Can a monk's single staff be considered dual wielded, as per the Dual Wielder feat?





.everyoneloves__top-leaderboard:empty,.everyoneloves__mid-leaderboard:empty,.everyoneloves__bot-mid-leaderboard:empty{ margin-bottom:0;
}







5












$begingroup$


If a monk uses a staff and has the Dual Wielder feat, can they use a 1d6 attack for one hand then 1d6 attack bonus for the other, plus gaining +1 to AC for holding a melee weapon in each hand?



Seems a bit much to otherwise require 2 staves.










share|improve this question









New contributor




Riker is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.







$endgroup$












  • $begingroup$
    This is why there are separate 2 handed weapon feats.
    $endgroup$
    – UKMonkey
    11 hours ago


















5












$begingroup$


If a monk uses a staff and has the Dual Wielder feat, can they use a 1d6 attack for one hand then 1d6 attack bonus for the other, plus gaining +1 to AC for holding a melee weapon in each hand?



Seems a bit much to otherwise require 2 staves.










share|improve this question









New contributor




Riker is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.







$endgroup$












  • $begingroup$
    This is why there are separate 2 handed weapon feats.
    $endgroup$
    – UKMonkey
    11 hours ago














5












5








5





$begingroup$


If a monk uses a staff and has the Dual Wielder feat, can they use a 1d6 attack for one hand then 1d6 attack bonus for the other, plus gaining +1 to AC for holding a melee weapon in each hand?



Seems a bit much to otherwise require 2 staves.










share|improve this question









New contributor




Riker is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.







$endgroup$




If a monk uses a staff and has the Dual Wielder feat, can they use a 1d6 attack for one hand then 1d6 attack bonus for the other, plus gaining +1 to AC for holding a melee weapon in each hand?



Seems a bit much to otherwise require 2 staves.







dnd-5e feats monk two-weapon-fighting






share|improve this question









New contributor




Riker is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.











share|improve this question









New contributor




Riker is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.









share|improve this question




share|improve this question








edited 6 hours ago









V2Blast

26.1k590159




26.1k590159






New contributor




Riker is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.









asked 14 hours ago









RikerRiker

292




292




New contributor




Riker is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.





New contributor





Riker is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.






Riker is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.












  • $begingroup$
    This is why there are separate 2 handed weapon feats.
    $endgroup$
    – UKMonkey
    11 hours ago


















  • $begingroup$
    This is why there are separate 2 handed weapon feats.
    $endgroup$
    – UKMonkey
    11 hours ago
















$begingroup$
This is why there are separate 2 handed weapon feats.
$endgroup$
– UKMonkey
11 hours ago




$begingroup$
This is why there are separate 2 handed weapon feats.
$endgroup$
– UKMonkey
11 hours ago










2 Answers
2






active

oldest

votes


















13












$begingroup$

The Monk has to wield two staves to get the benefits you list



The Dual Wielder feat specifies (PHB, p. 165; emphasis mine):




You gain a +1 bonus to AC while you are wielding a separate melee weapon in each hand.




So while the monk is using one staff, they don't gain this benefit, nor can one use Two-Weapon Fighting with a single weapon wielded in two hands (emphasis mine).




When you take the Attack action and attack with a light melee weapon that you're holding in one hand, you can use a bonus action to attack with a different light melee weapon that you're holding in the other hand.




With two staves, however, you can certainly benefit as you describe as Dual Wielder removes the requirement for light weapons:




You can use two-weapon fighting even when the one-handed melee weapons you are wielding aren't light.




Is this too strong?



Using two staves in this way is no stronger (by itself) than any other dual-wielding combination with monk weapons, so there should be no issue.






share|improve this answer











$endgroup$









  • 6




    $begingroup$
    Might be worth noting that since monks already get a bonus action attack that adds their ability modifier to damage, two weapon fighting will deal significantly less damage than normal.
    $endgroup$
    – Derek Stucki
    13 hours ago



















8












$begingroup$

It seems like your question is coming from a slight misquote; you left out an important word. The Dual Wielder feat (PHB, p. 165) doesn't say "a melee weapon in each hand", and it's very clear about what it requires:




You gain a +1 bonus to AC while you are wielding a separate melee weapon in each hand.




It specifically requires a separate weapon, not one weapon that you have both hands on. A single quarterstaff, no matter how you use it, is only a single weapon, and doesn't qualify.



I'm not sure where you're getting two 1d6 attacks with a staff. Are you suggesting that a staff held in two hands would also count as two weapons for Two Weapon Fighting (it doesn't), or are you talking about the monk's Martial Arts ability to "make one unarmed strike as a bonus action" after an attack action (which would be an unarmed strike, not an attack with the staff)?



Just to be clear, unarmed strikes aren't weapons, so they don't apply towards the "separate melee weapon" requirement. A weapon plus an empty hand doesn't work; two empty hands plus Martial Arts doesn't work; a staff held in two hands doesn't work; a weapon in hand plus a dancing sword doesn't work. You need two actual weapons in your actual hands.



I'm not sure why you said 'two staves is a bit much' -- if you were going to do this with a monk, you'd probably want to use two smaller weapons, like nunchaku (clubs), short swords, or similar. Dual quarterstaves might be a bit silly, yes, but that's not the only option, or even the most obvious one.



For more details on why unarmed strikes aren't weapons, see the Sage Advice Compendium question regarding Stunning Strike and the PHB errata document section marked Weapons (p. 149), as well as the errata for Melee Attacks (p. 195), which says in part:




Instead of using a weapon to make a melee weapon attack, you can use an unarmed strike [...]




(Since an unarmed strike is "instead of" a weapon, it clearly isn't one.)






share|improve this answer











$endgroup$













  • $begingroup$
    I can see where you may have gotten it, but I really don't think unarmed strikes are at all what OP is asking about. It is not a bad thing to cover necessarily, but I would recommend maybe delegating it to a side point?
    $endgroup$
    – Rubiksmoose
    13 hours ago












  • $begingroup$
    I made some edits to make that part a little less central.
    $endgroup$
    – Darth Pseudonym
    13 hours ago












Your Answer





StackExchange.ifUsing("editor", function () {
return StackExchange.using("mathjaxEditing", function () {
StackExchange.MarkdownEditor.creationCallbacks.add(function (editor, postfix) {
StackExchange.mathjaxEditing.prepareWmdForMathJax(editor, postfix, [["\$", "\$"]]);
});
});
}, "mathjax-editing");

StackExchange.ready(function() {
var channelOptions = {
tags: "".split(" "),
id: "122"
};
initTagRenderer("".split(" "), "".split(" "), channelOptions);

StackExchange.using("externalEditor", function() {
// Have to fire editor after snippets, if snippets enabled
if (StackExchange.settings.snippets.snippetsEnabled) {
StackExchange.using("snippets", function() {
createEditor();
});
}
else {
createEditor();
}
});

function createEditor() {
StackExchange.prepareEditor({
heartbeatType: 'answer',
autoActivateHeartbeat: false,
convertImagesToLinks: false,
noModals: true,
showLowRepImageUploadWarning: true,
reputationToPostImages: null,
bindNavPrevention: true,
postfix: "",
imageUploader: {
brandingHtml: "Powered by u003ca class="icon-imgur-white" href="https://imgur.com/"u003eu003c/au003e",
contentPolicyHtml: "User contributions licensed under u003ca href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/"u003ecc by-sa 3.0 with attribution requiredu003c/au003e u003ca href="https://stackoverflow.com/legal/content-policy"u003e(content policy)u003c/au003e",
allowUrls: true
},
noCode: true, onDemand: true,
discardSelector: ".discard-answer"
,immediatelyShowMarkdownHelp:true
});


}
});






Riker is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.










draft saved

draft discarded


















StackExchange.ready(
function () {
StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2frpg.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f144618%2fcan-a-monks-single-staff-be-considered-dual-wielded-as-per-the-dual-wielder-fe%23new-answer', 'question_page');
}
);

Post as a guest















Required, but never shown

























2 Answers
2






active

oldest

votes








2 Answers
2






active

oldest

votes









active

oldest

votes






active

oldest

votes









13












$begingroup$

The Monk has to wield two staves to get the benefits you list



The Dual Wielder feat specifies (PHB, p. 165; emphasis mine):




You gain a +1 bonus to AC while you are wielding a separate melee weapon in each hand.




So while the monk is using one staff, they don't gain this benefit, nor can one use Two-Weapon Fighting with a single weapon wielded in two hands (emphasis mine).




When you take the Attack action and attack with a light melee weapon that you're holding in one hand, you can use a bonus action to attack with a different light melee weapon that you're holding in the other hand.




With two staves, however, you can certainly benefit as you describe as Dual Wielder removes the requirement for light weapons:




You can use two-weapon fighting even when the one-handed melee weapons you are wielding aren't light.




Is this too strong?



Using two staves in this way is no stronger (by itself) than any other dual-wielding combination with monk weapons, so there should be no issue.






share|improve this answer











$endgroup$









  • 6




    $begingroup$
    Might be worth noting that since monks already get a bonus action attack that adds their ability modifier to damage, two weapon fighting will deal significantly less damage than normal.
    $endgroup$
    – Derek Stucki
    13 hours ago
















13












$begingroup$

The Monk has to wield two staves to get the benefits you list



The Dual Wielder feat specifies (PHB, p. 165; emphasis mine):




You gain a +1 bonus to AC while you are wielding a separate melee weapon in each hand.




So while the monk is using one staff, they don't gain this benefit, nor can one use Two-Weapon Fighting with a single weapon wielded in two hands (emphasis mine).




When you take the Attack action and attack with a light melee weapon that you're holding in one hand, you can use a bonus action to attack with a different light melee weapon that you're holding in the other hand.




With two staves, however, you can certainly benefit as you describe as Dual Wielder removes the requirement for light weapons:




You can use two-weapon fighting even when the one-handed melee weapons you are wielding aren't light.




Is this too strong?



Using two staves in this way is no stronger (by itself) than any other dual-wielding combination with monk weapons, so there should be no issue.






share|improve this answer











$endgroup$









  • 6




    $begingroup$
    Might be worth noting that since monks already get a bonus action attack that adds their ability modifier to damage, two weapon fighting will deal significantly less damage than normal.
    $endgroup$
    – Derek Stucki
    13 hours ago














13












13








13





$begingroup$

The Monk has to wield two staves to get the benefits you list



The Dual Wielder feat specifies (PHB, p. 165; emphasis mine):




You gain a +1 bonus to AC while you are wielding a separate melee weapon in each hand.




So while the monk is using one staff, they don't gain this benefit, nor can one use Two-Weapon Fighting with a single weapon wielded in two hands (emphasis mine).




When you take the Attack action and attack with a light melee weapon that you're holding in one hand, you can use a bonus action to attack with a different light melee weapon that you're holding in the other hand.




With two staves, however, you can certainly benefit as you describe as Dual Wielder removes the requirement for light weapons:




You can use two-weapon fighting even when the one-handed melee weapons you are wielding aren't light.




Is this too strong?



Using two staves in this way is no stronger (by itself) than any other dual-wielding combination with monk weapons, so there should be no issue.






share|improve this answer











$endgroup$



The Monk has to wield two staves to get the benefits you list



The Dual Wielder feat specifies (PHB, p. 165; emphasis mine):




You gain a +1 bonus to AC while you are wielding a separate melee weapon in each hand.




So while the monk is using one staff, they don't gain this benefit, nor can one use Two-Weapon Fighting with a single weapon wielded in two hands (emphasis mine).




When you take the Attack action and attack with a light melee weapon that you're holding in one hand, you can use a bonus action to attack with a different light melee weapon that you're holding in the other hand.




With two staves, however, you can certainly benefit as you describe as Dual Wielder removes the requirement for light weapons:




You can use two-weapon fighting even when the one-handed melee weapons you are wielding aren't light.




Is this too strong?



Using two staves in this way is no stronger (by itself) than any other dual-wielding combination with monk weapons, so there should be no issue.







share|improve this answer














share|improve this answer



share|improve this answer








edited 6 hours ago









V2Blast

26.1k590159




26.1k590159










answered 13 hours ago









David CoffronDavid Coffron

39.4k3135280




39.4k3135280








  • 6




    $begingroup$
    Might be worth noting that since monks already get a bonus action attack that adds their ability modifier to damage, two weapon fighting will deal significantly less damage than normal.
    $endgroup$
    – Derek Stucki
    13 hours ago














  • 6




    $begingroup$
    Might be worth noting that since monks already get a bonus action attack that adds their ability modifier to damage, two weapon fighting will deal significantly less damage than normal.
    $endgroup$
    – Derek Stucki
    13 hours ago








6




6




$begingroup$
Might be worth noting that since monks already get a bonus action attack that adds their ability modifier to damage, two weapon fighting will deal significantly less damage than normal.
$endgroup$
– Derek Stucki
13 hours ago




$begingroup$
Might be worth noting that since monks already get a bonus action attack that adds their ability modifier to damage, two weapon fighting will deal significantly less damage than normal.
$endgroup$
– Derek Stucki
13 hours ago













8












$begingroup$

It seems like your question is coming from a slight misquote; you left out an important word. The Dual Wielder feat (PHB, p. 165) doesn't say "a melee weapon in each hand", and it's very clear about what it requires:




You gain a +1 bonus to AC while you are wielding a separate melee weapon in each hand.




It specifically requires a separate weapon, not one weapon that you have both hands on. A single quarterstaff, no matter how you use it, is only a single weapon, and doesn't qualify.



I'm not sure where you're getting two 1d6 attacks with a staff. Are you suggesting that a staff held in two hands would also count as two weapons for Two Weapon Fighting (it doesn't), or are you talking about the monk's Martial Arts ability to "make one unarmed strike as a bonus action" after an attack action (which would be an unarmed strike, not an attack with the staff)?



Just to be clear, unarmed strikes aren't weapons, so they don't apply towards the "separate melee weapon" requirement. A weapon plus an empty hand doesn't work; two empty hands plus Martial Arts doesn't work; a staff held in two hands doesn't work; a weapon in hand plus a dancing sword doesn't work. You need two actual weapons in your actual hands.



I'm not sure why you said 'two staves is a bit much' -- if you were going to do this with a monk, you'd probably want to use two smaller weapons, like nunchaku (clubs), short swords, or similar. Dual quarterstaves might be a bit silly, yes, but that's not the only option, or even the most obvious one.



For more details on why unarmed strikes aren't weapons, see the Sage Advice Compendium question regarding Stunning Strike and the PHB errata document section marked Weapons (p. 149), as well as the errata for Melee Attacks (p. 195), which says in part:




Instead of using a weapon to make a melee weapon attack, you can use an unarmed strike [...]




(Since an unarmed strike is "instead of" a weapon, it clearly isn't one.)






share|improve this answer











$endgroup$













  • $begingroup$
    I can see where you may have gotten it, but I really don't think unarmed strikes are at all what OP is asking about. It is not a bad thing to cover necessarily, but I would recommend maybe delegating it to a side point?
    $endgroup$
    – Rubiksmoose
    13 hours ago












  • $begingroup$
    I made some edits to make that part a little less central.
    $endgroup$
    – Darth Pseudonym
    13 hours ago
















8












$begingroup$

It seems like your question is coming from a slight misquote; you left out an important word. The Dual Wielder feat (PHB, p. 165) doesn't say "a melee weapon in each hand", and it's very clear about what it requires:




You gain a +1 bonus to AC while you are wielding a separate melee weapon in each hand.




It specifically requires a separate weapon, not one weapon that you have both hands on. A single quarterstaff, no matter how you use it, is only a single weapon, and doesn't qualify.



I'm not sure where you're getting two 1d6 attacks with a staff. Are you suggesting that a staff held in two hands would also count as two weapons for Two Weapon Fighting (it doesn't), or are you talking about the monk's Martial Arts ability to "make one unarmed strike as a bonus action" after an attack action (which would be an unarmed strike, not an attack with the staff)?



Just to be clear, unarmed strikes aren't weapons, so they don't apply towards the "separate melee weapon" requirement. A weapon plus an empty hand doesn't work; two empty hands plus Martial Arts doesn't work; a staff held in two hands doesn't work; a weapon in hand plus a dancing sword doesn't work. You need two actual weapons in your actual hands.



I'm not sure why you said 'two staves is a bit much' -- if you were going to do this with a monk, you'd probably want to use two smaller weapons, like nunchaku (clubs), short swords, or similar. Dual quarterstaves might be a bit silly, yes, but that's not the only option, or even the most obvious one.



For more details on why unarmed strikes aren't weapons, see the Sage Advice Compendium question regarding Stunning Strike and the PHB errata document section marked Weapons (p. 149), as well as the errata for Melee Attacks (p. 195), which says in part:




Instead of using a weapon to make a melee weapon attack, you can use an unarmed strike [...]




(Since an unarmed strike is "instead of" a weapon, it clearly isn't one.)






share|improve this answer











$endgroup$













  • $begingroup$
    I can see where you may have gotten it, but I really don't think unarmed strikes are at all what OP is asking about. It is not a bad thing to cover necessarily, but I would recommend maybe delegating it to a side point?
    $endgroup$
    – Rubiksmoose
    13 hours ago












  • $begingroup$
    I made some edits to make that part a little less central.
    $endgroup$
    – Darth Pseudonym
    13 hours ago














8












8








8





$begingroup$

It seems like your question is coming from a slight misquote; you left out an important word. The Dual Wielder feat (PHB, p. 165) doesn't say "a melee weapon in each hand", and it's very clear about what it requires:




You gain a +1 bonus to AC while you are wielding a separate melee weapon in each hand.




It specifically requires a separate weapon, not one weapon that you have both hands on. A single quarterstaff, no matter how you use it, is only a single weapon, and doesn't qualify.



I'm not sure where you're getting two 1d6 attacks with a staff. Are you suggesting that a staff held in two hands would also count as two weapons for Two Weapon Fighting (it doesn't), or are you talking about the monk's Martial Arts ability to "make one unarmed strike as a bonus action" after an attack action (which would be an unarmed strike, not an attack with the staff)?



Just to be clear, unarmed strikes aren't weapons, so they don't apply towards the "separate melee weapon" requirement. A weapon plus an empty hand doesn't work; two empty hands plus Martial Arts doesn't work; a staff held in two hands doesn't work; a weapon in hand plus a dancing sword doesn't work. You need two actual weapons in your actual hands.



I'm not sure why you said 'two staves is a bit much' -- if you were going to do this with a monk, you'd probably want to use two smaller weapons, like nunchaku (clubs), short swords, or similar. Dual quarterstaves might be a bit silly, yes, but that's not the only option, or even the most obvious one.



For more details on why unarmed strikes aren't weapons, see the Sage Advice Compendium question regarding Stunning Strike and the PHB errata document section marked Weapons (p. 149), as well as the errata for Melee Attacks (p. 195), which says in part:




Instead of using a weapon to make a melee weapon attack, you can use an unarmed strike [...]




(Since an unarmed strike is "instead of" a weapon, it clearly isn't one.)






share|improve this answer











$endgroup$



It seems like your question is coming from a slight misquote; you left out an important word. The Dual Wielder feat (PHB, p. 165) doesn't say "a melee weapon in each hand", and it's very clear about what it requires:




You gain a +1 bonus to AC while you are wielding a separate melee weapon in each hand.




It specifically requires a separate weapon, not one weapon that you have both hands on. A single quarterstaff, no matter how you use it, is only a single weapon, and doesn't qualify.



I'm not sure where you're getting two 1d6 attacks with a staff. Are you suggesting that a staff held in two hands would also count as two weapons for Two Weapon Fighting (it doesn't), or are you talking about the monk's Martial Arts ability to "make one unarmed strike as a bonus action" after an attack action (which would be an unarmed strike, not an attack with the staff)?



Just to be clear, unarmed strikes aren't weapons, so they don't apply towards the "separate melee weapon" requirement. A weapon plus an empty hand doesn't work; two empty hands plus Martial Arts doesn't work; a staff held in two hands doesn't work; a weapon in hand plus a dancing sword doesn't work. You need two actual weapons in your actual hands.



I'm not sure why you said 'two staves is a bit much' -- if you were going to do this with a monk, you'd probably want to use two smaller weapons, like nunchaku (clubs), short swords, or similar. Dual quarterstaves might be a bit silly, yes, but that's not the only option, or even the most obvious one.



For more details on why unarmed strikes aren't weapons, see the Sage Advice Compendium question regarding Stunning Strike and the PHB errata document section marked Weapons (p. 149), as well as the errata for Melee Attacks (p. 195), which says in part:




Instead of using a weapon to make a melee weapon attack, you can use an unarmed strike [...]




(Since an unarmed strike is "instead of" a weapon, it clearly isn't one.)







share|improve this answer














share|improve this answer



share|improve this answer








edited 6 hours ago









V2Blast

26.1k590159




26.1k590159










answered 13 hours ago









Darth PseudonymDarth Pseudonym

16.1k34088




16.1k34088












  • $begingroup$
    I can see where you may have gotten it, but I really don't think unarmed strikes are at all what OP is asking about. It is not a bad thing to cover necessarily, but I would recommend maybe delegating it to a side point?
    $endgroup$
    – Rubiksmoose
    13 hours ago












  • $begingroup$
    I made some edits to make that part a little less central.
    $endgroup$
    – Darth Pseudonym
    13 hours ago


















  • $begingroup$
    I can see where you may have gotten it, but I really don't think unarmed strikes are at all what OP is asking about. It is not a bad thing to cover necessarily, but I would recommend maybe delegating it to a side point?
    $endgroup$
    – Rubiksmoose
    13 hours ago












  • $begingroup$
    I made some edits to make that part a little less central.
    $endgroup$
    – Darth Pseudonym
    13 hours ago
















$begingroup$
I can see where you may have gotten it, but I really don't think unarmed strikes are at all what OP is asking about. It is not a bad thing to cover necessarily, but I would recommend maybe delegating it to a side point?
$endgroup$
– Rubiksmoose
13 hours ago






$begingroup$
I can see where you may have gotten it, but I really don't think unarmed strikes are at all what OP is asking about. It is not a bad thing to cover necessarily, but I would recommend maybe delegating it to a side point?
$endgroup$
– Rubiksmoose
13 hours ago














$begingroup$
I made some edits to make that part a little less central.
$endgroup$
– Darth Pseudonym
13 hours ago




$begingroup$
I made some edits to make that part a little less central.
$endgroup$
– Darth Pseudonym
13 hours ago










Riker is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.










draft saved

draft discarded


















Riker is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.













Riker is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.












Riker is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.
















Thanks for contributing an answer to Role-playing Games Stack Exchange!


  • Please be sure to answer the question. Provide details and share your research!

But avoid



  • Asking for help, clarification, or responding to other answers.

  • Making statements based on opinion; back them up with references or personal experience.


Use MathJax to format equations. MathJax reference.


To learn more, see our tips on writing great answers.




draft saved


draft discarded














StackExchange.ready(
function () {
StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2frpg.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f144618%2fcan-a-monks-single-staff-be-considered-dual-wielded-as-per-the-dual-wielder-fe%23new-answer', 'question_page');
}
);

Post as a guest















Required, but never shown





















































Required, but never shown














Required, but never shown












Required, but never shown







Required, but never shown

































Required, but never shown














Required, but never shown












Required, but never shown







Required, but never shown







Popular posts from this blog

Knooppunt Holsloot

Altaar (religie)

Gregoriusmis