a fighter for most of BG2, and once you start getting WWAs, you can branch out and use other weapons for the +4 enemies.
  • QuartzQuartz Member Posts: 3,853
    Pantalion said:

    Swashbucklers and Blades do not gain additional attacks from specialisation, this is enshrined in the rules as a Warrior only bonus.

    Entirely true. However I'm going to nitpick and tell you that Blades cannot Specialize. That's just Haer'Dalis 'cuz he's a cheater.
  • Oxford_GuyOxford_Guy Member Posts: 3,729
    Alsn said:

    Yes, it is for this reason that mastery(3 pips) in a weapon is better than mastery in two-weapon fighting. The style mastery will only grant you another 2 thac0 on your off-hand while the weapon mastery will grant you 2 thac0 with each hand, in addition to a +1 damage bonus. This only applies to fighters, but still.

    I'm primarily thinking about my multiclass fighter/mage here, so can only put 2 pips in a single weapon, but can put 3 pips into dual-wield, but it's good to know you at least get the +1 THAC0 and +2 damage from 2 pips in the off-hand weapon.
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