Switching weapons

[Ganders]

4th edition D&D

level 1 fighter in a battle is holding a dagger in main hand and a hand axe in off hand.

He wants to switch, so that the dagger is in off hand and the hand axe is in main hand. Is that a free action, a minor action, or something else?

 

[Palladion]

Free action to drop one weapon, free action (depending on your DM) to switch weapon hands, minor action to pick up the dropped weapon. PH 289 is your best bet to justify...

 

[StormCrow42]

It doesn't matter. There is no penalty for attacking with whichever weapon (main or off hand) you want. The only requirement is that at least one of the weapons you're wielding has the off-hand property unless you're a TWF ranger.

 

[Tony Vargas]

IMHO, it should be a free action - it should be less trouble than drawing a weapon, and drawing a weapon is a minor action. But, as has been pointed out, it doesn't really matter, you can attack with either weapon as the 'main' one in 4e TWFing.


This does become an important issue for those using light shields, though. A light shield lets you hold but not wield an item in your shield hand. That's fine for carrying a torch or something, and maybe that's all it's intended to be for, but, if you can swap weapons or implements from one hand to the other easily, it'd be a nice perk for those who forego the higher AC/REF of the heavy shield.

 

[ValhallaGH]

You can attack with either weapon without penalty (as already mentioned), so there's no reason to worry about it mechanically.
However, as a matter of flavor text it is rather important: since it's just flavor, it shouldn't use any mechanical resource, so it should be a free action to do a range toss. If you're trying to do it to impress or intimidate people then it would be either a skill check (Thievery under it's sleight of hand usage, maybe, or Intimidate to make it look especially skillful and worrisome) or an ability check (Dexterity and Charisma both come to mind).

 

[KarinsDad]

I disagree that it should be a free action. Both hands have a weapon in them, so it should be a requirement that one of the hands "gets rid of" it's weapon, takes the other weapon, and then the other hand grabs the first weapon.

One set of rules we have on it is: drop first (free), switch second (free?), pick up first (minor) which would be one minor.

Another set of rules we have on it is: sheath first (minor), switch second (free?), draw first (minor) which would be two minors.

Beyond this, we have no additional rules. But, these two options (assuming the switch is free) illustrate a minimum of one minor action and a maximum of two minor actions.

So, it should minimally be a minor action.

Adding in a new "free action rule to switch" appears to sidestep the rules we do have. We have two ways to accomplish this via the rules, so one should be used.

 

[Zurai]

There is quite literally no mechanical benefit for switching hands. None at all.

That makes it a flavor ability - one that has no point other than to provide flavor for the character.

Flavor abilities shouldn't cost resources.

Thus, it should be a free action.

 

[KarinsDad]

There is quite literally no mechanical benefit for switching hands. None at all.

That makes it a flavor ability - one that has no point other than to provide flavor for the character.

Flavor abilities shouldn't cost resources.

Thus, it should be a free action.

I'm not convinced that it is flavor only.

According to the definition of Off Hand weapons, if a Fighter had a Longsword in his "main hand" and a Scimitar in his "off hand", he could attack with the Longsword, but not the Scimitar.

If he wants to attack with the Scimitar, he would have to switch it to his main hand. The rules do not state what main hand means, but it does indicate that in this case, only the main hand weapon can be used.

The implication is that one would need to switch weapons to accomplish this.

There seems to be a distinction between main and off hand, but there are no special rules about it other than you cannot use a non-off hand weapon in the off hand (unless one is a melee type ranger).

 

[Danceofmasks]

In addition, you get +1 damage to the main hand weapon for the 2WF feat.

 

[Tony Vargas]

I think a character with a scimitar in one hand and a longsword in the other could, indeed, by the PH rules, attack with either one. He just gains no benefit, even if he has TWF/TWD and can't use a ranger two-weapon attack power unless he has the ranger use-two-big-weapons class feature.

If you're using a one-handed and an off-hand weapon, you can benefit from TWF/TWD, and use a ranger two-weapon attack even if you're an archer-ranger or multiclassed to ranger, and lack the class feature.


That said, it's still not flavor only. If you're using a light shield, you can hold, but not use, a weapon in your shield hand. You have to swap it to your other hand to use it. If that takes an action, that matters, because it makes the light shield less desireable.

I'm sure it matters for other, equally obscure, reasons, too.