I never quite understood the following (liberally quoting from the core rulebook).
"Draw a weapon: if you have a base attack bonus of +1 or higher, you can combine this action with a regular move."
Does that mean than I can draw a weapon (which is in its sheath at my side , I presume) if I have the means to take a Move Action ? If I draw my weapon, and if I only do that (besides attacking), am I thus taking my Move Action ? And am I thus wasting my move(ment) towards my enemy ?
Or does that mean that I must physically move to be able to draw my weapon ?
What's a "regular move" ?
I hope my question makes sense...
RPG Superstar 2015 Top 32, RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32
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If a player announces "I move", and everyone at the table thinks the same thing, and the player does what they all expect, then that's probably a regular move.
If you say "I move" and do something else and people look surprised or say "Oh, you mean you're spending a move action to do X?" then that's NOT a regular move.
You know what a regular move is.
drawing a weapon is a move action
Drawing a weapon and moving is ONE move action as long as your BAB is +1 or higher.
So A 1st level fighter can draw his sword move up to enemy and attack in one standard round of combat.
A 1st level wizard could draw his sword and attack or move and attack but not both move up and draw his sword.
However if you don't actually move(move your figure from one square to another) in a turn you are entitled to make a 5 foot step.
so A 1st level wizard can draw a sword take a 5 foot step up to an opponet and attack.
The 5 foot step can happen at any moment during combat but can't be combined with any other kind of movement(move your figure from one square to another).
The way we play it at the table is that assuming you have a BAB of +1 or higher, then you can draw a weapon while you take your move action.
So when the party opens a door and sees a horde of goblins in the room, the fighter can draw his weapon (move action) as he charges the goblins(move action) and screams indimidating threats (free action for flavor), then attack the goblins (standard action) all in one turn.
Otherwise, he would have to draw his weapon (move action), walk up to the goblins (substitute move action for standard action), and ask the goblins to kindly wait for his next turn before attacking him (free action for flavor).
-Aaron
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The way we play it at the table is that assuming you have a BAB of +1 or higher, then you can draw a weapon while you take your move action.
So when the party opens a door and sees a horde of goblins in the room, the fighter can draw his weapon (move action) as he charges the goblins(move action) and screams indimidating threats (free action for flavor), then attack the goblins (standard action) all in one turn.
Otherwise, he would have to draw his weapon (move action), walk up to the goblins (substitute move action for standard action), and ask the goblins to kindly wait for his next turn before attacking him (free action for flavor).
-Aaron
If you are using charge as the game term here, you can draw your weapon as part of a charge if you move less than or equal to your move speed and have a BAB of at least +1.
Charge (Full-Round) + Draw (As part of charge action, IFF you have BAB of 1+ and move your speed or less) OR
Move (Move Action) + Draw (as part of move action, IF you have BAB of 1+) + Attack (Standard Action) OR
Draw (move action) + 5-ft step (optional) + Attack (Standard Action)
As most people are saying, a "regular move" is generally viewed as moving equal to or less than your base speed, but not necessarily a move action (such as taking out an item from a haversack). However, some others are also saying that you can draw a weapon as part of a 5ft step, which is not how my GM views it. A 5ft step is not a "regular move". It is its own kind of action, even if it still involves movement. It doesn't make much sense since you can also move 5ft normally and draw a weapon, but in that case you are using an entire move action to do something besides just moving.
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I understand a regular move to be the move action called "move," not crawling, withdrawing, etc. Drawing a weapon while charging is a change from 3.5, but was a common house rule or interpretation in 3.5.
Others see it in a broader sense, whether any move action equivalent, any sort of movement, etc. I recently experienced a local interpretation that seems pretty common in this area (Northern California) through which an NPC drew a weapon as part of a withdraw.
There is definitely variance on how people interpret this.
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On a side note: I wish they had renamed the move action as a "Partial" action or something to prevent confusion. That would leave us with 5-ft, Swift, Partial, Standard and Full. It's easy to maintain compatibility by saying that the old 3.5e stuff that refers to the move action instead refers to the partial.
My person opinion is: Did the action, through normal movement (i.e. no teleportation shenanigans), convey you 5' or more without being a 5' step? Do you have a BAB of +1 or higher? Go ahead and draw your damned weapon so we can get on with this. Obviously this won't line up with RAW, but I doubt there is a single table that does.
Thanks all. I have another question.
Quickdraw Shield, Light Wooden or Steel: This light shield is specially crafted with a series of straps to allow a character proficient in shields to ready or stow it on his or her back quickly and easily. If you have a base attack bonus of +1 or higher, you may don or put away a quickdraw shield as a swift action combined with a regular move. If you have the Two-Weapon Fighting feat, you can draw a light or one-handed weapon with one hand and a quickdraw shield with the other in the time it would normally take you to draw one weapon. If you have the Quick Draw feat, you may don or put away a quickdraw shield as a free action.
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Ready or Drop a Shield
Strapping a shield to your arm to gain its shield bonus to your AC, or unstrapping and dropping a shield so you can use your shield hand for another purpose, requires a move action. If you have a base attack bonus of +1 or higher, you can ready or drop a shield as a free action combined with a regular move.
So is a quickdraw shield more cumbersome to use than a regular shield ?
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Thanks all. I have another question.
Quickdraw Shield, Light Wooden or Steel: This light shield is specially crafted with a series of straps to allow a character proficient in shields to ready or stow it on his or her back quickly and easily. If you have a base attack bonus of +1 or higher, you may don or put away a quickdraw shield as a swift action combined with a regular move. If you have the Two-Weapon Fighting feat, you can draw a light or one-handed weapon with one hand and a quickdraw shield with the other in the time it would normally take you to draw one weapon. If you have the Quick Draw feat, you may don or put away a quickdraw shield as a free action.
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Ready or Drop a Shield
Strapping a shield to your arm to gain its shield bonus to your AC, or unstrapping and dropping a shield so you can use your shield hand for another purpose, requires a move action. If you have a base attack bonus of +1 or higher, you can ready or drop a shield as a free action combined with a regular move.So is a quickdraw shield more cumbersome to use than a regular shield ?
I do find the fact that it's easier to don a regular shield than a quickdraw shield puzzling. The huge advantage is that you can put away your quickdraw shield as a swift action, while you may only drop your regular shield as a free action.
Which then requires you to 1)be in the same square as your shield 2)spend a (provoking) move action to pick it up and 3)spend another move action to don it again.
The quickdraw shield can be donned, that is put from not on your arm to on your arm and in use, while a regular shield can only be readied, that is it has to be on your arm, just not being used. Plus the dput away vs drop is a big advantage as Belafon says.
Thanks for pointing to the "put away" thing, which is the real advantage as I see it now.
I'm not entirely convinced by the shield that's in your arm but unused though. Why not use the shield if it's on your arm anyway ?
Could you perhaps have a weapon in your arm while the shield is on the same arm but unused ? And drop the weapon and ready the shield in the same round (if you have a BAB of +1 or higher) if you want to use the shield ?
Could you tumble 5ft (at double cost) then move regularly for the remainder of your movement and draw as a free action?
What if you tumbled the whole movement?
Acrobatics:
"Action: None. An Acrobatics check is made as part of another action or as a reaction to a situation."
Since you are using a move action to tumble, it is part of a move action. So yes you can.
NO.
It says if you have a base attack bonus of +1 or higher, you can combine one of these actions with a regular move.
You can't just drop a shield. It is actually strapped to your arm, and the rules require a move action to take it off.
Yes you can.
It is a move action to drop a shield, unless you have a BAB of +1 or higher than you can drop it as a free action if you combine it with a regular move.
Yes you can.
It is a move action to drop a shield, unless you have a BAB of +1 or higher than you can drop it as a free action if you combine it with a regular move.
I just found the rule. You are correct. I never knew that one existed.
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There is no actual rule that says you can only do one of these free actions in a round. To me, that means it falls into the category of GM prerogative whether too many free actions is too many or not.
To break down each action individually, imagine a fighter with a shield on and a sword in his hand who does one of the two following actions:
1) He looses his shield as a free action while moving. There is no indication that he needs a free hand to make it a free action so it is clearly something he can do with his shield arm only.
2) He drops his sword (free) and draws a mace while moving to attack some skeletons. This is an action done with his sword-arm only.
Now, since both are free actions and free actions aren't limited except by GM prerogative, can these actions be combined as they are done with independent arms?
There is no actual rule that says you can only do one of these free actions in a round.
Draw or Sheathe a Weapon: "If you have the Two-Weapon Fighting feat, you can draw two light or one-handed weapons in the time it would normally take you to draw one."
If you could draw unlimited weapons as part of a move, there wouldn't be a TWF requirement to draw two weapons as part of the same move.
Since the Quickdraw Shield also says you can draw both a weapon and a Quickdraw Shield with the same move, only if you have Two-Weapon Fighting (or Quick Draw) that implies that the "Ready or Drop a Shield" action is similar enough to the "Draw or Sheathe a Weapon" action that they can't otherwise both be performed independently with the same move.
That's really wonky so I would probably just hand wave the whole thing and let him drop a shield and draw a weapon with the same move.
There is no actual rule that says you can only do one of these free actions in a round. To me, that means it falls into the category of GM prerogative whether too many free actions is too many or not.
I would consider footnote #3 to Table 8-2: Actions in Combat to be a rule.
So that you may only combine ONE of the indicated actions with a regular move.