Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - Help Tips & Tricks Current rules for dual wielding

I just started a new game with a rogue wielding two daggers.

I know that BG3 does not follow 5e rules and was expecting an ability modifier to damage but not to hit on my off hand,

When I looked at the combat log it appeared that I got no ability bonus on either, which seems a bit weak.

This led me to thinking that perhaps fighters/rangers had been fixed and they could now get their ability modifiers to both.

I am a bit bored of endlessly going through the start of the game so I was wondering if anybody knew the current rules.

I just tested dual wielding with a fighter, one without the dual wielding fighting style and then one with the dual wielding fighting style.

Neither of the two fighters had the ability modifier added to the attack roll of the offhand attack.

Only the fighter with the dual wielding fighting style got the ability modifier added to the damage of the offhand attack.

Whether this is intended or not is a different matter and I can't speak for Larian regarding that!

@CVG Thanks for checking that for me, your efforts are appreciated. I have come to the same conclusion myself so for now I will look for other sources of entertainment while waiting for some new content to be released.

So, originally, it was adding ability modifier to damage, but not to attack roll, on your off-hand strikes. This got reported many times by many people as having been implemented the wrong way around (You are supposed to have your normal attack bonus to hit, which includes ability modifier, but you don't add the ability modifier to the damage without a feat or extra feature).

Larian seem to have 'fixed' this by removing the ability modifier from your damage roll, but you still do not get it added to your attack roll.

It seems kind of strange given that they're struggling to account for what they view as the whole 'missing isn't fun' problem... when they've got something right here that would see fewer misses if they adhered to the rules as written...

I was trying to equip Astarion with a dagger or short-sword in his off-hand and it wasn't being allowed. Is dual-wielding being limited to certain classes?

What weapon was in his main hand? Without the Dual-Wielder Feat, you can only dual-wield if both weapons are light (e.g., dagger, handaxe, short sword, scimitar).

All classes can dual-wield.

It was rapier... ahh, I see now. Got it. For some reason I thought Rapier was tagged light, but I can see why it wouldn't be.