One of my players is an Eldritch Knight and she asked to do something frustratingly complicated last combat. Drawing a weapon is a free action, but I've never seen a description for the rules of picking up a weapon. There must be a rule, otherwise what is the point of disarming an opponent?
The description she gave was that she wanted to shoot from her longbow, sling it over her shoulder, then wield her Staff of Defense (this gives her +1 to AC and the ability to cast Shield as a reaction). Then she wanted to sling the Staff of Defense over her shoulder, draw the longbow, and repeat.
It was 1 AM and we all wanted to finish combat and go home, so I ruled she could do it but it would use up half her movement to drop prone to pick up the staff.
Once I thought about it... she is dropping the staff as her first interaction, drawing ammunition (which I think does not count as an interaction however), summoning her longbow as a bonus action, shooting as her action, dropping the longbow as her second interaction, then picking up the staff as her third interaction, then moving! This is highly abusive.
What is the most efficient thing she can actually do to maximize the attack actions she is taking while also trying to wield this stupid staff? I was going to simply tell her that taking every other turn to wield the staff and hide (so she can not be targeted... way better than simply a +1 to AC) and to attack as an Unseen Attacker with advantage is her best strategy. And she should reserve the Staff of Defense for melee rather than trying to get around the rules and imbalance the game.
You may draw, stow, drop, or pick up one weapon per round for free, per the PHB "Other Activities on Your Turn" bit and the additional detail given in the "Interacting With Objects Around You" sidebar. Futher interactions of that type each require an action. So she could shoot her bow, stow it for free, and then draw her staff, but the latter would use up her second action; she would not be able to move. (The same applies to the reverse.)
One of the specifically stated benefits of the Dual Wielder feat is that it allows someone to interact (draw, stow, etc.) with two weapons for free, instead of one.
Yes, so the best strategy, assuming she's holding the bow, she can fire the bow, sheathe it, summon the staff as bonus, drop prone. Next turn is to sheath the staff, summon bow as bonus, fire. She can fire every turn and have staff equipped every other turn.
This is (annoyingly) OK according to RAW. The sequence, assuming she starts her turn holding the staff:
Free: Drop staff
Bonus Action: Summon bonded longbow
Action: Attack
Free: Drop longbow
Object Interaction: Pick up staff - end turn.
I personally object greatly to the free object dropping mechanics, because a battle full of people repeatedly dropping then picking up their weapons feels ridiculous to me. My home rule is that you can drop for free, but can't pick up the same object on the same turn without using an action. The EK is still free to drop their bonded weapon whenever because they will use a Bonus Action to summon it. This home rule would restrict this EK from having the staff wielded every second turn:
Sheathe staff; summon bow; attack; end turn. Attack; drop bow; draw staff; end turn. Repeat.
I personally haven't looked into the exact wording of the draw, stow, drop, or pick up one weapon per round for free, but how my group handles this is that you can do this to once per round item, and if you were to do it again to a second item it would use your action. That is definitely something to look into because it can be a difference in rules as written and rules as intended. I'm currently running a Eldritch Knight myself in one of my campaigns and with the ruling that my group does, I could while wielding my shield and sword, drop my sword (free), attack with a spell (action), then bonus action to summon my sword. By doing it like this I can still make use of my summon and object action.
With your specific situation, the character would be able to; attack (action), stow bow (free action), bonus action summon staff. Then the next turn, stow staff (free), summon bow (bonus action), attack, but would not be able to reequip the staff that turn.
The issue that my DM now has is that my character has the war caster feat so now I do not need a free hand to do my casting. Which honestly just made it easier to play the class and not having to worry about constantly equipping and unequipping.
Have a battle in knee-deep murky water. Good luck finding that dropped weapon quickly. Also, have fun dropping prone.
EDIT: Why doesn't she just shoot from the longbow for her various attacks, then use her item interaction to grab her staff while still holding the longbow with one hand. She cannot attack with the longbow anymore, but she is done attacking anyway. Then she will have the staff wielded so she gets +1 to AC and can use the shield reaction. Then on the next turn, she can drop the staff (which I do not approve of because as RegentCorreon said, it's absurd), fire her longbow for all the attacks, then pick the staff back up with her free object interaction. Or to be a little less ridiculous, she can do what I described on the first turn, then put the staff away on her second turn with her object interaction, but that means she will only have the benefit of the staff every other turn.
She would very much be able to drop the other weapon-- But slinging it over her shoulder isn't dropping it, that's stowing it. So what you describe in your first post is not something she would be able to accomplish unless she has the Dual Wielder feat.
If she wanted to drop her bow to the ground, pull out the staff and move, she's got it. But then her bow is back where she dropped it, so that's not particularly useful... She could also shoot, move, then drop her bow and draw the staff, but next turn when she wants to switch she'll need to drop the staff to pick up the bow, and moving will take her away from one item or the other.
I've definitely used the ability to freely drop a weapon to have my Ranger switch from ranged to melee swiftly. Shoots with a heavy crossbow until she can close the distance, than just drops the crossbow and draws her melee weapon to attack. It's not really something useful for constantly switching weapons-- Again, unless you have the Dual Wielder feat.
The rules seem pretty clear that you get ONE free interaction per turn. Doing another one takes your full action (not bonus).
Yes, but somewhere it was confirmed that dropping something you're holding is completely free, and doesn't count as an object interaction.
This isn't true. Per the rules, you can interact with ONE object per turn as part of your Movement or Action. Dropping an object may be a basic interaction, but it's an interaction nonetheless; interacting with a second object after this would require you to take the Use an Object Action.
In the case of an Eldritch Knight, however, they can summon their Bonded Weapon to hand from anywhere on the same plane of existence as a Bonus Action. This allows a lot more leeway in a situation like this, and you could very well drop one weapon as part of your Action or Movement and then summon the Bonded Weapon as a Bonus Action. They can also bond with two weapons, but only summon one per turn (obviously only get one bonus action) so this does allow quite a bit of versatility.
As per the original question, it could work like this; Shoot from the bow, drop it on the ground as part of the Attack Action or as part of Movement after, summon Staff as a Bonus Action for the +1 AC and Shield Reaction. Next turn, Move, drop the Staff as part of the movement, summon Bow as a Bonus Action and Shoot. However, she couldn't drop the Bow on this turn (since she's already dropped the staff) so this would not be infinitely repeatable. At best, she could use this tactic and benefit from the Staff once every two rounds, not every single round.
The rules seem pretty clear that you get ONE free interaction per turn. Doing another one takes your full action (not bonus).
Yes, but somewhere it was confirmed that dropping something you're holding is completely free, and doesn't count as an object interaction.
This isn't true. Per the rules, you can interact with ONE object per turn as part of your Movement or Action. Dropping an object may be a basic interaction, but it's an interaction nonetheless; interacting with a second object after this would require you to take the Use an Object Action.
To be fair, dropping an item is not mentioned in the Object Interaction rules. It only mentions opening a door or drawing a weapon as examples.
I personally find it makes sense-- Dropping means you aren't setting something down carefully, you're not placing it somewhere for later. You're just letting go-- I feel like the effort to let go and have something fall to the ground, versus the effort of opening a door or drawing a sword are not equal.
True, but it only states examples, not ever possible thing you can do.
I don't disagree with that, it certainly is easier than most any other simple interaction, but it still seems broken to me to be able to drop something completely for free.
The intent of the rules seems to me to be that you're not supposed to be able to put away one weapon (in any capacity) and draw another in the same turn. Seemingly pointless minutia, as you could stow one at the end of a turn and then draw one at the start of the next, but you may not always know what's about to happen next and could end up in a situation where you're suddenly surrounded in close range while wielding a bow.
If you can just drop the bow and draw your melee weapons for free, that seems counter intuitive to the rules and weakens special abilities such as the Eldritch Knights ability to summon a weapon to hand as a bonus action, which is basically the only thing that allows you to stow a weapon and "draw" another in the same turn. Even the Dual Wielder feat doesn't allow this, with it you can only Stow or Draw two one-handed weapons when you could normally only draw one, which would allow you to stow a bow on one turn, and then draw two one-handed weapons on the next.
Personally I actually house-rule that players (and my enemies, hehehe) can stow and draw a weapon in one turn, because that's more fun in my opinion, and as mentioned you could stow a weapon at the end of your turn and draw a weapon at the start of the next, which only the most die-hard DnD players will ever really think to do in the heat of the moment. I'm only arguing this because I like to discuss the rules :P EDIT: If I had an Eldritch Knight in my party, or if one of my players started abusing this, I would revert to the core rules of only one draw/stow per turn.
Yes, so rules as written, according to RegentCorreon and others, this is possible, and really annoying.
She could drop the staff (free), summon the bow with bonus action, shoot the bow with action, drop the bow (free), pick up the staff (object interaction), move.
I REALLY don't like it. I will be homebrewing that yes, dropping things are free, but not consecutively. A second drop counts as an object interaction.
So, as TexasDevin mentioned, the proper thing, which is also ridiculous, is to drop the staff (free), shoot the bow (action), pick up staff with free hand. No sheathing or summoning is required, as the ammunition property of the longbow only requires that you have a free hand during the attack action. This is basically what we started with, as RAW. She said she stowed it, but could just hold the longbow the entire time.
I will also be homebrewing then that in parallel to dropping prone being free, and getting up using half your movement, that picking up a dropped item (eg kneeling and standing in tandem with object interaction) also uses half your movement.
So, as TexasDevin mentioned, the proper thing, which is also ridiculous, is to drop the staff (free), shoot the bow (action), pick up staff with free hand. This is basically what we started with, as RAW.
The proper thing to do in my opinion is what I described in my other example even though you only get the benefit of the staff every other turn. It doesn't use up the bonus action, nor does it involve dropping and picking things up around the battlefield and works even in situations where dropping items would be a bad idea (flying, in water, on a bridge, where someone else might pick up the item, etc)
Technically speaking, Rules as Written, dropping an object is not totally free; it's an object interaction. There's no special mention of dropping an object being any different than other object interactions in the Core Rules; only Sage Advice (did I mention how much I hate Sage Advice?) overrules this.
I guess technically the rules don't say you can use a longbow, then let go with one hand to wield a one-handed weapon at the same time. I mean, it's completely logical and the rules don't say you can't do it, but they don't specifically provide for it either. I know I'd still allow it.
The intent of the rules seems to me to be that you're not supposed to be able to put away one weapon (in any capacity) and draw another in the same turn. Seemingly pointless minutia, as you could stow one at the end of a turn and then draw one at the start of the next, but you may not always know what's about to happen next and could end up in a situation where you're suddenly surrounded in close range while wielding a bow.
If you can just drop the bow and draw your melee weapons for free, that seems counter intuitive to the rules and weakens special abilities such as the Eldritch Knights ability to summon a weapon to hand as a bonus action, which is basically the only thing that allows you to stow a weapon and "draw" another in the same turn. Even the Dual Wielder feat doesn't allow this, with it you can only Stow or Draw two one-handed weapons when you could normally only draw one, which would allow you to stow a bow on one turn, and then draw two one-handed weapons on the next.
Yes, the Eldritch Knight's ability to summon and the Dual Wielder feat to draw multiple weapons strongly implies a step above the normal ability where you can't sheath and draw on the same round. This also implies to me that dropping an item and drawing on the same round is only acceptable as a workaround for the designers because it trades a positive result (you can swap weapons) with a negative result (you no longer possess the first weapon, and it restricts movement if you wish to possess the weapon in the near future). This seems like what was intended.
I would say that dropping MULTIPLE consecutive times is abusive and was an unintentional side effect. But as TexasDevin mentioned, it's not even necessary. She can hold the longbow in one hand, and the staff in another. Drop and pickup staff.
I would say that dropping MULTIPLE times is abusive. But as TexasDevin mentioned, it's not even necessary. She can hold the longbow in one hand, and the staff in another. Drop and pickup staff.
Yes, but even this is abusive (in my opinion) based on the Core RAW and ignoring Sage Advices take on dropping objects. As both TexasDevin and I said, either this or switching between dropping and Bonus Action summoning the two different weapons would allow you to have the benefit of the staff every other turn, but not on every single turn.
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One of my players is an Eldritch Knight and she asked to do something frustratingly complicated last combat. Drawing a weapon is a free action, but I've never seen a description for the rules of picking up a weapon. There must be a rule, otherwise what is the point of disarming an opponent?
The description she gave was that she wanted to shoot from her longbow, sling it over her shoulder, then wield her Staff of Defense (this gives her +1 to AC and the ability to cast Shield as a reaction). Then she wanted to sling the Staff of Defense over her shoulder, draw the longbow, and repeat.
It was 1 AM and we all wanted to finish combat and go home, so I ruled she could do it but it would use up half her movement to drop prone to pick up the staff.
Once I thought about it... she is dropping the staff as her first interaction, drawing ammunition (which I think does not count as an interaction however), summoning her longbow as a bonus action, shooting as her action, dropping the longbow as her second interaction, then picking up the staff as her third interaction, then moving! This is highly abusive.
What is the most efficient thing she can actually do to maximize the attack actions she is taking while also trying to wield this stupid staff? I was going to simply tell her that taking every other turn to wield the staff and hide (so she can not be targeted... way better than simply a +1 to AC) and to attack as an Unseen Attacker with advantage is her best strategy. And she should reserve the Staff of Defense for melee rather than trying to get around the rules and imbalance the game.
You may draw, stow, drop, or pick up one weapon per round for free, per the PHB "Other Activities on Your Turn" bit and the additional detail given in the "Interacting With Objects Around You" sidebar. Futher interactions of that type each require an action. So she could shoot her bow, stow it for free, and then draw her staff, but the latter would use up her second action; she would not be able to move. (The same applies to the reverse.)
One of the specifically stated benefits of the Dual Wielder feat is that it allows someone to interact (draw, stow, etc.) with two weapons for free, instead of one.
Second action?
Yes, so the best strategy, assuming she's holding the bow, she can fire the bow, sheathe it, summon the staff as bonus, drop prone. Next turn is to sheath the staff, summon bow as bonus, fire. She can fire every turn and have staff equipped every other turn.
This is (annoyingly) OK according to RAW. The sequence, assuming she starts her turn holding the staff:
Free: Drop staff
Bonus Action: Summon bonded longbow
Action: Attack
Free: Drop longbow
Object Interaction: Pick up staff - end turn.
I personally object greatly to the free object dropping mechanics, because a battle full of people repeatedly dropping then picking up their weapons feels ridiculous to me. My home rule is that you can drop for free, but can't pick up the same object on the same turn without using an action. The EK is still free to drop their bonded weapon whenever because they will use a Bonus Action to summon it. This home rule would restrict this EK from having the staff wielded every second turn:
Sheathe staff; summon bow; attack; end turn. Attack; drop bow; draw staff; end turn. Repeat.
I personally haven't looked into the exact wording of the draw, stow, drop, or pick up one weapon per round for free, but how my group handles this is that you can do this to once per round item, and if you were to do it again to a second item it would use your action. That is definitely something to look into because it can be a difference in rules as written and rules as intended. I'm currently running a Eldritch Knight myself in one of my campaigns and with the ruling that my group does, I could while wielding my shield and sword, drop my sword (free), attack with a spell (action), then bonus action to summon my sword. By doing it like this I can still make use of my summon and object action.
With your specific situation, the character would be able to; attack (action), stow bow (free action), bonus action summon staff. Then the next turn, stow staff (free), summon bow (bonus action), attack, but would not be able to reequip the staff that turn.
The issue that my DM now has is that my character has the war caster feat so now I do not need a free hand to do my casting. Which honestly just made it easier to play the class and not having to worry about constantly equipping and unequipping.
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The rules seem pretty clear that you get ONE free interaction per turn. Doing another one takes your full action (not bonus).
Yes, but somewhere it was confirmed that dropping something you're holding is completely free, and doesn't count as an object interaction.
Have a battle in knee-deep murky water. Good luck finding that dropped weapon quickly. Also, have fun dropping prone.
EDIT: Why doesn't she just shoot from the longbow for her various attacks, then use her item interaction to grab her staff while still holding the longbow with one hand. She cannot attack with the longbow anymore, but she is done attacking anyway. Then she will have the staff wielded so she gets +1 to AC and can use the shield reaction. Then on the next turn, she can drop the staff (which I do not approve of because as RegentCorreon said, it's absurd), fire her longbow for all the attacks, then pick the staff back up with her free object interaction. Or to be a little less ridiculous, she can do what I described on the first turn, then put the staff away on her second turn with her object interaction, but that means she will only have the benefit of the staff every other turn.
"Not all those who wander are lost"
She would very much be able to drop the other weapon-- But slinging it over her shoulder isn't dropping it, that's stowing it. So what you describe in your first post is not something she would be able to accomplish unless she has the Dual Wielder feat.
If she wanted to drop her bow to the ground, pull out the staff and move, she's got it. But then her bow is back where she dropped it, so that's not particularly useful... She could also shoot, move, then drop her bow and draw the staff, but next turn when she wants to switch she'll need to drop the staff to pick up the bow, and moving will take her away from one item or the other.
I've definitely used the ability to freely drop a weapon to have my Ranger switch from ranged to melee swiftly. Shoots with a heavy crossbow until she can close the distance, than just drops the crossbow and draws her melee weapon to attack. It's not really something useful for constantly switching weapons-- Again, unless you have the Dual Wielder feat.
This isn't true. Per the rules, you can interact with ONE object per turn as part of your Movement or Action. Dropping an object may be a basic interaction, but it's an interaction nonetheless; interacting with a second object after this would require you to take the Use an Object Action.
In the case of an Eldritch Knight, however, they can summon their Bonded Weapon to hand from anywhere on the same plane of existence as a Bonus Action. This allows a lot more leeway in a situation like this, and you could very well drop one weapon as part of your Action or Movement and then summon the Bonded Weapon as a Bonus Action. They can also bond with two weapons, but only summon one per turn (obviously only get one bonus action) so this does allow quite a bit of versatility.
As per the original question, it could work like this; Shoot from the bow, drop it on the ground as part of the Attack Action or as part of Movement after, summon Staff as a Bonus Action for the +1 AC and Shield Reaction. Next turn, Move, drop the Staff as part of the movement, summon Bow as a Bonus Action and Shoot. However, she couldn't drop the Bow on this turn (since she's already dropped the staff) so this would not be infinitely repeatable. At best, she could use this tactic and benefit from the Staff once every two rounds, not every single round.
Relevant Sage Advice answer.
God I hate Sage Advice.
To be fair, dropping an item is not mentioned in the Object Interaction rules. It only mentions opening a door or drawing a weapon as examples.
I personally find it makes sense-- Dropping means you aren't setting something down carefully, you're not placing it somewhere for later. You're just letting go-- I feel like the effort to let go and have something fall to the ground, versus the effort of opening a door or drawing a sword are not equal.
True, but it only states examples, not ever possible thing you can do.
I don't disagree with that, it certainly is easier than most any other simple interaction, but it still seems broken to me to be able to drop something completely for free.
The intent of the rules seems to me to be that you're not supposed to be able to put away one weapon (in any capacity) and draw another in the same turn. Seemingly pointless minutia, as you could stow one at the end of a turn and then draw one at the start of the next, but you may not always know what's about to happen next and could end up in a situation where you're suddenly surrounded in close range while wielding a bow.
If you can just drop the bow and draw your melee weapons for free, that seems counter intuitive to the rules and weakens special abilities such as the Eldritch Knights ability to summon a weapon to hand as a bonus action, which is basically the only thing that allows you to stow a weapon and "draw" another in the same turn. Even the Dual Wielder feat doesn't allow this, with it you can only Stow or Draw two one-handed weapons when you could normally only draw one, which would allow you to stow a bow on one turn, and then draw two one-handed weapons on the next.
Personally I actually house-rule that players (and my enemies, hehehe) can stow and draw a weapon in one turn, because that's more fun in my opinion, and as mentioned you could stow a weapon at the end of your turn and draw a weapon at the start of the next, which only the most die-hard DnD players will ever really think to do in the heat of the moment. I'm only arguing this because I like to discuss the rules :P
EDIT: If I had an Eldritch Knight in my party, or if one of my players started abusing this, I would revert to the core rules of only one draw/stow per turn.
Yes, so rules as written, according to RegentCorreon and others, this is possible, and really annoying.
She could drop the staff (free), summon the bow with bonus action, shoot the bow with action, drop the bow (free), pick up the staff (object interaction), move.
I REALLY don't like it. I will be homebrewing that yes, dropping things are free, but not consecutively. A second drop counts as an object interaction.
So, as TexasDevin mentioned, the proper thing, which is also ridiculous, is to drop the staff (free), shoot the bow (action), pick up staff with free hand. No sheathing or summoning is required, as the ammunition property of the longbow only requires that you have a free hand during the attack action. This is basically what we started with, as RAW. She said she stowed it, but could just hold the longbow the entire time.
I will also be homebrewing then that in parallel to dropping prone being free, and getting up using half your movement, that picking up a dropped item (eg kneeling and standing in tandem with object interaction) also uses half your movement.
The proper thing to do in my opinion is what I described in my other example even though you only get the benefit of the staff every other turn. It doesn't use up the bonus action, nor does it involve dropping and picking things up around the battlefield and works even in situations where dropping items would be a bad idea (flying, in water, on a bridge, where someone else might pick up the item, etc)
"Not all those who wander are lost"
Technically speaking, Rules as Written, dropping an object is not totally free; it's an object interaction. There's no special mention of dropping an object being any different than other object interactions in the Core Rules; only Sage Advice (did I mention how much I hate Sage Advice?) overrules this.
I guess technically the rules don't say you can use a longbow, then let go with one hand to wield a one-handed weapon at the same time. I mean, it's completely logical and the rules don't say you can't do it, but they don't specifically provide for it either. I know I'd still allow it.
"Not all those who wander are lost"
Yes, the Eldritch Knight's ability to summon and the Dual Wielder feat to draw multiple weapons strongly implies a step above the normal ability where you can't sheath and draw on the same round. This also implies to me that dropping an item and drawing on the same round is only acceptable as a workaround for the designers because it trades a positive result (you can swap weapons) with a negative result (you no longer possess the first weapon, and it restricts movement if you wish to possess the weapon in the near future). This seems like what was intended.
I would say that dropping MULTIPLE consecutive times is abusive and was an unintentional side effect. But as TexasDevin mentioned, it's not even necessary. She can hold the longbow in one hand, and the staff in another. Drop and pickup staff.
Yes, but even this is abusive (in my opinion) based on the Core RAW and ignoring Sage Advices take on dropping objects. As both TexasDevin and I said, either this or switching between dropping and Bonus Action summoning the two different weapons would allow you to have the benefit of the staff every other turn, but not on every single turn.