Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - Build Discussion Is there a benefit to wielding just a one handed weapon?

Hey everyone. I'm new to the game. I'm having fun playing a short sword and shield fighter. For my next character I'd like to play a rogue. I like short swords but I don't like duel wield and a shield doest seem appropriate, unless there are bucklers in the game.

So my question is am I limiting myself too much with just a short sword, or can that actually be helpful to have one hand free?

Thanks everyone.

The only benefit is if you have the dueling trait for +2 damage, otherwise how much not having an offhand ends up mattering depends solely on your build and what you want to achieve with the character.

For example; I have a character with certain limitations imposed upon her to fully maintain specifically envisioned roleplay, yet despite the limitations she is incredibly versatile and powerful enough that they do not end up hindering her combat efficiency in any meaningful way. Some of these limitations are that she may only wear clothes/robes, exclusively use a specific longsword for the entire game and never ever use any bows.

So there is no benefit in doing so, but it also may not necessarily become a hindrance in any way that matters. It all depends on your build and what you want from your character.

No, there are no Bucklers here.
Being AC obsessed I always go either Sword&Board or Two Handed Weapon. But, as stated above, the game does not penalise minor kinks

There are no bucklers and there is no purpose to single wielding outside of a single Legendary Rapier you get in Act 3.

Beyond that, there's no purpose for having an empty hand. Spells don't require somatic components so you can have your hands full no problem. Duel wielding doesn't penalize your attack. Duelling fighting style still works even when using a Shield.

The only time an "Empty" hand makes any sense is when using a Versatile weapon to make it 2 handed or when using the aforementioned Legendary Rapier. Otherwise you're just missing out on free AC/stats.

Now... How impactful is it to not utilize your off-hand? Not very. The game isn't difficult enough to have a character being slightly suboptimal have a major impact, even more so if you're not playing on Honour Mode or Tactician difficulties.

Not having a buckler in this game is a bit of a miss.

It's a pretty different sort of thing than what I usually think of with the regular shields. A buckler that was also a Medallion would be cool for an enchanted version. Might be able to use one of the monk's fancier punching animations for it or something like that? Using a buckler in actual combat would probably be closer to two weapon fighting with like a dagger anyway, than it would be to using a big tower shield. Instead of being worn on the back it might be worn around the neck or at the hip or to cover the loins. Or worn on the wrist like a gauntlet when it's not being used. Though the regular shield just sorta disappears anyway, so I wouldn't expect to see bucklers before we get shields on the back.

Main perk would be just that they look kinda cool and they were in BG1 as the only type of shield that could be used by certain classes - rogues and druids (I guess the latter just cause of the scimitars lol). The main thing about them is that they are curved, so could also double as some sort of ornamental bowl I guess. Probably a BG3 buckler would look like a skull just so it could match it's larger cousin. Even having one buckler on offer I'd probably be more inclined to use it on say a Human Wizard or Half Elf sorcerer or whatever, just because holding a giant shield makes every character archetype feel like some sort of paladin to me.

I enjoy especially items that recall the stuff we had in BG1, so things like Elven chain, Mithril mail, Ankheg plate are classics, bucklers and slings also fit the mold, but then for shields in BG3 they're all have very much the same sorta thing going on, even if they've got different looks. The basic shields I mean, not whatever extra enchantment specials. In BG1 we had the nice round buckler that had a few different visuals, the black and copper looking one, the shiny one etc. they all looked very much like bucklers. In BG2 all the shields had a look much more swoopy and jagged and in that game everything had spikes lol.

It's hard to imagine the Swashbucklers without the Bucklers.

The most familiar archetypes would be Zorro, Robin Hood, Sinbad and such, maybe something like this...; Which is the exact sort of absurdity I'm looking in a triple BBB game, just cause like a young Thulsa Doom, I mean right? lol Who knew!!! I little behind the times there with just the most ridiculous 70s vibes, but it definitely had the exploding barrels! And Geneviève is a badass - the lead probably deserved the Aradin treatment - Anne of the Thousand Days just decking that one. To think, she almost commanded Voyager too! Though if we're in the delta quadrant I'd still put my money on Janeway, she wouldn't have taken no guff from those buccaneers. Everyone could use a buckler though, cause you don't ever see em anywhere, here or there, maybe it's what's missing? Buckle up! hehe


ps. Random aside, but Buccaneer and Barbecue are related words, both on the slow roast. Has nothing to do with shields or bucklers there, but I just caught that, thought it was kinda interesting. Probably why we need all those smokepowder satchels and a free hand for the torches.

I'd say for BG3 the clearest call back would be The Princess Bride. Like going one handed just cause you want to do this RP... and most of the haircuts from the flick are already accounted for! Lol


That Rapier in Act III arrives so late in the game. If we got something like that a little sooner it would be fun to build around.

Why, realism.

Fighting with one hand gives you better reach in reallife, so its actually quite popular.

... but frankly all combat in D&D is wildly unrealistic anyway.

Short answer is no

Two short swords allows certain bonus actions or a longsword hits harder but a single weapon is always the worse option

BG3 doesn't enforce having a hand free for throwing foes, doing multiple throw attacks, nor implement grappling at all. So not much of a game mechanic reason to be hand free, though there are a couple of magic items in Act2-3 that support it.

If you don't like the look of a shield and can use mods, there's one called "Parrying Weapons". Basically it gives you shields that look like daggers or even small staves.