Light Quarterstaff?

[Ogun]

One can two weapon fight with a club, though the only good reason to do s is
Shillelagh.
Using Dual Wielder Fighting Style(edit:misspelled and not a Fighting Style, a Feat)I believe one can two weapon fight with either end of a quarterstaff.
For reasons of style I would like to use a staff that is light.
I figure 1d4 on each end would be the same as two clubs.
Compared to short swords its underpowered.
Obviously I want to use it with Shillelagh, but the only real advantage over using two clubs I can see is if it were enchanted.
I originally thought giving it Reach would be balanced but that seems like a stretch.

[DwarfFighter]

The much celebrated Polearm Mastery feat seems to let you do exactly what you want with a Quarterstaff (and a bit more). It's a bit off-brand as you can get the bonus attack when using it in one hand too. Out of the box though, this works with either Dueling or Great Weapon Fighting, but not Two Weapon Fighting. Perhaps an easier sell to your group if it's RAW?

I'm curious if anyone would have the Shillelagh spell override the 1d4 damage for the bonus attack or not.

[ff7hero]

Shillelagh just makes the weapon's damage die a d8. The PAM BA doesn't use the weapon's damage die.

[Eric Diaz]

One can two weapon fight with a club, though the only good reason to do s is
Shillelagh.
Using Duel Wielder Fighting Style I believe one can two weapon fight with either end of a quarterstaff.
For reasons of style I would like to use a staff that is light.
I figure 1d4 on each end would be the same as two clubs.
Compared to short swords its underpowered.
Obviously I want to use it with Shillelagh, but the only real advantage over using two clubs I can see is if it were enchanted.
I originally thought giving it Reach would be balanced but that seems like a stretch.

It's not RAW but it's balanced and fitting IMO.

[DwarfFighter]

One can two weapon fight with a club, though the only good reason to do s is
Shillelagh.
Using Duel Wielder Fighting Style I believe one can two weapon fight with either end of a quarterstaff.
For reasons of style I would like to use a staff that is light.
I figure 1d4 on each end would be the same as two clubs.
Compared to short swords its underpowered.
Obviously I want to use it with Shillelagh, but the only real advantage over using two clubs I can see is if it were enchanted.
I originally thought giving it Reach would be balanced but that seems like a stretch.

It seems like you are planning to use Shillelagh and whatever "Duel Wielder Fighting Style" is supposed to be.

I guess if you can combine the Shillelagh cantrip and the Two-Weapon Fighting style you can have 1d8 + Wisdom magical bludgeoning damage on your n Attack action attacks and the bonus attack. Ranger + Magic Initiate feat seems an obvious option.

I don't think anyone would call this overpowered: With one feat, Dual Wielder, you can have Dex Fighters and Rangers dual wield Rapiers, or Str Fighters and Rangers mix it up with combos of any of the 1d8 martial one-handed weapons and have pretty much the same effect with more versatility on damage type, just not magical.

But it seems a bit disingenuous to sell this in a "1d4 on each end" and "underpowered" compared to shortswords when those sub-par features are so readily overcome by the build you seem to have in mind. It smells like someone trying to pull a fast one on the GM! :)

-DF

[Ogun]

Oops, misspelled Dual Wielder and called it a Fighting Style,my bad.

1d4 on one end, and 1d4 turned into a 1d8 Shillelagh on the other, seems weaker than a 1d6 short sword in one hand and and a 1d4 club turned into a 1d8 Shillelagh in the other.

[CheddarChampion]

You're asking for a custom weapon? This is "Ask your DM" territory.
Personally it sounds like you want the benefits of a feat without having to take a feat, which makes this something I wouldn't grant to a player.

RAW, the fighting with two weapons rules only apply if you have two separate weapons. This extends to what you can use with Dual Wielder.

PAM + quarterstaff isn't weaker than club plus shillelagh plus shortsword plus TWF style: PAM allows you to ignore the TWF fighting style requirement, works with dueling style if you want it, plus you have a free hand for spellcasting or using a shield.

C + S + shillelagh + TWF is 1d8+mod and 1d6+mod.
Two shortswords + TWF is 1d6+mod twice.
Two rapiers + TWF + DW is 1d8+mod twice and +1 AC.
PAM quarterstaff (two handed) is 1d8+mod, 1d4+mod, and 1d8+mod if they move into your reach. Plus you only need to draw one weapon and it can be disguised as a walking stick.
PAM quarterstaff + dueling style + shillelagh + a shield is 1d8+mod+2, 1d4+mod+2, 1d8+mod+2 if they move into your reach, and +2 AC. Of these options, this has the most damage and the highest AC, though it has the most demanding requirements.

[Toadkiller]

It does seem like a complicated way to try to boost polearm master feat. Which already has the opportunity attack rider as well. That is far more valuable (in my opinion) than making a d4 a d8 for one attack.

Also- if I were to allow a staff to be fluffed as dual weapons (which is a big if) then it would be two castings of shillelagh to get two d8s. So that’s two bonus actions before you have both.

There are a lot of things that one can use a bonus action on. You giving those options up for two rounds is probably the biggest concession you have to try and argue your case. I still don’t think that is enough to allow polearm master to be outdone. But it is a better argument than trying to say it’s a light staff.

[Ogun]

I'm not sure how PAM got dragged into this??
Also,casting Shillelagh a second time ends the first casting.

Leaving any feats (or Fighting Styles) out of this, I think one can two weapon fight with a Shillelaghied club in one hand and a short sword in the other.
That would be one d8 attack and one d6 attack.
Assuming that is in fact the case, using one end of a staff as a 1d8 Shillelagh and the other end as 1d4 club seems less powerful.

I had assumed Dual Wielder allowed one to use each end of a quarterstaff,but that is not the case.
Disappointing.
PAM obviously does something like that, and let's you use one hand while your at it.
I think its goofy because of the one handedness, but I guess can reimagine that.
I might get PAM at 4th level.
Meanwhile I will petition for my the light staff, and if denied, wield two clubs and imagine they are a light staff

[Addaran]

I'm not sure how PAM got dragged into this??
Also,casting Shillelagh a second time ends the first casting.

Leaving any feats out of this, I think one can two weapon fight with a Shillelaghied club in one hand and a short sword in the other.
That would be one d8 attack and one d6 attack.
Assuming that is in fact the case, using one end of a staff as a 1d8 Shillelagh and the other end as 1d4 club seems less powerful.

I had assumed Dual Wielder allowed one to use each end of a quarterstaff,but that is not the case.
Disappointing.
PAM obviously does something like that, and let's you use one hand while your at it.
I think its goofy because of the one handedness, but I guess can reimagine that.
I might get PAM at 4th level.
Meanwhile I will petition for my the light staff, and if denied, wield two clubs and imagine they are a light staff

I'd let a player use Dual Wielder for two-weapon fighting with a quarterstaff. Use both hands and you still get only +1 AC, unlike with a shield.

If you use PAM, you don't -have- to use it one-handed. Especially since it looks goofy.

Also, do note that even if your GM lets you use shillelagh for both end of the staff and dual wield it, unless you have the two-weapon fighting style, you don't add your stat to the damage on the bonus action.

[greenstone]

One can two weapon fight with a club, though the only good reason to do s is
Shillelagh.
My pirate cleric with two belaying pins disagrees with you. :smallannoyed:


Using Dual Wielder Fighting Style(edit:misspelled and not a Fighting Style, a Feat)I believe one can two weapon fight with either end of a quarterstaff.
No, it can't. Double-ended weapons were in previous editions, but the only one in 5E is, I believe, the double-bladed scimitar (https://www.dndbeyond.com/equipment/double-bladed-scimitar) from the Eberron campaign.


For reasons of style I would like to use a staff that is light.
Staves are versatile, not light.

Weapons in 5E fall into one of five size categories (light, one-handed, versatile, two-handed, heavy) and none are in two categories (which makes sense, an item can't be both heavy and light at the same time).

With two exceptions, all the reach weapons are heavy (the exceptions being two specfial weapons, lance and whip). A light reach weapon seems wrong - if it is big enough to effectively attack a target 10 fet away then it needs to be somewhat heavy.

On the other hand, I see few characters using staves, which makes me a bit sad. Gandalf set a great example in Peter Jackson's LOTR movies, using a staff and a sword. Almost every martial art movie has staff-using foes. In science fiction, we have scarlet-faced Maul and his double-ended lightsaber. Some love for staves in 5E is probably needed.

[Arkhios]

Weapons in 5E fall into one of five size categories (light, one-handed, versatile, two-handed, heavy) and none are in two categories (which makes sense, an item can't be both heavy and light at the same time).


All versatile weapons are also one-handed and all heavy weapons are also two-handed.

So, there are quite a few of weapons that are in fact in two categories, if going by your five-step model.

Personally, I would consider versatile and heavy subcategories of one-handed and two-handed, respectively.

That said, if I were to allow a light staff, it wouldn't have higher than 1d6 base damage, and definitely wouldn't be versatile either. Being lighter implies the item weighs less, and such it wouldn't have as big impact when hit.
Being light wouldn't break anything, even when considering Shillelagh, since you can already dual wield a club-shillelagh without having Dual Wielder.
Also, since light isn't synonymous to finesse, rogues wouldn't get any further advantage from it.

A slightly more elegant way to do this, imho, is to make a unique magic item, maybe made from an unusually light material, such as Darkwood (currently it doesn't exist in 5e, but there's no reason why a DM couldn't implement it), that is essentially the wooden equivalent for mithral.