1h/2h weapons

[Quoth The Raven]

It would be lovely if you made it possible to force the game to use weapons such a longsword (which can be wielded in both ways) with only one hand, even when holding nothing with the left hand.

[Cornuto]

You don't want the bonus damage you get from wielding with both hands?

[Tome]

I think he just means appearance-wise.

Rapiers do that quoth, but you do not get the 1.5 bonus from STR nor do you get the bonus dmg from Power Attack.

If you are planning to make a duelist build though or something similar, that likely would not be a problem for you.

[Intrepid42]

I believe that it is possible to create a shield object with no appearance (ie invisible in-game), which could be placed in the off-hand slot. I don't know how it would look in-game using the shield animations with no visible shield, however. You could call it a "reinforced bracer" or similar.

[Quoth The Raven]

Yep, actually I don't care about the 1.5 str damage (it would net me an extra +1 damage anyway, nothing to write home about). It just feels... wrong, imho, for some characters like rogues or bards. Hence I wish it was possible to choose how to use the weapon, if with one hand, or with both hands.

[ParadoxicalAnonymity]

It always warms my heart when people are more concerned with how their character looks, the very concept of how they envision their character, as opposed to pure mechanics.

Whether this is possible or not, I still commit to saying, "Bravo, sir." Or miss.

[Quoth The Raven]

I don't know, maybe you would be willing to make a copy of the longsword entry in baseitems.2da, and to make it one handed only? That way we'd have two types of longsword, suitable for both "styles".

[cdnspr]

I think I get what the op's trying to say here, but about bards and rogues: aren't they generally weaker than warrior-types? With that in mind it only makes sense they wield it in two-hands; swinging a longsword 1-handed takes strength they probably don't possess.

About making one-handed longsword, I think there's some much more unique weapons out there that would warrant the dm's time should they ever decide they have enough to be putting in new weapons: throwing knives, whips, etc.

If you really want to have a rogue or bard using a 1-handed sword that badly, there's always rapiers and short swords.

[cdnspr]

edited

[Quoth The Raven]

However,the difference is that 1-h longswords take considerably less effort than implementing whips: I know, I worked on custom content since when NWN2 came out. Most of the work is related to introducing them into the world (stores and loot table - maybe some script functions), not the actual implementation. Trust me, I know what I'm talking about

I'd also argue that strength is not actually related to a character's class, but his strength score - it may very well exist a bard with 18 strength (to make an example which is not too uncommon). Furthermore, the longsword being classified as a 1-h weapon in the D&D system, means that an average man can swing it effectively with one hand.

Switching to a two hands grip when nothing is equipped in the off hand is a design choice: Obsidian's game designers assumed that in the vast majority of cases, the player finds it desiderable to follow that behaviour. Nothing wrong with it, and in fact it makes perfect sense - it just happens to conflict with my character's vision. I just thought that others may find it appealing, so I suggested to put it in.

To give an idea of what I'm talking about, let me show you this (skip the first 90 seconds or so)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2zFyT9h-u8

See, I just wanna be the Kevin Costner of the situation. XD

[cdnspr]

heh, i did say 'generally', didn't i?
anyway, if you're willing to do the work and pass it up, you're alot more likely to get the outcome you're hoping for.
and if you're good at this type of thing like you say you are, then there might be a spot on the dev staff for you, too. i'm sure the team would appreciate all the help they can get.
good luck

[Thief Of Navarre]

Wouldnt a buckler (as small sheild) fit the bill? I know its probably not possible to implement bucklers like in canon D&D where they can be equipped in addition to a two handed melee weapon or a bow (Temple of Elemental Evil has this) but just a smaller apearance for a sheild?