He can, he just needs to drop his weapon before attempting the check.
He can, he just needs to drop his weapon before attempting the check.
I know that this possibly is rules lawyering but can he really do so if it is not his turn and he is not prepared (ready)?
Release a grip or an object (weapon):
If you want to prepare to Release something outside of your turn, use the Ready activity.
Right... I thought you could perform it whenever you want as it's a free action. So, yes, you can't grab an edge.
You can't use a free action outside your turn unless it has a trigger, and Release doesn't. Thus, you need to roll a Critical Success on your Grab an Edge check, or you "continue to fall as if you had failed the check".
My question is more: is this an oversight in the RAW?
It means that Grab an Edge is mostly unavailable to martial characters, except for the small minority that fights with one hand free. Only Monks and spellcasters have a use for a free hand in this game; everyone else will want to be more effective by keeping both their hands busy (if only to hold the party torch).
When you see the cliff edge you can choose to skip the shield, or use a sword instead of a greataxe. But what about those cases when you're fighting and suddenly a hole opens up beneath you with no warning?
Then you fall. Or, alternatively, you still roll and hope for a critical success. Since it usually uses the climb DC, which are generally static numbers that don't scale with level, a crit becomes increasingly available.
But in general, they wouldn't put a pit trap in if there wasn't supposed to be a possibility you fall in it. (With the exception of the Bottomless Pit, which you will spot something like 97% of the time beforehand.) Fall damage is part of the game, and there are tons of ways to mitigate it. Catfall, Steady Balance, Rapid Mantel, Feather Fall, etc.
Also, any archer should have a hand free. Most rogues will too, and with Quick Draw Rangers usually are too in my experience. Plus there is a whole line of free hand fighter feats. All of the APG classes will probably have a free hand as well.
Free hands are valuable in PF2, what with maneuvers, Combat Climber, and the amount of actions it takes to swap items around; like an emergency potion or elixir. As great as it is w/ Somatic components nowadays, there are still other costs to filling your hands up.
As well as Monks, Rogues can often have a hand free as well as Animal Barbarians, archers, and those with options, like Bastard Swords give.
I appreciate that one has to factor this into one's versatility.
Grabbing An Edge is just one more example.
That appears to be the case. I'd let a PC drop whatever it was holding to try to prevent a fall. If only to put the weapons at the bottom of the fall.
I was thinking along those lines too, though with randomness. Except, the item was already headed down the hole, so maybe it should be certainty.
If you're out over the edge enough to fall, and you're letting go w/ zero forethought, there'd be no way to toss it safely first (unless they wanted to forego their own grabbing of the edge, like if saving an important item).
Would not recommend, given what's at the bottom of some pits and your favorite weapon becoming unattended.
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This is why Cat Fall is a must have for most characters.
I'd rule a player can drop their weapon. Even untrained scrubs in real life will drop a weapon by instinct if they are falling and need to suddenly grab on to something. Makes little sense for a highly skilled fantasy fighter and killer of dragons to die because he clung stubbornly to his weapon when pushed off a thousand foot cliff.
That being said, if they are pushed over an edge and drop their weapon ... well, that weapon is going to keep on falling even if the character does not.
Uh, guys?
GRAB AN EDGE [reaction]
MANIPULATE
Trigger You fall from or past an edge or handhold.
Requirements Your hands are not tied behind your back or
otherwise restrained.
When you fall off or past an edge or other handhold, you can
try to grab it, potentially stopping your fall. You must succeed
at a Reflex save, usually at the Climb DC. If you grab the edge
or handhold, you can then Climb up using Athletics.
Critical Success You grab the edge or handhold, whether or
not you have a hand free, typically by using a suitable held
item to catch yourself (catching a battle axe on a ledge, for
example). You still take damage from the distance fallen so
far, but you treat the fall as though it were 30 feet shorter.
Success If you have at least one hand free, you grab the edge
or handhold, stopping your fall. You still take damage from
the distance fallen so far, but you treat the fall as though
it were 20 feet shorter. If you have no hands free, you
continue to fall as if you had failed the check.
Critical Failure You continue to fall, and if you’ve fallen 20 feet
or more before you use this reaction, you take 10 bludgeoning
damage from the impact for every 20 feet fallen.
Oh. Rules are there, lol. Good catch!
* The greataxe barbarian could use a one-handed axe as a backup weapon, but she could also end each turn by letting go of her greataxe as a free action, and start each turn by spending one action on Interact to change to a two-handed grip on her Greataxe again. (One cost is that characters with an Attack of Opportunity wouldn't be able to use it while holding their two-handed weapon in just one hand between turns)
If I am not entirely wrong you would not only lose your AoO but also provoke AoO due to the manipulate nature of the regrabbing. Just saying.
They know that, they are just saying they would change that rule in their games because they disagree with it.Uh, guys?
I'll point out the post directly above my own:
I'd rule a player can drop their weapon. Even untrained scrubs in real life will drop a weapon by instinct if they are falling and need to suddenly grab on to something.
And then the one directly under my own from the same person:
Oh. Rules are there, lol. Good catch!
So no, not everyone was on the same page.