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. You don’t add your ability modifier to the damage of the bonus Attack, unless that modifier is negative.
If either weapon has the Thrown property, you can throw the weapon, instead of making a melee Attack with it.
It is also worth noting the language of the TWF fighting style and the Dual Wielder feat
Two-Weapon Fighting (Fighting Style)
When you engage in two-weapon fighting, you can add your ability modifier to the damage of the second attack.
Dual Wielder
You master fighting with two weapons, gaining the following benefits:
You gain a +1 bonus to AC while you are wielding a separate melee weapon in each hand.
You can use two-weapon fighting even when the one handed melee weapons you are wielding aren’t light.
You can draw or stow two one-handed weapons when you would normally be able to draw or stow only one.
The main point I want to bring up is that when discussing TWF in these forums and others, many commenters make reference to using the character's "off hand" or "main hand"; however, such language does not appear in any of these rules or features. My question is does it matter which weapon is used for the Attack action and which one is used for TWF and can you switch between them on a turn by turn basis (i.e. what I am referring to as "stance dancing" in the title)?
As an example, lets say a 5th level Fighter is wielding a Light Hammer in one hand and a Dagger in the other. On their first turn, they use the Attack action to make two attacks with their Light Hammer and then their bonus action to make a single attack with their Dagger. On their next turn, keeping these weapons in the same hands, could they elect to make two attacks with their Dagger (using the Attack action) followed by one attack with the Light Hammer instead?
I am fairly certain that RAW this should work, but it felt a bit off to me at first because I am used to thinking about TWF in terms of an off hand or main hand attack and was under the impression that which hand held which weapon mattered.
You could make one attack with your Light Hammer and one attack with your Dagger for your Action - and then Bonus Action attack with whichever weapon you wish - since both weapon attacks triggered the option for the Two-Weapon Fighting attack for the other weapon.
At tables where DMs have ruled that Booming Blade cannot be used with the weapon created by shadow blade this is exactly how Bladesingers get around that restriction. Attack w/ Shadow Blade with 1st attack, 2nd attack subs out for a cantrip that is used to cast Booming Blade and the attack is performed by the scimitar (or whatever) in their other hand, then, their bonus action is used to attack using two weapon fighting and this 'offhand attack' is done with the shadow blade again.
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I'm probably laughing.
It is apparently so hard to program Aberrant Mind and Clockwork Soul spell-swapping into dndbeyond they had to remake the game without it rather than implement it.
I am fairly certain that RAW this should work, but it felt a bit off to me at first because I am used to thinking about TWF in terms of an off hand or main hand attack and was under the impression that which hand held which weapon mattered.
Yes it works fine. Main hand/offhand is verbiage from 4th edition. In 5th edition Two-Weapon Fighting uses weapon you’re holding in one hand + different weapon you’re holding in the other hand , which is subject to change every turn if one wish.
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The rules for TWF are as follows
It is also worth noting the language of the TWF fighting style and the Dual Wielder feat
Two-Weapon Fighting (Fighting Style)
When you engage in two-weapon fighting, you can add your ability modifier to the damage of the second attack.
Dual Wielder
You master fighting with two weapons, gaining the following benefits:
The main point I want to bring up is that when discussing TWF in these forums and others, many commenters make reference to using the character's "off hand" or "main hand"; however, such language does not appear in any of these rules or features. My question is does it matter which weapon is used for the Attack action and which one is used for TWF and can you switch between them on a turn by turn basis (i.e. what I am referring to as "stance dancing" in the title)?
As an example, lets say a 5th level Fighter is wielding a Light Hammer in one hand and a Dagger in the other. On their first turn, they use the Attack action to make two attacks with their Light Hammer and then their bonus action to make a single attack with their Dagger. On their next turn, keeping these weapons in the same hands, could they elect to make two attacks with their Dagger (using the Attack action) followed by one attack with the Light Hammer instead?
I am fairly certain that RAW this should work, but it felt a bit off to me at first because I am used to thinking about TWF in terms of an off hand or main hand attack and was under the impression that which hand held which weapon mattered.
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Yes
It doesn't matter which weapon you attack with twice, as long as the other is used as one of the three attacks.
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You could make one attack with your Light Hammer and one attack with your Dagger for your Action - and then Bonus Action attack with whichever weapon you wish - since both weapon attacks triggered the option for the Two-Weapon Fighting attack for the other weapon.
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At tables where DMs have ruled that Booming Blade cannot be used with the weapon created by shadow blade this is exactly how Bladesingers get around that restriction. Attack w/ Shadow Blade with 1st attack, 2nd attack subs out for a cantrip that is used to cast Booming Blade and the attack is performed by the scimitar (or whatever) in their other hand, then, their bonus action is used to attack using two weapon fighting and this 'offhand attack' is done with the shadow blade again.
I'm probably laughing.
It is apparently so hard to program Aberrant Mind and Clockwork Soul spell-swapping into dndbeyond they had to remake the game without it rather than implement it.
Yes it works fine. Main hand/offhand is verbiage from 4th edition. In 5th edition Two-Weapon Fighting uses weapon you’re holding in one hand + different weapon you’re holding in the other hand , which is subject to change every turn if one wish.