The Two-Bladed Warrior

Using two blades has always been an attraction to me and it seems to be an inviting concept to many others as well. But, as everyone who has tried to build a Two-Bladed Warrior knows, this has some major set-backs.

First is getting the three extra feats, Ambidextrous, Two Weapon Fighting and Improved Two Weapon Fighting. You need Dex 15 or Ranger 9 and then you still have an AB and AC drop.

Choosing Ranger is fine except you're limited to Light Armor or lose your Ranger Abilities including the Dual Weapon Package. Most have found that this isn't to bad if you build a Dexer (dexterity based) and small weapons such as Kukri or Hand-Axe. Then your Dex Bonus is your AC if you wear Cloth. Be sure to take Weapon Finesse so your Dex Bonus will be your AB. You still get an AB drop but it's -2 instead of -4.

I am still searching for the right combination of Attributes, Feats, Skills, Race and Sub-Race qualities that can make up a STRENGTH BASED Two Bladed Warrior. An Ogrillon is a good start because he/she can hold two Scimitars or Katanas without the -4 AB drop. Unfortunately, the Ogre can't apply Weapon Finesse towards a Scimitar. Hmm, maybe an Ogre with dual Rapiers and Weapon Finesse would be a good start. But that would not be the Str Base I'm looking for. The biggest problem with the Ogre is the low Int.

Usually I start with Half-Orc for the Str boost and go with Fighter / WM for the feats and AB. The combination of WM (Weapon Master) level 7 and the Scimitar is the Critical Threat Range of 10-20. Don't forget to take Improved Critical and buy Keen. With a Str based platform, Overwhelming Critical and Devastating Critical are a must.

Strength is the driving force behind the DC for Dev Crit, not just good AB. With two Scimitars, you will get twice the chance for a Critical Hit or even an Instant Death hit on a Dev Crit.

Getting WM needs Dex 13, Int 13 and a lot of feats. A fighter can start WM at level 7 if done well. A none-fighter can't get WM before level 17. Fighter 7 and WM 7 is 14 levels, leaving 26 levels for something else.

BadLands RPG offers a unique AC boost called Two Weapon Shield (TWS). TWS uses nearly the same Feat list as a WM, so all you need now is Improved Initiative and then Superior Initiative. This would qualify you for TWS AC+3. Talk to Shorty in Dozo for the full details.

Barbarian would work well here and the UBER Barbarian offered in BadLands RPG certainly has it's merits. +8 Strength from Rage. Terrifying Rage, Thundering Rage and Mighty Rage will all work well with the WM crit range and Overwhelming Crit.

Rogue or Assassin would work well also. The Sneak Attack or Death Attack won't stack with Overwhelm Crit, but can take advantage of the 10-20 threat range provided by WM 7. I'm not really sure how the dice roll works here, but it would have to chose between a Sneak Attack or Overwhelm Crit hit. 26 Rogue or Assassin would work quite well with UMD.

Bard 26 would work if you start with Deep Orc (+4 Cha boost). Cha 16 would be needed to get all 6 levels of Bard Spells and UMD would be nice. Bard Song needs Perform Skill which is Cha based. The Cha bonus ads to the Adjusted Perform Skill. (75 Adjusted Perform Skills would be needed to get max Bard Song for Bard level 26.)

Let's not forget Cleric or Mage. The ability to buff one's self is important, especially with this build. As with any build combination, it's a compromise, give and take. Try to get to much and you end up with a mediocre toon. Focus on one thing to much and you lose other things that make up a well balanced DND Character.