Can a versatile weapon be wielded in your off hand?

Question

My character is a dragonborn tempest (Martial Power) fighter focused on axes. Can I fight with two battleaxes or even waraxes (Adventurers vault)? Seems a bit overpowered but if I can it will be awesome!

Answer 1

No. A tempest fighter cannot wield normal one-handed weapons, regardless of whether they're versatile, in their off-hand.

From PHB1, p217:

Off-Hand: An off-hand weapon is light enough that you can hold it and attack effectively with it while holding a weapon in your main hand.

Thus, a non off-hand weapon cannot be used in your off-hand. Two-Blade rangers have a specific class feature that lets them bypass this restriction, but tempest fighters do not.

From PHB1, p104:

Two-Blade Fighting Style: Because of your focus on two-weapon melee attacks, you can wield a one-handed weapon in your off hand as if it were an off-hand weapon.

In fact, tempest fighters are encouraged to use 2 lighter weapons by their class features. Your character will actually do as much damage with handaxes as he would with battleaxes (as long as you use light armor or chainmail), and be more accurate to boot. If you take Shock Trooper as your paragon path, those handaxes will end up being as good as waraxes.

From Martial Power 1, p7 (emphasis mine):

Tempest Technique: When you wield two melee weapons, you gain a +1 bonus to attack rolls with weapons that have the off-hand property. You gain Two-Weapon Defense as a bonus feat, even if you don't meet the prerequisites. When wearing light armor or chainmail, you gain a +1 bonus to damage rolls with melee or close weapon attacks when you are wielding two weapons. This bonus increases to +2 with weapons that have the off-hand property.

Versatile has no effect on dual-wielding, so if your character can equip any one-handed weapon, that includes versatile weapons.