/vr/ - Retro Games

I have a question more related to D&D: what's with the RPG's obsession with dual wielding? Every time I see some D&D artwork, there's always some guy proudly holding 2 melee weapons. And the combos seem to be kinda peculiar too: staff and dagger, or even 2 maces (don't quote me on that but that's how it looked).

I think it's apparent where Might and Magic took this from. In M&M7, you can hold a dagger/sword in your left hand. I never really understood how you could really hold spear in one hand, let alone with a sword. Even in the most fantastic Japanese legends I've heard of, double wielding is mostly a meme. OK, I can imagine how a monk can fight with a staff while using unarmed skill (see: TNMT and Matrix). But otherwise, even 2 daggers sounds like an ass-pull to me.

I get it that it's the part of mechanic, and it may look fancy and all that. But from what I understand, D&D has always tried to keep some degree of """realism""", so to say. Since dual wielding never was used IRL, why do they keep pushing it so hard?

And if anyone plays D&D—is there any benefit to actually using a single weapon?