Here's an idea

[Kardeun]

I feel that most people avoid 2 handed weapons because they lose a slot (the offhand slot). As a consequence, they stand to lose stats. My pally has been using 1hs and 1hb with a shield in the offhand. This gives him the benefit of AC and stats from the shield.

Now when I have him switch to a 2 hander, he loses AC and those stats. It's a disadvantage to go 2 handed in most situations.

What I propose is this- implement bucklers into the game.

I know, regular bucklers already exist, but they function simply as shields. A true to life buckler however can be weilded on the back of the hand, while swinging a 2 handed staff or sword. Bucklers were invented to give a bit of added protection and to free up the hand to hold other weapons.

I think it'd be great if we could use the offhand slot with a buckler while using a 2 handed weapon. Granted, the AC wouldn't be nearly as high as a regular shield (nor should it, it's far different than the protection of something like a tower shield), but every bit helps. And you can have magic bucklers which have other stats.

This will help players get over their aversion to using 2 handed weapons, and reduce the sacrifice of choosing this type of weapon because they can still gain stats from the right equipment.

One other idea would be to have bucklers able to be equipped in the shield slot (for 1handed weapons) or in the bracer slot (for 2 handed weapons or people dual wielding).

Thoughts?

 

[Skar]

That sounds like a good idea But also sounds like it would be hard for the GMs to script in .. and if they did prolly would be alot of bugs with it and regular shields ending up being used instead of bucklers so
but i love the idea personally =P i hope gms can work on it and get it done or something cause that would make 2handers better in a way but not better then some shield/1hs combos cause then there would be no use for the 1hs obviously =P

 

[Lucrezia]

I do believe 2h'ers, while having higher damage in general, also recieve an additional bonus ontop of the norm. Of course, Wiz may not have implimented this yet, but hey.

2her's are just that. Even if it would be feasible to code in this idea (Which I can almost entirely say it wouldn't be) it's the idea that, by using a weapon with both hands, one is focusing all one's energy into using it, resulting in the bonus. A buckler would detract from that. (Additionally, it would allow one to, presumably, bash -- a fact that, with 2hers being universally slower, would be kinda unfair, seeing as part of the reason some people may use 1hers is to hit faster, and thereby having more chance to disrupt casting, along with their bashing.)

AC is great, but in situations where you aren't getting hit, why wouldn't you use that 2her with the better damage ratio?

 

[popbox]

Last I heard, there was no 2h dmg bonus implimented.

 

[Gwendelyn]

Also if you implemented bucklers for 2hders you would in turn have to do it for dual weilders if you are coming from a real life point of view. And that would be very unbalanced in my opinion.

Just my 2 cents...