Another Small Thing

[Lawful_g]

I notice that when characters with a -2 or greater strength modifier wield weapons with 2 hands (like my strength 7 cleric using her quarterstaff) the strength penalty to damage is multiplied by 1 and a half times (just as a bonus would be). The penalty to atack rolls is unmodified.

Now I can't remember a rule specifically saying that strength penalties to damage are increased when wielding a weapon two handed, only that strength bonuses are. However it seems to me that the penalty to damage would be reduced when using two hands, or at the very least would not get any worse.

Does anybody know anywhere in the rules this is specifically addressed and if I am correct? I've looked in the PHB Str entry on pg 8 and under two handed weapons on pg 113. If this additional penalty is incorrect I would like to ask that it be fixed if it's not too much trouble.

[Colen]

Lawful_g wrote:
>
>
> I notice that when characters with a -2 or greater strength modifier
> wield weapons with 2 hands (like my strength 7 cleric using her
> quarterstaff) the strength penalty to damage is multiplied by 1 and a
> half times (just as a bonus would be). The penalty to atack rolls is
> unmodified.
>
> Now I can't remember a rule specifically saying that strength penalties
> to damage are increased when wielding a weapon two handed, only that
> strength bonuses are. However it seems to me that the penalty to damage
> would be reduced when using two hands, or at the very least would not
> get any worse.
>
> Does anybody know anywhere in the rules this is specifically addressed
> and if I am correct? I've looked in the PHB Str entry on pg 8 and under
> two handed weapons on pg 113. If this additional penalty is incorrect I
> would like to ask that it be fixed if it's not too much trouble.


Good point. Does anyone know if this is errata'd anywhere? If not, I'll
stop it penalising you for having a 2h weapon and low strength, because
that does seem silly.


--
Colen McAlister (colen@wolflair.com)
Chief Engineer, Lone Wolf Development
http://www.wolflair.com/

[Mathias]

In the strength bonus section of combat, the first paragraph mentions both STR bonus and penalty and how they apply to bows, and they use "strength modifier" when referring to thrown weapons. When dealing with two-handed weapons, they use "strength bonus".

I assumed that by "strength modifier", they meant bonus or penalty, and that they meant only bonus and not penalty when they said "strength bonus".

Lawful_g, I found this on pg. 134 - early in the combat chapter, in the damage section.

Not that it comes up much, but my house rule is that off-hand weapons are at 1.5x penalty, and 2-h weapons at 1/2x penalty (effectively, adding or subtracting the same 1/2x modifier you would if it were a strength bonus).