An Unarmed Strike is not a "light weapon", so it can't be Two Weapon Fighting.
Theoretically if you had the Dual Wielder feat, it removes the "light" requirement, but you won't get the +1 AC because you don't have a weapon in each hand.
As far as I know, only a monk receives unarmed strikes as a bonus action as part of their Martial Arts feature. They can use unarmed stikes or weapon attacks for the attack action and can subsequently take an unarmed strike as a bonus action if they took the attack action.
An Unarmed Strike is not a "light weapon", so it can't be Two Weapon Fighting.
Theoretically if you had the Dual Wielder feat, it removes the "light" requirement, but you won't get the +1 AC because you don't have a weapon in each hand.
I'd argue that even with Dual Wielder, you can't, since Dual Wielder says that even when the weapons you are wielding aren't light, you can dual wield... but it doesn't remove the requirement of actually wielding two weapons. "Unarmed Strike" is not only not a "light weapon", it's not a weapon at all (Unarmed Strikes being weapon attacks notwithstanding).
That being said, off the top of my head, I can't really think how'd that be abusive, especially considering how it's not any better than wielding a club in your off-hand. It's only better if you're a Monk, but then you get that bonus unarmed strike anyway, from Martial Arts.
Unarmed strike is a melee weapon attack, but not a melee weapon. The specifics of Two-Weapon Fighting is "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"
But yeah... Heck it's *worse* then a club. The attack does 1+STR, a club at least gets a 1d4+STR!
If I make an Unarmed Strike, and have no weapons equipped, can I make a 2nd Unarmed Strike as a bonus action? As if I were dual wielding?
Follow up: can I make an Unarmed Strike as a bonus action if I only have one weapon equipped?
No.
An Unarmed Strike is not a "light weapon", so it can't be Two Weapon Fighting.
Theoretically if you had the Dual Wielder feat, it removes the "light" requirement, but you won't get the +1 AC because you don't have a weapon in each hand.
As far as I know, only a monk receives unarmed strikes as a bonus action as part of their Martial Arts feature. They can use unarmed stikes or weapon attacks for the attack action and can subsequently take an unarmed strike as a bonus action if they took the attack action.
I'd argue that even with Dual Wielder, you can't, since Dual Wielder says that even when the weapons you are wielding aren't light, you can dual wield... but it doesn't remove the requirement of actually wielding two weapons. "Unarmed Strike" is not only not a "light weapon", it's not a weapon at all (Unarmed Strikes being weapon attacks notwithstanding).
That being said, off the top of my head, I can't really think how'd that be abusive, especially considering how it's not any better than wielding a club in your off-hand. It's only better if you're a Monk, but then you get that bonus unarmed strike anyway, from Martial Arts.
Tonio,
RAW, you are technically right.
Unarmed strike is a melee weapon attack, but not a melee weapon.
The specifics of Two-Weapon Fighting is "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"
But yeah... Heck it's *worse* then a club. The attack does 1+STR, a club at least gets a 1d4+STR!
https://www.sageadvice.eu/2017/09/02/errata-says-unarmed-doesnt-count-as-weapons-sage-advice-says-they-are-considered-melee-weapon-attacks-clarify/
http://media.wizards.com/2015/downloads/dnd/PH_Errata_1.1.pdf
https://www.sageadvice.eu/2015/06/15/melee-weapon-unarmed-strike/
Yeap. As a DM, I'd probably allow it, but it's not RAW, strictly speaking. =)
I guess it would only do 1 point of damage with no fighter;s two weapon fighting style....so really weak.
Aarakocras also have the "unarmed strike" proficiency