Can two-hand weapons be dual-wielded by something with four arms?

Question

I was considering playing a Summoner in my next Pathfinder campaign, and I decided that I wanted my Eidolon to be a a four-armed giant (the character being a Gnome with a height complex).

Well, I thought to myself: If it has four arms, then shouldn't it be able to wield two two-handed weapons?

As far as I can tell, it should work. That said, how would that work, exactly? I would assume that it would work like usual two-weapon wielding as far as feats and the like, and it would gain all the bonuses from two-weapon wielding as well. However, as this isn't exactly something that happens often, and thus there are no rules for it (that I can find) I can't be sure of any of this. Does anyone know of anything that could help me with this?

Answer 1

Information from http://www.d20pfsrd.com :

###Multiweapon Fighting (Combat)

This multi-armed creature is skilled at making attacks with multiple weapons.

Prerequisites: Dex 13, three or more hands.

Benefit: Penalties for fighting with multiple weapons are reduced by –2 with the primary hand and by –6 with off hands.

Normal: A creature without this feat takes a –6 penalty on attacks made with its primary hand and a –10 penalty on attacks made with all of its off hands. (It has one primary hand, and all the others are off hands.) See Two-Weapon Fighting.

Special: This feat replaces the Two-Weapon Fighting feat for creatures with more than two arms.

Table: Two-Weapon Fighting Penalties

\begin{array}{lcc} \text{Circumstances} & \text{Primary Hand} & \text{Off Hand} \\ \text{Normal penalties} & -6 & -10 \\ \text{Off-hand weapon is light} & -4 & -8 \\ \text{Two-Weapon Fighting feat} & -4 & -4 \\ \text{Off-hand weapon is light and} \\ \quad\text{Two-Weapon Fighting feat} & -2 & -2 \end{array}

Answer 2

It should be doable, but note that paired weapons that way would require the weapon to be wielded effectively with the two arms on one side. The feat, RAW, however, presumes 1-hand weapons.

Having fought with Case of Rapier in the SCA, you can't use the rapiers in the full range of options when dual wielding - in Case, you have to keep each out of the way of the other. I've also fought greatsword...

The same would be true for a dual wield of greatswords in a 4 armed species. It would be perfectly reasonable to reduce the damage from one or both, due to the changes in the way the biomechanics works, and/or to require increased strength, but the version I have doesn't discuss dual wielding in many-armed species.

So... I would suggest that, if allowing it, it would require a separate "2-handed dual-wield" giving a -1 damage penalty (for biomechanical reasons) if both are 2-handed, and none if the secondary is smaller, and the same to hit penalties as normal, and an "Improved 2-hand dual-wield" without the damage penalty.

Answer 3

I don't know what the rules would tell, but I find hard to imagine that creature fighting that way.

When you hit with a two handed weapon you don't use only two hands/arms. The whole body goes along to give the attack/parry strength. I don't know much about anatomy, but I think if you made two attacks with those weapon, or an attack and a parry, your back could break in two.

Also, I think that a sword would always be in the middle of the other, so I don't see that working.