Quote:
Originally Posted by Plane
in the case where you have enough ST to wield a 2H weapon one-handed without penalty, I'd let you get bonuses for using 1H w/ 2H if you used a 2nd hand anyway
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Most weapons that have both a 1h and 2h entry are at -1 to damage when used 1h, relative to when used 2h, and I'd be inclined to maintain this when using an exclusively-two-handed weapon with one hand (due to high ST). There are two additional options in
Martial Arts that would make using the weapon in two hands preferable. First off, under "A Matter of Inches" (MA110), there's the option for weapons that you have twice the MinST for (necessary to wield one-handed without issues) to get a +2 bonus to make or resist a feint, and to also apply this to offset the iteration penalty for multiple Parries in one turn. A 2h weapon wielded in 1h should be treated (at least for these purposes - I don't think it's appropriate to treat such like this when it comes to determining maximum ST) as having MinST equal to the minimum to wield it 1h without issues, so unless you greatly exceed the weapon's MinST, using it in two hands works better here. The other option, only available for Reach 2+ weapons (but a quarterstaff certainly qualifies), is "Parrying with Two-Handed Weapons" (MA123), which gives slightly improved performance against dual-weapon attacks and also cuts the iteration penalty for multiple Parries in one turn in half. If combining the two options, treat the "halved penalty" as being just like Trained by a Master / Weapon Master - apply the weapon weight-induced reduction first, then halve the result, for -1 per additional Parry.
So, for a Quarterstaff, if you have ST 14, you can:
Wield two-handed with Staff, as normal, and get the +2 to Parry for being a Staff weapon and only suffer a -1 per additional Parry
or
Wield one-handed with an appropriate skill (Staff if the GM allows it, Broadsword or Spear otherwise), be at -1 to damage, Parry at +0, and suffer -4 per additional Parry. Note if using Spear, you probably will lose the option to swing, being restricted to thrust.