Scrollreader's House Rules

[Scrollreader]

Twin Bladesman - "You would die before your stroke fell"

You are naturally ambidextrous, and have spent long hours practicing the art of using two blades in combat.You may choose, each combat round, if you wish too employ either Twin Strike or Off-Hand Parry while wielding a pair of matched blades in combat.

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

Off Hand Parry - You may sacrifice your twin strike bonus to add a +2 Shield bonus to your parry. This decision must be made at the beginning of a combat round.

[Scrollreader]

Note: This was designed for a player who has (Swords). I'm not entirely certain I would allow it for someone who had Sword instead. Mechanically, it is exactly the same as a bastard sword and a (reinforced) buckler, which makes me feel it is fair for a Virtue. Complete sticklers to RAW could make it an exotic reward, instead (Dancing Blade of Rhun) if they feel it /must/ be tied to a Valor increase. It would also work with (Axes), for cultures with that weapon group. (in which case, two Axes are equal in encumbrance to a long-hafted axe and a buckler)

[zedturtle]

Looks fairly reasonable, if a bit fiddly. Though honestly, it's nothing worse than special abilities in combat stances. In fact, I wonder if that's a good model. What if the Stance the hero selects determines which ability is available to them?

Of course, for maximum interest, it'd be nice to have one more option.

[Scrollreader]

If I was actually designing a virtue from scratch, for a new culture, I would certainly look at dynamic ways for things to interact with stances (I think some of the Rohirrim and Dunlending Virtues and Rewards are particularly good at encouraging little used stances, or at allowing odd actions from them).
But this was designed from a 'first do no harm' sort of mandate. Dual wielding was how she saw the character working, and while it fits the character, it needs to accomplish a couple different objectives (FOR MY PURPOSES IN THIS GAME).

1) It needs to not punish the player for being creative. While I do understand that there is some amount of optimization involved in character building, even in ToR, and some choices are better than others, I did not want this player to be mechanically inferior to those who grabbed a big scary weapon and went to town.

2) There should be some sort of reason dual wielding is rare. While it isn't in and of itself entirely counter to canon (I could see the Beorning with paired axes, for instance, as hinted at above), it's certainly not /common/ in the sort of world Tolkien's writing evokes, and even the examples from the real world are both debatable, and require a significant investment of time and effort from the student. In D&D this would be a feat, but in this case, I thought it best represented by a Virtue, largely for flavor reasons (As it is an inherent or trained ability).

3) It should probably not introduce an entirely new mechanic, or overly complicate things for a new player. Again, somewhat specific to my game and situation, but important nonetheless. The benefit's are all 2s, and the choice is binary, and relatively simple to remember (am I being defensive or offensive).

4) Until I myself am far more familiar with ToR than I already am, be careful about inadvertently overpowering new options. In particular, options which are not available to all players. The last thing I want is for there to be big balance issues between one of my two Barding Sworders, because of a new option I have introduced for one of them.

Now. If I was creating a say ... Dorwinian Culture, and wanted to make Dual Wielding a big and important Virtue, something like King's Guard, or Elf-Magic; I would almost definitely throw in several options, and maybe a stance kicker. But while I, as a player, would like that amount of detail and interaction, I'm not sure it's appropriate for a first time player.

TL;DR : I thought quite a bit about some other options, but in the end decided that something mechanically similar to a Longsword + Buckler was the best path for balance reasons. After that, it was just figuring out what made it math out right for a virtue, as opposed to just grabbing the longsword and buckler.

[Rich H]

Looks fairly reasonable, if a bit fiddly. Though honestly, it's nothing worse than special abilities in combat stances. In fact, I wonder if that's a good model. What if the Stance the hero selects determines which ability is available to them?

Of course, for maximum interest, it'd be nice to have one more option.

That's the houserule I've had for years. It's a Virtue but the mechanical bonuses differe depending on Stance.

[Corvo]

It's for a Barding? Watch out for a nasty combo with Swordmaster virtue.

[Scrollreader]

It can interact with Swordmaster, yeah. Which is one of the reasons I'm trying to be conservative with the effects.

She picked Wordweaver as well, so she can be relatively hard to hit, if she wants (and builds for it)

[Rich H]

That's not necessarily a bad thing... If she's committing XP to be particularly awesome at something within the game then that could be a pretty cool thing. You could even weave it into the campaign story as she gains renown as such a mistress at arms.

[Corvo]

It can interact with Swordmaster, yeah. Which is one of the reasons I'm trying to be conservative with the effects.

She picked Wordweaver as well, so she can be relatively hard to hit, if she wants (and builds for it)

It can be argued that Swordmaster with two swords yields a +4 to parry... And it can be combined with Twin Strike for +2 damage and +2 injury. That is a bit better than Longsword+Swordmaster+Reinforced Buckler.
On the other hand, the reinforced buckler is better against projectiles.

If you agree with that Swordmaster being a bit better at sword combat than the other Swordmaster, it's fine.
From a LM point, I don't think it's "game breaking" or anything: elves and woodmen have higher parry.

[Scrollreader]

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.