Scrollreader's House Rules

[Falenthal]

Twin Strike - You gain a +2 bonus to both damage and injury DC when armed with a pair of identical blades.

The part about increasing Injury is what I see as most overpowered. For the rest, is very similar to the House-rule I also created and, therefore, it looks good to me. Might conflict with some Virtues/Rewards, but common sense and tweaks when needed should do the trick.

For comparison, my HR was this one:

Dual-wielding is not a Virtue, just a way of being equipped and a use of weapons (i.e. all cultures can use it).
A character can wield two melee weapons, one in each hand. The off-hand weapon needs to have the same or lower Encumbrance as the main hand weapon.

The weapon skill of the main hand weapon is used to attack.
The weapon skill is reduced by the same amount as the Encumbrance rating of the off-hand weapon (Dagger is considered to have an Encumbrance of 1 for this pourpouse).
Before rolling the attack, the hero must choose wether to apply the Encumbrance rating of the off-hand weapon to the Parry score for that round, or as an additional Damage if the attack is succesful.

[Scrollreader]

While I can appreciate your desire to avoid breaking the system, +2 to Damage and Injury DC is the amount of upgrade you get for choosing to use a Longsword or Longaxe in both hands.
The question then becomes one of balancing versatility, if offered, with drawbacks.
For instance, while your system allows a parry bonus even with a dagger (which mine does not), I'm not sure the trade-off is worthwhile, if it comes at the cost of losing success dice, requiring an effectively lower defense stance, and negating the bonus. Similarly, reduced dice reduce chances to tengwar and grab bonus body damage. Short of a desperate 'full defense' or a particularly low body combatant, I'm not sure how useful it would actually be.

[Corvo]

I haven't entirely decided what I'll do if she takes Swordmaster. I could easily handwave it so the off-hand encumbrance counts for half, or maybe just give her the extra +1 (or leave her at 2 from Swordmaster). I suppose I'll cross that bridge when I come to it. I do appreciate it being brought up, however, as now I have some time to think on it.

EDIT: I am also considering an additional virtue for all players which I stole from someone here, for a flat +1 to parry (Thwarting, or Battle-Wise, or something). If I do allow that, the other Swording Barding may have his own advantage, in that his additional parry would apply even when using both hands on his longsword.

Yeah, if you limit the Swordmaster's bonus for the second sword to a +1, you keep the parity with traditional Swordmaster (Longsword+Reinforced Buckler), so nobody feels slighted.

After all, if someone invest in a virtue like Swordmaster, it means that he wants to be good at swords. Being sub-par compared to a "special snowflake" that made a character outside (and better than) the official rules can be irritating.

About the second option: if the "traditional" Swordmaster takes Thwarting instead of a reinforced on the buckler, they are equal when in "offensive mode", but the Dual-Wielder is still superior when in "defensive mode" (+6 to parry vs +5 of the "traditional")

[Robin Smallburrow]

If u guys can wait a few days, I am just putting the finishing touches to my Revised Fan Supplement

At last count there are no less than seven different versions of Two Weapon Fighting (seems to be popular for some reason)

Robin S

[Scrollreader]

Renamed the thread, and decided to add the new house rules I am using here as well.

Dwarves and Axes

Dwarves can use the long-hafted axe.


Virtue and Reward Adjustments

Wood Elf Magic - Stinging Arrow is now renamed Stinging Point. It applies to thrown spears equally as to arrows.

Shadow Bane - If you have six success dice without the bonus from Shadow Bane, you may reroll one success die, keeping the result.

Bearded Axe - You may use the Smash or Disarm at the cost of downgrading your success by one level. (An exceptional success still gets your damage bonus once, even if you use the special ability).

Under Consideration

Automatically scale Dagger Weapon skill to second highest combat skill. Saves PCs some XP, means you don't go from super warrior to chump when you swap from Shortsword or spear to a dagger or frying pan. Alternatively, maybe halve the cost of raising the Dagger skill?

Deadly Archery - Replace current text with "You treat all protection checks made against your Bow as if the target was weary" - No Archer Elf, at the moment, but some interest in one should a PC die/retire.

[Scrollreader]

Not to completely re-open the Deadly Archery megathread, but I've been considering something like 'If you roll a Pierce on the feat die, and would be getting an automatic critical (From prepared shot, called shot, or Stinging Arrow) add your basic heart to your injury DC. It is not any more bookkeeping than looking for a Pierce normally, is less OP than a straight boost to injury (up to a +4), and seems to split the baby in half (in a good way). Opinions?

[Falenthal]

I think it could work well. Is one of the options I like, although it's not the one I decided to use.

[Falenthal]

My only concern when basing a bonus on Attributes is that it brings up the lure of min-maxing. Give a plain +3 to Injury (average Mirkwood Elf Heart) and all will be fine.

[Scrollreader]

It just doesn't feel right to make it a flat bonus. Almost nothing in the game works that way. Even Bow of the North Downs adjusts to Valor, after early early game bonus. Virtues are supposed to be more ... inherent than qualities, if that makes any sense.

Besides, if you max for heart, you're reducing combat effectiveness in other ways (less damage, less parry). A flat bonus encourages less interesting choices.

That being said, the original fix I was looking at is heart neutral (though affected by number of armor dice, and if the target is already weary). In either case, I definitely want something 'deadly', and something that does not require a hope expenditure.

[Falenthal]

You could surely look for LOTS of inspiration in the Deadly Archery thread!

Well, if you are able to stay awake the whole night reading...