Naively, without the penalty it seems like (free off-hand attack) dual-wielding is still underpowered
At levels 1-4, not accounting for Feats and/or Fighting Styles - Greatsword is 2d6+Str damage, for
6.8 expected damage (65% chance to hit, average Str mod of 4.5).
- Two 1d6 weapons deal 2d6+Str damage, for ~
6.8 expected damage.
At levels 5-10 martials get Extra Attack
- Greatsword is 4d6+2*Str damage, for ~
15 expected damage (65% chance to hit, average Str mod of 4.5).
- Two 1d6 weapons deal 3d6+2*Str damage, for ~
12.7 expected damage. This only gets worse at higher levels.
However, the above doesn't account for abilities that add extra damage on successful hits, like sneak attack, hex, smite, dipping, etc. In particular,
a free off-hand attack makes dual-wielding for rogues strictly better than wielding a single weapon, as rogues don't get proficiency with shields, can't make use of heavy 2H weapons, and don't get Extra Attack. Additionally, there are more feats that improve dual wielding than those that improve single-wielding.
- A level 3-4 rogue with 2d6 sneak attack damage and a rapier will deal 9.8 damage.
- A level 3-4 rogue with 2d6 sneak attack damage and two shortswords will deal 13 damage.
Possible Solutions: - Rogues' sneak attack die size matches that of the (melee) weapon being used. A rapier-wielding rogue will deal Xd8 sneak attack damage (11.8 damage instead of 9.8 for a level 3-4 rogue).
- If you are dual-wielding, you attacks take a -X penalty to
all attacks. A -1 penalty to-hit decreases the damage from a level 3-4 rogue from 13 to 12.1 damage. This hurts non-rogue classes, but idk something else could be given to them to compensate??
