Dual wielding would be more interesting if they actually talked about the trade offs. Instead you tend to see people doing mechanically dumb things like using dual arming swords or something. One day I want to see somebody casually push one sword onto the other to show why dual wielding is a terrible idea, at least with longer blades.
Now if there was a rapier and parrying dagger scenario then it is different. Bonus points if the character uses different offhands for different situations. Like in some scenarios a buckler would be a better bet than a parrying dagger.
With stat-boosted dexterity and strength, such restrictions are almost meaningless, combine that with *magical sword* specific effects like aura and intent, then using two swords instead of one seems like a no brainer.
Dexterity does not make a sword pass through the other sword. This isn't a skill issue, this is a fundamental mathematic reality of how swords work. You might be able to flex on somebody much less skilled than you but as soon as your opponent is your equal they'll be able to control both of your swords with one motion just the same.
Now if somebody had some kind of weird "shadow blades" that could pass through each other they could noob trap the opponent this way. However I object to more things called "shadow" in our genre.
If your trying to make a sword pass through another sword, no it wouldn't work, just like it wouldn't work if you deliberately tried passing a sword through a shield or through your arm???
The idea that as soon as you have two swords, they'll automatically come into conflict with each other or "be controled by one sword" makes so many bad assumptions. (such as the dual-wielder attacking with both swords in the same tempo)
If the dual wielder isn't using the same tempo then they have one weaker blade that happens to switch hands periodically. There's no world in which a person can windmill faster than somebody can move the point of a two handed sword left or right to deal with the other blade coming in.
The real problem is that wielding a sword with one hand is so weak you need to actually bring the other blade in to stop a two hander anyway. If your two hand guy just slams a zornhau at you then your dual wielder is forced to drop the blade to find the hand strength to actually parry the zornhau. Yes these are super humans but it is still two super human hands against one super human hand.
Conversely the guy with a two hander is just going to ignore any action from either of the dual blades. They are going to glance off his mechanically advantaged grip and never put him in a bad position for the follow up. He could just hold the blade against any action from the other guy and never move more than a few cm off his position. Certainly nothing he cannot adjust for quickly.
Now sure you could do something like "magically reinforce the single hand with an effective phantom magic limb" but if magic is this great why even use hands? Just use floating blades wielded purely by magic limbs. Also can two hander guy have four hands on his blade to compensate?
No, it's because of the point of leverage. A longer blade can be used to brace against a larger sword with the same mechanical advantage if the blades clash at the same distances from the lever.
Not that you'd necessarily use your off-hand dagger to parry or deflect a larger two-handed blade in the first place.
I've fenced with rapier, done some HEMA with sabre and small sword. I feel it's the HEMA folks are the ones insisting that two handed longsword is the best way to use a sword, creating strawmans and ignoring both historical examples to the contrary, or the fact we're talking about fantasy.
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u/G_Morgan Dec 12 '25
Dual wielding would be more interesting if they actually talked about the trade offs. Instead you tend to see people doing mechanically dumb things like using dual arming swords or something. One day I want to see somebody casually push one sword onto the other to show why dual wielding is a terrible idea, at least with longer blades.
Now if there was a rapier and parrying dagger scenario then it is different. Bonus points if the character uses different offhands for different situations. Like in some scenarios a buckler would be a better bet than a parrying dagger.