dual wielding

[wallydubbs]

It seems that rule of only defending once per creature only appears in the BQP as a rule clarification. I read the NA and UK rule books for the game system and its not mentioned anywhere.

So they decide to mention this after most people probably played roughly 30 quests or so to get to this point. I personally would consider defending agaisnt each attack to be the normal rule, and either ignore the "clarification" or only apply it to the Polar War Bear specifically, since its the only creature mentioned in the rule.

With that said, I now would likely allow dual wielding if someone really wanted to.

There's a lot of things wrong with the American expansion packs (Barbarian and Elf), be it chest contents, rule clarification, unusable spells and artifacts, doubled furniture or just a rule that completely breaks the game (Yeti in the Solo quest).
The Polar Warbear is strong enough as is and we're told the hero can only defend once? No, there's a lot of things that need fixing. Much like a hero not even being allowed to attack while in a Yeti hug and losing 2 BP per turn. I think 1 BP is sufficient and he should be allowed to attack only with a dagger. (Like that movie, "Deep Blue Sea", the cook is half in the shark's mouth but stabs it in the eye with a crucifix.)

I don't mean to take it off topic here, I have something to add about dual weilding too.
Everyone seems to have sensible ideas here, but we don't want to make the heroes too powerful.
I like the idea of heroes using 1 less attack dice for offhand weapons, but Sjeng made certain weapons with 1 attack dice that can be dual weilded. What to do on this matter?

I've also read people suggesting the heroes buying the upgraded ability to do so... what would be a good price?

The monster should be allowed to defend against each attack, otherwise, what would be the difference between dual weilding 2 short swords and just 1 battle axe? The Battle Axe, in my opinion, should still be more powerful.

I find dual weilding to be acceptable, however the only hindrance would be not being allowed to carry a shield... but that's already a hindrance for double handed weapons. There should be a greater loss to compensate balance. Having an extra weapon shouldn't far outweigh the absence of a shield.

I fear making the heroes too overpowering makes the game less difficult and less fun. Nor would I want into to completely undermine the effects if Heroic Brew and Orc's Bane. So, to me, the extra weapon should only be for fail-safe purposes. The 2nd weapon should only be used to attack a 2nd monster you're adjacent to; or you may attack the 1st monster again only if you failed to roll any skulls on your initial attack. (Some monsters have enough trouble defending as is, if he rolled a sufficient number of black shields he deserves to live through your turn.

[Daedalus]

Working up a dual-wield house rule is too fun to pass up. Here's mine in three parts:

You may attack twice if you hold a weapon
in each hand, though you must then reduce
these attacks by one combat die each. . . .

This house rule doesn't specify the weapons, though the Dagger and Staff won't cause damage when fighting with two weapons. It should also be understood that the Crossbow is exempt as a missile weapon. Fighting with two Battle Axes is overpowered, so to cap the upper limit

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The
total weapon Attack Dice before reduction
must remain lower than the Hero's total
Body Point score.

An Elf may fight with a Broadsword and Shortsword (3 AD + 2 AD = 5 is lower that 6 BPs). A Barbarian wearing the Amulet of the North from the BQP may fight with 2 Battle Axes (4 AD + 4 AD = 8 is less than 10 BPs). An Elf attacking first with 2 AD and then 1 AD in a turn is a real buff where lower-powered monsters are involved, less so against tougher monsters. Only an artifact-boosted Barbarian may recklessly swing 3 AD and then another 3 AD in a turn, a real buff against any monster, restoring him as the pre-eminent combatant. However, this kind of mod needs a cost and some counter-balancing.

A Hero must again pay the Armory gold-
coin cost for each weapon of a two-
weapon attack, even if they are identical.

Despite the delaying cost, the potential increase of damage is still a great advantage for the Heroes. I wouldn't recommend allowing this mod in normal-difficulty Quests without a complimentary boost for Zargon, such as an Evil Wizard deck. I think it could work well in the EQP and BQP without such counter-balancing, as those Quest Packs are already super difficult.