No, it shouldn't, because the game isn't fair.

Some things are just inferior to other things. For example, you don't bring a knife to a gunfight.

I have absolutely no problem with a 6 point edge edge and a substantial skill investment making you straight-up better than everyone else at your chosen schtick and you shouldn't either. For those 6 points you spent on an edge, you could have another skill at 6, such as Assault Rifles. For all that karma you spent on your new off-hand skill, you could have probably initiated at least once or something.

And for all of that, you are good at -ONE- thing. You totally rip shit up in melee. You honestly probably suck compared to many of your team mates if your entire schtick is "I have two weapons and can kill you in melee!", because if you're even IN melee you probably made a mistake somewhere along the line.

You know, there IS a reason that almost every fighting style ever uses both hands. Sword and dagger, sword and shield, katana and wakazashi(or whatnot), whatever. It's because two hands are better than one.

Please try harder at being right.

That's very bizaare. While the offhand can be used for a few things if left free, I'd sure as heck rather have a second rapier. Even if you're not skilled in using the offhand, just leaving it in parry postion will close off a major line of attack.

JaronK

Digrassi is, for the purpose of anlogy, the Musashi of European fencing masters.

That, unfortunately, makes citing this as mainstream about as sensible as talking about the much vaunted katana and wakizashi style.

I would. I'd also bring a gun or five, too, but that's neither here nor there...

With the exception of the really big swords wielded half sword style griping the blade is all kinds of stupid. As in cutting up your hand.

You do get an advantage for having a shield, its called extra armour

Arethusa brings up the following examples of single handed fighting tequniques “It's a terrible point, underlined by the ridiculous reference to the katana and wakizashi. What about saber? What about rapier? What about cutlass? What about tulwar? What about scimitar?”

With the exception of tulwar (witch I have never heard of) there are counters. The saber and rapier where gentleman’s dueling weapons a disadvantage is not a disadvantage if the rules force it on both combatants and I point out that at some locations ant times the rapier was pared with a maingaush (spelling probably wrong, it is a type of dagger with a very wide crossbar used for defense)

The only information I have on the cutlass is as a shipboard weapon where the tight quarters and moving deck preclude the use of a lager weapon and require the of hand be ready to catch at rigging to gain stability, even then when conditions allowed it a belay pin would often be pressed into service as a club for use in the other hand.

As I look threw my memory of historical combat types most have 2 hands on ether weapon or shield (be it 2 handed weapon, weapon and shield or 2 weapons) and all the exceptions I can think of where ether duelling styles (where the rules say only one weapon) or styles designed to cope with less (when you are attacked with only one weapon, all most people carry when not looking for trouble).

I would subject that IA edges not be applicable to of hand edged unless the character has ambidexterity enough not to take the skill separately.

Edward

Use [code] tags.

Aha!

Ta Arethusa

Yeah, but that's true of poles, too (the original question was about the similarities between handling a pole and a greatsword, no?). At range, with either pole or greatsword, you usually want one hand right on the pommel/buttspike, and the other a foot or two up the haft. This gives you a fair amount of leverage and maximizes your reach, which is the greatweapon's big advantage. When the range closes, you shift your grip up the weapon to make it handier in close. Exactly where the switchover point is varies, largely dependent on the length of the weapon... the smaller it is, the closer you can use it without having to shift grips, and so the less important it is to have a ricasso or haft you can grab onto. Bastard swords usually don't have proper ricassos at all, but they don't really need them... they're small enough that you can use them with a normal grip all the way into grappling range. And even bastard swords are not typically extremely sharp near the base of the blade... you can't really effectively strike with that part of the blade, anyway, so it's better to keep it somewhat dull so that it stands up to blocking better, which conveniently also allows you to grab it at need.

I usually fight greatsword left-hand-leading (even though I'm right-handed) at range, with my left hand right below the quillions and my right just above the pommel. Against two-weapon or another greatweapon, it's six of one, half a dozen of the other, but against 90% of shields, it gives me easy power shots into his unshielded side, and the cross-arm shots that I have some trouble with (my vambraces get in the way) would be into the shield anyway. When range closes, I simply leave my left hand where it is and switch the right from the pommel to reversed on the ricasso, which lets me cover my whole left side (my opponent's weapon side) with the hilt and quillions, control his shield with my right knee and elbow (which keeps my right side covered... I'm using his shield as my defense), and gives me half-sword blows down over the top of his shield into his head.

Ah, the lager range of weapons... everyone's favorite style, two-beer.

Seriously, yes.

But so should everyone else. I've effectively fought two-weapon styles that are flat-out forbidden by the arbitrary primary/secondary weapon rules, most notably two-sword.

The way I figure it, if you can use the weapon one-handed, you should be able to use it in either hand as part of a two-weapon style. There are a few exceptions - two-morning-star is generally a bad idea, for example - but they can be handled on a case-by-case basis.

Even that doesn't cover some of the goofier styles I've used, like broadsword and greatsword (greatsword in the off hand, held by the ricasso, point-down... it's like a narrow shield that you can stab with), but it gets most of the really effective ones.

And we've got one fighter around here who has the muscle for a troll, if not the size... he's a powerlifter, has biceps, literally, bigger around than my thighs. Can dead-lift something like 800 pounds. I've actually witnessed him fighting two-greatsword. Not little bastard swords, either... it was my 66" greatsword and his own slightly shorter no-dachi (62" or so, I think). He'd been holding one in each hand, comparing the length and weight, when Master Rhioblan, being a smartass, said, "Hey, I bet you can't fight that." So he did, and it worked pretty well, though he needed longer arms to make it truly effective... he had a tendency to get the swords tangled in passing. A troll fighting two-greatsword would be a scary, scary thing.