DND 3.5 Math - 2Hander or Dual wield?

The Questions:

• If I am playing a high-strength melee character, will I do more damage wielding 1 large weapon with both hands or dual wield

The Answer:

• Without any doubt in this situation is best to use 1 weapon. While it is true that dual wielding seems better becuase it allows more attacks, the damage does not compare to the effect of adding 1.5Xstrength

The Math:

First we start with a baseline. A fighter of level 15, with a strength of 22. To keep it somewhat realistic, we assume that the 2-handed fighter can afford a +3 weapon, while the dual wielder can only afford 2 +2 weapons. In addition, I used similar weapons, a great sword, a long sword and a short sword. To keep damage simple, I assume every swing did average damage.

Second I assumed 3 attackers and 3 scenarios. The three attackers include a 2-hander, a 2-hander who is power attacking for 3 (to give him the same to hit as a dual wielder) and a dual wielder. In the first scenario the attackers are attacking something with 30 AC, in the next 25 AC and in the final one 25 AC with DR10.

Terms: PA 3 means power attacking for 3, att means attack, ave is average.

The following is the table I used to figure out each attack, its not going to make a lot of sense. check the next group of tables.

	Magic	Bab	strmod	feats	Weapon
2-Hander	3	15	6	1	7
	Magic	Bab	strmod	feats	wep 1	wep 2
Dual-wield	2	15	6	3	4.5	3.5
	Main 1	Main 2	Main 3
2hand att bonus	24	19	14
ave dam	19	19	19
Dam ac 30	16.15	11.4	6.65
dam ac 25	19.95	15.2	10.45
Dam ac 25 dr10	9.95	5.2	0.45
	Main 1	Main 2	Main 3
2h PA 3 att bonus	21	16	11
ave dam	25	25	25
dam ac 30	17.5	11.25	5
dam ac 25	23.75	17.5	11.25
Dam ac 25 dr10	13.75	7.5	1.25
	Main 1	Off 1	Main 2	Off 2	Main 3	Off 3
dual wield attack bonus	21	21	16	16	11	11
Ave dam	12.5	8.5	12.5	8.5	12.5	8.5
dam ac 30	8.75	5.95	5.625	3.825	2.5	1.7
dam ac 25	11.875	8.075	8.75	5.95	5.625	3.825
Dam ac 25 dr10	1.875	0	0	0	0	0

OK, that gobelty gook. Here's what it all comes down to though. During a full round where each characters gets to make a full attack.

	Damage Dealt
	2hand	2hand PA3	Dual wield
AC30	34.2	33.75	28.35
AC25	45.6	52.5	44.1
AC25 - DR10	15.6	22.5	1.875

The answer is pretty clear. A two-hander power attacking for 3 beats everything else in damage. This becomes especially true if the creature has DR.

I will also add that at this point the dual wielder needs 3 feats, the 2-hander only needs 1.

This doesn't mean you shouldn't dual wield, there are lots of other scenarios where dual wielding is better. This just means that for a high-str character, if you want to max your damage, you should two-hand and power attack.

-Dude