If a character is holding a weapon in each hand, can he/she choose which to attack with?
Simple example: Bob the level 1 Sorcerer is holding a handaxe in his main hand and a dagger in his off-hand. Bob has no feats/abilities relevant to two weapons. When he takes the attack action, can he choose to attack with the dagger?
Any citations (book & page number) would be appreciated. My apologies if I've missed an obvious reference.
AFAIK, there is no main hand or off-hand concept in D&D 5e and there is no rule saying you can't do that, so yes, you choose which weapon you use for each attack.
There's a slightly related Sage Advice Compendium answer:
Extra Attack imposes no limitation on what you use for the attacks. You can use regular weapons, improvised weapons, Unarmed Strike, or a combination of these options for the attacks. However, you must still follow the rules for equipping and unequipping weapons as part of the Attack action.
Just to add to what others have said: you can, but you're not going to find any rule or reference explicitly stating that, because what makes it possible is the absence of any restriction to the contrary.
It's allowed for the same reason that you're allowed to attack while wearing a hat, or cast a cantrip on a Tuesday, or wear medium armor if your name starts with J: because nothing in the rules says you can't.
Thank you all for the responses. My question is resolved.
I used a simple Sorcerer as the example to avoid complications. What I find intriguing is that if a character has Weapon Mastery in both weapons (not our simple Sorcerer Bob) then they could choose which weapon to attack with depending on which Mastery property is more advantageous at that moment.
Such as: a 5 Monk / 3 Rogue could first attack with a Handaxe for Vex, which gives advantage for his second attack with the Dagger (triggering Sneak Attack), which gives a third attack via Nick. The character's Bonus Action would still be available for an Unarmed Strike or Flurry of Blows. (And that's without adding Two Weapon Fighting or Dual Wielding.)
(And that's without adding Two Weapon Fighting or Dual Wielding.)
I know you were trying to keep it simple, but just for the record, Two-weapon Fighting does not add extra attacks and Dual Wielding competes with Flurry of Blows in your example.
(And that's without adding Two Weapon Fighting or Dual Wielding.)
I know you were trying to keep it simple, but just for the record, Two-weapon Fighting does not add extra attacks and Dual Wielding competes with Flurry of Blows in your example.
Agreed!
I re-wrote my post at one point and didn't clean up that leftover thought.
[...] Such as: a 5 Monk / 3 Rogue could first attack with a Handaxe for Vex, which gives advantage for his second attack with the Dagger (triggering Sneak Attack), which gives a third attack via Nick. The character's Bonus Action would still be available for an Unarmed Strike or Flurry of Blows. (And that's without adding Two Weapon Fighting or Dual Wielding.)
Just to make sure I understand, you're saying something like this?
Thank you all for the responses. My question is resolved.
I used a simple Sorcerer as the example to avoid complications. What I find intriguing is that if a character has Weapon Mastery in both weapons (not our simple Sorcerer Bob) then they could choose which weapon to attack with depending on which Mastery property is more advantageous at that moment.
Such as: a 5 Monk / 3 Rogue could first attack with a Handaxe for Vex, which gives advantage for his second attack with the Dagger (triggering Sneak Attack), which gives a third attack via Nick. The character's Bonus Action would still be available for an Unarmed Strike or Flurry of Blows. (And that's without adding Two Weapon Fighting or Dual Wielding.)
Correct, each attack is resolve with any weapon wielded unless one is specifically required. In your example a different weapon is needed for the extra attack of the Light property or Dual Wielder. So such Monk/Rogue taking the Attack action can either attack with;
[...] Such as: a 5 Monk / 3 Rogue could first attack with a Handaxe for Vex, which gives advantage for his second attack with the Dagger (triggering Sneak Attack), which gives a third attack via Nick. The character's Bonus Action would still be available for an Unarmed Strike or Flurry of Blows. (And that's without adding Two Weapon Fighting or Dual Wielding.)
Just to make sure I understand, you're saying something like this?
Attack with Handaxe (Vex)
Attack with Dagger (Nick) without using your BA
Extra Attack with Handaxe or Dagger
Almost.
The additional attack granted by Nick must be a weapon other than the dagger.
Attack with Handaxe (Vex)
Extra Attack with Dagger (Nick), made with Advantage from Vex, which adds Sneak Attack damage
Nick's additional attack, which must be Handaxe (Vex)
And since you end with the Handaxe granting Vex again:
Bonus Action attack (Unarmed Strike or Flurry of Blows) made with Advantage
The additional attack granted by Nick must be a weapon other than the dagger.
Nick does not grant an additional attack. Light does. Nick only changes the extra attack to part of the Attack action. There is debate regarding whether the extra attack or first attack needs to be made with the Nick weapon, with some saying it has to be the first attack, some saying it has to be the extra attack, and some saying it can be either. There is nothing in the rules of Nick that require a particular sequence.
Extra Attack with Dagger (Nick), made with Advantage from Vex, which adds Sneak Attack damage
Nick's additional attack, which must be Handaxe (Vex)
And since you end with the Handaxe granting Vex again:
Bonus Action attack (Unarmed Strike or Flurry of Blows) made with Advantage
You have attacked with the Handaxe and Dagger as normal attacks during the Attack action so you can now make a Light extra attack with either weapon. Nick moves that extra attack into the Attack action but does not change anything else about it, including which weapons are eligible to make the attack.
It is advantageous (ha!) to attack with the Vex weapon for the extra attack but not required.
[...] Such as: a 5 Monk / 3 Rogue could first attack with a Handaxe for Vex, which gives advantage for his second attack with the Dagger (triggering Sneak Attack), which gives a third attack via Nick. The character's Bonus Action would still be available for an Unarmed Strike or Flurry of Blows. (And that's without adding Two Weapon Fighting or Dual Wielding.)
Just to make sure I understand, you're saying something like this?
Attack with Handaxe (Vex)
Attack with Dagger (Nick) without using your BA
Extra Attack with Handaxe or Dagger
Almost.
The additional attack granted by Nick must be a weapon other than the dagger.
Attack with Handaxe (Vex)
Extra Attack with Dagger (Nick), made with Advantage from Vex, which adds Sneak Attack damage
Nick's additional attack, which must be Handaxe (Vex)
And since you end with the Handaxe granting Vex again:
Bonus Action attack (Unarmed Strike or Flurry of Blows) made with Advantage
I see. I asked because, as Smite said, the Nick order has been debated a lot in the subforum (*). So you can rule the Nick weapon mastery is activated when you make the Light additional attack (which is my take), or on the initial attack. RAW allows it on either attack. My ruling is based on the article Your Guide to Weapon Mastery in the 2024 Player's Handbook, but I know it's not a conclusive proof.
In any case, as Plague mentioned, RAW both examples are valid.
Ahh, Light, Nick and Dual Wielder. Such lovely things that combined are so ambiguous.
They should have kept Light and fighting with two weapons straight forward like in 2014. Without Dual Wielder, need two melee light weapons. With Dual Wielder, need two melee weapons that aren't two handed. Then add "with this weapon" to Nick to clarify it is the one used on the extra attack. And kept hand crossbows to Crossbow Expert where they belong.
Then add "with this weapon" to Nick to clarify it is the one used on the extra attack.
This isn't necessarily their intent. As written, you can use it for either attack. If you wanted consistency, you would require it to be primary weapon. As it is, the main attack being quick enough to fit in an extra attack with the rest makes as much sense as an extra attack being quick enough to fit in with the rest. See TarodNet's post for existing discussion on the topic.
Having the rules on fighting with two weapons in the Light property arguably makes it more visible to people not rereading the combat section.
To me it make more sense for Nick Mastery to modify the extra attack of the Light property you make with this weapon, than it is to modify a future attack with different weapon thereafter.
To me it make more sense for Nick Mastery to modify the extra attack of the Light property you make with this weapon, than it is to modify a future attack with different weapon thereafter.
I'd even go so far as to say that it makes sense from the name as well. You aren't using the full force of a calculated strike (read: adding your STR/DEX mod). You are swinging quickly to try and "nick" them with a less forceful strike (read: do not add your STR/DEX mod).
But now that I've written this, I regret it because there is no need to rehash all of this.
Then add "with this weapon" to Nick to clarify it is the one used on the extra attack.
This isn't necessarily their intent. As written, you can use it for either attack. If you wanted consistency, you would require it to be primary weapon. As it is, the main attack being quick enough to fit in an extra attack with the rest makes as much sense as an extra attack being quick enough to fit in with the rest. See TarodNet's post for existing discussion on the topic.
Having the rules on fighting with two weapons in the Light property arguably makes it more visible to people not rereading the combat section.
Yeah, I get that it may not have been their intent. If their intent was truly that order does not matter, it should also just be clarified by adding the sentence "This weapon can make the initial attack or the extra attack." Also, if their intent was the Nick weapon needs to be the initial attack, then they could also clarify "When an attack is made with this weapon, the Extra attack from a different Light weapon can be made as part of the attack action instead of a Bonus action."
I just look at it and to me, it seems that "with this weapon" was accidentally left out, even though it hasn't been errata'ed. I'd be fine playing with a DM that ruled it any of the three ways (Nick must be the extra attack, Nick must be the initial attack, Nick can be either.) What really gets me are those who say by leveraging Nick and Dual Wielder together you can use two light weapons, use Nick and then somehow still use a bonus action to attack again because of how DW is written (some say by throwing or dropping one of the light weapons and drawing and attacking with a different weapon lacking the Two Handed property with the bonus action.)
I also think it should still have melee all the Light and Dual Wielder text and Crossbow Expert changed back to more 2014 wording. Granted, you can't dual wield Hand Crossbows, but under Light, Loading and Thrown properties as RAW and maybe even RAI, you can fire a hand crossbow and throw a light thrown melee weapon in same round. With daggers, you can use Nick and still save your bonus action. With Dual Wielder, you can fire a hand crossbow and throw any Thrown weapon lacking the Two Handed property.
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If a character is holding a weapon in each hand, can he/she choose which to attack with?
Simple example: Bob the level 1 Sorcerer is holding a handaxe in his main hand and a dagger in his off-hand. Bob has no feats/abilities relevant to two weapons. When he takes the attack action, can he choose to attack with the dagger?
Any citations (book & page number) would be appreciated. My apologies if I've missed an obvious reference.
AFAIK, there is no main hand or off-hand concept in D&D 5e and there is no rule saying you can't do that, so yes, you choose which weapon you use for each attack.
There's a slightly related Sage Advice Compendium answer:
Basically when the Sorcerer takes the Attack action, it can make one attack roll either with
Just to add to what others have said: you can, but you're not going to find any rule or reference explicitly stating that, because what makes it possible is the absence of any restriction to the contrary.
It's allowed for the same reason that you're allowed to attack while wearing a hat, or cast a cantrip on a Tuesday, or wear medium armor if your name starts with J: because nothing in the rules says you can't.
pronouns: he/she/they
Thank you all for the responses. My question is resolved.
I used a simple Sorcerer as the example to avoid complications. What I find intriguing is that if a character has Weapon Mastery in both weapons (not our simple Sorcerer Bob) then they could choose which weapon to attack with depending on which Mastery property is more advantageous at that moment.
Such as: a 5 Monk / 3 Rogue could first attack with a Handaxe for Vex, which gives advantage for his second attack with the Dagger (triggering Sneak Attack), which gives a third attack via Nick. The character's Bonus Action would still be available for an Unarmed Strike or Flurry of Blows. (And that's without adding Two Weapon Fighting or Dual Wielding.)
I know you were trying to keep it simple, but just for the record, Two-weapon Fighting does not add extra attacks and Dual Wielding competes with Flurry of Blows in your example.
How to add Tooltips.
My houserulings.
Agreed!
I re-wrote my post at one point and didn't clean up that leftover thought.
Just to make sure I understand, you're saying something like this?
Correct, each attack is resolve with any weapon wielded unless one is specifically required. In your example a different weapon is needed for the extra attack of the Light property or Dual Wielder. So such Monk/Rogue taking the Attack action can either attack with;
Almost.
The additional attack granted by Nick must be a weapon other than the dagger.
And since you end with the Handaxe granting Vex again:
The extra attack of the Light property must be made with a different Light weapon than the one enabling it, which Handaxe → Dagger is.
So RAW the sequence proposed by TarodNet & MackTheBattleHammer is legit regardless of any alternate interpretation you may come to.
Nick does not grant an additional attack. Light does. Nick only changes the extra attack to part of the Attack action. There is debate regarding whether the extra attack or first attack needs to be made with the Nick weapon, with some saying it has to be the first attack, some saying it has to be the extra attack, and some saying it can be either. There is nothing in the rules of Nick that require a particular sequence.
Thus:
You have attacked with the Handaxe and Dagger as normal attacks during the Attack action so you can now make a Light extra attack with either weapon. Nick moves that extra attack into the Attack action but does not change anything else about it, including which weapons are eligible to make the attack.
It is advantageous (ha!) to attack with the Vex weapon for the extra attack but not required.
How to add Tooltips.
My houserulings.
I see. I asked because, as Smite said, the Nick order has been debated a lot in the subforum (*). So you can rule the Nick weapon mastery is activated when you make the Light additional attack (which is my take), or on the initial attack. RAW allows it on either attack. My ruling is based on the article Your Guide to Weapon Mastery in the 2024 Player's Handbook, but I know it's not a conclusive proof.
In any case, as Plague mentioned, RAW both examples are valid.
EDIT: for clarity.
(*) crazy...
For my own sanity, I'm just going to forget that I brought up the timing of Nick.
Thank you all for your input!
Wise.
It's fundamentally a question where you need to ask your DM, because they left it ambiguous.
Ahh, Light, Nick and Dual Wielder. Such lovely things that combined are so ambiguous.
They should have kept Light and fighting with two weapons straight forward like in 2014. Without Dual Wielder, need two melee light weapons. With Dual Wielder, need two melee weapons that aren't two handed. Then add "with this weapon" to Nick to clarify it is the one used on the extra attack. And kept hand crossbows to Crossbow Expert where they belong.
This isn't necessarily their intent. As written, you can use it for either attack. If you wanted consistency, you would require it to be primary weapon. As it is, the main attack being quick enough to fit in an extra attack with the rest makes as much sense as an extra attack being quick enough to fit in with the rest. See TarodNet's post for existing discussion on the topic.
Having the rules on fighting with two weapons in the Light property arguably makes it more visible to people not rereading the combat section.
How to add Tooltips.
My houserulings.
To me it make more sense for Nick Mastery to modify the extra attack of the Light property you make with this weapon, than it is to modify a future attack with different weapon thereafter.
I'd even go so far as to say that it makes sense from the name as well. You aren't using the full force of a calculated strike (read: adding your STR/DEX mod). You are swinging quickly to try and "nick" them with a less forceful strike (read: do not add your STR/DEX mod).
But now that I've written this, I regret it because there is no need to rehash all of this.
Yeah, I get that it may not have been their intent. If their intent was truly that order does not matter, it should also just be clarified by adding the sentence "This weapon can make the initial attack or the extra attack." Also, if their intent was the Nick weapon needs to be the initial attack, then they could also clarify "When an attack is made with this weapon, the Extra attack from a different Light weapon can be made as part of the attack action instead of a Bonus action."
I just look at it and to me, it seems that "with this weapon" was accidentally left out, even though it hasn't been errata'ed. I'd be fine playing with a DM that ruled it any of the three ways (Nick must be the extra attack, Nick must be the initial attack, Nick can be either.) What really gets me are those who say by leveraging Nick and Dual Wielder together you can use two light weapons, use Nick and then somehow still use a bonus action to attack again because of how DW is written (some say by throwing or dropping one of the light weapons and drawing and attacking with a different weapon lacking the Two Handed property with the bonus action.)
I also think it should still have melee all the Light and Dual Wielder text and Crossbow Expert changed back to more 2014 wording. Granted, you can't dual wield Hand Crossbows, but under Light, Loading and Thrown properties as RAW and maybe even RAI, you can fire a hand crossbow and throw a light thrown melee weapon in same round. With daggers, you can use Nick and still save your bonus action. With Dual Wielder, you can fire a hand crossbow and throw any Thrown weapon lacking the Two Handed property.