I have a cleric in my campaign who picked up the Dual Wielder feat. He likes to go into combat with a pair of war hammers. Since he has a hammer in each hand, this could cause some problems with spells that have somatic components. I was reading up on holy symbols as a spellcasting focus and the need for a free hand (or not), but it got me thinking that maybe all of that didn't really matter anyway. Looking at how the PHB considers object interaction on page 190, it would appear that in a given round he could do any one of the following:
Sheathe one wielded weapon, move, and use his action to cast with his newly free hand?
Wield a sheathed weapon, move, and use his action to attack (and then his bonus action to attack with his second weapon)
Sheathe one weapon, move, and use his action to cast (and attack with his other weapon if attacking was included in the casting action of the spell in question)
Are each of those examples valid? He does not have the War Caster feat.
The third option is not valid. Two-weapon fighting requires that you use the Attack action. Casting a spell that requires an attack is still the Cast a Spell action. In the second example he is using the Attack action so two-weapon fighting is valid there.
The other two are valid as you can draw/sheathe a weapon as part of your movement or action. Note, you can only interact with one object or feature of the environment (opening a door) for free during your turn. Interacting with a second object requires an action.
To clarify, I was referring to a spell along the lines of Booming Blade where the casting action involves a melee attack. Maybe that situation is so specific it's not even worth listing though.
To clarify, I was referring to a spell along the lines of Booming Blade where the casting action involves a melee attack. Maybe that situation is so specific it's not even worth listing though.
It does not matter which spell you use, it still uses the "cast a spell " action, not the "attack" action. The same counts for having multiple attacks (say as a multiclass fighter), they only work on the Attack action so you could not use booming blade while doing multiple attacks.
As Sillvva states, if you don't use the Attack action, you don't meet the requirements of making an off-handed attack, so you would only be able to make a single attack.
To clarify, I was referring to a spell along the lines of Booming Blade where the casting action involves a melee attack. Maybe that situation is so specific it's not even worth listing though.
It does not matter which spell you use, it still uses the "cast a spell " action, not the "attack" action. The same counts for having multiple attacks (say as a multiclass fighter), they only work on the Attack action so you could not use booming blade while doing multiple attacks.
As Sillvva states, if you don't use the Attack action, you don't meet the requirements of making an off-handed attack, so you would only be able to make a single attack.
No, the OP is correct. Some spells involve and require a melee weapon attack as part of the casting, so yes the cleric could put one weapon away and cast those spells using the weapon they are still wielding to make that attack. They would also be able to use that single wielded weapon to make opportunity attacks (which is usually the other inconvenience of sheathing a weapon to cast). It is worth noting, however, that sheathing to cast would mean they would lose the +1 AC from the dual wielder feat until they drew the weapon again. Theoretically you are allowed to drop a weapon for free, cast a spell, then use your object interaction to pick the weapon back up, but I don't like that sequence of actions so I have a house rule that says you can drop for free, but can't pick it back up in the same turn. War Caster would make their life a bit easier, but would still not allow Material component spells. If they were to pick up the War Caster feat and also find a Ruby of the War Mage then they could cast anything while still swinging their double hammers around.
To clarify, I was referring to a spell along the lines of Booming Blade where the casting action involves a melee attack. Maybe that situation is so specific it's not even worth listing though.
It does not matter which spell you use, it still uses the "cast a spell " action, not the "attack" action. The same counts for having multiple attacks (say as a multiclass fighter), they only work on the Attack action so you could not use booming blade while doing multiple attacks.
As Sillvva states, if you don't use the Attack action, you don't meet the requirements of making an off-handed attack, so you would only be able to make a single attack.
No, the OP is correct. Some spells involve and require a melee weapon attack as part of the casting, so yes the cleric could put one weapon away and cast those spells using the weapon they are still wielding to make that attack. They would also be able to use that single wielded weapon to make opportunity attacks (which is usually the other inconvenience of sheathing a weapon to cast). It is worth noting, however, that sheathing to cast would mean they would lose the +1 AC from the dual wielder feat until they drew the weapon again. Theoretically you are allowed to drop a weapon for free, cast a spell, then use your object interaction to pick the weapon back up, but I don't like that sequence of actions so I have a house rule that says you can drop for free, but can't pick it back up in the same turn. War Caster would make their life a bit easier, but would still not allow Material component spells. If they were to pick up the War Caster feat and also find a Ruby of the War Mage then they could cast anything while still swinging their double hammers around.
I completely misread the OP's post. I thought it had to do with off-hand extra attacks. My apologies
Don't know why I assumed two-weapon fighting, since you mentioned sheathing a weapon. With spells like Booming Blade you could be dual wielding weapons and still cast them. It only requires V, M (weapon) as components. You would have to sheath one for Steel Wind Strike though as it requires somatic components.
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I have a cleric in my campaign who picked up the Dual Wielder feat. He likes to go into combat with a pair of war hammers. Since he has a hammer in each hand, this could cause some problems with spells that have somatic components. I was reading up on holy symbols as a spellcasting focus and the need for a free hand (or not), but it got me thinking that maybe all of that didn't really matter anyway. Looking at how the PHB considers object interaction on page 190, it would appear that in a given round he could do any one of the following:
Are each of those examples valid? He does not have the War Caster feat.
"Not all those who wander are lost"
The third option is not valid. Two-weapon fighting requires that you use the Attack action. Casting a spell that requires an attack is still the Cast a Spell action. In the second example he is using the Attack action so two-weapon fighting is valid there.
The other two are valid as you can draw/sheathe a weapon as part of your movement or action. Note, you can only interact with one object or feature of the environment (opening a door) for free during your turn. Interacting with a second object requires an action.
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To clarify, I was referring to a spell along the lines of Booming Blade where the casting action involves a melee attack. Maybe that situation is so specific it's not even worth listing though.
"Not all those who wander are lost"
It does not matter which spell you use, it still uses the "cast a spell " action, not the "attack" action. The same counts for having multiple attacks (say as a multiclass fighter), they only work on the Attack action so you could not use booming blade while doing multiple attacks.
As Sillvva states, if you don't use the Attack action, you don't meet the requirements of making an off-handed attack, so you would only be able to make a single attack.
Subclass: Dwarven Defender - Dragonborn Paragon
Feats: Artificer Apprentice
Monsters: Sheep - Spellbreaker Warforged Titan
Magic Items: Whipier - Ring of Secret Storage - Collar of the Guardian
Monster template: Skeletal Creature
No, the OP is correct. Some spells involve and require a melee weapon attack as part of the casting, so yes the cleric could put one weapon away and cast those spells using the weapon they are still wielding to make that attack. They would also be able to use that single wielded weapon to make opportunity attacks (which is usually the other inconvenience of sheathing a weapon to cast). It is worth noting, however, that sheathing to cast would mean they would lose the +1 AC from the dual wielder feat until they drew the weapon again. Theoretically you are allowed to drop a weapon for free, cast a spell, then use your object interaction to pick the weapon back up, but I don't like that sequence of actions so I have a house rule that says you can drop for free, but can't pick it back up in the same turn. War Caster would make their life a bit easier, but would still not allow Material component spells. If they were to pick up the War Caster feat and also find a Ruby of the War Mage then they could cast anything while still swinging their double hammers around.
I completely misread the OP's post. I thought it had to do with off-hand extra attacks. My apologies
Subclass: Dwarven Defender - Dragonborn Paragon
Feats: Artificer Apprentice
Monsters: Sheep - Spellbreaker Warforged Titan
Magic Items: Whipier - Ring of Secret Storage - Collar of the Guardian
Monster template: Skeletal Creature
Don't know why I assumed two-weapon fighting, since you mentioned sheathing a weapon. With spells like Booming Blade you could be dual wielding weapons and still cast them. It only requires V, M (weapon) as components. You would have to sheath one for Steel Wind Strike though as it requires somatic components.
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