Fighting Styles Questions

I'm quite new to ACKS and I absolutely adore the system. I did have some confusion over Fightying Styles which I found out to be common. After searching through old posts for answers I'm still uncertain on a few things. So I wanted to verify what styles classes can and can't do...

1. Fighter

  • Single Weapon style
  • Weapon & Shield style
  • Two-Handed Weapon style
  • Dual Wield style
  • CAN NOT USE A SINGLE WEAPON WITH 2 HANDS

​2. Cleric

  • Single Weapon style
  • Weapon & Shield style
  • Two-Handed Weapon Style
  • CAN NOT DUAL WIELD
  • CAN NOT USE A SINGLE WEAPON WITH 2 HANDS

3. Thief

  • Single Weapon style
  • Dual Wield style
  • Single Weapon with 2 hands style
  • CAN NOT USE TWO-HANDED WEAPON STYLE

​4. Assassin

  • Weapon & Shield style
  • Dual Wield style
  • Single Weapon with 2 hands 
  • Sinlge Weapon style
  • CAN NOT USE TWO-HANDED WEAPON STYLE

​5. Bard

  • Singe Weapon style
  • Dual Wield
  • CAN NOT USE A SINGLE WEAPON WITH 2 HANDS
  • CAN NOT USE WEAPON & SHIELD STYLE

6. Explorer

  • Single Weapon style
  • Single Weapon with 2 hands
  • Dual Wield style
  • Weapon & Shield style
  • CAN NOT USE TWO-HANDED WEAPON STYLE

I'll stop there. Am I understanding all this correctly? I'm the most confused on using a single weapon with 2 hands. When wielding a sword with 2 hands does that count as single wield style or two-handed weapon style? Thanks for the help as this was a stumbling block for me. 

you are a bit confused here.

classes have different levels of freedom with regard to how they can fight, with there being 3 ways in total; classes can have between 0 and 3 of these options; all options in the core book have at least one:
fighting with a weapon and shield
fighting with a weapon in each hand
fighting with a two-handed weapon
the fighter can do all of these; the mage can only do the last (a quarterstaff is a 2-handed weapon), the cleric may not fight with a weapon in each hand, the thief cannot use shields.
The thief actually can fight with a two-handed weapon so long as it is a weapon he is proficient in; weapons like standard swords and spears, which can be used with one or two hands, but not greatswords and polearms, which can only be used in two hands. This (thieves) is not explained clearly but is the intended meaning, as can be seen in the ACKS Player's Companion.

you misread assassin; they are forbidden shields, but that's it. bards are as thieves; explorers are as fighters, but with a limited weapon selection. 

you have confused the class ability to fight in certain ways with the 'Fighting Style' Proficiency, I think. If a character with both relevant Fighting Style proficiencies(single weapon, two handed weapon) is fighting with a sword 2 handed, the player chooses which proficiency applies; they're not mutually exclusive in what situations qualify for them, but are mutually exclusive in effect. A character fighting with a spear and a shield would count as Pole Weapon, Missile Weapon, Single Weapon, or Weapon and Shield, should he have the relevant proficiencies, but could only gain the bonus from one of those proficiencies in a given round; typically i'd say make them declare which at the start of the round. in practice few players will take multiple fighting style proficiencies, as one of the effects will be being wasted at any given time.

Welcome to the community! This is a common question, largely because I did a terrible job writing this section of the rules.

The easiest thing to do is to first divide weapons into small, medium, and large. Small weapons can only be used with one-hand. Medium weapons can be used with one or two hands. Large weapons can only be used with two hands.

Then there are four fighting styles: Single weapon (small or medium weapon in one hand); weapon and shield (small or medium weapon in one hand, shield in other hand); two-handed weapon (medium or large weapon wielded with both hands); and dual wield (small or medium weapon in each hand)

And this is how they interact:

Fighter

  • Single Weapon style - yes, can fight with small or medium weapon in one hand
  • Weapon & Shield style - yes, can fight with small or medium weapon in one hand and shield in other
  • Two-Handed Weapon style - yes, can fight with a single medium or large weapon wielded with both hands
  • Dual Wield style - yes, can fight with a pair of small or medium weapons, one in each hand
  • CAN NOT USE A SINGLE WEAPON WITH 2 HANDS - wrong, see above

​2. Cleric

  • Single Weapon style - yes, can fight with small or medium weapon in one hand
  • Weapon & Shield style - - yes, can fight with small or medium weapon in one hand and shield in other
  • Two-Handed Weapon Style- yes, can fight with a single medium or large weapon wielded with both hands
  • CAN NOT DUAL WIELD - correct
  • CAN NOT USE A SINGLE WEAPON WITH 2 HANDS - wrong, see above

3. Thief

  • Single Weapon style - yes, can fight with small or medium weapon in one hand
  • Dual Wield style -  yes, can fight with a single medium or large weapon wielded with both hands
  • Single Weapon with 2 hands style - yes, can fight with a single medium (but NOT large) weapon wielded with both hands
  • CAN NOT USE TWO-HANDED WEAPON STYLE - sort of correct, cannot use large weapons, which require two hands, but can use medium weapons with two hands if he wants. So he can use a [small] short sword, a [medium] sword, but not a [large] two-handed sword.

​And so on. Does that clear it up? The main point of confusion is that thieves cannot use large weapons, but can fight two-handed, and the explanation is that they can fight two-handed with medium weapons like spears or swords. 

Thanks for clarifying!

That does help substantially. Thank you. So any character that can use a medium weapon can also use it two-handed. Now if a character uses a medium weapon two-handed is that considered fighting two-handed in terms of fighting style proficiency? Or does that still count as single weapon fighting? Feral Cleric you mentioned that Assassins can't use shields. I'm looking at the book now and it states they may fight with a weapon & shield. Was this update in errata or something?

So to recap it's better to look at what weapons they can use to help determine how they can fight. 

IANAA, but I would say that yes, wielding a medium weapon in 2-hands counts for the two-handed fighting style proficiency. I would also that that a spear wielded in two hands counted for the polearm fighting style as well as the two handed, but only one at a time, as per the fighting style rules.

but the only bonus accrued without selecting a Fight Styles proficiency is the +1 to hit gained dual wielding, correct?

Just because a Fighter CAN fight with weapon and shield does not imply that he gets an additional +1 to AC as listed in the Fighting Styles table on p60.

However, ALL class that CAN fight Dual Weilding get the +1 to hit indicated in the paragraph below the Character Attack Throws table on 102 when attacking with a weapon in each hand.