Your character has trained to fight with a weapon in both hands, allowing him to attack and dodge or make two attacks in the same turn. Your character still suffers the -2 offhand penalty when attacking with a weapon in his secondary hand (unless you have also pur- chased the Ambidextrous Merit).

Dots purchased in this Merit allow access to special combat maneuvers. Each maneuver is a prerequisite for the next. So, your character can’t have “Deflect and Thrust” until he has “Whirling Blades.” The maneuvers and their effects are detailed below, all of which are based on the Weaponry Skill.

Whirling Blades (•): Your character’s Dodge trait (Defense doubled; see p. 156) is not penalized by multiple attacks staged against him in a turn until the number of attacks exceeds his Weaponry dots, at which point each attack thereafter reduces his Dodge by -1. So, if your char- acter (with 2 Defense and 3 Weaponry) dodges attacks in a turn, the first three incoming attacks suffer his full Dodge trait as a penalty (-4). The fourth suffers a -3 penalty, the fifth suffers a -2 penalty, and so on. Basically, your character’s weapons move so quickly all about him that opponents in close combat have trouble reaching or assaulting him. The Brawling Dodge Merit (see p. 110) cannot replace normal Dodge (Defense doubled) when this maneuver is performed.

Deflect and Thrust (••): Your character can avoid attacks and strike back in the same motion. When using this maneuver, your character gains +2 to his Defense for the turn, but any attack he makes suffers a -2 penalty. He can move no more than his Speed while performing a Deflect and Thrust maneuver in a turn.

Focused Attack (•••): Your character can attack a single target twice in one turn. The second attack suffers a -1 penalty. Drawback: Your character cannot use his Defense against any attack in the same turn in which he intends to use this maneuver. If he uses Defense against attacks that occur earlier in the Initiative roster, before he can perform this maneuver, he cannot perform the maneuver this turn. He is too busy bobbing and weaving out of the way of attacks.

Fluid Attack (••••): Your character can make a single attack on two different targets in one turn. The targets cannot be a distance apart in excess of your character’s Speed trait. The second attack suffers a -1 penalty.

Drawback: Your character cannot use his Defense against any attack in the same turn in which he intends to use this maneuver. If he uses Defense against attacks that occur earlier in the Initiative roster, before he can perform this maneuver, he cannot perform the maneuver this turn. He is too busy bobbing and weaving out of the way of attacks.