Expanded weapons charts.

[Beran]

Did I not see somewhere around here where someone put together an expanded weapons chart?

[Woodclaw]

There was one in the RichH collect Home Rules.

[bigsteveuk]

Do you think there will be revised rules in the new TOR rules, like dual wielding and throwing axes?

[Hermes Serpent]

I honestly hope that dual wielding, that abomination, never gets put into TOR. However throwing axes are historical for the era many of the cultures are derived from so that makes sense, but they are more 'chuck it just before the enemy charge hits you as a distraction' than an effective weapon so maybe an effect on first round of combat rather than anything more.

[Glorelendil]

How am I gonna roll my wtfpwn dual-wielding ninja Hobbit assassin?

[Hermes Serpent]

You mean the one the Ice Trolls ate?

[Rocmistro]

I'd be ok with dual-wield as long as it's limited to a dagger or a torch in the offhand. I realize it's probably not historically analagous to the "time period" in which Middle-earth was set, but real life never had Noldor / Dwarven craftsmanship or Numenorean civilization either.

[Hermes Serpent]

Actually guys I hate dual-wielding in any game that isn't set in a renaissance style setting where the lack of armour and fencing styles make it useful. Even then, during the period when it was actually used, it was pretty rare.

[Arthadan]

Delve deep and be rewarded (unless you are in Moria, of course).

I have found historical evidence in the Icelandic Sagas of dual fighters.

Information comes from this blog.

In the time of Rome, we have documentation that shows two styles of gladiators as being dual wielders, the Dimachaerus and the Retiarius. The Dimachaerus were fighters that wielded two swords of equal or close length, giving up defense for a more aggressive style that requires control and a level of ambidexterity that not everyone possesses. The flashiness of two swords and the increased potential for blood that not having a shield would have surely been a favourite of the crowds. Retiarius were fighters who used the weapons of the god of the sea, net and trident. These allowed him to control and strike at a distance.

Jump ahead to the Dark Ages after Rome’s fall, just before Christianity starts to take over, our best source for fighting styles in Northern Europe are the Icelandic Sagas. The Sagas are full of examples of warriors using a weapon in each hand, not counting the 8-10 times that it is mentioned that a warrior switches weapon hands to confuse their opponent, an act that shows a certain amount of ambidexterity which makes two weapon fighting possible.

There are several examples of different fighting styles. The one that shows up the most is axe and spear, the favoured style of Thorgeir, one of the main characters in Fóstbrœðra saga. He is mentioned fighting in this manner on at least two occasions. Sword and spear is mentioned as being used by two different people in Njal’s Saga. There is a little bit of confusion about whether the most famous mention is sword and spear, or sword and halberd. I am talking about Gunnar in Njal’s Saga and his altgeir. The altgeir is a weapon that is typically translated as a halberd, but no proof has ever been found of such a weapon. Some more recent translations say that it's a spear meant for piercing mail. Continuing the trend of fighting with two swords, we see an example of it in the Droplaugarsona saga, showing that the trend didn’t die with the Gladiators of Rome. As you read through the sagas, you even see the strange pairing of fighting with a halberd and staff. It seems that nearly every combination of weapons is used at some point or another. My favourite weapon pairing (sword and axe) has two examples in the sagas. Thormod enters battle in Fóstbrœðra saga armed only with a sword and axe, and in Víga-Glúms saga, Eyiolf does the same. This is discounting the idea of the Atgeir as a halberd, otherwise there'd be three examples of sword-and-axe type weapons.

Vendel era bronze plate. Place of discovery: Öland, Sweden. Depicted are a berserker on the right and Oden on the left.

[Glorelendil]

I'm really not completely opposed to dual-wielding, but I feel like it's both unnecessary and a slippery slope to munchkinism. The spirit of the game is such that you could use existing rules and make the fluff equal dual wielding. E.g., you could take "Dour Handed" and say that it means you have a dagger in your offhand that both counts as a buckler and does the extra damage.

If there were a single example of dual wielding in the Sacred Texts I'd be more enthusiastic of a rule.