Does this make double weapons any good?

[Gildedragon]

I was thinking on the many double weapons of dnd and their unremarkableness in combat.

Would allowing them to be treated as 2H weapons for the purpose of STR to damage and Power Attack, in addition to being light weapons for 2WF render them a good choice?

[Theobod]

I have never considered a double weapon an intrinsicly bad choice as is, i wouldn't take an EWP in dwarvern urgosh, but if i got it for free i would prolly get one, use one end two handed most of the time, never TWF with it and switch ends for differing damage types and materials.
So yeah maybe not the best choice, but a solid and thematic choice.

As for using it as intended, as a TWF pole.... in low-mid op groups, doesnt need homebrew to be on par. High op... well go to town, though in high op homebrew is less required, either op it or drop it :) my 2cp

[ArcturusV]

Unless I'm mistaken, that's already the case. If I had an Orcish double axe, I could two hand power smash with it, or I could two weapon and consider one end light. I could even switch my grip at will on it if I so desired.

... and I still wouldn't pay for it.

I'd say a better fix, if you wanted a fix, would be to look to making weapons do different things. Take the Orcish Double Axe, you have two slashing weapon heads doing the same damage. You don't need two heads doing the same amount of damage. So replace one of the axe heads with say... a morning star (... which would probably make it look closer to those vulcan staff weapons from Star Trek now that I think about it...)... now you have Slash, Pierce, and Bludgeon all in one weapon. That is moderately useful. Plus it's still a "Brutal" looking weapon that might fit the Orcish ideals.

Additional points? Allow anyone using a double weapon to use the "light" end as a shield if they didn't attack with it that turn? Might just be 2 AC if we count it as medium. But hell, why not?

Do that... maybe it might be worth picking up that Orcish Double Axe... or Orcish Axe-Star.

[Verditude]

I think the OP is proposing that both heads of the weapon count as 2H for Power Attack, and light for TWF, even if you attack with both in the same turn. I'm still not sure I'd spend a feat on it (functionally 2, unless I was already developing a 2WFer) since there isn't much synergy between the two styles. If I'm 2WFing, I likely have a source of bonus damage like sneak attack, so I don't need to be optimizing power attack on top of that.