[L5R] Two Weapon fighting

[Anonymouswizard]

I recently picked up a copy of the 4th edition of Legend of the Five Rings, and was wondering what fighting with two weapons does other than give a penalty to your attack roll with either weapon (unless a member of the Mirumoto or Yoritomo Bushi schools) and letting you add your insight rank to your TN. Can I attack with both weapons in a single attack action (allowing you to eventually attack four times in a combat round)? Or does the second weapon act as a shield rules-wise? (Okay, I know at least core L5R has no shields, but you get the idea).

[BWR]

Wielding two weapons does not and has in no edition granted an extra attack in any way. In 4e, the exact modifications for twf are discussed on the sidebar on p 141. Short answer, you get a minimal bonus to ATN and a ton of penalties.
Even in 3e (which is kind of like D&D 3.5 compared to L5R 4e's D&D 5e) a Mirumoto could make all his 6+ attacks with a single weapon while dual wielding.

[Nerd-o-rama]

In 4e, technically speaking, Mirumoto Bushi 5 does get you one extra attack from your offhand weapon, assuming you already used your Simple Actions on attacking twice. You essentially get 3 attacks out of 2 simple actions rather than 2, but only in that particular rank of that particular school.

Other than that, dual-wielding gets you 0 extra attacks, period. You can attack with either weapon, and in most bushi schools you can attack twice starting at Insight 3, but other than that it's a minor defense boost and, unless you're in a school that teaches it (Mirumoto Bushi or Yoritomo Bushi), a bunch of penalties. (You can also get rid of the offhand penalties by using a War Fan as your offhand weapon, but as far as I can read you're still taking -5 on your main hand).

[Anonymouswizard]

Wielding two weapons does not and has in no edition granted an extra attack in any way. In 4e, the exact modifications for twf are discussed on the sidebar on p 141. Short answer, you get a minimal bonus to ATN and a ton of penalties.

Unless a Mirumoto Bush or Yoritomo Bushi, in which case there's no reason not to use two weapons (I have considered seeing if I can make a Yoritomo who fights with Naginata and Kama because I can find no penalty to using a polearm one-handed).

Even in 3e (which is kind of like D&D 3.5 compared to L5R 4e's D&D 5e) a Mirumoto could make all his 6+ attacks with a single weapon while dual wielding.

Well I'd hate to see how complex 3e was then.

In 4e, technically speaking, Mirumoto Bushi 5 does get you one extra attack from your offhand weapon, assuming you already used your Simple Actions on attacking twice. Other than that, dual-wielding gets you 0 extra attacks, period. You can attack with either weapon, and in most bushi schools you can attack twice starting at Insight 3, but other than that it's a minor defense boost and, unless you're in a school that teaches it (Mirumoto Bushi or Yoritomo Bushi), a bunch of penalties.

Cool, although I think I can see some interesting possibilities by either going katana+tonfa Yoriomo or just katana+jitte/sai for any non Mirumoto for the free raises on manoeuvres.

[BWR]

3E/R wasn't really more complex, it just had more powerful techniques and bigger numbers. ¤e, despite the fact I generally don't care for it, really toned down some things that needed toning down and made things without Techniques viable threats again. I just think they went a bit too far in nerfing a lot of stuff (and quibbles about the stances and the new Wounds system and the cost/use of Void etc.)

[Teulisch]

if you have a knife or war fan, then skill 3 will let you ignore offhand penalties for those. at higher skill the war fan can add you your defense, and the knife can add free raises to specific maneuvers such as disarm or extra attack.

the mantis bushi can use 'peasant' weapons in his offhand, which is a somewhat broader category such as if you have a torch in your off hand.