If a creature provokes an AoO from you by leaving your unarmed reach, can you make that attack with your reach weapon instead?
YES, you can
To make the opportunity attack, you use your reaction to make one melee attack against the provoking creature.
And a reach weapon does not provoke an attack of opportunity from a creature moving from 5' to 10'.
NO, you can't.
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You don't know what fear is until you've witnessed a drunk bird divebombing you while carrying a screaming Kobold throwing fire anywhere and everywhere.
We all understand what you're trying to do. If your DM allows it, cool for you. It is not legal by RAW or RAI because the weapon you are trying to use as your Material Component is not the weapon you are triggering the AoO with.
I'm with you 100% right up to trying to combo all your stuff off the unarmed attack. In this specific instance, you are using a loophole to start an AoO with one "weapon", switch to a different action, and complete that action with a different weapon that didn't even provoke the AoO in the first place.
And let me be clear again: I wish it did work. I love this kind of tactical planning! It just doesn't work by RAW or RAI, but house rules are fine! Since you want PAM in the build, I'd even allow it to be done at the 5'-10' line using the 1d4 attack you get from PAM. That's equal to a proficient unarmed strike.
I don't know about RAI, would have to ask the designers for that, but RAW it does work. There is no rule requiring the weapon used for the attack that is part of Booming Blade to be the one for which the Opportunity Attack was triggered.
Specific RAW, no, and that's a fair assessment. I do wish there would be an official ruling on this.
General RAW, yeah. If you're trying to combine the effects of multiple features, you need to meet the requirements for all of them. The initial AoO triggered by movement out of Unarmed Reach means that's the "weapon" you are locked into for the purposes of ALL other features being combined. War Caster still lets you convert the AoO to a single-target spell, but that spell can't be BB here.
Maybe this will be easier to understand: forget about War Caster for a moment. If a creature provokes an AoO from you by leaving your unarmed reach, can you make that attack with your reach weapon instead? Of course not! Why would having War Caster make that any different? It doesn't.
A) What's Specific RAW? Rules As Written is just that. B)WHY FORGET ABOUT WARCASTER?? That's the main thing of this entire question! Your argument makes no sense!
5' Reach from Yourself giving AoO due to unarmed strike when someone leaving your 5' Reach.
10' Reach from Your Weapon giving AoO when someone leaving your 10' Reach.
Now that you have the AoO, use your reaction to make one melee attack against the provoking creature.
RAW and RAI are Different.
It never restricts the weapon to be used but of course the attack most reach the target.
5' is within the reach of a Reach Weapon
Look at the Reach property: "This weapon adds 5 feet to your reach when you attack with it, as well as when determining your reach for opportunity attacks with it."
In other words, if you want to make an opportunity with a reach weapon, your reach for that opportunity attack is your natural reach + 5, and the enemy doesn't provoke until they leave that reach. This is more specific than the general rules for opportunity attacks, which assume you only have 1 reach so every melee attack is fair game.
Again, it would've been nice if the main opportunity attack rules were a lot more explicit about handling multiple reaches, but there's enough text in the reach property to come to the proper conclusion, and that's definitely how it's intended to work. There's an official ruling in Sage Advice Compendium:
How does a reach weapon work with opportunity attacks? An opportunity attack is normally triggered when a creature you can see moves beyond your reach (PH, 195). If you want to make an opportunity attack with a reach weapon, such as a glaive or a halberd, you can do so when a creature leaves the reach you have with that weapon. For example, if you’re wielding a halberd, a creature that is right next to you could move 5 feet away without triggering an opportunity attack. If that creature tries to move an additional 5 feet—beyond your 10-foot reach—the creature then triggers an opportunity attack.
5' Reach from Yourself giving AoO due to unarmed strike when someone leaving your 5' Reach.
10' Reach from Your Weapon giving AoO when someone leaving your 10' Reach.
Now that you have the AoO, use your reaction to make one melee attack against the provoking creature.
RAW and RAI are Different.
It never restricts the weapon to be used but of course the attack most reach the target.
5' is within the reach of a Reach Weapon
Look at the Reach property: "This weapon adds 5 feet to your reach when you attack with it, as well as when determining your reach for opportunity attacks with it."
In other words, if you want to make an opportunity with a reach weapon, your reach for that opportunity attack is your natural reach + 5, and the enemy doesn't provoke until they leave that reach. This is more specific than the general rules for opportunity attacks, which assume you only have 1 reach so every melee attack is fair game.
Again, it would've been nice if the main opportunity attack rules were a lot more explicit about handling multiple reaches, but there's enough text in the reach property to come to the proper conclusion, and that's definitely how it's intended to work. There's an official ruling in Sage Advice Compendium:
How does a reach weapon work with opportunity attacks? An opportunity attack is normally triggered when a creature you can see moves beyond your reach (PH, 195). If you want to make an opportunity attack with a reach weapon, such as a glaive or a halberd, you can do so when a creature leaves the reach you have with that weapon. For example, if you’re wielding a halberd, a creature that is right next to you could move 5 feet away without triggering an opportunity attack. If that creature tries to move an additional 5 feet—beyond your 10-foot reach—the creature then triggers an opportunity attack.
I know you weren't addressing the War Caster + Polearm + BB combo, so I'm just piggybacking on your post to address it, not arguing with your point:
War Caster allows you to cast a spell instead of attacking whatever weapon you have available for your Opportunity Attack. It does not say that if the spell requires a weapon, it must be one that's available for the Opportunity Attack. If a creature moves from 5' to 10' away from a character with War Caster, wielding a Polearm, and able to cast Booming Blade, we all agree the creature generates an Opportunity Attack from the character, due to their Unarmed Attack reach (5'). (The character also has a 10' reach with the Polearm, but that is irrelevant in this situation.) The character has the option to use a spell to attack with their Opportunity Attack, due to the War Caster feat. The character elects to use Booming Blade, which has as a requirement an attack with a melee weapon. The character elects to use their Polearm as said melee weapon. The Polearm is a valid weapon choice for Booming Blade, as long as it is used at 5' (unless the character also has Spell Sniper, increasing the range of Booming Blade to 10'). None of that breaks or goes against any rules as written.
This argument is going in circles, and I think there is more than enough discussion here for a DM to make their own decision.
I think it comes down to either:
Attacks of Opportunity can be triggered from Unarmed Strike range in addition to Reach Weapon range. In which case, the War Caster feat will allow you cast booming blade which requires a weapon attack. And you may use the reach weapon to fulfill the spell requirements even if it was not the range that triggered the AoO.
Attacks of Opportunity can not be triggered by Unarmed Strike range while wielding a Reach Weapon. You can still cast a spell with War Caster when an AoO is triggered for the reach weapon though.
Using booming blade at a range of 10 ft, requires spell sniper or distant spell metamagic regardless of decision.
Is there a different rules interpretation conclusion that I missed (besides Sigred's)?
This argument is going in circles, and I think there is more than enough discussion here for a DM to make their own decision.
I think it comes down to either:
Attacks of Opportunity can be triggered from Unarmed Strike range in addition to Reach Weapon range. In which case, the War Caster feat will allow you cast booming blade which requires a weapon attack. And you may use the reach weapon to fulfill the spell requirements even if it was not the range that triggered the AoO.
Attacks of Opportunity can not be triggered by Unarmed Strike range while wielding a Reach Weapon. You can still cast a spell with War Caster when an AoO is triggered for the reach weapon though.
Using booming blade at a range of 10 ft, requires spell sniper or distant spell metamagic regardless of decision.
Is there a different rules interpretation conclusion that I missed (besides Sigred's)?
I feel that this sums it up pretty well. The only thing that I thought of that might also inform a DMs decision is regarding the Crawford quote that states that a player can have multiple reaches and can use which ever one is relevant. If the DM decides that the only one that is relevant is the max reach, the majority of this discussion becomes moot. If the DM calls it like that for the player, creatures such as dragons that have multiple reaches for their attacks (5' claw, 10' bite, 15' tail is what I saw on a different post, though I haven't verified it in the MM. I'm not worried if it isn't 100% accurate since I'm using it only for illustrative purposes here) would only be able to use their AoO at max reach too. I'm sure this will draw a counter response stating that it's incorrect for x, y, and z reasons, all of which may be valid points, but I'm presenting it as an alternative option for DMs that don't want to have AoO trigger points be a complex mess that they have to worry about causing strife during the game.
That being said, this discussion has proven to me that the topic of reach along with AoO and the possible interactions of the various feats are something that should be addressed at the zero session. There won't be any problems in game if the expectation is established early about what works and what doesn't work with AoOs and any discussion, heated or otherwise, can be done in a way that will limit its effect on the enjoyment of the other players.
This argument is going in circles, and I think there is more than enough discussion here for a DM to make their own decision.
I think it comes down to either:
Attacks of Opportunity can be triggered from Unarmed Strike range in addition to Reach Weapon range. In which case, the War Caster feat will allow you cast booming blade which requires a weapon attack. And you may use the reach weapon to fulfill the spell requirements even if it was not the range that triggered the AoO.
Attacks of Opportunity can not be triggered by Unarmed Strike range while wielding a Reach Weapon. You can still cast a spell with War Caster when an AoO is triggered for the reach weapon though.
Using booming blade at a range of 10 ft, requires spell sniper or distant spell metamagic regardless of decision.
Is there a different rules interpretation conclusion that I missed (besides Sigred's)?
I agree this is going in circles, and there's more than enough information for a DM to make their own decisions. Are you saying that #2 is my argument, or that you aren't including mine? I'm going to try to clarify one more time, since the summary in #2 is not what I have been arguing, and then I'll leave it alone.
Nobody is currently arguing that you cannot provoke an attack of opportunity with an unarmed strike while holding a reach weapon. More thoughts on that subject in the spoiler.
Although, the more I think about it, the more I think this should actually be true... the tweet from Jeremy is originally in response to a ruling on reach weapons and AoOs. Reach weapons do not provoke attacks of opportunity when a creature moves from 5' to 10'. When he says "Your reach" means whatever reach of yours is relevant at the moment. he's NOT saying "All your reaches are active at all times". He's saying whatever your reach is at that specific moment in game with your character. Recall the rules about weapons held vs. wielded and opportunity attacks... whatever you actively wield during your turn dictates what is available for use on an AoO reaction. Object interaction cannot be done on a Reaction. Used a polearm during your turn? That's your reach for the rest of the round; no unarmed AoO here at all, so no conversion to spell at the 5'-10' line.
What I AM saying is that IF a creature provokes an attack of opportunity from your unarmed reach (5'), then your "Unarmed Strike" is the delivery method you have chosen for all other features that branch from that point.That does not mean you cannot combo War Caster off of the unarmed strike; just not Booming Blade. Literally every other eligible spell that I can think of would work! Booming Blade does not because "Unarmed Strike" is not a weapon. You cannot substitute the reach weapon because you have already chosen Unarmed Strike, and you can't make the initial AoO (in this very, very specific instance) with the reach weapon because no AoO would have been provoked with it.
War Caster gives you an extremely potent option for AoOs, but it does not override the basic rules of the game. "Instead of" does not mean "ignore all other requirements".
If you want a full-coverage option for your reach that can accomplish everything, Spear + Whip does it by RAW.
Both are 1H weapons that can be actively wielded at all times
You have War Caster, so having both hands occupied does not hinder your spell casting
Full coverage of reach ranges: Spear covers both 5'<->10' (PAM), whip covers 10'->15'
Booming Blade via War Caster is applicable to all initial AoO triggers
There's no need to do anything related to dual-wielding either as all you'll be doing is picking whichever weapon is applicable for your attacks at the moment it matters. If all that you're hung up on is using a d4 or d6 weapon instead of a d10, think about where your damage is actually coming from: modifiers, spell damage, and features. The actual difference in average values between a d4 and a d10 is 3. Three damage average difference on one of your dice. When you're adding multiple d8s from BB, the damage from the weapon you actually deliver it with is minuscule.
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You don't know what fear is until you've witnessed a drunk bird divebombing you while carrying a screaming Kobold throwing fire anywhere and everywhere.
This argument is going in circles, and I think there is more than enough discussion here for a DM to make their own decision.
I think it comes down to either:
Attacks of Opportunity can be triggered from Unarmed Strike range in addition to Reach Weapon range. In which case, the War Caster feat will allow you cast booming blade which requires a weapon attack. And you may use the reach weapon to fulfill the spell requirements even if it was not the range that triggered the AoO.
Attacks of Opportunity can not be triggered by Unarmed Strike range while wielding a Reach Weapon. You can still cast a spell with War Caster when an AoO is triggered for the reach weapon though.
Using booming blade at a range of 10 ft, requires spell sniper or distant spell metamagic regardless of decision.
Is there a different rules interpretation conclusion that I missed (besides Sigred's)?
I agree this is going in circles, and there's more than enough information for a DM to make their own decisions. Are you saying that #2 is my argument, or that you aren't including mine? I'm going to try to clarify one more time, since the summary in #2 is not what I have been arguing, and then I'll leave it alone.
Nobody is currently arguing that you cannot provoke an attack of opportunity with an unarmed strike while holding a reach weapon. More thoughts on that subject in the spoiler.
Although, the more I think about it, the more I think this should actually be true... the tweet from Jeremy is originally in response to a ruling on reach weapons and AoOs. Reach weapons do not provoke attacks of opportunity when a creature moves from 5' to 10'. When he says "Your reach" means whatever reach of yours is relevant at the moment. he's NOT saying "All your reaches are active at all times". He's saying whatever your reach is at that specific moment in game with your character. Recall the rules about weapons held vs. wielded and opportunity attacks... whatever you actively wield during your turn dictates what is available for use on an AoO reaction. Object interaction cannot be done on a Reaction. Used a polearm during your turn? That's your reach for the rest of the round; no unarmed AoO here at all, so no conversion to spell at the 5'-10' line.
What I AM saying is that IF a creature provokes an attack of opportunity from your unarmed reach (5'), then your "Unarmed Strike" is the delivery method you have chosen for all other features that branch from that point.That does not mean you cannot combo War Caster off of the unarmed strike; just not Booming Blade. Literally every other eligible spell that I can think of would work! Booming Blade does not because "Unarmed Strike" is not a weapon. You cannot substitute the reach weapon because you have already chosen Unarmed Strike, and you can't make the initial AoO (in this very, very specific instance) with the reach weapon because no AoO would have been provoked with it.
War Caster gives you an extremely potent option for AoOs, but it does not override the basic rules of the game. "Instead of" does not mean "ignore all other requirements".
If you want a full-coverage option for your reach that can accomplish everything, Spear + Whip does it by RAW.
Both are 1H weapons that can be actively wielded at all times
You have War Caster, so having both hands occupied does not hinder your spell casting
Full coverage of reach ranges: Spear covers both 5'<->10' (PAM), whip covers 10'->15'
Booming Blade via War Caster is applicable to all initial AoO triggers
There's no need to do anything related to dual-wielding either as all you'll be doing is picking whichever weapon is applicable for your attacks at the moment it matters. If all that you're hung up on is using a d4 or d6 weapon instead of a d10, think about where your damage is actually coming from: modifiers, spell damage, and features. The actual difference in average values between a d4 and a d10 is 3. Three damage average difference on one of your dice. When you're adding multiple d8s from BB, the damage from the weapon you actually deliver it with is minuscule.
Keep in mind that warcaster doesn't allow for material components with both hands wielding weapons, only the somatic components. This means that you'll need something to be able to use a weapon as a spellcasting focus (ruby of the war mage or a class feature) to cast spells thst require material components other than booming blade and green flame blade (which are the only official spells that I can think of that have a weapon attack included in them or that require the weapon as a material, possibly part of the reason that so little is specified for them particularly because SCAG is not guaranteed to be available for character creation or spell selection). The caster would also have to consider the cases of material components not covered by a spellcasting focus. This point isn't an issue from the OP position, but is an issue from your position, particularly if spell sniper (wizard) for booming blade is the only spell available.
Is there a different rules interpretation conclusion that I missed (besides Sigred's)?
I agree this is going in circles, and there's more than enough information for a DM to make their own decisions. Are you saying that #2 is my argument, or that you aren't including mine? I'm going to try to clarify one more time, since the summary in #2 is not what I have been arguing, and then I'll leave it alone.
I was saying that I didn't include yours. I'm not going to argue with you (others have and will do it for me), but my reason is because your rules conclusion isn't supported by any actual written rules.
What I AM saying is that IF a creature provokes an attack of opportunity from your unarmed reach (5'), then your "Unarmed Strike" is the delivery method you have chosen for all other features that branch from that point.That does not mean you cannot combo War Caster off of the unarmed strike; just not Booming Blade. Literally every other eligible spell that I can think of would work! Booming Blade does not because "Unarmed Strike" is not a weapon. You cannot substitute the reach weapon because you have already chosen Unarmed Strike, and you can't make the initial AoO (in this very, very specific instance) with the reach weapon because no AoO would have been provoked with it.
War Caster gives you an extremely potent option for AoOs, but it does not override the basic rules of the game. "Instead of" does not mean "ignore all other requirements".
Nobody is claiming "instead of" implies "ingore all other requirements". What some of us are arguing is that you are creating a requirement where none exists. There is no rule anywhere that requires you to use the weapon whose reach triggered the OA as the material component for any spells that require a weapon as a material component when casting spells as OA via the War Caster Feat. You might feel that's appropriate, and you might think it should be a rule, but it isn't. You can suggest that as a reasonable house rule, to fix what you perceive to be a problem, but you cannot claim it is "rules as written".
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And a reach weapon does not provoke an attack of opportunity from a creature moving from 5' to 10'.
NO, you can't.
You don't know what fear is until you've witnessed a drunk bird divebombing you while carrying a screaming Kobold throwing fire anywhere and everywhere.
You have 2 Reaches while wielding a Reach weapon.
5' Reach from Yourself giving AoO due to unarmed strike when someone leaving your 5' Reach.
10' Reach from Your Weapon giving AoO when someone leaving your 10' Reach.
Now that you have the AoO, use your reaction to make one melee attack against the provoking creature.
RAW and RAI are Different.
It never restricts the weapon to be used but of course the attack most reach the target.
5' is within the reach of a Reach Weapon
A) What's Specific RAW? Rules As Written is just that. B)WHY FORGET ABOUT WARCASTER?? That's the main thing of this entire question! Your argument makes no sense!
Extended Signature! Yay! https://www.dndbeyond.com/forums/off-topic/adohands-kitchen/3153-extended-signature-thread?page=2#c21
Haven’t used this account in forever. Still a big fan of crawling claws.
Look at the Reach property: "This weapon adds 5 feet to your reach when you attack with it, as well as when determining your reach for opportunity attacks with it."
In other words, if you want to make an opportunity with a reach weapon, your reach for that opportunity attack is your natural reach + 5, and the enemy doesn't provoke until they leave that reach. This is more specific than the general rules for opportunity attacks, which assume you only have 1 reach so every melee attack is fair game.
Again, it would've been nice if the main opportunity attack rules were a lot more explicit about handling multiple reaches, but there's enough text in the reach property to come to the proper conclusion, and that's definitely how it's intended to work. There's an official ruling in Sage Advice Compendium:
I know you weren't addressing the War Caster + Polearm + BB combo, so I'm just piggybacking on your post to address it, not arguing with your point:
War Caster allows you to cast a spell instead of attacking whatever weapon you have available for your Opportunity Attack. It does not say that if the spell requires a weapon, it must be one that's available for the Opportunity Attack. If a creature moves from 5' to 10' away from a character with War Caster, wielding a Polearm, and able to cast Booming Blade, we all agree the creature generates an Opportunity Attack from the character, due to their Unarmed Attack reach (5'). (The character also has a 10' reach with the Polearm, but that is irrelevant in this situation.) The character has the option to use a spell to attack with their Opportunity Attack, due to the War Caster feat. The character elects to use Booming Blade, which has as a requirement an attack with a melee weapon. The character elects to use their Polearm as said melee weapon. The Polearm is a valid weapon choice for Booming Blade, as long as it is used at 5' (unless the character also has Spell Sniper, increasing the range of Booming Blade to 10'). None of that breaks or goes against any rules as written.
This argument is going in circles, and I think there is more than enough discussion here for a DM to make their own decision.
I think it comes down to either:
Using booming blade at a range of 10 ft, requires spell sniper or distant spell metamagic regardless of decision.
Is there a different rules interpretation conclusion that I missed (besides Sigred's)?
I feel that this sums it up pretty well. The only thing that I thought of that might also inform a DMs decision is regarding the Crawford quote that states that a player can have multiple reaches and can use which ever one is relevant. If the DM decides that the only one that is relevant is the max reach, the majority of this discussion becomes moot. If the DM calls it like that for the player, creatures such as dragons that have multiple reaches for their attacks (5' claw, 10' bite, 15' tail is what I saw on a different post, though I haven't verified it in the MM. I'm not worried if it isn't 100% accurate since I'm using it only for illustrative purposes here) would only be able to use their AoO at max reach too. I'm sure this will draw a counter response stating that it's incorrect for x, y, and z reasons, all of which may be valid points, but I'm presenting it as an alternative option for DMs that don't want to have AoO trigger points be a complex mess that they have to worry about causing strife during the game.
That being said, this discussion has proven to me that the topic of reach along with AoO and the possible interactions of the various feats are something that should be addressed at the zero session. There won't be any problems in game if the expectation is established early about what works and what doesn't work with AoOs and any discussion, heated or otherwise, can be done in a way that will limit its effect on the enjoyment of the other players.
I agree this is going in circles, and there's more than enough information for a DM to make their own decisions. Are you saying that #2 is my argument, or that you aren't including mine? I'm going to try to clarify one more time, since the summary in #2 is not what I have been arguing, and then I'll leave it alone.
Nobody is currently arguing that you cannot provoke an attack of opportunity with an unarmed strike while holding a reach weapon. More thoughts on that subject in the spoiler.
Although, the more I think about it, the more I think this should actually be true... the tweet from Jeremy is originally in response to a ruling on reach weapons and AoOs. Reach weapons do not provoke attacks of opportunity when a creature moves from 5' to 10'. When he says "Your reach" means whatever reach of yours is relevant at the moment. he's NOT saying "All your reaches are active at all times". He's saying whatever your reach is at that specific moment in game with your character. Recall the rules about weapons held vs. wielded and opportunity attacks... whatever you actively wield during your turn dictates what is available for use on an AoO reaction. Object interaction cannot be done on a Reaction. Used a polearm during your turn? That's your reach for the rest of the round; no unarmed AoO here at all, so no conversion to spell at the 5'-10' line.
What I AM saying is that IF a creature provokes an attack of opportunity from your unarmed reach (5'), then your "Unarmed Strike" is the delivery method you have chosen for all other features that branch from that point.That does not mean you cannot combo War Caster off of the unarmed strike; just not Booming Blade. Literally every other eligible spell that I can think of would work! Booming Blade does not because "Unarmed Strike" is not a weapon. You cannot substitute the reach weapon because you have already chosen Unarmed Strike, and you can't make the initial AoO (in this very, very specific instance) with the reach weapon because no AoO would have been provoked with it.
War Caster gives you an extremely potent option for AoOs, but it does not override the basic rules of the game. "Instead of" does not mean "ignore all other requirements".
If you want a full-coverage option for your reach that can accomplish everything, Spear + Whip does it by RAW.
There's no need to do anything related to dual-wielding either as all you'll be doing is picking whichever weapon is applicable for your attacks at the moment it matters. If all that you're hung up on is using a d4 or d6 weapon instead of a d10, think about where your damage is actually coming from: modifiers, spell damage, and features. The actual difference in average values between a d4 and a d10 is 3. Three damage average difference on one of your dice. When you're adding multiple d8s from BB, the damage from the weapon you actually deliver it with is minuscule.
You don't know what fear is until you've witnessed a drunk bird divebombing you while carrying a screaming Kobold throwing fire anywhere and everywhere.
Keep in mind that warcaster doesn't allow for material components with both hands wielding weapons, only the somatic components. This means that you'll need something to be able to use a weapon as a spellcasting focus (ruby of the war mage or a class feature) to cast spells thst require material components other than booming blade and green flame blade (which are the only official spells that I can think of that have a weapon attack included in them or that require the weapon as a material, possibly part of the reason that so little is specified for them particularly because SCAG is not guaranteed to be available for character creation or spell selection). The caster would also have to consider the cases of material components not covered by a spellcasting focus. This point isn't an issue from the OP position, but is an issue from your position, particularly if spell sniper (wizard) for booming blade is the only spell available.
I was saying that I didn't include yours. I'm not going to argue with you (others have and will do it for me), but my reason is because your rules conclusion isn't supported by any actual written rules.
Nobody is claiming "instead of" implies "ingore all other requirements". What some of us are arguing is that you are creating a requirement where none exists. There is no rule anywhere that requires you to use the weapon whose reach triggered the OA as the material component for any spells that require a weapon as a material component when casting spells as OA via the War Caster Feat. You might feel that's appropriate, and you might think it should be a rule, but it isn't. You can suggest that as a reasonable house rule, to fix what you perceive to be a problem, but you cannot claim it is "rules as written".