The 2024 revisions of the D&D 5th Edition rules make many changes, and complicate multiple attacks per round even more. I spent some time trying to disentangle it all, and here’s what I came up with.
Extra Attack
- With the Extra Attack class feature, every Attack action can include two attacks instead of one.
- Pure Fighters get as far as Three Extra Attacks at level 20, but other classes max out at one — aside from Warlock Thirsting Blade.
Dual Wielding
- When wielding two Light weapons, a character can Attack normally with one weapon and use a Bonus action to make a secondary attack in the same round. The secondary attack normally benefits from their Ability (Strength/Dexterity) bonus to hit, but not to damage. This only works once per round, because characters only get one Bonus action. This applies to both melee and ranged Light weapons.
- With the Dual Wielder Feat, the secondary weapon need not be Light, but must be both melee and One-Handed. The Bonus attack still does not gain an Attribute bonus to damage. The primary weapon may be ranged but must also be Light.
- When making a Bonus attack with a hand crossbow with the Crossbow Expert Feat, Bonus attack damage benefits from Dexterity. Both weapons must still be Light, although the primary could be melee.
- With the Two-Weapon Fighting Style, the Strength/Dexterity bonus also applies to secondary melee weapon Damage.
- When Dual Wielding a weapon with the Nick property (either weapon, although this seems like an oversight), the wielder may make one secondary attack as part of their Attack action, instead of spending a Bonus action on the secondary attack. This is particularly important to characters with other important Bonus actions.
Example
- Conan is a level 20 Fighter wielding a Shortsword (One-Handed, Light, Vex) in his main hand and a Scimitar (One-Handed, Light, Nick) in his secondary hand, with Shortsword and Scimitar Weapon Masteries active. Conan strikes 4 times with his primary Shortsword due to Three Extra Attacks. Conan gets a free strike using his Scimitar as part of his main Attack action due to Nick, and uses his Bonus action to attack a second time with the Scimitar, for 6 attacks in a round. If Conan keeps hitting, he’ll have Advantage to hit on 4 attacks due to Vex.
- With both Dual Wielder Feat and Two-Weapon Fighting Style, his secondary weapon could be a Longsword and gain bonus Strength damage.
- Crossbow Expert synergizes with Two-Weapon Fighting Style, but not with Dual Wielder because they require different secondary weapons.
Notes
- To my surprise, it looks like off-hand attacks always get Proficiency and Strength/Dexterity bonuses to hit; I guess this changed since 3Ed. But in the base case they don’t get the Strength/Dexterity damage bonus.
- The rules don’t specify whether the Nick property must be on the primary or secondary weapon, or either. Arguably it would make more sense if Nick was required on the secondary weapon, which is used for the Nick attack.
- The fact that the rules apparently allow a player to attack with one weapon, switch to another weapon for a secondary attack, and switch back — all with one hand, while the other hand holds a shield — is obviously a mistake.
- I spent some time trying to nail down how to calculate to hit and damage bonuses. The Combat sections of the Players Handbook (2024), Dungeon Master’s Guide (2014), and Free Rules (2024) don’t explain this. Surprisingly I found some of it in Equipment: Weapons under melee & ranged weapons, even though it also applies to unarmed attacks and improvised weapons. It’s not nearly as clear as it should be, but my understanding is:
- When making a melee attack, one normally benefits from Strength, Proficiency, and weapon bonuses.
- When making a ranged attack, one normally adds Dexterity, Proficiency, and weapon bonuses.
- For Finesse melee weapons, one chooses whether to use the Strength or Dexterity bonus (both to hit and for damage).
- For throwable weapons such as dagger and handaxe, one uses Strength for melee attacks and Dexterity for throws.
- There are other multi-attack rules, including my personal favorite, the Ranger/Hunter’s OP Horde Breaker. These are pretty much all incompatible with crossbows without Crossbow Expert because of the Loading property. But Sharpshooter is significantly better than Crossbow Expert. So Longbow (1d8) & Sharpshooter is better than Heavy Crossbow (1d10) with Crossbow Expert except from levels 1-3 — when characters are don’t have multiple attacks or run into these constraints.