You can fire only one piece of ammunition from a Loading weapon when you use an action, a Bonus Action, or a Reaction to fire it, regardless of the number of attacks you can normally make.
The Ammunition property says:
Ammunition
You can use a weapon that has the Ammunition property to make a ranged attack only if you have ammunition to fire from it. The type of ammunition required is specified with the weapon’s range. Each attack expends one piece of ammunition. Drawing the ammunition is part of the attack (you need a free hand to load a one-handed weapon). After a fight, you can spend 1 minute to recover half the ammunition (round down) you used in the fight; the rest is lost.
From the Ammunition property we know that drawing (and loading) the ammunition is part of the attack. From the Loading property we know that we can do that only once per Action (or BA, or Reaction).
I feel like there are two ways to interpret this:
In an action, there is only enough time to draw and load one piece of ammunition
Each weapon with the Loading property can only fire one piece of ammunition per action
Now, in 2014 I always thought it was interpretation (2), but it didn't matter much, because either way you could only fire one shot per action because you need a free hand to load one weapon, and you can't just stow it and draw another weapon in one turn.
However, in 2024 where weapon juggling is a possibility, I feel like interpretation (2) leads to an absurd situation where you are unable to load and fire the same weapon twice, but you are able to load and fire one weapon, stow it, draw another one, and load and fire that weapon.
Not only is that absolutely absurd, but it also makes the Loading property completely obsolete, because it can easily be entirely circumvented by carrying two identical weapons and juggling them.
So, I'm leaning towards interpretation (1), that per action only 1 Attack can be made with any weapon that has a Loading property.
I think the weapon juggling mechanics have caused a ton of issues and resolved none. The main issue was the thrown weapons but those are already fixed by the thrown property itself.
It’s certainly not a given that weapon juggling is a possibility, as evidenced by the long threads on the topic. When the text is ambiguous or unclear, I’m not sure why folks wouldn’t just universally default to the reading that actually makes sense.
It’s certainly not a given that weapon juggling is a possibility, as evidenced by the long threads on the topic. When the text is ambiguous or unclear, I’m not sure why folks wouldn’t just universally default to the reading that actually makes sense.
Honestly, I defaulted to reading it literally, and not to interpreting it as whatever I wish it were.
It’s certainly not a given that weapon juggling is a possibility, as evidenced by the long threads on the topic. When the text is ambiguous or unclear, I’m not sure why folks wouldn’t just universally default to the reading that actually makes sense.
Honestly, I defaulted to reading it literally, and not to interpreting it as whatever I wish it were.
In cases of ambiguity, multiple readings can be equally literal, so this is a really weirdly accusatory non sequitur kind of response to my post.
Weapon juggling with guns would be tricky anyway because it's specified you need a free hand to load the weapon, and drawing the ammunition is part of the action. So you couldn't do this for more than 2 guns regardless.
If you can fire only one piece of ammunition from a Loading weapon when you use an action, changing weapon during such action won't let you go above and beyond this limit.
If you can fire only one piece of ammunition from a Loading weapon when you use an action, changing weapon during such action won't let you go above and beyond this limit.
Yeah, that is also how I interpret it now. But I see a lot of people who interpret it as a limit that is tied to the weapon, as opposed to all weapons that have the property.
Weapon juggling with guns would be tricky anyway because it's specified you need a free hand to load the weapon, and drawing the ammunition is part of the action. So you couldn't do this for more than 2 guns regardless.
Yes, but even firing 2 guns would be more than what you could have done in 2014, where you could fire only 1 gun per turn (unless you did the thing where you drop your used guns to the floor as a free action).
As written, it's as you said in the original post. You can only attack with a particular loading weapon once per action, but if you switch weapons during your action you can attack with each of them once during that action.
Weapon juggling is not a thing. PH pg 24: "If you want to interact with a second object, you need to take the Utilize action" and pg 361: "You can either equip or unequip one weapon when you make an attack as part of this [Attack] action" (highlighting mine).
However, the example scenario on pg 30 has a character "... drop my sword and pull out my warhammer" to attack, so dropping a weapon to pull another would be OK.
Therefore, you could drop your crossbow after shooting it to draw and attack with another weapon, but as pointed out, stowing a crossbow and draw another weapon would not work and would "look" ridiculous.
Ha you're right i forgot then that is a perfect example that Equiping & Unequiping Weapons is meant to be in addition to the Time-Limited Object Interaction rule as the play example and explanation shows it's doing both before an attack.
14. Russell. I drop my sword and pull out my warhammer. Time to break some bones!. My first attack is 21 to hit for 7 bludgeoning damage.
14. Vulnerability. An attack that deals bludgeoning damage is deadly to skeletons. Shreeve knows this from past experience, which is why she drops her sword and switches to a Bludgeoning weapon. She rolls only 7 damage, but the DM knows the skeleton actually takes 14 damage.
Ha you're right i forgot then that is a perfect example that Equiping & Unequiping Weapons is meant to be in addition to the Time-Limited Object Interaction rule as the play example and explanation shows it's doing both before an attack.
14. Russell. I drop my sword and pull out my warhammer. Time to break some bones!. My first attack is 21 to hit for 7 bludgeoning damage.
14. Vulnerability. An attack that deals bludgeoning damage is deadly to skeletons. Shreeve knows this from past experience, which is why she drops her sword and switches to a Bludgeoning weapon. She rolls only 7 damage, but the DM knows the skeleton actually takes 14 damage.
I agree with your interpretation of how the rules are applied in that example from the PHB. The cherry on top would have been a direct reference to both rules.
I think the end result is you can swap weapons, but only two. You start with one in hand, attack, and drop it. You're all good there. Then you can draw a second weapon as part of a second attack. But you have no way to drop the second weapon, since you drew it, you can't also drop it on the same turn.
It can get complicated with throwing it, since then you've not dropped it, but you still have an empty hand, though that could be by design, as you can then be a thrown-weapon martial with multi-attack.
As far as ammunition, I don't think you can shoot more than once per round (without a feat) no matter how much you juggle.
You can fire only one piece of ammunition from a Loading weapon when you use an action, a Bonus Action, or a Reaction to fire it, regardless of the number of attacks you can normally make.
But here's a new plot twist: you have 2 attacks. First, you fire with a heavy crossbow, stow it, and before the second attack, pull out another pre-loaded heavy crossbow. It should work, but you can only do this on your first turn.
Hi!
The Loading property says
The Ammunition property says:
From the Ammunition property we know that drawing (and loading) the ammunition is part of the attack. From the Loading property we know that we can do that only once per Action (or BA, or Reaction).
I feel like there are two ways to interpret this:
Now, in 2014 I always thought it was interpretation (2), but it didn't matter much, because either way you could only fire one shot per action because you need a free hand to load one weapon, and you can't just stow it and draw another weapon in one turn.
However, in 2024 where weapon juggling is a possibility, I feel like interpretation (2) leads to an absurd situation where you are unable to load and fire the same weapon twice, but you are able to load and fire one weapon, stow it, draw another one, and load and fire that weapon.
Not only is that absolutely absurd, but it also makes the Loading property completely obsolete, because it can easily be entirely circumvented by carrying two identical weapons and juggling them.
So, I'm leaning towards interpretation (1), that per action only 1 Attack can be made with any weapon that has a Loading property.
What do you think?
I think the weapon juggling mechanics have caused a ton of issues and resolved none. The main issue was the thrown weapons but those are already fixed by the thrown property itself.
It’s certainly not a given that weapon juggling is a possibility, as evidenced by the long threads on the topic. When the text is ambiguous or unclear, I’m not sure why folks wouldn’t just universally default to the reading that actually makes sense.
Honestly, I defaulted to reading it literally, and not to interpreting it as whatever I wish it were.
In cases of ambiguity, multiple readings can be equally literal, so this is a really weirdly accusatory non sequitur kind of response to my post.
Weapon juggling with guns would be tricky anyway because it's specified you need a free hand to load the weapon, and drawing the ammunition is part of the action. So you couldn't do this for more than 2 guns regardless.
If you can fire only one piece of ammunition from a Loading weapon when you use an action, changing weapon during such action won't let you go above and beyond this limit.
Yeah, that is also how I interpret it now. But I see a lot of people who interpret it as a limit that is tied to the weapon, as opposed to all weapons that have the property.
Yes, but even firing 2 guns would be more than what you could have done in 2014, where you could fire only 1 gun per turn (unless you did the thing where you drop your used guns to the floor as a free action).
As written, it's as you said in the original post. You can only attack with a particular loading weapon once per action, but if you switch weapons during your action you can attack with each of them once during that action.
Weapon juggling is not a thing. PH pg 24: "If you want to interact with a second object, you need to take the Utilize action" and pg 361: "You can either equip or unequip one weapon when you make an attack as part of this [Attack] action" (highlighting mine).
However, the example scenario on pg 30 has a character "... drop my sword and pull out my warhammer" to attack, so dropping a weapon to pull another would be OK.
Therefore, you could drop your crossbow after shooting it to draw and attack with another weapon, but as pointed out, stowing a crossbow and draw another weapon would not work and would "look" ridiculous.
May be this play example rely on the fact that the game doesn't consider dropping something as a free object interaction.
I know the Devs didn't do so What are the rules on dropping weapons? (sageadvice.eu) / Does dropping an item count as your one use of "interacting with an object"? (sageadvice.eu)
The ‘24 rules now state dropping an item counts as stowing it. In the rules glossary, under attack action.
“Unequipping a weapon includes sheathing, stowing, or dropping it.”
Ha you're right i forgot then that is a perfect example that Equiping & Unequiping Weapons is meant to be in addition to the Time-Limited Object Interaction rule as the play example and explanation shows it's doing both before an attack.
I agree with your interpretation of how the rules are applied in that example from the PHB. The cherry on top would have been a direct reference to both rules.
Plot twist. Let's say I have 2 attacks. I fire a heavy crossbow, stow it, pull out and fire a longbow. Can I fire each of them per round?
I think the end result is you can swap weapons, but only two. You start with one in hand, attack, and drop it. You're all good there. Then you can draw a second weapon as part of a second attack. But you have no way to drop the second weapon, since you drew it, you can't also drop it on the same turn.
It can get complicated with throwing it, since then you've not dropped it, but you still have an empty hand, though that could be by design, as you can then be a thrown-weapon martial with multi-attack.
As far as ammunition, I don't think you can shoot more than once per round (without a feat) no matter how much you juggle.
You could attack with 3 different 2-handed weapons if you have enough attacks.
Attack, stow
Draw, attack
Stow with object interaction.
Draw, attack.
If you have more attacks after that you can throw additional weapons.
Is object interaction still a thing? And if so, does it still apply to draw/stow?
I don't think so, according to the Loading rules:
But here's a new plot twist: you have 2 attacks. First, you fire with a heavy crossbow, stow it, and before the second attack, pull out another pre-loaded heavy crossbow. It should work, but you can only do this on your first turn.
EDIT: it should work, if you DM allows that 😅