So I'm making a ranger switch hitter. All of the builds I've seen are saying that I need to take quickdraw, but do I really need to?
Quickdraw lets you draw a weapon as a free action.
But having a base attack of +1 allows you to draw a weapon in combination with a move action (usual move in and pull weapon then attack deal).
Dropping a weapon is a free action, and sheathing one is a move.
What I'm getting at:
Without the quickdraw feat, I can drop my bow as a free action, move in (and pull out my melee weapon) as a move action, and then attack as a standard action. Correct? And anytime something moves out of range I can just drop my melee, spend a move to pull out a thrown weapon and then a standard action to throw it (which by the time stuff is running away combat is practically already over so I wouldn't really need my melee anymore)
With the quickdraw feat I can drop my bow as a free action, move as a move action, draw a weapon as a free action, and attack as a standard action. That's the exact same as if I didn't have a feat!
The only benefit of getting quickdraw that I see is if something is running away, I sheath my melee, quickdraw a ranged and then spend a standard to throw it.
So is this all right? Or am I missing something? Because how I'm seeing it you don't really need quickdraw at all. Sheathing is still a move action either way, and I can always just draw a weapon while I move without the feat.
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You might get better replies in the Advice forum, so I'll flag it for a mod to move it. :)
The advantage I can think of for Quickdraw is if you have more than one attack and the enemy gets to you first. Example:
Your turn: Full-attack with bow.
Their turn: Charge and attack you. You are now adjacent to them.
Your turn: Drop bow, Quickdraw melee weapon(s), full-attack.
So Quickdraw becomes more relevant if you're at level 6+ or if you have TWF, but less so if you've only got one attack anyway.
In your case, no, you probably don't need Quick Draw, at least not at low level. Quick Draw becomes more useful:
a) At higher levels, when you don't want to burn a move action (you could then use a full-round action for taking multiple attacks).
b) If you're switching from one melee weapon to another while already up in melee
c) If you don't want to actually drop the first weapon on the ground (e.g., you may need to switch weapons again later in the combat, you're not on safe terrain, or there's the risk that your bow might get swiped from the ground).
There are undoubtedly some other good reasons to want Quick Draw, which I'm not thinking of at the moment. :-)
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This may be the wrong forum for your question - as it's a Pathfinder Society centered forum. However, I may have an answer for you, and a clarification. Quick draw lets you get your weapon out, but not put it away quickly. So if you wanted to swap to something else, you have to drop what you're holding. However, you can not only switch hit between a two handed and a bow, but you can include a sword and a shield as well.
If you grab a quickdraw shield and quick draw you can have rounds that go like this.
Round 1. Shoot something with your bow, drop bow, move up, quickdraw sword and shield
Round 2. Stow shield, swing blade with two hands (you're using a longsword/bastard sword in this example), get bonus damage. After attacks, swap back to your shield.
Round 3 to N. Repeat round 2.
Round N+1. Retrieve your bow.
Thanks for the help. I didn't even think about full attacks :/
Edit: And the quickdraw shield idea sounds pretty nice
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Also remember, though, at the levels where Quick Draw starts coming into its own, it may no longer be needed.
Obviously, if you run a Zen Archer, Fighter or Ranger, you have access to [/i]Point Blank Master[/i] or the equivalent, where you can continue to use your bow to do your full attack without provoking.
IMO, Quick Draw used to be a lot more important, back when using a bow in melee without provoking didn't exist... Now, with Point Blank Master and the [/i]Snap Shot[/i] feat chain, switching weapons is nowhere near as important. YMMV.
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The other benefit is at higher levels when you have an efficient quiver full of javelins and spears. If you've already dropped your bow and switched to melee and a second group of baddies comes on scene, you can then hold your big sword with one hand, Quickdraw javelins or spears and full attack at ranged again, end with your hands on the pommel. You could even have a second bow in there and do the quick swap back to arrows.
I had good success with my switch hitter paladin using Vital Strike rather than quick draw. Then the rogue died and the player rolled a wizard, who'd cast haste. Then I got Quick Draw anyway. Still got some good use for Vital Strike for all those rounds where I had to move tho.
... Or you can be a halfling ranger with a halfling sling staff (a martial weapon for halflings) and use the same weapon for both ranged and melee. Granted, it's equal to a club in melee (not the best possible weapon choice). On the other hand, you don't need to spend extra to get a Str bonus to ranged damage.
The biggest drawback is that the halfling sling staff can't be used to make iterative ranged attacks without taking a feat (Arc Slinger, I think, from Halflings of Golarion) or a favorable interpretation of the Warslinger alternate racial trait from the Advanced Player's Guide (that it applies to the sling staff instead of only slings).
Or you could get a glove of storing.
Or if you have access to the 3.5 magic item compendium you could buy a couple of least crystals of return
Something that my 1st-level PFS ranger has done is to stow his reach weapon as a move action, draw a javelin or whatever as a free action, throw it as a standard action, and then re-draw his reach weapon as a free action. So, he can get his Deadly Aim attack in while still threatening an AoO against anyone closing with him.