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I'm trying to decide what to take as a feat for my unarmed monk build. I came across the Dual Wielder feat which says

You master fighting with two weapons, gaining the following benefits:

• You gain a +1 bonus to AC while you are wielding a separate melee weapon in each hand.

• You can use two-weapon fighting even when the one-handed melee weapons you are wielding aren’t light.

• You can draw or stow two one-handed weapons when you would normally be able to draw or stow only one.

Does the fist count as a weapon in the context of the first bullet?

Zacarius
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    As a note, even if it did, it's probably not worth spending an entire feat on +1 AC. – Jason_c_o Apr 06 '18 at 08:11
  • Like @Jason_c_o said. If you're not planning to use weapons, take a +2 to Dex instead of the feat. You still get +1 AC as well as anything else that uses Dex. – Asher Apr 13 '18 at 17:33

2 Answers2

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No.

Unarmed strikes are not weapons. See PHB p.195:

Instead of using a weapon to attack you can use an unarmed strike. (Emphasis mine)

(Note that early printings of the PHB included "unarmed strike" in the weapons table; that has been corrected by errata.)

Community
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nitsua60
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RAW, the answer is most likely no.

Melee weapons are listed on PHB page 149. Unfortunately, fists are not in that list.

On PHB page 146, under weapons:

Your class grants proficiency in certain weapons, reflecting both the class's focus and the tools you are most likely to use. (emphasis mine)

Based on this, the answer to your question is no, because while the weapon list is not exhaustive, the description of 'weapons' in the rules seems to classify weapons as tools. Fists are unfortunately not tools.

Simon H.
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  • related on unarmed strikes – NotArch Apr 06 '18 at 02:01
  • But isn't unarmed strike listed as a weapon on PHB page 149 Quarterstaff 2 sp 1d6 bludgeoning 4 lb. Versatile (1d8) Sickle 1 gp 1d4 slashing 2 lb. Light Spear 1 gp 1d6 piercing 3 lb. Thrown (range 20/60), versatile (1d8) Unarmed strike — 1 bludgeoning — — – Zacarius Apr 06 '18 at 02:01
  • I can't find what you're referring to, Zacarius, but if the top answer on NautArch's linked question is correct, I am wrong. – Simon H. Apr 06 '18 at 02:07
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    It's possible @Zacarius has an early printing of the PHB which lists unarmed strikes in the weapon table. (In which case they should avail themselves of the 1-pg. errata which would bring their PHB into consonance with the rest of the 5e ecosystem.) – nitsua60 Apr 06 '18 at 02:08
  • @Zacarius Take a look here. – Slagmoth Apr 06 '18 at 02:40
  • It might be better to link to the most recent version of the PHB errata: https://media.wizards.com/2017/dnd/downloads/PH-Errata.pdf – V2Blast Apr 06 '18 at 08:28
  • @V2Blast except I remember somewhere WotC requesting that people link to the pages that contain such things, rather than directly to the target. I forget why or where.... – nitsua60 Apr 06 '18 at 11:32
  • I've never seen any such statement myself. But regardless, Slagmoth's comment links to the 2015 version of the compendium, which is why I replied with a more recent link. – V2Blast Apr 06 '18 at 22:43